any tips for a newbie stick driver??
- Thread starter YungSykoSideway
- Start date
Elliot G
Spectator
actually thats a horrible way to learn. you concentrate to hard on rpms and not the engagement of the clutch, then you end up stalling, get pissed and dump the clutch. all in all best thing to do is drive with some one who knows how to drive stick. have them drive first and pay attention to whats being done. then you try. dont get flustered if it goes wrong.
Last edited:
carcrazee
Driver
well whatever lol i taught myself how to drive stick anyway, i was alwayz watching other people do it and how it worked..
carcrazee
Driver
like people with hondas..
but bro.......
Damn, I already have a tag against me and I didn't even post in this thread till now! lol
But for real, become a valet, and learn on peoples Porches and Ferrari's. You'll pick it up quick so you dont look like a jackass (like I have) burning out of valet area, after the owner hands you the keys.
But for real, become a valet, and learn on peoples Porches and Ferrari's. You'll pick it up quick so you dont look like a jackass (like I have) burning out of valet area, after the owner hands you the keys.
This thread is filled with absolute epicness. Not because of what it's about, but because of how nice SFLDrifters are been!!
JiujitsuDrift
Driver
New layout. The softer side of SFL.
Another thing to do is not learn on your car. Depending on how hard the transmission is learning on your car might actually make you worse. My father had a G6 GXP, with what has to have been the worst clutch and transmission combo ever. I had serious trouble driving it, and I knew how to drive a manual already when I started driving the thing. Every manual is different and I do mean every last one. A couple of people can have two 240s with stock transmissions and stock clutches, but wear and tear can make them feel completely different. So if your having trouble with yours find someone with an S2000 or something that has a really nice and easy transmission, and go around the block (mayhaps offer to pay for gas and lunch or something) get the hang of working a clutch and gas in something easy, then step up to your car, it'll make the learning curve easier. Just stick away from anything american made, GM clutches suck, and all but the last few gens of mustang clutches and transmissions suck.
Here are a few helpful tips:
1: let off the break and slowly and steadily let your foot off the clutch until you start moving. Practice just getting the car to roll like an automatic. This will teach you the butter zone for the engagement of the clutch, build the muscles in that leg, and its good practice for being in tight traffic.
2: Don't be afraid of just bouncing your foot on the throttle to keep the car from stalling.
3: Hills are the enemy, until your good at clutch play stick away from them, or if you must stop on one pull the emergency brake and use it with your clutch and gas to get the car moving. Just feel for the engine pulling against the brakes as you release the clutch. When you feel that its ok to let the hand brake down.
4: Try starting in 2nd, lots of cars have enough torque to start in second and because of the gear ratio it gives you more time between when you disengage the clutch and when you have to have the gas in the right place to keep from stalling.
5: be aware your first clutch will not last as long as the clutches you have after it. You will wear it out with inexperience and practice, it is a certainty. It happens to everyone with their first manual. Well almost everyone.
Here are a few practices to learn to increase the life of your clutch:
1:Heel and toe. As you brake, depress the clutch and with the heel of the right foot blip the throttle as you down shift then release the clutch. This is better for your transmission and your clutch than braking and clutching, then shifting down and releasing the clutch when your ready to accelerate again. My father burns through a clutch faster than you can laugh purely because he doesn't do this.
2: When you try heel and toe the first time you will realize it takes a crap load of practice. While you are learning heel toe(preferably in some parking lot somewhere) substitute double clutching. As you come up to the turn, clutch and pull the transmission out of gear, now brake, and release the clutch, when you've slowed down enough to safely go through the turn clutch and tap the throttle, then put the car into the desired gear before the revs drop and release the clutch. Not as effective as heel toe, but it saves your clutch some wear and tear.
3:Learn to move from one gear to the next quickly and fluidly. My grandfather used to clutch take the car out of gear move the shifter back and forth a couple of times then upshift. The problem with this is the whole time your foot is off the gas. As such the revs drop and the speed of the transmission is different from the speed of the engine, thus the clutch slips a little when you throw it back into gear. This is wear and tear.
There are more ways to save your clutch and to learn to start yourself off from a stop but these will probably fill your waking hours right now. The best thing you can do for yourself is to just find some place to run around and around killing your gas tank. A parking lot works, so does a deserted stretch of road or a pretty inactive part of your housing development. The major thing to look for in a practice area is not having anyone around. This is because of the fact that you won't be as quick on your brakes as you are in an automatic car purely because even if you panic part of your mind will still be thinking about the clutch. Also if people are around there is always some doof who will laugh at you for stalling even if they can't drive a manual themselves yet. The last thing you need is discouragement.
Hope all this helps.
(BTW perhaps this should be a sticky?)
Here are a few helpful tips:
1: let off the break and slowly and steadily let your foot off the clutch until you start moving. Practice just getting the car to roll like an automatic. This will teach you the butter zone for the engagement of the clutch, build the muscles in that leg, and its good practice for being in tight traffic.
2: Don't be afraid of just bouncing your foot on the throttle to keep the car from stalling.
3: Hills are the enemy, until your good at clutch play stick away from them, or if you must stop on one pull the emergency brake and use it with your clutch and gas to get the car moving. Just feel for the engine pulling against the brakes as you release the clutch. When you feel that its ok to let the hand brake down.
4: Try starting in 2nd, lots of cars have enough torque to start in second and because of the gear ratio it gives you more time between when you disengage the clutch and when you have to have the gas in the right place to keep from stalling.
5: be aware your first clutch will not last as long as the clutches you have after it. You will wear it out with inexperience and practice, it is a certainty. It happens to everyone with their first manual. Well almost everyone.
Here are a few practices to learn to increase the life of your clutch:
1:Heel and toe. As you brake, depress the clutch and with the heel of the right foot blip the throttle as you down shift then release the clutch. This is better for your transmission and your clutch than braking and clutching, then shifting down and releasing the clutch when your ready to accelerate again. My father burns through a clutch faster than you can laugh purely because he doesn't do this.
2: When you try heel and toe the first time you will realize it takes a crap load of practice. While you are learning heel toe(preferably in some parking lot somewhere) substitute double clutching. As you come up to the turn, clutch and pull the transmission out of gear, now brake, and release the clutch, when you've slowed down enough to safely go through the turn clutch and tap the throttle, then put the car into the desired gear before the revs drop and release the clutch. Not as effective as heel toe, but it saves your clutch some wear and tear.
3:Learn to move from one gear to the next quickly and fluidly. My grandfather used to clutch take the car out of gear move the shifter back and forth a couple of times then upshift. The problem with this is the whole time your foot is off the gas. As such the revs drop and the speed of the transmission is different from the speed of the engine, thus the clutch slips a little when you throw it back into gear. This is wear and tear.
There are more ways to save your clutch and to learn to start yourself off from a stop but these will probably fill your waking hours right now. The best thing you can do for yourself is to just find some place to run around and around killing your gas tank. A parking lot works, so does a deserted stretch of road or a pretty inactive part of your housing development. The major thing to look for in a practice area is not having anyone around. This is because of the fact that you won't be as quick on your brakes as you are in an automatic car purely because even if you panic part of your mind will still be thinking about the clutch. Also if people are around there is always some doof who will laugh at you for stalling even if they can't drive a manual themselves yet. The last thing you need is discouragement.
Hope all this helps.
(BTW perhaps this should be a sticky?)
YungSykoSideway
NKOTB
thnx for tips and the confidence boost from all hopefully day 3 will b better
Good info and all but I don't think it should be a sticky. People shouldn't be coming to a drifting forum to learn to drive stick, I mean seriously. Go elsewhere, learn, and come back when you can drive your car properly going straight.
YungSykoSideway
NKOTB
yooo stfu kidd i aint ask yu to tell me where i should or shouldnt b ok
:ugh::ugh: b to kidd dat straight too yo fuck?
Can't type a sentence, no wonder you can't drive a simple manual car. Moron.
seriouss14
Member
find a empty back road, and just do the stop and go routine until u get a feel and repetition down. gl
KoukiBass14oon
Driver
I'm not about to read what everyone else has posted, but The seesaw picture was actually a really good example. You just have to practice letting the clutch out and finding that sweet spot. and as you are letting the clutch out you begin to add gas.
Do it very slowly so you feel it. My dad taught me on his GTO and then I practiced on my 240. He first had me just begin to let up the clutch slowly and not worry about the gas and once I felt it start to grab and the car start to move forward a bit, I would push it back in before I stalled. After a couple times doing that and seeing where on the clutch that spot is, you start to practice the same thing with adding gas. Don't get frustrated if you stall a lot. We've all been through that. You'll slowly begin to feel it more and more and stall less and less.
P.S. A good place to practice just first gear from a stop is parking lots where there arent too many cars. Theres no pressure there
Do it very slowly so you feel it. My dad taught me on his GTO and then I practiced on my 240. He first had me just begin to let up the clutch slowly and not worry about the gas and once I felt it start to grab and the car start to move forward a bit, I would push it back in before I stalled. After a couple times doing that and seeing where on the clutch that spot is, you start to practice the same thing with adding gas. Don't get frustrated if you stall a lot. We've all been through that. You'll slowly begin to feel it more and more and stall less and less.
P.S. A good place to practice just first gear from a stop is parking lots where there arent too many cars. Theres no pressure there
Actually driving a stick well is the basis of all drift technique. There are actually only a few drift techniques that don't require good clutch control and a couple of the really basic ones (such as clutch kicking) require a good knowledge of your clutch workings to pull off with out burning clutches every few rounds. Heel toe is essential to all but the most basic drift techniques even e-brake drifts require a down shift from a long straight. Really the worse you are at drifting the more you need to know about your clutch. The point at which you only need weight shift to drift any turn is the point at which you stop needing to know clutch technique, cause the only drift technique that doesn't require a down shift before the corner is the high speed kansai drift and even there part of doing that drift is being able to gauge your speed going into the corner so that your just fast enough to cause a drastic shift of weight by lifting off, and yet not fast enough that sliding will send you into the weeds. Point being is that the basics of clutch usage is a big part of drifting just like math good drifting builds upon a good foundation. Which is why this thread belongs.