Your clutch methods

Tom|Nbk

Tom|Nbk

Tom|Nbk

Soldato
Joined
12 Mar 2006
Posts
23,069
Location
N.E England
I was always taught and everyone i know has been taught to set the gas first and then bring the clutch up to the biting point and more gas and away basically working both togather. Where as i have seen people say they dont touch the gas but set the clutch up to bite and then onto the gas, is the method i use wrong in anyway?, just a question thats been on my mind a little. Cheers
 
I thought cars just "drove" magically when you sat in them and thought about going foward, much like walking. Mine seem to anyhow.

Do you walk along thinking "left foot forward, right foot forward" :/
 
That's how you're taught in your 1000cc learners car with zero torque :)
I've always let it bite and then give it some 'gas' or diesel in my case.
However, I have recently come across two vauxhalls (diesel!) where you absolutely *have* to set the revs, as if the flywheel was made of marble or something.
 
I was taught that "set the gas..." guff. I pretty much immediately threw it out and just drove in a manner that didn't have the car pull away jerkily - clutch and throttle pedal movement blending together so the car just....goes.

Just do whatever gets the car to pull away smoothly. Unless you want to go quickly, in which case 5000rpm and a drop-clutch launch :D
 
Too long ago since I learnt to be able to say. I just do it.

I think I bring the clutch up and accelerate at the same time so as I hit the bite its got a few revs to get it under way.
 
i don't think about it.

I suppose if i'm starting on an incline I'll tend to give it some more gas first but I'm not sure.
 
Blip the thottle and let the clutch out. It's one motion really.

The way you're taught to drive means sod-all in the real world, it's simply there to stop you rolling back and generating a big insurance quote for your driving instructor.
 
When I learnt to drive last year, I done the no gas method for some reason. Get it to the biting point, get the car moving along then get down on the gas. :confused:

When I first bought my car and started driving around, I figured that I definitely needed gas to get moving at a decent pace, so I'd give it some gas and then release my clutch - the gas also prevents me from stalling it.

But now, I kind of release my clutch to biting point very quickly (left foot moves first), and add gas (right foot moves second) just as it hits the biting point, pause it all for a second then release clutch and add gas.
 
well yea im starting to not think about it now its just the set gas clutch up method sometimes gets me a jerky start i think ill have a little experiment tommorow.
 
I wasn't taught how to do it, but, I bring it up to the biting point, then gas. Just seems the better way to do it? :confused: Seemed the natural way to do it to.
 
If you have to think about it you're

1. going to stall

or

2. gonna look like an old lady with no clutch control and WAY too much RPM at 2mph
 
Daveyboy said:
If you have to think about it you're

1. going to stall

or

2. gonna look like an old lady with no clutch control and WAY too much RPM at 2mph
Click to expand...

I don't think about it as i said im just wondering how my method differs to others.
 
i learnt in a deisel mini and started pulling off on the clutch. which whilst it worked, it meant I pulled off very slowly.

After a few lessons I started practicing in the parents fiesta (petrol). you certainly cannot drive that like a diesel cos it stalls! you need gas before clutch. after getting used to the fiesta, i started to drive the diesel mini more like a petrol, and that ensured I didnt pull off at crossroads at 1mph.

if ya keep pulling off on the clutch start saving for a new 1 cos it wont last that long :p

i have a friend who learnt in a diesel who drives his petrol like a diesel. he is forever stalling (sometimes repeatedly) when pulling off and even when ti deosnt stall you hear the engine really really stuttering. Whilst it isnt going to make you have an accident, it does make other drivers (and people in the car with you) think you are a bad driver :)
thats what i think on the matter anyways :cool:
hope this helps
 
Last edited:
mglover070588 said:
i learnt in a deisel mini and started pulling off on the clutch. which whilst it worked, it meant I pulled off very slowly.

After a few lessons I started practicing in the parents fiesta (petrol). you certainly cannot drive that like a diesel cos it stalls! you need gas before clutch. after getting used to the fiesta, i started to drive the diesel mini more like a petrol, and that ensured I didnt pull off at crossroads at 1mph.

if ya keep pulling off on the clutch start saving for a new 1 cos it wont last that long :p

i have a friend who learnt in a diesel who drives his petrol like a diesel. he is forever stalling (sometimes repeatedly) when pulling off and even when ti deosnt stall you hear the engine really really stuttering. Whilst it isnt going to make you have an accident, it does make other drivers (and people in the car with you) think you are a bad driver :)
hope this helps
Click to expand...

aye cheers for that, i do use the gas simutaniously sp? with the clutch it feels right to me although i do get a juddering start sometimes. perhaps i just need to practice more :p
 
I dont think about it i just do it, im not entirely sure what i do its a sub concious thing now, ill have to remember what i do tommorow.

thedazman
 
Tom|Nbk said:
aye cheers for that, i do use the gas simutaniously sp? with the clutch it feels right to me although i do get a juddering start sometimes. perhaps i just need to practice more :p
Click to expand...

i updated my post a bit since the quote :p all i do is a bit of gas til bite then when the car starts to move foot of the clutch then more gas. i had a go in an empty road in the petrol fiesta before i started to learn and I kept bunnyhoping and stalling loads. then when i got the hang it was so much easier. however bad you are, with time you'll get better. just dont keep pulling off on the clutch as I bet you have an older car as a new driver and new clutches are several 100quid :)
 
In my instructors car (1.2 Corsa) i have to set some gas, bite, more gas clutch off very gently. It's taken me 12 lessons to get the hang of it but i do have a dodgy left foot. Was starting to think autos only for me though :o


In my car (1.9 Diesel) it will quite happilt chug away with no gas set on the flat, i think on a decent hill it will need some, must try it soon.
 
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