Hello guys,

I just started driving STICK. I love it but I want to drive it WELL (without damaging the car in anyway). I want to drive it smooth.

Are there any resources/website, I can look at to learn more about driving stick well??

Another concern is I don't want to burn my clutch and make sure I'm using it properly. For example, when I shift from 1->2, 2->3, as I bring up the clutch to the catch point, I give it a little gas to smooth it out. From 3->4, I don't give it any gas and just shift.

Do you add gas when shifting? What's the best way to not wear out your clutch?

I've been driving stick for 2 weeks, and want to get this mastered. I love driving.

-Sphinxica

 

only way to learn to drive a MANUEL trans well is to practice. It just takes time.

 

practice, practice, practice........there's no "exact" way of shifting, every car is different, if i drove my friends turbo ls like i drive my hatch the car would shake apart, he has a 3-puck disk and i have a street/strip normal disk.

just find that sweet spot where it shifts the smoothest on your car and stick with it

whatever happened to someone taking you out and showing you how to drive stick, dont rely on an internet site to learn to drive your car, just go out drive, sooner or later you'll get better

 

This is a regular GSR. I dunno if that helps. I will also go out with my friend.

Thx.

 

if you're adding gas to the shift the way i think, it would probably be hurting the clutch, are you slipping the clutch out (letting the clutch pedal up slowly) and revving the engine? practicing is definately good, after a while driving stick is just normal. is this your first time driving? or just driving a stick?

 

He could be talking about rev matching.

The trans is already moving at a certain RPM and you want to get the engine the same RPM before the clutch grabs.

 

well when shifting 1-2 or 2-3 your motor doesn't rev higher in the next gear (accelerating) so you should be able to shift it into the next gear before the engine is back to idle speed.. so on its way down past that "perfect" rpm you release the clutch and it should be fine. just have to get the release speed perfect, so you aren't slipping it and not just "side stepping" it either. if sphinxica was talking about downshifting then yeah i could see rev matching helping.

 

Match revving isn't applied to upshifting though... since the next gear is at a lower rpm than the previous. You be more worried about slipping the clutch when starting in first than on each shift though.

But in order to match revs when downshifting... you can do this two ways.

1. Press clutch in and place shifter in neutral, let clutch out.
2. Rev the engine ( press the gas quickly with a little blip) to the desired rpm
3. Press clutch in and drop it to the lower gear, release clutch. (Hence DOUBLE CLUTCHING)

-or-

1. Press clutch in
2. Rev the engine to the desired rpm while moving through neutral.
3. Select the lower gear as the rpm is right and let the clutch go.

Either method works. This smooths the downshifting engagement and places less stress on the clutch when done properly... it will take some time though to get it right... then it becomes second nature.