I am a fairly inexperienced manaul driver.

I was test driving a 2000 S2000 and was rowed through the gears, 1-2-3-4-5-6. From 6th I was going about 50 mph and wanted to be in 4th. So that's what I did. I got quite a kick when I went from 6-4th, should I have double clutched, or went to 5th first?

 

Double clutching is debatable as being necessary but it's a good practice to get into along with rev matching. Going from 6th to 4th or even 3rd is fine.

 

That's not really a no-no, but you could've done better to avoid the jerk. What you could've done is tap the throttle while the clutch is pushed in, thereby raising the RPMs to where they would be in 4th gear. Then, when you let the clutch out and engage the gear, it will be a smooth transition.

 

 

you sure you didn't go from 6th --> 2nd? 6th --> 4th when you're doing 50mph should really give you concern. in general what you want to do is rev match. if you're in a higher gear you're rpm will be low...when you shift to a lower gear the rpm will be higher at a given speed. so if you don't match the rev you'll get that little kick, which normally isn't a big deal except if you're going fast you might lockup. don't really need to double clutched, we have synchros for that

 

..no problem, just be sure to rev match like others have said. You'll find that the close ratios of the car encourages "dropping down" by 2 gears whenever your having a little fun!!

 

It's stuff like this that I wish I knew about before I drove a stick. If you have any friends that drive stick, ask them for pointers. The best way to learn is to watch them do it too.

Now go have some fun.

 

There is no reason to double seclutch. that is for cars with out a syncromesh cone in any of the forward gears.