Quote:
Originally Posted by mordeeb
I think I'm the slowest Porsche on the road...
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As a honorary member and special pledge coordinator of the Save the Manuals club, we need new recruits!
All the advice given here is good, but the most important thing is practice. Take the car out early Sunday morning to a remote area (or even a big parking lot) where there won't be many other cars and spend an hour just practicing getting it started from a stop. Learn the clutch's "bite" point (compared to my DD Honda its at a higher point). Slowly release of the clutch with just a slight bit of throttle...say from idle speed up a few hundred RPM. Just learn that point where you feel the car going forward. As soon as you are moving...say at 2,000 RPM, depress the clutch, shift to 2nd and let the clutch out....faster this time.....you won't stall it very easily when your moving forward. Don't even get it out of second gear during this first hour. You'll probably buck and stall some when starting in 1st....everyone does when they learn.
When you've made some progress, practice your slow turns. Learn that the car will stall when making a slow speed turn if you don't get on that clutch. Don't let the engine bog down to near idle RPM and you won't stall.
Next, practice some normal road driving. Get it into 3rd....even 4th. Learn when you need to downshift. Coming to a sharp corner? Know you need to get it into lower gear going into the turn. Learn when you need to engage both the clutch and brake at the same time. Truly, the car will tell you if your doing something wrong.
Now go to a slight incline and stop the car. Turn it off. Make a mental picture of what you'll need to do to get the car going forward. Start it up in neutral. Press the clutch and put it in 1st. You may need a little more accelerator than you did with the flat starts. Let the clutch out just a tad bit quicker to the bite point. Because, gravity will make it want to roll back. Try the handbrake method if it helps. But you are in charge. You will stall it - trust me. Don't get discouraged. Thousands of people have gone though this and learned. Were they any better than you? No!!! It really is like learning to ride a bike...you will never forget afterwards how to do it.
Once you master the hill-start, you've got it. Drive, drive, drive. Practice, practice, practice. Soon you'll join an ever exclusive club of people who drive - really drive - cars the way that God and Mr. Porsche intended with two feet working three pedals in concert. You'll feel (and hear) the joy of winding that beautiful flat six out and working your way up and down through the gears. I say this with all due respect to our Tiptronic-driving brothers and sisters, of course
who love their cars just as much as we and don't have to fret over getting stuck in 10 miles of stop and go traffic.
Finally, for any who think me overly zealous or sounding like a know-it-all , I readily admit probably 90% of the people on this board are better drivers than I am. I'm terrible at heal/toe and rev-matching. I've never raced. Never been to DE. But I have driven dozens of stick cars in my 43 years of driving, and taught other people to drive them.
I'm in Stoneham. Just north of Boston. PM me if you want any help. I'd be happy to meet you to help or just go for a drive in our incredible cars. Good luck!