I've been practicing setting the gas at various rpms, and it seems like when I don't watch the tachometer, I can land the needle around 1400rpm. I'm still moving off pretty slowly though, so I probably have to lift the clutch up quicker? I also experimented with lifting the clutch to the friction point and then adding gas, but that didn't seem any quicker. I obviously need to fine-tune my footwork.Teamwork wrote:In my experience around where I live and travel which is pretty much in the middle of Nassau County there's like a true rhyme and reason to the sweet spot. If I leave my house and am out on the road by 7:00-7:40 am there really is minimal traffic. As soon as it's 7:45 am-8:30 am though... dying. It's literally almost like in that window everyone and their mother is using EVERY major highway on Long Island. If I have to drive anywhere period though between the times of 4:30 pm-6:30 pm to drive back home... my door to door time increases pretty much 50%+. This most of the time has nothing to do with an accident/road work if anyone outside this state is reading this. This is merely overpopulation/congestion and no other variable. It's disgusting.Thanks for your encouragement. I work a normal 9-5, but I tend to get to work around 8 to beat traffic (I did that even when I drove an automatic). The past few days, I've been leaving work around 4:50, but that didn't lessen traffic by much. Speaking of hills, I'm renting a driveway spot a few blocks from my place that I park in when I can't find a spot on my block. To get out of that driveway, I have to go up a slight incline. So far, converting my no-gas launch to a gas-assisted launch has worked fine.
You hit the nail on the head there. As I was saying, yesterday I made myself do some gas launches, and my left foot is starting to understand that even with some revs, I need to pause on the friction point momentarily.Naturally when you add more 'working parts' and variables- there is more to go wrong. I pretty much just related what would happen to me... trying to balance both of feet and get them to work together was difficult at first. A long with no gas launches you should quicker kind of practice "setting the gas" to certain rpm levels so you can have an idea of how much pressure needs to be applied for a range of rpm. Just sit in your car with the parking brake up and without using clutch at all just practice setting the gas at certain rpms. For my car in particular when I set the gas simultaneously I'm really only bringing the revs slightly over idle- nothing too crazy like 1200-1400 rpms.
Damn! Kudos to you for throwing yourself at hill starts right away. And I can totally agree about the "grey hairs" comment; I'm probably going to age a few years in the next few monthsFor now, I'm purposely avoiding a part of my commute that's rather hilly (near North Shore LIJ - those steep hills near the LIE), but I don't typically take that route anyway. At some point, I'll force myself to drive that way.I am familiar and I would do the same if it's avoidable. Honestly the exit ramp that I have to take for my job is a "moderate hill" with a traffic light at the very top. Sometimes I literally have to wait 2 cycles of lights because it doesn't allow enough of the high way to come onto the main road. When I was new I seriously feared this but my hand was forced. I had no way around it so I got pretty acquainted fairly fast. I probably sprung some grey hairs though in the first few months.
Weirdly enough, I've been OK with adding some gas at the friction point on inclines. Yesterday, though, I became slightly more comfortable with the idea that I might roll back a tiny amount while I'm revving/letting the clutch up. I mean, my previous car (a Nissan Rogue) rolled back on hills, and that was a CVT. My biggest problem with adding gas before lifting the clutch was that I wasn't waiting long enough for the cars in front of me to move, so of course I'd be afraid of accelerating into them.
Interestingly enough, I've been seeing a lot of manual cars in my neighborhood parked on the streets. Whenever I see those, it reminds me that I can do it too. I also keep reminding myself that in other parts of the world, people of all ages daily drive manual cars with not much of a thought to it.
Hahaha! That's hilarious! I'm almost tempted to get one of those stickers, but that might just bring asshole drivers even closer to my bumper on hills.Great points being made here and I really just agree. My girlfriend has a lot of relatives in Glen Cove which is another town that is extremely HILLY. Like, will roll back in an automatic at 5 mph + hilly if you don't do anything (I know because I tested it). Still even through the worst areas of Long Island in my mind for driving manual... you still see an abundance of Civic SI's, WRX's, EVOs, which only come in manual. Like I said one of my best friends lives in Forest Hills now and he actually camera shotted an old Hyundai Accent with this sticker on his (her?) car. http://www.amazon.com/Driving-Stick-Shi ... A0SXXP8BBD