Pulling away in a petrol trouble
Hello,
I passed my test a few weeks ago and learnt in a diesel car. I now own a petrol 1.4 and the difference needless to say, is very noticeable.
Example; in my instructors car I could literally drive it on the clutch and therefore pulling off I would find the bite, add gas and slowly lift the clutch up. Easy.
In my own car I keep stalling. I find that to not stall I have to give it a lot of revs but it's never really smooth and I believe I'm doing something wrong. I've heard some people saying to have the clutch down fully, give it roughly 2k revs and lift the clutch up slowly or something.. It's different and I'd appreciate any tips.
Thank you
I passed my test a few weeks ago and learnt in a diesel car. I now own a petrol 1.4 and the difference needless to say, is very noticeable.
Example; in my instructors car I could literally drive it on the clutch and therefore pulling off I would find the bite, add gas and slowly lift the clutch up. Easy.
In my own car I keep stalling. I find that to not stall I have to give it a lot of revs but it's never really smooth and I believe I'm doing something wrong. I've heard some people saying to have the clutch down fully, give it roughly 2k revs and lift the clutch up slowly or something.. It's different and I'd appreciate any tips.
Thank you
Don't worry! I did the exact same thing when I first got a petrol after learning in a diesel. The trick is you want to be pulling the clutch up and pushing down on the accelerator at roughly the same speed, so when you reach your biting point you'll be at about 2k revs, it really is something that you'll pick up with time, if you have to rev a little more at the moment to make sure you don't stall that's fine!
Original post by Mr_Cupcakes
Don't worry! I did the exact same thing when I first got a petrol after learning in a diesel. The trick is you want to be pulling the clutch up and pushing down on the accelerator at roughly the same speed, so when you reach your biting point you'll be at about 2k revs, it really is something that you'll pick up with time, if you have to rev a little more at the moment to make sure you don't stall that's fine!
Thank you! I'll go into lidl car park after hours later and try it out. Thank you
if you were taught to just pull away on the clutch, your instructor has just taken the easy option, and hasn't taught you to drive, and has only taught you to drive that particular car, and the tosser should be shot.
basically just add some gas, and lift the clutch as you normally would, don't listen to the give it xxx revs, they don't matter really, as long as you give it a bit.
It doesn't matter how much gas you give it, the car might rev a bit, but it'll be the speed that clutch comes up that'll control the speed you take off.
If in doubt, add some more gas, it'll do no harm, well within reason, you don't want to be going foot to the floor too much.
I'm really surprised that any instructor still teaches moving off with just the clutch, I can see the appeal in the early stages of learning, but not later on in the process, I thought that 'method' went out the window with sequential gear changes, i'm even more surprised that an examiner is allowed to pass someone doing it, its dangerous, you take ages to get going, you need to wait for bigger gaps, and you're not 'good to go' so to speak.
Always use gas when pulling off, get in to the habit of it, your driving will seem a lot more positive because of it, just watch how most other drivers drive, they take off pretty sharpish, this is where you need to be.
When you break it down, a stall happens when the clutch plates come together either too quickly or when there isn't enough power to keep them turning, in both cases adding gas will take most of the possibility of stalling away, if you've got the gas on and come off the clutch too fast, you'll be unlikely to stall, you may have a bit of a lumpy start, or a bit of a wheel spin if there's too much gas, but there should in theory be enough power there to keep it turning, and if you come off slowly and have the gas on, the gas will take away any possibility of stalling.
As my instructor drummed in to me, 'GO LIKE YOU MEAN IT' it really does make a world of difference to your driving in pretty much any situation, once you can pull away positively with a bit of speed, everything else like busy roundabouts and junctions etc will become much easier, because you will be able to take the smaller gaps, you will be able to time your merging better etc
Go and practice it somewhere quiet, even a little circuit around a couple of roundabouts and stop every time, and practice pulling away positively and quickly with gas, or even a long empty road, and just stop and pull away over and over again
basically just add some gas, and lift the clutch as you normally would, don't listen to the give it xxx revs, they don't matter really, as long as you give it a bit.
It doesn't matter how much gas you give it, the car might rev a bit, but it'll be the speed that clutch comes up that'll control the speed you take off.
If in doubt, add some more gas, it'll do no harm, well within reason, you don't want to be going foot to the floor too much.
I'm really surprised that any instructor still teaches moving off with just the clutch, I can see the appeal in the early stages of learning, but not later on in the process, I thought that 'method' went out the window with sequential gear changes, i'm even more surprised that an examiner is allowed to pass someone doing it, its dangerous, you take ages to get going, you need to wait for bigger gaps, and you're not 'good to go' so to speak.
Always use gas when pulling off, get in to the habit of it, your driving will seem a lot more positive because of it, just watch how most other drivers drive, they take off pretty sharpish, this is where you need to be.
When you break it down, a stall happens when the clutch plates come together either too quickly or when there isn't enough power to keep them turning, in both cases adding gas will take most of the possibility of stalling away, if you've got the gas on and come off the clutch too fast, you'll be unlikely to stall, you may have a bit of a lumpy start, or a bit of a wheel spin if there's too much gas, but there should in theory be enough power there to keep it turning, and if you come off slowly and have the gas on, the gas will take away any possibility of stalling.
As my instructor drummed in to me, 'GO LIKE YOU MEAN IT' it really does make a world of difference to your driving in pretty much any situation, once you can pull away positively with a bit of speed, everything else like busy roundabouts and junctions etc will become much easier, because you will be able to take the smaller gaps, you will be able to time your merging better etc
Go and practice it somewhere quiet, even a little circuit around a couple of roundabouts and stop every time, and practice pulling away positively and quickly with gas, or even a long empty road, and just stop and pull away over and over again
Original post by kernow24
if you were taught to just pull away on the clutch, your instructor has just taken the easy option, and hasn't taught you to drive, and has only taught you to drive that particular car, and the tosser should be shot.
basically just add some gas, and lift the clutch as you normally would, don't listen to the give it xxx revs, they don't matter really, as long as you give it a bit.
It doesn't matter how much gas you give it, the car might rev a bit, but it'll be the speed that clutch comes up that'll control the speed you take off.
If in doubt, add some more gas, it'll do no harm, well within reason, you don't want to be going foot to the floor too much.
I'm really surprised that any instructor still teaches moving off with just the clutch, I can see the appeal in the early stages of learning, but not later on in the process, I thought that 'method' went out the window with sequential gear changes, i'm even more surprised that an examiner is allowed to pass someone doing it, its dangerous, you take ages to get going, you need to wait for bigger gaps, and you're not 'good to go' so to speak.
Always use gas when pulling off, get in to the habit of it, your driving will seem a lot more positive because of it, just watch how most other drivers drive, they take off pretty sharpish, this is where you need to be.
When you break it down, a stall happens when the clutch plates come together either too quickly or when there isn't enough power to keep them turning, in both cases adding gas will take most of the possibility of stalling away, if you've got the gas on and come off the clutch too fast, you'll be unlikely to stall, you may have a bit of a lumpy start, or a bit of a wheel spin if there's too much gas, but there should in theory be enough power there to keep it turning, and if you come off slowly and have the gas on, the gas will take away any possibility of stalling.
As my instructor drummed in to me, 'GO LIKE YOU MEAN IT' it really does make a world of difference to your driving in pretty much any situation, once you can pull away positively with a bit of speed, everything else like busy roundabouts and junctions etc will become much easier, because you will be able to take the smaller gaps, you will be able to time your merging better etc
Go and practice it somewhere quiet, even a little circuit around a couple of roundabouts and stop every time, and practice pulling away positively and quickly with gas, or even a long empty road, and just stop and pull away over and over again
basically just add some gas, and lift the clutch as you normally would, don't listen to the give it xxx revs, they don't matter really, as long as you give it a bit.
It doesn't matter how much gas you give it, the car might rev a bit, but it'll be the speed that clutch comes up that'll control the speed you take off.
If in doubt, add some more gas, it'll do no harm, well within reason, you don't want to be going foot to the floor too much.
I'm really surprised that any instructor still teaches moving off with just the clutch, I can see the appeal in the early stages of learning, but not later on in the process, I thought that 'method' went out the window with sequential gear changes, i'm even more surprised that an examiner is allowed to pass someone doing it, its dangerous, you take ages to get going, you need to wait for bigger gaps, and you're not 'good to go' so to speak.
Always use gas when pulling off, get in to the habit of it, your driving will seem a lot more positive because of it, just watch how most other drivers drive, they take off pretty sharpish, this is where you need to be.
When you break it down, a stall happens when the clutch plates come together either too quickly or when there isn't enough power to keep them turning, in both cases adding gas will take most of the possibility of stalling away, if you've got the gas on and come off the clutch too fast, you'll be unlikely to stall, you may have a bit of a lumpy start, or a bit of a wheel spin if there's too much gas, but there should in theory be enough power there to keep it turning, and if you come off slowly and have the gas on, the gas will take away any possibility of stalling.
As my instructor drummed in to me, 'GO LIKE YOU MEAN IT' it really does make a world of difference to your driving in pretty much any situation, once you can pull away positively with a bit of speed, everything else like busy roundabouts and junctions etc will become much easier, because you will be able to take the smaller gaps, you will be able to time your merging better etc
Go and practice it somewhere quiet, even a little circuit around a couple of roundabouts and stop every time, and practice pulling away positively and quickly with gas, or even a long empty road, and just stop and pull away over and over again
While I was being taught I always thought this. Because even when I was on lesson 20-25, pulling off I would still not be smooth as a hippos back! I did think that I was being taught wrong or as you stated, the lazy way.I'm going to start lifting the clutch slightly, say 25%, then adding my gas and slowly lifting the clutch up to the bite and above. I'm going to practise this tomorrow morning as I leave my house and hope I don't stall ahhhh!I really appreciate such a large response as it was very helpful! Do you agree to my new "method"? Again, thank you.
Original post by CautiousCat
While I was being taught I always thought this. Because even when I was on lesson 20-25, pulling off I would still not be smooth as a hippos back! I did think that I was being taught wrong or as you stated, the lazy way.I'm going to start lifting the clutch slightly, say 25%, then adding my gas and slowly lifting the clutch up to the bite and above. I'm going to practise this tomorrow morning as I leave my house and hope I don't stall ahhhh!I really appreciate such a large response as it was very helpful! Do you agree to my new "method"? Again, thank you.
Not really sure of percentages and all that, every car is different after all.
If you think of every pull away as being a slight hill start, you wont go far wrong.
But with a slightly less strong bite.
Like with a hill start, you have the strong bite, you have the gas just humming away, and when you release the handbrake, you start move slowly, whilst bringing up the clutch and adding more gas if appropriate.
Its really no different when you want to make a strong positive pull away.
Its just about finding what works for you and your car, in practice, you should be able to just roll up to where you're stopping, catch the bite, so no need for even a handbrake anywhere if you're not planning to stop for any length of time, see your gap, add a little gas, adjust the clutch so you don't move, your gap comes, you add some more gas whilst you lift the clutch, and you're away, positively and quickly.
Its that balance point you need to work out, and it only comes with trial and error, people can say do xxx, put this much gas on, lift the clutch that much, but it means very little, because every car is different.
seriously go somewhere and play around for a bit, its the best way to do it, get to know what works for you and your car, work out how far you can lift the clutch without stalling, with gas, no gas (even in the majority of petrol's you can move with no gas if you're careful), different amounts of gas, then move on to seeing what you need of each to move off at different speeds, and on different gradients, it'll do your whole driving style the world of good.
You'll feel much more comfortable and confident in your abilities once you've got your head around what works in your car, even experienced drivers do it, its good to get to know a new car. once your feet are working in sync, everything else is childsplay, it'll become second nature in no time, and you wont even need to think about it, its just getting to that point that's the frustrating part.
How on earth did you pass your test pulling away on clutch alone? No offense, its the instructors fault but that is terrible instruction and asking for trouble. Basically the only answer is practice because your car wont pull away like mine so you have to learn how it operates. This might involve stalling it a few times as you'll have to practice what revs to pull away with until you find your cars individual sweet spot. If your clutch control is good enough and you're uncertain you can always put down more power and use the clutch to regulate speed (I do this to pull away in second gear when I'm being lazy) but it does put more pressure on the clutch.
edit - basic rule of thumb is lift clutch rapidly to just before biting point then apply acceleration upping the revs before lifting clutch and pushing down on the accelerator at equal speed.
edit - basic rule of thumb is lift clutch rapidly to just before biting point then apply acceleration upping the revs before lifting clutch and pushing down on the accelerator at equal speed.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by GonvilleBromhead
How on earth did you pass your test pulling away on clutch alone? No offense, its the instructors fault but that is terrible instruction and asking for trouble. Basically the only answer is practice because your car wont pull away like mine so you have to learn how it operates. This might involve stalling it a few times as you'll have to practice what revs to pull away with until you find your cars individual sweet spot. If your clutch control is good enough and you're uncertain you can always put down more power and use the clutch to regulate speed (I do this to pull away in second gear when I'm being lazy) but it does put more pressure on the clutch.
edit - basic rule of thumb is lift clutch rapidly to just before biting point then apply acceleration upping the revs before lifting clutch and pushing down on the accelerator at equal speed.
edit - basic rule of thumb is lift clutch rapidly to just before biting point then apply acceleration upping the revs before lifting clutch and pushing down on the accelerator at equal speed.
When I pulled off at, say, traffic lights i used to find the biting point and as o felt the car move forward I'd add gas. I'd literally just use the clutch when I was coming out of small areas, basicay needing the car to drive slowly.
I've now had my car nearly one month and understand exactly how to drive it. I just find the bite, add gas and lift and push both pedals
Original post by CautiousCat
When I pulled off at, say, traffic lights i used to find the biting point and as o felt the car move forward I'd add gas. I'd literally just use the clutch when I was coming out of small areas, basicay needing the car to drive slowly.
I've now had my car nearly one month and understand exactly how to drive it. I just find the bite, add gas and lift and push both pedals
I've now had my car nearly one month and understand exactly how to drive it. I just find the bite, add gas and lift and push both pedals
Im surprised that counted as reasonable control but whatever gets you through. Sweet, that's the problem with TSR it dates the thread by latest reply not original post so you end up replying to things the OP has long since stopped caring about lol
Original post by GonvilleBromhead
Im surprised that counted as reasonable control but whatever gets you through. Sweet, that's the problem with TSR it dates the thread by latest reply not original post so you end up replying to things the OP has long since stopped caring about lol
It's cool man haha! It's weird because of how much stress and pressure instructors put on you when really, driving is so easy and relaxing!
Original post by CautiousCat
It's cool man haha! It's weird because of how much stress and pressure instructors put on you when really, driving is so easy and relaxing!
Tell me about it =/ the instructors are always super nervous and micromanaging which makes you drive nervously and pedantically. Every little thing is a huge issue with instructors, I had a disagreement with one because he told me off for going through gaps that were too small and I pointed out if they were too small I wouldn't get the car through them and I drove it every day he had been in it four times so I knew the width quite well. Wasn't the best start but we got on after that.
I think the most annoying thing is when they yell ambiguous instructions like 'clutch' out of the blue with no further direction and you're like, lift it, apply it, give it a hug? what am I supposed to do
Original post by GonvilleBromhead
How on earth did you pass your test pulling away on clutch alone? No offense, its the instructors fault but that is terrible instruction and asking for trouble.
I learned in a diesel that was perfectly fine pulling away on clutch alone. Now I drive a 1.6 petrol and it was pretty easy to get used to using the clutch and accelerator to pull away.
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