Teaching people to drive stick on your car...pros/cons
06-28-2012, 03:32 PM
#46
Drifting
If your nephew drives a bike, then he already knows how to use a clutch--it's just a matter of transferring his thought process from using his left hand to his left foot. Probably not too difficult. He already understands the mechanics of it, which to me was the important part.
As someone already mentioned, the torque of the Porsche gives a newbie alot of room for error. I would never teach someone on my S2000 as it's awfully easy to stall and that can drive the owner crazy and make the newbie too self-conscious to keep trying.
Funny story about how I learned. I had tried on a couple friends' cars and had failed dismally--plus after only a few stalls they got so worried about their cars that we quit. Along comes my freshman year in college and my car was at home. My GF calls me late one evening and tells me her parents are out of town. I think we all know what that means BUT, she lives about twenty miles away.
I ask my roommate if I can borrow his car. As he tosses me the keys he says "Sure. You know how to drive a stick, right?"
Without hesitation I tell him, "Yep".
I learned to drive a stick between school and her house. Apparently, all I needed was the right motivation.
As someone already mentioned, the torque of the Porsche gives a newbie alot of room for error. I would never teach someone on my S2000 as it's awfully easy to stall and that can drive the owner crazy and make the newbie too self-conscious to keep trying.
Funny story about how I learned. I had tried on a couple friends' cars and had failed dismally--plus after only a few stalls they got so worried about their cars that we quit. Along comes my freshman year in college and my car was at home. My GF calls me late one evening and tells me her parents are out of town. I think we all know what that means BUT, she lives about twenty miles away.
I ask my roommate if I can borrow his car. As he tosses me the keys he says "Sure. You know how to drive a stick, right?"
Without hesitation I tell him, "Yep".
I learned to drive a stick between school and her house. Apparently, all I needed was the right motivation.
06-28-2012, 08:09 PM
#47
Drifting
Thread Starter
If your nephew drives a bike, then he already knows how to use a clutch--it's just a matter of transferring his thought process from using his left hand to his left foot. Probably not too difficult. He already understands the mechanics of it, which to me was the important part.
As someone already mentioned, the torque of the Porsche gives a newbie alot of room for error. I would never teach someone on my S2000 as it's awfully easy to stall and that can drive the owner crazy and make the newbie too self-conscious to keep trying.
Funny story about how I learned. I had tried on a couple friends' cars and had failed dismally--plus after only a few stalls they got so worried about their cars that we quit. Along comes my freshman year in college and my car was at home. My GF calls me late one evening and tells me her parents are out of town. I think we all know what that means BUT, she lives about twenty miles away.
I ask my roommate if I can borrow his car. As he tosses me the keys he says "Sure. You know how to drive a stick, right?"
Without hesitation I tell him, "Yep".
I learned to drive a stick between school and her house. Apparently, all I needed was the right motivation.
As someone already mentioned, the torque of the Porsche gives a newbie alot of room for error. I would never teach someone on my S2000 as it's awfully easy to stall and that can drive the owner crazy and make the newbie too self-conscious to keep trying.
Funny story about how I learned. I had tried on a couple friends' cars and had failed dismally--plus after only a few stalls they got so worried about their cars that we quit. Along comes my freshman year in college and my car was at home. My GF calls me late one evening and tells me her parents are out of town. I think we all know what that means BUT, she lives about twenty miles away.
I ask my roommate if I can borrow his car. As he tosses me the keys he says "Sure. You know how to drive a stick, right?"
Without hesitation I tell him, "Yep".
I learned to drive a stick between school and her house. Apparently, all I needed was the right motivation.
Tom
06-30-2012, 01:38 AM
#48
Poseur
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Soon I will be teaching my significant other's 19 year old daughter how to drive a stick. The Porsche would be the last vehicle I would consider for such training. As we all know, every manual tranny car has a different feel to it so all you can hope to get across is the concept, and they will have to take it the rest of the way themselves. My recommendation is to first take your student into an auto repair facility and look for a mechanic doing a clutch job who wouldn't mind you using the engine and tranny as a learning aid. Understanding what is going on inside that end of the transmission is the most important element to driving a stick. Understanding transmission and engine speed matching is ultimately of critical importance to (1) learning how to drive a stick, (2) getting maximum life from a clutch, and (3) being the smoothest shifter one can become.
06-30-2012, 07:33 AM
#49
All my kids learned to drive a manual transmission on my John Deere 650 tractor. I just stood next to them, watched and gave suggestions. They were between 12 and 16 years old. But there is a big difference between learning how to coordinate a clutch pedal on the "back 40" and gear matching for speed, etc on the road. Lets face it, those who drive manual transmission cars all have certain rhythm to their driving and shifting that you can only learn on the road. But it was a start that introduced the usefulness of a clutch. Fortunately, my son got pretty good on a motorcycle, now regularly drives the 964 Turbo. He generally drives a BMW 330, though.
06-30-2012, 09:47 AM
#50
Rennlist Member
He'll do fine. Having already the feel for the clutch biting point on the bike makes it easier to get it in a car then.
