Maybe the clutch is a conventional clutch but operated by solenoids etc, which would be controlled by electronics.... when you pull the shift up padle the electronics disengages the clutch then it changes the gear and re-engages the clutch??? It would also have to have some sort of speed sensor on the transmission input shaft to compare the engine to gearbox speed and therefore measure how much the clutch was slipping.

This bit of my above link explains a bit more...

Nearly all race transmissions use the sequential shift approach. The drum is rotated manually by a lever in the cockpit, or it is rotated by solenoids, pneumatics or hydraulics that are activated electronically. In the electronic case, the driver has a pair of paddle switches on the steering wheel to control the mechanism and never has to move his/her hands from the steering wheel.

Because of the advantages of the sequential approach, this type of transmission is starting to appear on cars in the high-end tuner market. A sequential manual transmission is not to be confused with a "tiptronic" sort of automatic transmission. The tiptronic system may duplicate the shift lever motion of a sequential gearbox. However, because a tiptronic transmission is an automatic transmission at its core, it still has the torque converter and usually does not shift as quickly.