Complete standard transmission newbie here with no knowledge on the subject. Wouldn't the car stall when you let go of the brake at the biting point on a steep hill?theholycow wrote: 2. Clutch hold: Keep your right foot on the brake, raise your left foot until the clutch is just starting to grab a little bit (might see the tachometer dip, might it, might hear it, etc), then calmly move from brake to accelerator.
Anxiety about slight inclines
Re: Anxiety about slight inclines
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IMBoring25
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Re: Anxiety about slight inclines
With enough finesse, the "biting point" is really more of a "biting range." With the clutch fully disengaged, no power is transmitted to the wheels. With the clutch fully engaged, all the power generated is transmitted to the wheels. The clutch travel doesn't go instantaneously from one of those extremes to the other. Where the clutch just starts to grab, you're imparting a tiny amount of motive force to the vehicle, less than it would take to drag the engine down to where it won't run anymore, regardless of whether you use any gas or not. Even aggressive race clutches have a little bit of clutch travel where the clutch grips progressively harder before the engine is locked to the transmission.
How much clutch you can give it will depend on your vehicle. You're getting the clutch where it needs to be to continue the launch and keeping the vehicle from rolling back too much as you reposition your other foot from the brake to the gas. Done correctly, it will be over faster than you could talk about it and for most vehicles on most hills rollback is not a necessity.
You can use the parking brake to hold the vehicle in lieu of the service brake and use the clutch and gas before you release the brakes, which simplifies the process. It's also possible to heel-and-toe, but even with a foot-operated parking brake in my truck I've never seen the need for that for a launch.
How much clutch you can give it will depend on your vehicle. You're getting the clutch where it needs to be to continue the launch and keeping the vehicle from rolling back too much as you reposition your other foot from the brake to the gas. Done correctly, it will be over faster than you could talk about it and for most vehicles on most hills rollback is not a necessity.
You can use the parking brake to hold the vehicle in lieu of the service brake and use the clutch and gas before you release the brakes, which simplifies the process. It's also possible to heel-and-toe, but even with a foot-operated parking brake in my truck I've never seen the need for that for a launch.
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theholycow
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Re: Anxiety about slight inclines
Also, if you were going to stall, taking your foot off the brake wouldn't be involved...it would stall as soon as you engaged the clutch too much.
1980 Buick LeSabre 4.1L 5MT
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watkins wrote:Humans have rear-biased AWD. Cows have 4WD
Re: Anxiety about slight inclines
Definitely go with Option 2 or Option 3.
Option 2 makes you get used to the clutch - add a little gas if the car feels like it's jerking (i.e. the engine is working too hard)
Option 3 initially scared the crap out of me too. But you realize the amount of roll back is minimal by the time you start the seesawing the clutch and gas. Just don't panic. Worse comes to worse, brake, and start again.
Option 2 makes you get used to the clutch - add a little gas if the car feels like it's jerking (i.e. the engine is working too hard)
Option 3 initially scared the crap out of me too. But you realize the amount of roll back is minimal by the time you start the seesawing the clutch and gas. Just don't panic. Worse comes to worse, brake, and start again.