The BritishV8 Pub

16yr old son just got his license. He's saved money since birth for a car. Ad said V6. Car was a V8 (high mileage 06 mustang). Bought it. Stick shift. My thought is can't text & shift. Teaching son to drive manual - doing ok till panic stop. wHen went to brake & gas instead of brake & clutch. Harder he pressed on the brake, faster we lunged. Any tips to break that reaction?

More practice stops in an empty church parking lot. Have him drive around & you randomly yell STOP.

I taught my son to ride a dirt bike way before driving age, so it was an easier transition to a manual trans. car.

Glue his left foot to the clutch pedal.

Rob, How about securely up on blocks, in the rear ? Being out or harms way, he could practice without risk. Monitoring the speedo or tach to build finnesse and coordination. Good Luck, roverman.

I like Graham's idea. Maybe a piece of plywood between the clutch and brake.

Jim

I'm thinking about some kind of spark plug wired to a switch you control...he puts the plug in his pocket...

Details are fuzzy but you get the idea.

:-)

Rob,
I taught both of my daughters to drive stick without any damage to us, the car, or
innocent bystanders. The number one rule I gave them was that the left foot works only the clutch, and I had them push in the clutch whenever they used the brakes. Oh yeah, they learned in a ’71 Bug, the breaks are much more powerful than the engine. I think one your son gets used to the pedal position he will do fine.

Thanks guys - he's doing a lot better. We practiced in an empty parking lot with the idea Graham gave. And, since then, I've done the same on the street when he wasn't expecting it (& no cars were behind us) & he seems to have it down. Still a little trouble getting going from a stop but with another week or so of practice he should be fine.

You actually glued his foot to the clutch pedal?! :)

YIKES - no! I used your suggestion Carl, not Graham's!

Rob,
I don't know what you told him about how to let the clutch out, but I have had good results with the following...
Let the clutch out slowly, till you feel it start to grab just slightly, hold it there for a second and then let it the rest of the way out super slowly while you give it a tiny bit of gas. My oldest daughter was having trouble taking off from a stop because when she felt the clutch start to grab, she would let completely off the clutch pedal. Might be worth a try…

That's exactly his problem. He knows what he's supposed to do but still lets the clutch out too fast & doesn't give it enough gas... recovers when he hears it start dieseling. I've showed him how to tell where the clutch starts to engage & he's practiced it & knows what he should do -- just doesn't have the muscle memory yet. I've said "slower clutch, more gas" so many times we resorted to plucking his ear each time he did it -- that seemed to help him remember ;).

To get the feel for the clutch, have him keep his heel on the floor. That means he will need to have the ball of his foot or toes on the pedal.

"You actually glued his foot to the clutch pedal?! :)"

Nail gun would work better!

Tapcons. You can back those out later.

Jim

I recently helped my 16 year old learn in a stock MGB. X's 2 on aWide open parking lot, one with a slope is even better. Before we started I laid down the rules: 3 half hour lessens on 3 different days, then when he had all the slow driving down to a habit, and only then would we get out of 2nd gear on a low traffic road. I also insisted on 7:00am Sunday lessons, just to be sure he was willing to do as I said.

Have done a bunch of parking lot practice over past week or two. He's getting better. Now has the hang of getting going in 1st enough we've progressed onto roads. He's a little slower to start moving than he needs to be - occasional honk from the car behind him but not often & we've done 3 trips of 6-10 miles round trip with plenty of stop signs & traffic lights and no stall outs so he's definitely improving. Have done a few more "panic" stops at random times & he's not made that mistake again either.

But, turns out he'll get at least 3 more weeks practice before he gets to drive it on his own -- our deal is all A's & B's and he got a C in Chemestry (but didn't choose to go to tutoring like he was supposed to)... so he has to get that back to a B for at least 3 wks before he's alowed to drive his car on his own.

I had my daughter learn the clutch with no accelerator pedal involved. Granted, it was a powerful engine but she mastered the take-away with the engine idling. She's a great driver and loves her hot rods.

NCtim