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Old 01-23-2010, 08:00 PM   #81 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by botsapper View Post
How do hypermiler enthusiasts take an intersection corner (w/o stopping)?
Think I'm going to stop and get that momentum built back up using gas??? LOL Seriously I do make lots of rolling stops, but when I make turns that don't require a stop I just shift the car into the appropiate gear for the speed I'm travelling.

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Old 01-25-2010, 09:20 AM   #82 (permalink)
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How do hypermiler enthusiasts take an intersection corner (w/o stopping)?
Like any other corner really - drop speed to the appropriate level, select a gear suitable for the speed and to give acceleration when back on the straight, and go for it.

My Mini (as opposed to MINI) technique was to select 2nd, turn in, lift off, catch the back end and then floor it, sort of FWD drift stylee....

...until that fateful day when I ended up in a field, backwards.
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Old 01-25-2010, 09:30 AM   #83 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by Arragonis View Post
Like any other corner really - drop speed to the appropriate level, select a gear suitable for the speed and to give acceleration when back on the straight, and go for it.

My Mini (as opposed to MINI) technique was to select 2nd, turn in, lift off, catch the back end and then floor it, sort of FWD drift stylee....

...until that fateful day when I ended up in a field, backwards.
Did this once in my boosted Escort GT, hit a patch of wet, understeered due to tire spin, couldn't get traction back, slid across the curve into a field at 80+ and stopped about 3 feet from a tree, dead center of the front bumper.

Pulled across the field, took a deep breath, and went flying again.
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Old 01-25-2010, 02:18 PM   #84 (permalink)
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Going back to the original topic - manual tranny training - a technique I was taught with was to get the car rolling on the flat using only idle, no revs. The best thing about this was that I got used to sensing the clutch bite point quite early on and also to be gentle with the clutch.

I use this technique still when I get into an unfamiliar car or van where the clutch point may be different from what I'm used to.

The second step was then to be able to set off and go to 3rd or 4th without the passenger being able to feel the changes - this encourages you to be able to coordinate the throttle and clutch smoothly which then helps with the third skill which is smoother hill starts.
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Old 01-25-2010, 02:22 PM   #85 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by Arragonis View Post
Going back to the original topic - manual tranny training - a technique I was taught with was to get the car rolling on the flat using only idle, no revs. The best thing about this was that I got used to sensing the clutch bite point quite early on and also to be gentle with the clutch.

I use this technique still when I get into an unfamiliar car or van where the clutch point may be different from what I'm used to.

The second step was then to be able to set off and go to 3rd or 4th without the passenger being able to feel the changes - this encourages you to be able to coordinate the throttle and clutch smoothly which then helps with the third skill which is smoother hill starts.
I do this in trucks and some higher or mid-powered RWD cars where there typically isn't much weight (thus, little resistance to movement) on the drive wheels, to keep them from spinning. In trucks especially, it's possible to get the clutch out quickly to a point where using the accelerator smoothly doesn't cause slippage, and you'll accelerate from a stop gently and smoothly, even loaded.
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Old 01-28-2010, 10:53 PM   #86 (permalink)
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I gave a young woman (a wandering photographer on assignment) a brief manual trans lesson in MAX, my Kubota tractor powered sports car. She'd never driven a stick successfully, had tried once in her dad's 'Vette and it had been discouraging. We're at an airport so all we have is flat ground, and in about 100 attempts she only stalled it once, using the let-the-clutch-out-slowly-at-idle technique. There's something to be said for diesel torque in a lightweight car, even when she dropped the clutch it went chug-chug-chug along at an easy walking speed. Much less terrifying than the Corvette.
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Old 01-29-2010, 06:28 AM   #87 (permalink)
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95%+ of drivers here in the UK can drive manual because if you have an automatic only license you can't legally drive a manual car, but someone with a manual license can drive both. Manual cars are in the vast majority, i've only sat in 2 auto cars my entire life but dozens of manual ones.
I understand being able to drive stick shift is a bit of a novelty in USA?

Anyway, learning manual does take a bit of time, i remember when i started my lessons i was very flustered and uncoordinated, i had one hand on the stick, one of the wheel, one foot on the gas, one on the clutch leaning forward looking for a gap to turn right on to the road, it's very weird at first but feels perfectly natural now and requires barely any thought, it didn't really all click till my 10th lesson.

My instructor explained it to me this way, the clutch separates the engine from the wheels, when you lift the clutch you are connecting the wheels to the engine, only the engine and wheels are going at different speeds. When you lift the clutch apply a little gas and then feel for the "bite" where the engine starts to connect to the wheels, when the car starts to pull away from standing slowly lift the clutch up so the car moves smoothly forward and apply more gas to keep the revs up and prevent stalling. When the car gets to about 10mph gently lift off the gas and press on the clutch and gently shift in to the next gear, you can lift the clutch a little faster than before, but still gently feel for the bite and smoothly apply gas when the clutch is up, as you go up the gears you can be less smooth with the clutch as there is more inertia to overcome the wheel/engine speed difference.

Those were the basics he gave me, being able to do the gears and drive competently didn't click till about 10 hours in, but i'd got the hang of gears/clutch/gas after about 5 hours. If your son wears shoe with thick soles try ones with thinner soles (my instructor said people often did lessons in dress shoes) or even do it in socks/barefoot so he can get a real feel for the bite on the clutch.
Some american pickup trucks aren't available with a manual transmission.
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Old 01-29-2010, 06:47 AM   #88 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by Rainh2o View Post
The one thing that my car does not have is a RPM gauge. That would be easier if it had one. Its actually my first manual that I have owned that didn't have one.
It's called a tachometer.
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Old 02-06-2010, 04:22 AM   #89 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by ton View Post
Some american pickup trucks aren't available with a manual transmission.
That a joke about 'merkins only driving pickups? Pretty lame and nothing to do with my post.

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There's something to be said for diesel torque in a lightweight car
Very true, the first 6 lessons i took i was chucked between instructors and learned in 2 small petrol cars (becoming rarer with driving schools since diesel gets better mileage), but the 3rd one, and the one i passed my test with was a Peugeot 206 diesel that had loads of low end torque; you had to try really hard to stall it even on hill starts. On the flat you didn't even have to set the revs you could pull away using idle revs.
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Old 03-20-2010, 08:35 AM   #90 (permalink)
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My first car was an auto, when I was 17 decided I wanted a stick. Went out bought an 87 Prelude and managed somehow to get it home. My father tried a few times to teach me how to get it going but I was a teen who already knew everything anyway. After giving up trying to teach me while in the car he got me to park the car at the bottom of our very steep driveway. He laid a long piece of 4x4 behind my rear tires so I wouldn't roll back. He got me just to drive up and down the driveway for an hour or so while he went back in the house. After a while he came out took away my board and got me to keep doing it.


The Downtown area of Halifax is built on a hill and all my friend at the time who drove stick either hated it or couldn't do it without a handbrake, within a week or two I showing off for them. Never bought a auto car again.

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