Need some stick shift driving tips

The really "fun" part of driving without a clutch is trying to start from a dead stop. I've had to do this once or twice and the best I could come up with was to turn off the engine, then turn the key to start in 1st gear. NOT something I'd recommend if you have any other option!!! :eek:
 
I just didn't stop until I got back to the shop...it was a lucky few minutes for me all the way around :D Sure glad it didn't happen farther away, I would've just called for a tow.
 
Accumulator said:
There must be more cars out there that will allow this than I would've expected. Do that in a Porsche, Audi, 'vette, Subie, or anything else I can think of, and you'll stall it dead as a doornail. But then I've pretty much only driven stick shift cars of a certain "personality". You *could* do it in my Kormann M3, but that thing idled at nearly 1,000 rpms. Ditto for one of my old MOPARS, but those two were race cars with license plates.
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Ya, you definatly can't do that in too many cars. Only cars I've managed to do that in were a Skyline GTR, Ford Mustang GT and a GTO. Anything with not much torque down low won't have enough power to actually get you moving without some revs.
 
Ahh perfect thread for me :D



I've always wanted to drive a stick but never got a chance to since my family has always had automatics.



I found out my friend's boyfriend was a real car nut like I was and he offered to teach me stick. I thought he was nuts letting me abuse his relatively new car (Mini Cooper S). Turns out he then gave the Mini to his mom afterwards and got a '03 Mustang. Then found a 2002 Honda S2000 for $13K and decided to sell the Mustang.



So we all hung out today and we went to a large vacant parking lot. And I got into the driver's seat of the S2000 (sweet car). After about 3 mins he just decided to get out of the car to be with my friend sunbathing on the bench and told me to drive around as much as I wanted to. Apparently I had gotten down the basics really quickly. I was flattered, I must say.



That said, I did stall 4 times and grinded the gears twice. Lots of bucking when I started. My major issues would be starting off line quick enough (such as in traffic) without bobbing my head around and downshifting. Being in a lot, the most I drove was 25mph and when I decided to go from 2nd to first, the car bucked again when I let the clutch go. Perhaps I let go of it too fast. I'm also not sure if I need to give it a little gas even when I'm downshifting or push the clutch, downshift, let go of clutch then push gas pedal.



It will be a while before I get to drive a stick again, unfortunately. So I can't practice the uphill start.
 
Well, I'm sure it was good practice. It seems like you got the hang of it pretty quickly. A tip for you: You can try doing some no gas starts (let clutch engage, but no gas). This is used to find the so called "friction point" where the clutch and the flywheel engage and start to get the car moving. Once you get this friction point, you will know where to release your clutch up to when you begin to use gas revs to accelerate. If you're curious to learn more about stick shifts, I found a forum that focuses especially on stick driving tips. It's at www.standardshift.com.
 
I wanted to do that but I think it was just the S2000 I was driving. There is literally no torque in that VTEC 2.0L i4 so the moment I tried to let go of the clutch the engine stalled on me and shut off.



Perhaps had I used a different car with a lot more low-end torque, that wouldn't have happened. Not too sure.
 
TRD-22 said:
I wanted to do that but I think it was just the S2000 I was driving. There is literally no torque in that VTEC 2.0L i4 so the moment I tried to let go of the clutch the engine stalled on me and shut off.



Perhaps had I used a different car with a lot more low-end torque, that wouldn't have happened. Not too sure.
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It's still a matter of finessing the clutch. you can do it with any vehicle, trust me.



I have driven everything from a moped to an M1 Abrams tank, even drove a bus (with a manual tranny) on the Autobahn! I have raced cars and karts for 14 years, and taught literally hundreds of people to drive as a professional driving instructor.
 
think of the clutch and gas as a two way weight meter. push on one side, and off on the other. keep practicing and you'lll get the hang of it in no time! :woot2:
 
beachy- That's a wide range of experience you have there :bow



TRD-22- Some vehicles *are* a lot easier/harder to learn with, no question about it. There are some real advantages to learning on something that's not *too* easy though ;)
 
[quote name='Accumulator']beachy- That's a wide range of experience you have there :bow



Yeah, I've been at it for a long time. Used to love driving jobs, now I hate driving on anything that's not a racetrack of some type. Guess it has to do with growing up, and driving responsibly. Used to drive over 100MPH any time I got on the highway, even 140-160 in heavy traffic. Now my wife says I'm too slow, and gets upset when semis pass me. She just doesn't understand that if I start speeding, "mr. wheeler"(if you ever saw that disney cartoon about driving) comes out, and the next thing you know, I'm trying to break a longstanding record for the time it takes to get somewhere. Everyone else turns into moving chicanes, and cops are no reason to stop or even slow down. Used to outrun one at least once a month. Now I'm pretty boring to ride with, unless I'm on a racetrack... :nixweiss
 
beachy- Heh heh, know where you're coming from. Tracks are definitely the safe place to drive and risking incarceration over your ETA doesn't seem so cool after a certain age ;)
 
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