Say you stop on a hill, and there's a car riding your tail. How do you start off without rolling backwards into that person?? Actually, i'm just startin with a manual transmission, and I have quite got that figured out yet

- plenty of practice
- handbrake method
- give him/ her/ it the middle finger

might be hard if you have a foot parking brake like an American car.

Floor it and drop the clutch. [;D]


Seriously, as you get more experienced you will be able to do it. Either that or the people behind you will learn their lesson.

Practice on flat terrain to find the friction point of your clutch (the point at which the clutch engages the motor to the tranny).  At the incline, release your clutch to the friction point while smoothly feeding it gas. Just don't ride on the clutch to keep your position on an incline; you can burn-out your clutch.

You'll eventually get the hang of it through practice and feel.

What Pave said. ;)

Actually, you really need to master the "feel" of the clutch (engagement point) and it can differe from car to car (or from clutch to clutch in the same car). If you don't get good at it you'll end up slippling the clutch hard and that will shorten it's life.

Just like pave said, learn the point where your clutch begins to engage.  This will be different for every car, so remember that if you ever drive multiple cars so learn where that point is for each car.

To start on a hill what I do is, when the light turns green I start to let out the clutch while keeping my foot on the brake.  Once I reach (or get close) to where the clutch is going to engage let off the brake and give it some gas.  Like was already mentioned don't sit there for a while with the clutch out, you'll burn it up.

The other thing you can do when you get more experienced with a stick is to heel & toe it.  For example your stopped on the hill, but instead of positioning your right foot like you usually would, angle it so that your toes/ball is on the brake and your heel is in position to hit the gas pedal.  

When you want to go just roll your foot more onto the gas at the same time as you let off the brake.  You can also use this technique when you want to haul some serious ass since it allows you to hit the gas much quicker. [}:D] This will be a lot easier in some cars than others depending on the placement of the pedals.  

Just practice and you will get it

Classic "heel & toe" technique.  Slide your right foot over to the right more, keeping just the left side of your right foot on the brake pedal.  Roll the right side of your right foot down onto the gas pedal & just "blip" the gas.  As the rpms start to come back down, let the clutch up through the friction point or engagement point and slide your right foot onto the gas.

Needless to say, practice this a few times on level ground without that guy on your butt.  This is also the easiest way to get rpms up during a downshift.  Much smoother than just jamming the lower gear.  It also saves wear on the synchro rings.

Norm

Looks like HKer & I were typing at the same time.

N

Just go to a deserted parking lot.Then you can learn on a flat surface,the relationship between clutch and gas pedals.Then find one with a incliune and learn how to hold yourself without the brake.

I did this with my soon to be wife.Unfortunatley I didn't see the guy collecting carts before I turned her loose.I was laughing so hard the guy probally thought some lunatics were after him.the last time I seen the poor bastard he was scooting up a light pole.Good thing it was a new car with no plates.If he didnt call the cops he should have.

On a flat surface, try to get the car rolling in second gear.  I gave that advice to a female friend.  She learned that way and enjoyed her bargain car.  Got a real deal on a new stick and backed up traffic wherever she went.  Start in in second using the clutch and gas.  Promise, you will learn your clutch fast.[bounce]

Yes, hills and manual transmissions can be a heckuva combination.

Back in my High School Daze in Shreveport, Louisiana, I was driving a '68 Camaro convertable with a 4-speed Borg-Warner T-10 trans. If you're familiar with Shreveport, then you know there's quite a few hills within the city. And one of the worst is located right beside my alma mater, C.E.Byrd High School!

It was always a problem pulling up to that light, especially on cold mornings when I was having trouble keeping the motor running with only a manual choke on the Holley carb!

As it always happens, some dip would pull right up on my bumper. I'm giving the old heel-toe etc., for all I'm worth, but you just know the car's gonna roll back SOME!

Best response for me - Hurst 'Line-Lok' which was a device that kept pressure on the brake lines, with a button that you could mount on the Hurst Competition Plus shifter, so that, once the brakes were 'set', as long as you kept the button pressed the brakes were 'on.'

It's a pretty drastic response and probably unnecessary if your vehicle has the emergency brake located between the seats, as most cars seem to have now. When I was driving my VW sqbk., the emergency brake's only purpose was to keep the vehicle from rolling back at lights!

When you get a tad, er.., older, you will begin to really appreciate automatic transmissions!

Eric The(Geezer)Hun[>]:)]

Do this all at once: (A)take right foot off brake and mash gas pedal to floor;(B)instead of lifting left foot off clutch pedal,slide it off sideways to the left quickly

Don't even worry about it.  Just drive off as normal if you rool back jump out the car and swear that he/she ran into the back of you.  
[:D]

Ulysse above had a good answer...the handbrake method...start giving it some gas and and let up on the clutch. When the clutch starts to engage, release the handbrake lever.