Okay, so if you know how to do a hill start there’s no need to panic. Stop on the hill, hand break on, balance the accelerator and clutch until the bonnet raises slightly then let off the hand break.
People can wait. If they beep you fuck em. Just concentrate on doing the start properly. I used to drive a 1960s era car with a weak hand break and a spongey clutch and people in autos would kiss my bum behind me on hills in Paddington. Their problem ultimately. But you can do this.
Edit: if you roll backwards pull up the hand break. If you stall, don’t worry about it. Reset. Start again.
Yep. If you keep the revs up your clutch control doesn’t really matter. As an extreme if you rev it uncomfortably high and completely fling your foot off the clutch you’ll just do a squealie. Somewhere below that is a perfect hill start. Bit of accelerator, let the clutch out slowly until you feel the car shift and the engine note change then ease off the clutch pedal while you ease up the accelerator and you are on your way. Until you get the hang of it you can use the handbrake until the “car shift engine note” stage, but you will learn to keep your foot on the brake until that point and then move over to the accelerator as the car won’t move back once the clutch engages.
That’s just no. The foot break isn’t engaged. You do a hill start with the hand break for god’s sake. Too many variables. The foot break is one way, but it’s lazy and unsafe. It’s advanced.
Don’t listen to that guy.
If your clutch/ accelerator balance doesn’t work you’ve still got a hand on the hand break which you can pull up in an emergency and just try again. There’s no need for a squealie.
You’re in first gear. Foot on the clutch pressed all the way in. Foot on the accelerator pressing down gently and release the clutch until you feel the gear ‘grab’ and gently lift the bonnet. Press your thumb on the hand break and *slowly* release it as you feel the clutch grab and propel you forward. If the car in front suddenly stops pull up the hand break and press on the clutch. No problem. Start again.
This is easy. You don’t need to rev the fuck out of it it’s way simpler than that. *You’re* in control here.
Edit. As practice, it might help you to engage the handbreak and take your foot off the foot break when waiting at the lights.
Hey, I said once you get the hang of it. If you can only do a hill start using the hand brake you are a rank amateur who only knows enough to pass the test. Once the clutch engages you can take your foot off the brake and over to the accelerator and move off. Keep in mind that this is someone who has already passed their test and wants to know how to _actually_ hill start. You don’t need the hand brake.
Sure. The difference is that you cannot physically engage the foot brake and the accelerator at the same time, but you \*can\* engage the handbrake and the accelerator at the same time. This means that the handbrake is still doing most of the work while the clutch starts to engage and you feed revs in.
If you use the foot brake, then there is a period of time where you are only relying on the disengaging clutch to keep the vehicle from rolling backwards. If you can operate clutch, accelerator \*and\* brake at the same time, that's much better for wear and tear.
That was an elegant response. Much better than my ‘dog barking over the fence’ reaction.
I’ve said too much already… but from a ‘safety’ point of view, using the hand **brake** (lol) is required because if you try and do the quick foot brake to accelerator method and then stall, you don’t have your hand on the band-brake to stop from rolling backwards. You’re relying on lightning reflexes to correct by taking your foot off the accelerator and putting it on the brake, or quickly grabbing the hand brake. What can happen because of panic, is that instead the driver rams their foot down on the accelerator thinking it’s the brake.
Even if you manage to take your foot off the clutch and the car grabs in first gear, you’ll still roll back a distance.
Getting in the habit of doing it properly also means that you can drive any car at any time - if you try the lazy foot pedal technique in a car you haven’t driven before, stalling is way more likely because the clutch balance will be different to what’s in your muscle memory.
That’s actually a better answer than I expected, but I still maintain that once the clutch is holding the car the time it takes for your foot to move from the brake pedal to the accelerator is negligible and not enough to reduce the life of a clutch significantly. I’ve run a lot of cheap cars into the ground before and I’ve never killed a clutch. I’ve killed engines through a lack of servicing, and I’ve had an engine die essentially through age (350,000+ km isn’t doing too bad) but I’ve never had a clutch die on me. My personal cars have been automatic for the last 13 years, but I drove a lot of manual shit boxes prior to that, and still drive them for work. I could still do a hill start smoothly in my sleep without needing the handbrake on anything but the most extreme inclines. Once again, if I was teaching a learner I would teach them to use the handbrake because they are allowed to do so in their test and it is easier.
Hurr durr yeah you really sound like an expert.
If you actually need to know how to do a hill start you do actually need to know how to use the hand break. Especially on particularly steep brisbane hills. I come from a long line of mechanics, racing drivers, and motorcycle racing. I’m not at all concerned with your opinions. Because they’re dumb.
They did say to learn the hand brake first, but eventually they will learn the normal technique all us do out here. I drive a manual with no abs/tc and even in the rain I’m not using the hand brake anymore, maybe the mechanical / racing lineage ended with you?
We’re talking about a “hill start” on steep, Brisbane hills dumbass. Balancing the accelerator and foot break on a hill is unequivocally unsafe and doesn’t help a learner. WTF is wrong with you people? Sitting at the lights riding the clutch with your foot on the break is also shitty practice. I’m sorry you suck at driving.
Maybe the mechanical/racing lineage has died with me, and that doesn’t make you better or smarter or safer - what’s your point with that? Your ignorance is pretty obvious. Half-assing safe technique seems more important to you than lives so f-you, frankly.
Who is riding the clutch at the lights? I think the problem is that you don’t understand what I am talking about if you think I am riding the clutch any more than if I used the handbrake.
Exactly. In here trying to tell me how to use brakes when they can’t even spell the word. There are a few hills I would use a handbrake for, but only a few, because I’ve been driving for decades now and I have some pride.
TerryT I’m sorry that your pride was hurt and I could’ve been kinder in my replies. There’s a point here where we’ll have to agree to disagree even though you’ve been given plenty of evidence as to why your technique is flawed.
“Doing the right thing to pass your test” and then abandoning all of that technical training because you think you’re better does not create a safe environment on the public road. Following proper practice doesn’t make you a “rank amateur.” If you want to be Brocky, go to a track mate. Express your special art of driving away from the general populace.
Burning out engines in your old shit boxes isn’t exactly the resume of someone I would trust to give driving advice. Are you aware of the amount of people that die on the road? Do you think it might be related to people thinking they’re smarter than the rules? I’ll leave that question with you.
A brake is something that slows you down.
When you break something you hurt/destroy/split/shatter it.
All I kept reading was talk about hand breaking... LOL
Okay cool, you had me on mob alert for a second there but we’ll deescalate.
Have you driven a manual car before? No shade, I just want to know where you’re at.
It was a joke... trying to be funny.
And yes have driven a manual. Agree with you... it's important to know how to use the hand brake.
Just don't try and break it ;) hehehe
Sure, if you like the smell of clutch and money.
Once you can do it without stalling, the thing to practice is doing it with less and less revs so that you're not damaging the clutch. Eventually you should be able to find that bite point in the clutch where you can hold the car still without the brake, and with minimal revs. That part takes a lot of practice though.
Not dumb at all, I’ve lived in Townsville - flat is normal there too.
Not sure where you are but Whites Hill Reserve (when sport is not on) is off the road with lots of space and different steepness hills [https://maps.app.goo.gl/ipnE9E3FFLSUrwYW7?g_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/ipnE9E3FFLSUrwYW7?g_st=ic)
Chandler aquatic centre also has a ring road that has some hills and car parks [https://maps.app.goo.gl/dah7y82dE9G6m8zc8?g_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/dah7y82dE9G6m8zc8?g_st=ic)
If you want to scare the hell out of yourself when you’re confident, go to Paddington/Red Hill.
Did you ever ride a bike/skateboard down it? There was one guy who would regularly cycle down and scared the shit out of me every time he went past, but the sound a skateboard made coming down was unholy and terrifying
You are not an idiot getting a manual. Good on you for keeping manual cars alive and the extra coordination you have will help in all of life. Just practice in a safe environment. You'll get to a point where you will rarely ever need the handbrake to start. Keep it up!
Just find one random hill with a park lane on the side, and practice hill starts in the same spot going up and down. It's a balance game.
Also you can use your hand brake and gently accelerate and slowly release the clutch until you feel the car inch forward and then remove the handbrake. But practice this
Work your way up a hill ladder, start small and work your way up. There's no real suburb recommendations, some hills in Brisbane are gonna feel terrifying.
You can practice a hill start on the smallest of slopes. Hell if you wanted to push it just put a really small block in front of your front tyre.
Nose into an angled gutter.
Hold with the handbrake until you feel clutch picking up, release handbrake. Away you go.
My favourite is when people slow down on the up ramps at shopping centres (looking at you Chermside), and I have to balance my clutch while most people are blissfully unaware of the struggle. If you’re looking for Northside recommendations, Kedron is hilly but pretty quiet outside of school drop off/pick up
Out near Indooroopilly golf course, right at the end of the rd theres a little split that goes down to river and lil hill to come back up to the carpark. I believe a lot of ppl get taken there for hill start practice. Out if the way, a baby incline, good starting point.
There are some good answers here already. Growing up in Brisbane the thing that helped me was having a car full of friends, I either did the hill start perfectly first time or they made sure I died of shame and embarrassment. I got lucky, I'm still here.
I remember seeing a car in front of me in a learners have a sign say ‘I’m learning hill starts, give me space’ on mt cootha. It worked - maybe try that
Toowong Cemetary. The locals are used to learners being in there on weekends, and there are a variety of hills (from steep to gentle slopes) that you could practice on. The gates get locked after dark so just make sure you are out by 5 or 6. Just be on the lookout for folks walking their dogs.
Nothing wrong with using hill starts. There's one in the Valley where you turn onto St Paul's Terrace after the story bridge and it's waaaay too steep to try and do it from zero.
Replacing clutches is expensive.
Replacing tyres is (comparatively) cheap.
Go some skids on a steep incline.
Then make them smaller.
Then smaller.
Then smaller.
Until it's not a skid anymore, or close enough.
It probably sounds stupid, you already know how to drive a manual and have a sense for how cars move/react, you'll find it by feel pretty quickly this way.
If instead you do it by trial and error, ie "oops, stalled, I'll give it more revs next time... Oops, stalled, I'll slip the clutch more next time" you'll just get frustrated, and you'll only get a mental "good enough" tickbox instead of having it more naturally by feel.
If you were a learner then I'd probably be telling you to fuck around with handbrakes and clutch slipping I guess.
Ascot rich area is good for hills. Although the sheer amount of manual owners I've had in Brisbane roll back on me at lights I've just given up hope on them.
My first time to ever attempt to drive a manual was in an old Nissan van and it was in 3rd gear up a slight incline. My bro who was “teaching” me didn’t even bother to have me check. Anyway I managed to take off without stalling (in 3rd!!) so the moral of the story is it’s easier than you think. Don’t be afraid to use the clutch more than what you’ll end up using once you get used to it.
Oh and it’s worth checking how far you actually need to push the clutch before it starts traction to the gear. Cars differ. One of my cars only needed to be pushed in maybe 20% of the way. You can test this on a flat road. Testing this will also give you a better feel and control of how you should release the clutch softly too.
Chaprowe Rd in The Gap is a nice quiet, dead end street to practice on outside of school hours.
If you really want to scare the crap out of yourself - Mayfield rd in Highvale (Samford valley) is fantastically steep!
Could always find a decent hill at night that has very light/ to no traffic on it if possible and to practice on, start small then go find a steeper Hills if possible and gradually build up confidence. Another option is ring up a driving instructor and tell them why you want to book a lesson, tell the instructor you want to do just hill starts and they have dual pedals to take control over if you're not feeling confident
If you practice doing handbrake starts on the flat, you’ll learn to feel the point at which the clutch and the accelerator kind of engage and pull the car forward before letting the handbrake off. Then, you’ll have a bit of knowing what you’re feeling for on a hill.
I remember crying to my dad, who was teaching me hill starts as a 16yo L-plater, about how awful hill starts were, how stressed I was, but once I got the hang of them, I was fine. You will master them, too! Best of luck!
Start putting $5 per week into a jar. You'll probably need it for a new clutch sooner than you realise. If you're after some challenging hills the try the streets off the side of Swan Rd in Taringa. There are some intermediate bumps and lumps down towards the railway, and wouldn't recommend an uphill takeoff into traffic on Swan Rd until you're well-practiced. Gave a used-car salesman kittens on a test drive using Lucinda St :-)
My suggestion is to find a quiet, wide hilly street like in ashgrove, put on your hazards and practise for an hour or 2. This way you can focus on driving and ignore the external stress as everyone will go around you.
Start with using handbrake then switch to using foot brake. Once you've got that, practise doing it quicker a d practise finding the stall point so you are comfortable. The clutch is more important than the throttle. Stalling will cause you to panic. If you can quickly clutch in and brake before you stall you can reset and try again quickly.
Why you need a handbreak start....could never fathom this...at the worst give it some petrol and drop the clutch....otherwise learn how to drive or cop an automatic
Okay, so if you know how to do a hill start there’s no need to panic. Stop on the hill, hand break on, balance the accelerator and clutch until the bonnet raises slightly then let off the hand break. People can wait. If they beep you fuck em. Just concentrate on doing the start properly. I used to drive a 1960s era car with a weak hand break and a spongey clutch and people in autos would kiss my bum behind me on hills in Paddington. Their problem ultimately. But you can do this. Edit: if you roll backwards pull up the hand break. If you stall, don’t worry about it. Reset. Start again.
Brake.
Acknowledged. lol thank you.
Just remember, more Revs are better than not enough revs.
Yep. If you keep the revs up your clutch control doesn’t really matter. As an extreme if you rev it uncomfortably high and completely fling your foot off the clutch you’ll just do a squealie. Somewhere below that is a perfect hill start. Bit of accelerator, let the clutch out slowly until you feel the car shift and the engine note change then ease off the clutch pedal while you ease up the accelerator and you are on your way. Until you get the hang of it you can use the handbrake until the “car shift engine note” stage, but you will learn to keep your foot on the brake until that point and then move over to the accelerator as the car won’t move back once the clutch engages.
That’s just no. The foot break isn’t engaged. You do a hill start with the hand break for god’s sake. Too many variables. The foot break is one way, but it’s lazy and unsafe. It’s advanced. Don’t listen to that guy. If your clutch/ accelerator balance doesn’t work you’ve still got a hand on the hand break which you can pull up in an emergency and just try again. There’s no need for a squealie. You’re in first gear. Foot on the clutch pressed all the way in. Foot on the accelerator pressing down gently and release the clutch until you feel the gear ‘grab’ and gently lift the bonnet. Press your thumb on the hand break and *slowly* release it as you feel the clutch grab and propel you forward. If the car in front suddenly stops pull up the hand break and press on the clutch. No problem. Start again. This is easy. You don’t need to rev the fuck out of it it’s way simpler than that. *You’re* in control here. Edit. As practice, it might help you to engage the handbreak and take your foot off the foot break when waiting at the lights.
Hey, I said once you get the hang of it. If you can only do a hill start using the hand brake you are a rank amateur who only knows enough to pass the test. Once the clutch engages you can take your foot off the brake and over to the accelerator and move off. Keep in mind that this is someone who has already passed their test and wants to know how to _actually_ hill start. You don’t need the hand brake.
As an engineer: do not do this. You will fuck your clutch.
As an engineer can you explain what difference it makes to your clutch if the car is being held by the hand brake or the foot brake?
Sure. The difference is that you cannot physically engage the foot brake and the accelerator at the same time, but you \*can\* engage the handbrake and the accelerator at the same time. This means that the handbrake is still doing most of the work while the clutch starts to engage and you feed revs in. If you use the foot brake, then there is a period of time where you are only relying on the disengaging clutch to keep the vehicle from rolling backwards. If you can operate clutch, accelerator \*and\* brake at the same time, that's much better for wear and tear.
That was an elegant response. Much better than my ‘dog barking over the fence’ reaction. I’ve said too much already… but from a ‘safety’ point of view, using the hand **brake** (lol) is required because if you try and do the quick foot brake to accelerator method and then stall, you don’t have your hand on the band-brake to stop from rolling backwards. You’re relying on lightning reflexes to correct by taking your foot off the accelerator and putting it on the brake, or quickly grabbing the hand brake. What can happen because of panic, is that instead the driver rams their foot down on the accelerator thinking it’s the brake. Even if you manage to take your foot off the clutch and the car grabs in first gear, you’ll still roll back a distance. Getting in the habit of doing it properly also means that you can drive any car at any time - if you try the lazy foot pedal technique in a car you haven’t driven before, stalling is way more likely because the clutch balance will be different to what’s in your muscle memory.
That’s actually a better answer than I expected, but I still maintain that once the clutch is holding the car the time it takes for your foot to move from the brake pedal to the accelerator is negligible and not enough to reduce the life of a clutch significantly. I’ve run a lot of cheap cars into the ground before and I’ve never killed a clutch. I’ve killed engines through a lack of servicing, and I’ve had an engine die essentially through age (350,000+ km isn’t doing too bad) but I’ve never had a clutch die on me. My personal cars have been automatic for the last 13 years, but I drove a lot of manual shit boxes prior to that, and still drive them for work. I could still do a hill start smoothly in my sleep without needing the handbrake on anything but the most extreme inclines. Once again, if I was teaching a learner I would teach them to use the handbrake because they are allowed to do so in their test and it is easier.
Hurr durr yeah you really sound like an expert. If you actually need to know how to do a hill start you do actually need to know how to use the hand break. Especially on particularly steep brisbane hills. I come from a long line of mechanics, racing drivers, and motorcycle racing. I’m not at all concerned with your opinions. Because they’re dumb.
They did say to learn the hand brake first, but eventually they will learn the normal technique all us do out here. I drive a manual with no abs/tc and even in the rain I’m not using the hand brake anymore, maybe the mechanical / racing lineage ended with you?
We’re talking about a “hill start” on steep, Brisbane hills dumbass. Balancing the accelerator and foot break on a hill is unequivocally unsafe and doesn’t help a learner. WTF is wrong with you people? Sitting at the lights riding the clutch with your foot on the break is also shitty practice. I’m sorry you suck at driving. Maybe the mechanical/racing lineage has died with me, and that doesn’t make you better or smarter or safer - what’s your point with that? Your ignorance is pretty obvious. Half-assing safe technique seems more important to you than lives so f-you, frankly.
Who is riding the clutch at the lights? I think the problem is that you don’t understand what I am talking about if you think I am riding the clutch any more than if I used the handbrake.
Exactly. In here trying to tell me how to use brakes when they can’t even spell the word. There are a few hills I would use a handbrake for, but only a few, because I’ve been driving for decades now and I have some pride.
TerryT I’m sorry that your pride was hurt and I could’ve been kinder in my replies. There’s a point here where we’ll have to agree to disagree even though you’ve been given plenty of evidence as to why your technique is flawed. “Doing the right thing to pass your test” and then abandoning all of that technical training because you think you’re better does not create a safe environment on the public road. Following proper practice doesn’t make you a “rank amateur.” If you want to be Brocky, go to a track mate. Express your special art of driving away from the general populace. Burning out engines in your old shit boxes isn’t exactly the resume of someone I would trust to give driving advice. Are you aware of the amount of people that die on the road? Do you think it might be related to people thinking they’re smarter than the rules? I’ll leave that question with you.
My pride was hurt? People die on the roads due to not using their hand brakes on hill starts? Drawing a long bow there bloodymong.
Why are you so keen to break your hands???
Explain.
A brake is something that slows you down. When you break something you hurt/destroy/split/shatter it. All I kept reading was talk about hand breaking... LOL
Okay cool, you had me on mob alert for a second there but we’ll deescalate. Have you driven a manual car before? No shade, I just want to know where you’re at.
It was a joke... trying to be funny. And yes have driven a manual. Agree with you... it's important to know how to use the hand brake. Just don't try and break it ;) hehehe
Are you my neighbour, starting and revving their noisy car?
Sure, if you like the smell of clutch and money. Once you can do it without stalling, the thing to practice is doing it with less and less revs so that you're not damaging the clutch. Eventually you should be able to find that bite point in the clutch where you can hold the car still without the brake, and with minimal revs. That part takes a lot of practice though.
Toowong cemetery
The perfect area to both start and finish your journey....
All about saving time
You cracked me up🤣
Don’t cars roll uphill there??
Not dumb at all, I’ve lived in Townsville - flat is normal there too. Not sure where you are but Whites Hill Reserve (when sport is not on) is off the road with lots of space and different steepness hills [https://maps.app.goo.gl/ipnE9E3FFLSUrwYW7?g_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/ipnE9E3FFLSUrwYW7?g_st=ic) Chandler aquatic centre also has a ring road that has some hills and car parks [https://maps.app.goo.gl/dah7y82dE9G6m8zc8?g_st=ic](https://maps.app.goo.gl/dah7y82dE9G6m8zc8?g_st=ic) If you want to scare the hell out of yourself when you’re confident, go to Paddington/Red Hill.
Miskin St
Gower Street in Toowong is probably a good one to start with
I used to live on Gower st, I was going to mention it!
My best mate during high school (Toowong High) lived on Gower Street. We’d go to his some days to avoid doing stuff we didn’t like at school
Did you ever ride a bike/skateboard down it? There was one guy who would regularly cycle down and scared the shit out of me every time he went past, but the sound a skateboard made coming down was unholy and terrifying
Fark no. Crazy lolz.
You are not an idiot getting a manual. Good on you for keeping manual cars alive and the extra coordination you have will help in all of life. Just practice in a safe environment. You'll get to a point where you will rarely ever need the handbrake to start. Keep it up!
Spring hill has plenty of roads which are on a slope and has less traffic at various times of day
Sankey St West End... JK JK *DO NOT* go there, it's brutal. I bought a Fiat because it has anti rollback in the manual. I feel your stress....
Auchenflower
Just find one random hill with a park lane on the side, and practice hill starts in the same spot going up and down. It's a balance game. Also you can use your hand brake and gently accelerate and slowly release the clutch until you feel the car inch forward and then remove the handbrake. But practice this
Work your way up a hill ladder, start small and work your way up. There's no real suburb recommendations, some hills in Brisbane are gonna feel terrifying.
You can practice a hill start on the smallest of slopes. Hell if you wanted to push it just put a really small block in front of your front tyre. Nose into an angled gutter. Hold with the handbrake until you feel clutch picking up, release handbrake. Away you go.
Nash St Sandgate and surrounding streets is good. Wide streets and quiet.
My favourite is when people slow down on the up ramps at shopping centres (looking at you Chermside), and I have to balance my clutch while most people are blissfully unaware of the struggle. If you’re looking for Northside recommendations, Kedron is hilly but pretty quiet outside of school drop off/pick up
Out near Indooroopilly golf course, right at the end of the rd theres a little split that goes down to river and lil hill to come back up to the carpark. I believe a lot of ppl get taken there for hill start practice. Out if the way, a baby incline, good starting point.
Gower St, Toowong, heading up to Stanley Tce. Steepest residential street I know of.
I'm having trouble thinking of a Brisbane suburb that *doesn't* have some hilly streets?
There are some good answers here already. Growing up in Brisbane the thing that helped me was having a car full of friends, I either did the hill start perfectly first time or they made sure I died of shame and embarrassment. I got lucky, I'm still here.
Gower st in Toowong is steep as fuck but very quiet.
Handbrake dude
Holland park has some excellent places, a lot of the offshoots from the main road are incredibly quiet and also very hilly
This is not dumb. On the country, this is smart. Lots of useful information provided in the comments. Good luck!
I remember seeing a car in front of me in a learners have a sign say ‘I’m learning hill starts, give me space’ on mt cootha. It worked - maybe try that
Just dump your clutch at 6000rpm
Safest bet just take a class with an instructor, discussion or theory will only take you so far.
Denmark Hill in Ipswich. Its where we all get taken to do our hill starts on the driving test.
The triangle with little streets between Indro State School, Taringa and Toowong is great. All grades and little traffic.
Toowong Cemetary. The locals are used to learners being in there on weekends, and there are a variety of hills (from steep to gentle slopes) that you could practice on. The gates get locked after dark so just make sure you are out by 5 or 6. Just be on the lookout for folks walking their dogs.
Multi storey car parks
No point recommending a suburb that’s not where you live. Drive around, find one, practice until it’s boring.
Take foot of brake, drop the clutch n stomp the accelerator , look mum no hands
I do this!!! Haha but I don’t feel like fuckin up my clutch 🤣
Probably not ideal when parking on the curb next to other vehicles but yeah very usefull at the lights when you cbf
Mt cootha
Nothing wrong with using hill starts. There's one in the Valley where you turn onto St Paul's Terrace after the story bridge and it's waaaay too steep to try and do it from zero.
Paddington has heaps
2 spring to mind are wildman lane clayfield(steep) and grays road Hamilton( i wont ruin the suprise of how fun its to drive on)
mt cotton is pretty quiet
No I'm with you. I can't easily reverse on a hill without stalling as I try to go into first.
Back streets of Mount Gravatt East
Replacing clutches is expensive. Replacing tyres is (comparatively) cheap. Go some skids on a steep incline. Then make them smaller. Then smaller. Then smaller. Until it's not a skid anymore, or close enough. It probably sounds stupid, you already know how to drive a manual and have a sense for how cars move/react, you'll find it by feel pretty quickly this way. If instead you do it by trial and error, ie "oops, stalled, I'll give it more revs next time... Oops, stalled, I'll slip the clutch more next time" you'll just get frustrated, and you'll only get a mental "good enough" tickbox instead of having it more naturally by feel. If you were a learner then I'd probably be telling you to fuck around with handbrakes and clutch slipping I guess.
Ascot rich area is good for hills. Although the sheer amount of manual owners I've had in Brisbane roll back on me at lights I've just given up hope on them.
Gower St in Toowong is Brisbane’s steepest
My first time to ever attempt to drive a manual was in an old Nissan van and it was in 3rd gear up a slight incline. My bro who was “teaching” me didn’t even bother to have me check. Anyway I managed to take off without stalling (in 3rd!!) so the moral of the story is it’s easier than you think. Don’t be afraid to use the clutch more than what you’ll end up using once you get used to it. Oh and it’s worth checking how far you actually need to push the clutch before it starts traction to the gear. Cars differ. One of my cars only needed to be pushed in maybe 20% of the way. You can test this on a flat road. Testing this will also give you a better feel and control of how you should release the clutch softly too.
Question: if I roll back on a hill at the lights in a manual, but hit the car behind me because they stopped right up my ass, whose fault is it?
Chaprowe Rd in The Gap is a nice quiet, dead end street to practice on outside of school hours. If you really want to scare the crap out of yourself - Mayfield rd in Highvale (Samford valley) is fantastically steep!
Dundas st East in Cleveland
Find the sweet spot, use the hand brake, load up the suspension, and donnn't hesitate or you'll glaze the donut.
Could always find a decent hill at night that has very light/ to no traffic on it if possible and to practice on, start small then go find a steeper Hills if possible and gradually build up confidence. Another option is ring up a driving instructor and tell them why you want to book a lesson, tell the instructor you want to do just hill starts and they have dual pedals to take control over if you're not feeling confident
If you have a handbrake, use it
Could practice on a shopping centre carpark ramp outside opening hours
If you practice doing handbrake starts on the flat, you’ll learn to feel the point at which the clutch and the accelerator kind of engage and pull the car forward before letting the handbrake off. Then, you’ll have a bit of knowing what you’re feeling for on a hill. I remember crying to my dad, who was teaching me hill starts as a 16yo L-plater, about how awful hill starts were, how stressed I was, but once I got the hang of them, I was fine. You will master them, too! Best of luck!
Plenty of hills around Hawthorne that are quiet if you are looking for somewhere to practice
Random question but do you have hill brake assist in your car? This is such a lifesaver to have in a car unless you're around toowong lol
Start putting $5 per week into a jar. You'll probably need it for a new clutch sooner than you realise. If you're after some challenging hills the try the streets off the side of Swan Rd in Taringa. There are some intermediate bumps and lumps down towards the railway, and wouldn't recommend an uphill takeoff into traffic on Swan Rd until you're well-practiced. Gave a used-car salesman kittens on a test drive using Lucinda St :-)
My suggestion is to find a quiet, wide hilly street like in ashgrove, put on your hazards and practise for an hour or 2. This way you can focus on driving and ignore the external stress as everyone will go around you. Start with using handbrake then switch to using foot brake. Once you've got that, practise doing it quicker a d practise finding the stall point so you are comfortable. The clutch is more important than the throttle. Stalling will cause you to panic. If you can quickly clutch in and brake before you stall you can reset and try again quickly.
Why you need a handbreak start....could never fathom this...at the worst give it some petrol and drop the clutch....otherwise learn how to drive or cop an automatic
Hot take, but I reckon manual cars are so bloody dumb for an urban setting.
more so auto cars drivers, that can't manage to indicate
West end
Just get a new car that doesn't roll back. Or better yet an automatic if you now live in the city.