JonMN

A few years ago I took the Corvette course (and it was great!). I remember the first driving exercise for the M7 drivers was to learn a different approach for taking off from a stop--I think they said it was kinder to the clutch. Does this sound familiar? If it does, could you describe the approach to me? At the time I was in the A8 class, so did not see or learn the manual technique.

juanvaldez

One I remember was to get car moving without using any throttle.

SingleTrackMinded

Exactly, they have you put Rev Match on and ease out the clutch without much throttle at all. In fact, if you are engage slow enough no additional throttle is required.

Zjoe6

Was just there and the above is what they encourage. I gotta say though, I don't have the patience for it.

fumbling

This doesn't seem to work for me, I have to give it some gas while letting out the clutch otherwise it easily stalls on me.

RiCorvette

I usually only use the 'no throttle let out / feather the clutch gently' technique for maneuvering in driveways and such - like my business complex.
I'm not wont to use it for street driving, generally.

douglee25

I too have heard this but have no idea why they stress this technique of no throttle? It's not practical on hills or in any sort of traffic. People are impatient and if you're not moving within 1 second of the light turning green, your *** is getting honked at.

JDSC8VETTE

That won't work with that dumb hill assist. I'm old school and I really don't like the hill assist. I find it takes a lot of throttle to override that feature and I've stalled my car several times because of it.

LIStingray

It is because the lower the engine rpm you release the clutch at, the less rpm the clutch has to absorb - it helps clutch life a huge amount.
If you do it correctly, you should be able to engage the clutch at close to idle and still be on the gas: as you engage the clutch at idle rpm, as the clutch bites you add throttle. It is rare for me to get the car moving at more than 700 rpm, and I can to that while quickly (less than 2 seconds) adding quarter to half throttle - which is pretty much all anyone needs for typical street driving.

JonMN

Thanks everyone--this is great! Trying to come up with the best approach for stop-and-go situations.

boss2k

I miss the feature that was in my bmw/audi that the car revs enough to let you move in stop and go traffic just by letting clutch out and not touching gas , in the vette I have to hit the gas otherwise the car stalls

JonMN

Yup. It's an odd feeling to stall a car with 460 HP . . .

Zjoe6

Or your *** is getting rear ended.

SingleTrackMinded

Yes, it definitely will not work on hills. Like others I tend to use this technique when leaving my driveway or other flat low speed starts.

Foosh

They still teach that at Spring Mt., and yes, they're talking about starting on level ground. The point is to practice using the appropriate amount of throttle for the situation to be good to your clutch. With practice, you can get very good at using none or the minimum in all situations.

On level ground, none is necessary if you're very good with clutch release. Obviously, you might need a little more on an uphill grade, but not nearly as much as people tend to use. Excess throttle on clutch release causes unnecessary wear.

TKgs2010

They do teach the no throttle method at Spring Mountain, some have problems with it, others do not, but it is easier on the clutch once you get the hang of it. Myself, lots of experience driving heavy trucks you learn to be easy on the equipment or you won't last in that industry, so it was basically second nature to me. Any vehicle with a good amount of low end torque is pretty easy to get moving without any throttle.

douglee25

I agree on clutch life. I engage at less than 1000 rpms to get moving. To me it just seems like an odd skill to teach/stress. Maybe folks come in that just have bad clutch habits? It's just foreign to me.

JonMN

Thanks again for the replies! As you might have guessed, I am back in the Manual world after a 7 year lapse. I had a M4, M5, M6, M6 and a M4 truck, but really liked the Audi S5 vert which is DCT only. So 4 years with a DCT, then 3 years with an A8. Not wanting to get into the running M7/A8 debate , but I did trade up my Stingray to a manual GS. It's great. Manual is coming back fast. Makes me think of that old saying "it's like riding a bike." If I was going to rate bringing back old skills on a 1-10, I would go something like: Riding a bike 1. Driving a manual 3. Playing guitar 9. (LOL, I might have played guitar for 15 years straight years ago, but if I pick one up now I don't know where to start). In fact I only stalled it once yesterday!

Quietbreaker

I must be missing something, I wasn't aware how fragile the clutches must be in these cars. Leaving from under a grand, babying the throttle to get up to speed? What? Not trying to offend anyone, but this is the first I'm hearing that these cars should be babied off the line.

CJ Willys

When I teach newbies to drive a stick, I always tell them to rest their right leg, don't even touch the accelerator, use left foot only. I find it teaches them how to engage the clutch slowly, and avoid stalling. Then gradually learn how to apply apply throttle.