Driving Lessons.......

[terriphill]

Young son began his driving lessons this past week. Not doing too bad...I took him out today in the Alfa since it was top down, beautiful weather! He's doing fine, but still killing it trying to let out on the clutch from a stop. Any ideas other than just keep on practicing? (We haven't even gotten to starting on a hill yet LOL)

 

[jsfbond]

Same way you get to Carnegie Hall....Which is on seventh ave. if your thinking of going for a long drive.

 

[tony barnhill]

Hire a driving instructor!

 

[terriphill]

Hire a driving instructor!

Lessons start next week with the local driving instructors, but they only teach in their cars (the ones with brakes on the passenger side LOL) and his car is a 1986 Toyota MR2...plus we have 6 cars...five of which are standard transmission.
Defensive driving class is on Saturdays and starts in February.
David is out of town for the next four weeks (Woo-Hoo....he found a job!!!!) and that leaves driving lessons up to me so any help from y'all who have done this is appreciated.
He's actually doing pretty good. About an hour every evening and prayers that the clutch in the Alfa can handle it!
And NO he's not touching the B!!!!!!

 

[tony barnhill]

From a guy who's already done it - once...hire a driving instructor...wait for him...tell him to use one of your standard shifts.

Doing it myself created more problems than it was worth!

 

[aeronca65t]

I taught all my kids plus I feel like I taught most of their friends! All in the same trusty Renault Alliance 4 speed. Also taught siblings, aunts, cousins, etc.
Both of my daughters taught their husbands to drive stick shifts.

One thing I like to do with stick shift cars is to get them to practice moving the car without giving it any gas. Just get it warmed up and learn how to slowly release the clutch at idle speed so that it moves forward without stalling. A great way to learn the "sweet spot" of the clutch. It's easy in our MGB and Miata (and it was easy in that old Renault too).

As far as driving at speed, I try to get them to "scan" left and right when driving. Also, focus well out ahead and not just 10' in front of the car.

 

[terriphill]

I have talked to him about the "sweet spot" I haven't tried to get him to let the clutch out in idle...good pointer. He seems to me to be in a hurry to "get the clutch out" and this causes it to stall when he takes off. We live in a very hilly town and he's going to have to learn how to take off on some pretty big hills without that backward roll. This can only be done if he knows how to let the clutch out "just a little"
That sweet spot is very different in the Toyota vs. the Alfa vs.the B and he needs to learn how to find it. Thanks, I'll have him idle it tomorrow.

 

[bgbassplyr]

By all means drive looking beyond the hood (bonnet) ornament.

 

[AngliaGT]

Aand find a large level dirt (or gravel) area,
& teach him how to control a slide.
T tried teaching one of our Sons how to shift.
Showed him how to do it without using the gas pedal.
He ended up wearing the clutch disc on our MKIII Cortina.
I finally gave up.He ended up buying an automatic.We
found out later that he has high-functioing Autism.

- Doug

 

[DaveatMoon]

My son takes his driving test tomorrow. I taught him the same way I taught my wife, and the same way my dad taught me.

The best thing to do is to teach them how to stall it out first. Sitting still in a big empty lot let him slowly release the clutch (at idle) as many times as it take for him to get a feel for where it engages. He should be reliably able to predict verbally to you when it will stall in only a few minutes.

After that it's merely a matter of having develop the same feel for the accelerator, slowly engaging it just enough to keep it from stalling. Eventually he'll develop a "feel" for both at the same time. It should also only take a few minutes, however these will be the most painful minutes. Only after he can reliably move the car without stalling, bucking, or burning the clutch would I let him on the road. That is what took the hours of practice, however it's useless to take a new driver out on the road until their ready for it.

Good luck!

 

[Bayless]

Remember, the hand brake is your friend when trying to go from stopped up a hill. Heel-and-toe may be a bit much for a beginner.

 

[Andrew Mace]

I'd never given it much thought when I started driving (first licensed in 1969), since I'd learned a manual shift on Dad's Herald long before I ever got out on the road; I was used to it and didn't give it a second thought. However, I later took several undergraduate and graduate-level courses in Traffic Safety Education, did some student teaching of same and spent a year -- part-time -- teaching new drivers at a commercial driving school. Then and ever since, I came to understand and ultimately endorse the advice of my college professor/mentor (highly respected nationally in traffic safety): teach the student to drive first, THEN teach them to drive a manual shift! I think it's even more important nowadays, as traffic seems to increase more and more and, with that, the ratio of bad drivers to good drivers is skewing further against us all. :frown:

One possible alternative is to get in lots and lots of practice on private property or in very large, deserted parking lots, to the point where starting, shifting up and down, and stopping are totally natural...and THEN try public streets and roads. This is also what I did with both my daughter and son, albeit with an automatic (both passed road tests first time with NO problems). I think it's critical that the student driver be completely comfortable in, and with, whatever car they're using to learn.

One other thing: regardless of how much the student likes the car or thinks he/she is comfortable driving same otherwise, it just might not make an ideal learning experience for mastering the clutch and shift. If mastery quickly yields to frustration and there is another manual shift car available, give it a try. Case in point: once attaining his license, my son attempted to master the manual shift in his mother's old Saturn LS...but it drove (no pun intended) him crazy. Not that it was especially difficult to drive, but there was something about it that frustrated him. Taking a cue from thousands of student drivers in England in the 1960s, I took him out in my Herald...20 minutes later, he "got it" and never had problems again. I'm not saying the Herald is THE ideal car for manual shift lessons, but it worked for him. Maybe it fit him better, or maybe the angle of the pedals was better, or ???? I don't know. He was a bit fearful of doing some harm to the clutch, gearbox or other parts of the car, but I assured him that my barn full of parts could deal with pretty much anything that might happen (nothing did)!

 

[70herald]

Young son began his driving lessons this past week. Not doing too bad...I took him out today in the Alfa since it was top down, beautiful weather! He's doing fine, but still killing it trying to let out on the clutch from a stop. Any ideas other than just keep on practicing? (We haven't even gotten to starting on a hill yet LOL)

I taught my wife and a few others to drive a stick. I made her start the car on level ground without giving it any gas. Just VERY SLOWLY raise the clutch until it start to grab, hold slightly and the car will start to roll, and finish releasing the clutch. Stop, then back up doing the same thing. Go back and forth a few times and he will have a good feeling for when the clutch starts to grab.
The problem with giving it gas at the same time is that you need to coordinate the gas with the clutch starting to grab so you but if you aren't sure when that happens you just race the engine or stall it. As soon as he gets the feel for the clutch starting to grab adding gas is easy.