I've only been driving standard for a month, but i feel like a old man.
I got beat by a mini van today at a red light.

It takes me forever to get going when the light turns green.

- left leg slowly off the clutch while applying gas...this entire process takes me like 3 or 4 seconds.

If i try to go faster, the car shakes like mad and i end up reving so high, then the tires spin.

My brake in is over in a few days...its time to get off the line fast.

Any advice? I just can't get it.


HEEEEEEEEELP a noob.

 

Sorry man but I have to say that you just suck at driving manual. By a month now as you said and you're break in period is almost over so I'm assuming you at least got 1000 miles down, you should be used to your car by now. You should already get the feel of when the gears engage and accel. pretty fast. I've had my car for around 3 weeks now and I've driven around 350 miles already, right now I get off the line pretty quick because of practice. Different people learn at different rates so my only advice is to practice and get to know at which point your gears engage at different acceleration speeds. I think that the Z is one of the harder manual cars to drive, if you drive another manual car you might find it a lot easier to drive, but if you get used to the Z's shifts, it gets so much more fun. PRACTICE!

 

Is this the first car that you have ever driven stick in because if it is you should have learned on a different car. I have heard Z are some of the most difficult to drive a stick in. Without the prior experience of course you are going to suck at it. The only thing I can recommend is do not try to race until you fully feel that you are the best you can be driving a stick if you try racing right away you are just going to ruin your transmission and possibly blow your motor or even harm your enternals. Just keep practicing.

 

I read in a 350Z road test, I think it was "Road and track" the best launches with minimum wheel spin were achieved by dropping the clutch with the RPM at 2 grand.

 

You just need practice getting the feel when the clutch catches. It's pretty high on the Z so with the clutch fully depressed, release the clutch quickly close to the point where it catches then slowly let off the clutch while giving it a little gas. Once you get good at it, it'll only take 1-2 secs.

 

I agree, the Z was my first manual car and it took me a few weeks to get really comfortable with the manual, but I also had a good teacher. It really had to due with the high clutch engagement and how heavy the clutch is! I had no idea, I thought all cars were like this until I recently test drove a RX8 and I was AMAZED at how light the clutch was, it felt like a feather compared to the Z.

 

Wow, you could drive in a regular fashion without a 'racing' launch to beat a minivan...

That is unless the minivan is running NAWZ...

 

Man a minivan??!!

Just kidding, you'll get used to it. I was a little scared of mine at first. I have had mine for about 3 weeks now and I have raced a bunch of little punks and eaten'em alive. All I can say is practice... That last guy who said something about depressing at 2000 rp's that is probably good advice. I am gonna try it might help me get off the line even faster.

 

the first thing to realize is that you dont need to slowly release the clutch from the floor. you can depress the clutch about 1/3 the way in and then release it from there. goto a parking lot and practice finding the catch point, because once you find it, you can shift quicker and with better precision. only do clutch drops if you are actually racing, and if its a minivan drive normally and you will beat it then again, who really needs to talk about how they beat a minivan.

 

you can kind of tell how im launching in this video...

but i have a completely different flywheel and clutch set up then stock...

http://www.performancenissanparts.com/video/tilton.mov

 

Make sure you have your feet in synch with the gas and the clutch....

Get them going so you're letting off and pushing down evenly and not rapidly letting off or pushing down on the other....

Be smooth!

 

I'd suggest you try driving in your socks for a little while so you can get a better feel of the clutch.

 

that would have been a much cooler video if the quality wasnt crap =( oh well

 

i need someone with a real cam to take a ride with me rather then my lil canon still camera

 

nice video Jason!
but I may go with some heavier flywheel when I'm getting mine
too chicken to drive the 8lb one...

 

i drove a z today with a stock clutch and fly... its been for ever since i have... and all i have to say is...

weeeeeird

i cant drive one!

 

well i think part of the time is the fact it was done in quicktime unless your camera compresses it while your recording stuff, also that resolution seems really low, is that the highest it can do?

 

it was the highest... i editied in iMovie... i probably exported it in the wrong format...

 

I believe you can do a great launch at 4-4.5grang. Im not great launcher but actually a crappy one if i say so myself. But there have been a few times i revved it up to that high and go a launch so smooth it felt like i was floating.

 

Ok, maybe it's just me, but I thought the Z was easy to drive in manual when I test drove one (getting mine in less than two weeks!). The clutch was smooth and I had no problems, it was actually easier than any other manual cars I've driven (maybe this is why). I first learned stick offroad on a sand rail (VW 1600cc four speed, now that was a shiity transmission!), then a Mazda 323 (in England, shifting with my left hand, that was weird), then an old BMW 5 series (also in England), and a Ford pickup (back in the states). After all those crap transmissions the Z was gorgeous!!