Assignment 20 - William Begley - How to Start a Manual Car into 1st Gear

I am still a fairly new driver in comparison to many on the road but a skill I have that a fairly large amount of other students don't is the ability to drive a manual car. I am no expert and you can definitely feel it when you're in a manual car with me but I do know how. I won't go through every step of driving a manual car but I will go through how to get started from a stop.

1. Start with the car off and your left foot on the clutch pedal (far left) and a foot on the brake.
2. Start the car with both feet on these pedals pressed all the way down and move the shift knob into the first gear position.
3. Keep the clutch completely pressed and remove your right foot from the brake and onto the gas.
4. On every car there is a certain distance into the clutch press where it "activates" and puts the car into neutral but it will be around halfway through its motion where it will activate. Release the clutch to about halfway (where it activates) as you slowly give it power and keep the RPMs at about 1500 (have to read RPM gauge in gauge cluster).
5. While you're doing this step the car is put into neutral (that's what the clutch does), so it will roll if you are not on even ground, I recommend practicing on as flat a surface as possible. Continue giving gas as you stop pressing on the clutch and you will begin moving forward then it will act mostly the same as an automatic while driving (except for changing gears).
6. In order to stop, remove your foot from the gas and completely press the clutch and use the brake normally. You will hold down both the brake and the clutch as you turn off your car. On most cars you should turn on your emergency/handbrake when parking but many older vehicles will have a worn out one so I prefer to not use this step.

Now you know how to start a manual car into first gear, keep in mind you can only go about 15 mph in this gear and will also have to learn to switch gears, that's the easiest part though.