[Laneco]

Turn the idle speed up a little bit and make the first on a slight down hill slope. Extra nice to find an empty sloping parking lot.

Safety first. All actions are right foot brake or gas and left clutch. Always depress brake pedal AND clutch to start. On our old cars, there is no neutral safety switch.

The hardest thing to teach people is the friction zone. Too many people are raised that everything is an on/off switch like a video controller. You must FEEL the friction point or you're doomed to failure. Practice that first. Friction, pedal in, pedal out, etc. With the idle speed turned up she can feel the grab easier and will stall it less often.

It is takeoff in first and reverse that give people the most challenges. Get that ironed out smooth as can be in the parking lot. Then move on to quiet roads. Pick roads where the stop signs have the car facing nose down hill. Nose uphill is a tough one for a beginner and murder on your clutch. 2nd thru 5th will cause you less drama than start/first/reverse and they start to be fun for the driver. The key here is finding what's fun, not what is an absolute chore.

Don't aim to make her good at this. Aim to make her safe and reasonably competant. Good comes with time and practice. If you're down here in southern Oregon, I'd be glad to take her out for a lesson or practice. But be warned, I'll either take her off-roading (in my pathfinder) or to the autocross track - LOL!

angela