Welcome to TruckNet, Speedway.
Deesider:
You only needed the clutch to start off, and once you got used to the technique, it was a nice smooth and easy drive.
My memory is worse than most but isn’t what you describe the Twin-Splitter Deesider?
The one Speedway is on about sounds more to me like a Fuller Roadranger, albeit the 9 rather than 13 speed version, the greatest gearbox ever made .
You could certainly drive that without the clutch once rolling but it wasn’t designed that way, unlike the Twin-Split, but sorry I can’t for the life of me remember if your interpretation of the sequence is correct or not. No doubt if I climbed in I’d be off without a 2nd glance, but here …
However, you are in the right place at last, and very soon there will be a flood of advice to put you right. .
Salut, David.