[Music] Hello, I'm Chris. Today I'm going to give you some tips on how to move off quickly
in a manual car. When it comes to busy junctions and roundabouts, being able to move off quickly is
essential. Once you're confident, you'll be taking better, safer opportunities to go and hesitating
less. [Music] I'll also show you why using the gas pedal when moving off is so important,
although it might not be needed if you're moving off downhill.
If you occasionally stall or have a problem with uphill starts then this video will hopefully help.
[Music] When some new drivers try to pull away quickly, they either stall or just
move off slowly and one of the main problems is not pressing the gas pedal before moving off.
It is possible in a modern car to move off without any gas,
but it's not good practice as I'll demonstrate later.
Now, this is for demonstration purposes only, but how fast can the car go without pressing the gas?
I'll change up to second.
Up to third.
15 miles per hour and I'm still not using the gas. Let's try fourth.
The engine's really struggling. I wouldn't recommend this.
So because the car moves off without needing any gas, some new drivers get used to it and it
kind of works for them, most of the time. The car moves, so why use the gas pedal when moving off.
When moving off on a flat road, pressing the gas slightly and getting the revs roughly up
to about one and a half really helps you move off smoothly and there's less risk of stalling.
Releasing the clutch smoothly as you press more on the gas pedal.
Pressing the gas more and getting the revs a little higher than one and a half helps the car
move off on an uphill without worrying about stalling. You won't have time to look at the
rev counter or want to stare at it so you'll have to get used to the sound of the engine.
Anytime you demand more from the car, whether it's an uphill start
or you want to move off quickly, then always remember to give it a bit more gas.
Here I need to do a hill start, plus I need to move off quickly. Remember to set the gas,
then raise the clutch to the biting point. I'm going to try this without the gas.
It didn't work. Don't forget, press the gas, then biting point, plus more gas as you raise a clutch.
Some new drivers think that pressing the gas when moving off is going to make the car go really
fast, but between zero to about five miles per hour the clutch is in control. The more you raise
the clutch, the faster you move off, but you need to press the gas to help move off smoothly and
not stall. Just to demonstrate, I'm pressing the gas more but it's not affecting the speed at all.
Smoothly releasing the clutch with gas does make me go faster.
So how do you move off quickly? Well, it's similar to an uphill start.
Set the gas above one and a half raise the clutch to the biting point,
then smoothly release the clutch as you accelerate more.
Pressing the gas more allows you to raise the clutch a little quicker
which makes the car move off faster.
If you raise the clutch quickly before pressing the gas then the car will probably stall,
so it's essential to set the gas first, rev the engine a little,
raise the clutch to the biting point, then raise the clutch all the way with more gas.
I used the parking brake that time as it was slightly uphill.
It also allowed me to release the foot brake and have my right foot ready to press the gas to go.
Gas, biting point, release the parking brake smoothly, raise the clutch with more gas.
A busy junction. Parking brake is on. Wait patiently for a safe opportunity.
Then gas, biting point, parking brake down, more gas, raise the clutch smoothly.
Don't look at using the parking brake as an amateur thing to do,
it really isn't. It's part of the car and it's there to be used.
It means that you can release the foot brake and have your right foot ready for the accelerator.
if you give it lots of gas and raise the clutch too quickly then you could wheel spin and lose
control. It's easy to wheel spin in the wet, ice or on a gravelly road surface, so be careful.
Of course, always make sure it's safe to go and
be ready to slow down or stop at the roundabout if needed.
Didn't need to stop here but just another demonstration.
A flat road, no parking brake needed, gas, biting point, smoothly raise the clutch with more gas.
This time I will get the biting point, then gas.
And you can see it's much slower.
You don't always need to pull away quickly, of course only when needed,
such as when it's busy and you don't get many opportunities to go.
A lot of accidents happen at junctions, so always make sure you've observed properly
and only go when you're absolutely sure it's safe.
For more driving tips, have a look at our learning to drive modules on our website,
there's videos on how to drive a manual car smoothly and tips on how to use clutch
control. Best of all, it's completely free and you don't even need to register.
Thanks a lot for watching. Please press the thumbs up if it helped
and subscribe to help us make more videos like this one. Keep safe on the road and bye for now!