My sister and her three kids (20M, 15F, 10M) were at my house for Thanksgiving, along with my husband's niece (15F). None of the drivers knew how to drive a manual transmission. Until today!
Call me crazy, but I love my car so much that I really enjoy sharing it - especially introducing young folks to the Porsche-love. So I got out the Porsche, took the three drivers out one at a time to an empty lot near my house, put them behind the wheel, and after a brief orientation, taught them each how to launch in 1st gear. With the shopping craziness today, none of the large lots I'd normally use was available. So there wasn't room to really work through the gears.
They all did great! Only the eldest stalled, and that was after we'd come to a stop and he forgot to take the car out of gear before taking his foot from the clutch. The youngest fellow was really wanting to give it a try, and I told him if he could reach the pedals, I'd teach him also. He's not ready yet, but I'm sure in the next year or two he'll sprout up and be tall enough to reach. He wanted a ride, so I took him to the lot, put him in the driver's seat (car was off), helped him depress the clutch, and let him learn how the shifter works. After talking with them all, I'd say the youngest one is the car nut of the bunch.
Holly went first, and she was definitely the smoothest. She has her learner's permit and will get her license next June:
Next came Hannah. She's got her learner's and has her eye on a Mini Cooper for Christmas. She was soooo scared on her very first launch, but with a few more tries, she mastered it well enough, and was so proud of herself!
Then it was Andrew's turn. Too short to reach everything, but he enjoyed sitting behind the wheel and learning how it all works:
Finally, Jordan, the eldest. He had the most "unlearning" to do, but was also a quick study:
They were not any harder on the clutch than I am at the track
much gentler, really, and none of them rode it at all. A few bumpy starts, but hey...
1988 Porsche 911 $XX,XXX
New clutch $???
Smiles on their faces - PRICELESS!