Teaching someone to drive a stick in your car

[theonlyred16v@hotmail.com (Brian Haygood)]

I tought a ton of people to drive stick when I worked at the dealership.  
Here's a nice trick that is educational for the driver, and easy on the car:

The first thing you should have them do is to get the car rolling without 
touching the gas pedal.  Tell them to let out on the clutch pedal very 
slowly, and watch the tack/listen to the engine.  If the engine gets jerky 
or slows down, the put the clutch pedal back in just a little.

Almost everyone who started out this way got it on the first or second try.  
It works really well because it gives them time to think about what is going 
on, and makes them focus on the goal behind using the clutch pedal.

>From there, just have them make slightly faster starts with the gas pedal 
slightly depressed.  A few iterations later they will start figuring out how 
the gas pedal relates to the clutch, and from there it's just a matter of a 
minute or two before they are making decent starts.

Got this idea from a friend, and it works beautifully.

BH


>From: "Noah" <pchandyman@intrex.net>
>To: "Scirocco list" <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
>Subject: Teaching someone to drive a stick in your car (was Re: Mk1 cooling 
>fan replacement?)
>Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 22:34:25 -0400
>
>I've found that the best way is to take them to a fine dirt or gravel road.
>That way they cant get enough traction to hurt the car. I was quite happy
>with myself for figuring this out after a half hour or so of trying in 
>paved
>parking lots (with all the accompanying jerking and tirespinning) . Worth
>remembering if you are in the situation again.
>
>
>
>-Noah
>-86 Audi 5ktq
>-84 Audi Quattro
>-82 Chevy Rollback wrecker! 454cu yeehaw!
>-Yard full of VWs that will become one car soon
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Gordon Forbess" <gforbess@att.net>
>To: "Nate Mellom" <bronson@inwave.com>
>Cc: "Scirocco list" <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
>Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2002 10:03 PM
>Subject: Re: Mk1 cooling fan replacement?
>
>
>Teaching any female relative (or wife or gf) to drive a stick =
>courage.  Using your car = dumb.
>
>
>On Wed, 15 May 2002 20:39:01 -0500, Nate Mellom <bronson@inwave.com>
>wrote:
>
> >Hey all.
> >While teaching my sister to drive a stick last night, I saw steam coming
> >from under the hook, checked the temp gauge, and it was REALLY hot.
> > Turns out my cooling fan finally shit on me (it's been making this
> >god-awful noise for a few weeks now, I'm not sure if the blades were
> >rubbing or if the bearings are shot, I haven't looked into it yet.)
> > Question is, can I replace just the fan and motor without swapping the
> >radiator?  I'm about to check my Bentley, I figured I'd ask the
> >collective first.  Anyone have a fan/radiator/any variation for sale?
> > It's the '81, stock 1.7, no A/C.
> >Nate
> >'81
> >'84
> >
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
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> >Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> >http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l
>
>Gordon
>
>75 Mk I/Drake 1.9 8V
>http://home.att.net/~gforbess/scirocco/scirocco.htm
>
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>
>
>
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