My wife wants to learn how to drive manual
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From: Maplewood. MN
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My 911 was the first car I owned that was a manual. I never stalled it on my original test drive and since owning it have only stalled it 2 times.
I drove a couple (read 2) other manuals at random times in my life just cause I asked to try and the 996 for me is by far the easiest. I feel like you do have to be more precise and know where and when the clutch will grab but once u get that down it is great.
I drove a couple (read 2) other manuals at random times in my life just cause I asked to try and the 996 for me is by far the easiest. I feel like you do have to be more precise and know where and when the clutch will grab but once u get that down it is great.
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Go ahead and teach her. If she rode a Kawi she understands how a clutch works and thats a big step. Remember if she takes over the Targa you might have to get your own, GT3...Turbo....997 PDK....
PS She won't kill your clutch anyway, high rpm abuse it what smokes a clutch.
PS She won't kill your clutch anyway, high rpm abuse it what smokes a clutch.
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From: NYC
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great post - repped!
If she rode a Ninja, she knows clutch engagement.
One exercise I did with my son that worked well was: in a level, open parking lot with engine at idle (keep right foot off the accelerator), have the new driver:
- close their eyes, then release the clutch ever so slowly until they feel the least sense of engagement. Press the pedal back in.
- Repeat several times until they can bring the pedal up a little faster, but still stop just at the point of engagement.
- Then do several times eyes open.
Now that they've gotten a sense of where the engagement point starts:
Again, with engine at idle:
- release clutch to engagement point, and then very slowly continue to full engagement -- no accelerator. Let the car roll forward a bit, then push in clutch and brake to a stop.
Repeat until it is an easy movement.
If you've taken your time, it's quite likely that the engine was never stalled. At slow rpm, no excessive wear on the clutch. The person now has a sense (muscle memory) of what the engagement feels like.
Now you can start introducing the accelerator while engaging. Drive around a little to help keep the engine cool, clutch in, then stop. Repeat.
By doing this at off hours in a large 'box store' parking lot, they can focus on the actions rather than traffic, on lookers, etc.
Once that's down, then start working on gear selection (for proper rev range/load/traffic) and double-clutching (which she couldn't do on her Ninja).
Good luck. The skill at using a clutch has Nothing to do with gender.
One exercise I did with my son that worked well was: in a level, open parking lot with engine at idle (keep right foot off the accelerator), have the new driver:
- close their eyes, then release the clutch ever so slowly until they feel the least sense of engagement. Press the pedal back in.
- Repeat several times until they can bring the pedal up a little faster, but still stop just at the point of engagement.
- Then do several times eyes open.
Now that they've gotten a sense of where the engagement point starts:
Again, with engine at idle:
- release clutch to engagement point, and then very slowly continue to full engagement -- no accelerator. Let the car roll forward a bit, then push in clutch and brake to a stop.
Repeat until it is an easy movement.
If you've taken your time, it's quite likely that the engine was never stalled. At slow rpm, no excessive wear on the clutch. The person now has a sense (muscle memory) of what the engagement feels like.
Now you can start introducing the accelerator while engaging. Drive around a little to help keep the engine cool, clutch in, then stop. Repeat.
By doing this at off hours in a large 'box store' parking lot, they can focus on the actions rather than traffic, on lookers, etc.
Once that's down, then start working on gear selection (for proper rev range/load/traffic) and double-clutching (which she couldn't do on her Ninja).
Good luck. The skill at using a clutch has Nothing to do with gender.
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Rez90
997 Turbo / GT2
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Aug 24, 2015 09:53 PM
