How To Drive Stick

I drive stick.

To "drive stick" is to operate a manual transmission vehicle.

I love driving stick. Most people can't really relate, and I'm not writing this to convince them otherwise. I'm writing it to explain to those who want to drive stick how I drive stick.

This amazing video illustrates and explains the machinery of the manual transmission. It's truly ingenious, but you don't need to know exactly how the car is built in order to operate it properly.

For the sake of this explanation of how to drive stick, a functional description of the car's components is all that is required.

The relevant parts are the engine, the clutch, the transmission, the differential, and the driven wheels.

The Engine

The engine converts chemical energy in gasoline to kinetic energy. Ultimately, it turns a crankshaft at various speeds and torques. At each speed (measured in revolutions per minute), it has a maximum torque (twisting effort) it can generate at that speed. The torque of the engine is opposed by the drive train, and ultimately the wheels on the pavement, and the air resistance of the car moving through the air. If you try to drive the car up a really steep hill, the torque resisting the engine could be greater than the torque it can generate at the present speed, and this makes the engine slow down, quite probably making it only able to produce an even lower amount of torque.

The engine has a minimum speed (with a low torque capacity), below which it cannot run and it simply stops (stalls). Starting the engine uses an electric motor to bring it to its minimum speed, where gasoline can be ignited, the engine can run, and the electric motor can be disengaged.

Torque (twisting effort) is a measure of energy output per rotation. An ideal engine would have the same torque capacity at every speed. Electric motors are closer to this ideal, but internal combustion engines are most efficient at converting chemical energy into mechanical energy only in a relatively narrow band of rotations per minute. Basically, at low speeds, they can't "twist as hard".

At high RPMs the engine also loses torque capacity. And high RPMs are dangerous to the engine itself, causing it to overheat and wear rapidly, potentially causing complete engine failure.

Keeping the engine speed in the range where it is most effective at pushing the car is the job of the transmission (see below).

The Clutch

The clutch is a device that mechanically connects and disconnects the engine's flywheel (a massive disk that smooths the engine's rotation) from the transmission. If you are not stepping on the clutch pedal, a very strong spring presses another disk, called the clutch plate, against the flywheel, forcing the clutch plate, through friction, to rotate at the same speed as the engine. When you step on the clutch pedal, the clutch plate is separated from the flywheel, and so it can rotate independently of the flywheel.

The Transmission

The clutch plate is mounted to a shaft that goes directly into the transmission. It's the transmission's job to convert the rotation of this input shaft into the rotation of an output shaft, at some ratio of input rotation speed to output rotation speed, called the gear ratio. Higher gear ratios (lower "gears") make the clutch plate turn quickly relative to the wheels, allowing engine use at very low vehicle speeds. Lower gear ratios (higher "gears") allow the clutch plate to turn more slowly relative to the wheels, which is appropriate for higher vehicle speeds.

High gears would stall the engine at low vehicle speeds. Low gears would cause dangerously high engine RPMs at high vehicle speeds.

Whenever the gear is changed or "shifted", the transmission goes through the neutral state, where the car's wheels are mechanically disconnected from the clutch plate, allowing the wheels and the clutch plate to turn independently.

An important yet little-known limitation of the transmission is that it cannot shift out of neutral unless the clutch plate is turning at the proper rate, given the chosen gear, and the speed of the wheels. If the vehicle is not moving, this means the clutch plate must not be rotating in order to shift into any gear (typically First). If the vehicle is moving, then shifting into any gear requires the clutch plate's rotational speed be appropriate to the speed of the car and the chosen gear.

This rotation-speed matching problem is solved by a part of the transmission called the synchronizers. Whenever the driver attempts to shift into a gear by pushing on the shift lever, the synchronizers speed up or slow down the clutch plate's rotation to match the speed that the transmission requires. Once the speeds match, the shift lever can move into its desired position, and then the transmission can be used to send engine power to the wheels.

The synchronizers work because the clutch plate's rotational inertia (a function of its mass) is fairly low. Speeding it up or slowing it down won't wear them much, as long as the clutch is disengaged by pressing down the clutch pedal. If the clutch pedal isn't depressed, then attempting to shift into any gear while the car is rolling or the engine is running will cause serious wear on the synchronizers by asking them to do something they generally cannot do: change the speed of the engine to match what's required by the transmission and wheels. But if the engine is stopped, and the wheels aren't turning, you can generally shift into a gear without using the clutch. But don't do it. Be nice to your car and use the clutch whenever you shift, even if the car and the engine are not moving. Depressing the clutch frees up the clutch plate so the transmission can move it enough (even just half a gear tooth's distance) to allow the gears to mesh.

The Differential

[This section isn't really essential to learning how to drive stick.]

The differential is a clever gearbox that allows the rotating shaft from the transmission to power two wheels turning at potentially different speeds. Without the differential, the two wheels on the axle would have to turn at the same speed, and this would cause tire scrub (which reduces traction and driver control, and wears out tires) when turning around corners. Without a differential, one could choose to power just one wheel, leaving the other to spin freely, but this would be dangerous during acceleration, as it would cause the car to pull to the left or right.

The differential's design causes it always to deliver equal torque to both driven wheels. This balances the thrust force generated by the wheels (assuming equal wheel diameter—which isn't achieved if a mini-spare tire is installed), allowing the car to easily turn or travel straight depending on where the wheels are steered.

One drawback of the differential is what happens when one of the wheels slips. Since the wheel has little ability to oppose the torque, the actual torque turning the slipping wheel becomes near zero. The differential causes the opposite wheel to have same amount of torque. If one wheel slips, the other wheel also fails to push the car, even if it is on clean, dry pavement.

The basic operating principle of manual transmissions

You must fully depress the clutch pedal to shift from gear to gear, including to neutral. Fully depressing the clutch pedal is what makes shifting possible without harming the car. Once you have shifted, you can and should fully release the clutch pedal, and let go of the shifter. If you keep touching the pedal or shifter (even lightly) for extended periods, this hurts the car.

The state of a parked car

When properly parked, a manual transmission car is in this state:

1. The engine is not running.
2. The parking brake is set, stopping the car from rolling.
3. The transmission is in either first gear or in reverse (it's debatable which is best). I recommend first gear.
4. The clutch pedal is not yet depressed, because there is no foot on it.

In this state, if the parking brake fails, the car will not roll far, because the engine is mechanically connected to the wheels through the clutch and transmission, so the wheels will not turn unless the engine rotates. If the car is in first gear, the amount of torque on the engine generated by the wheels and gravity, even on a moderate hill, won't be enough to turn the engine. If the car is in a higher gear, however, the torque on the engine caused by the wheels and gravity would be much higher. This is why the car should be parked in a low gear.

A low gear makes it easy for the engine to turn the wheels, and hard for the wheels to turn the engine. A high gear makes it hard for the engine to turn the wheels, and easy for the wheels to turn the engine.

Starting the car

To start the car:

1. Place your right foot on the brake, to hold the car in place.
2. Release the parking brake.
3. Fully depress the clutch with your left foot.
4. Move the shift lever into neutral. This is the vertical center of the stick's possible positions, where it freely moves left and right.
5. Turn the key or press the button to start the car (modern push-button cars have made it much easier to do this).

Once the car is running, ensure the car is in neutral (the stick shift should freely move left and right), and then take your foot off the clutch pedal. At this point, your right foot is on the brake, and your left foot isn't touching any pedal.

If you are on level ground (and you should be, at this point), you don't need to press the brake too hard to keep the car stationary.

Going somewhere

To start the car rolling, first depress the clutch fully and patiently and gently shift into first gear, which is typically at the upper left of your shifter's pattern. Rushing this initial shift hurts the synchronizers. Once you've shifted, let go of the shift lever.

Take your right foot off of the brake, but do not step on the gas yet!

At this point your car is sitting nearly still, able to roll, but not yet powered by the engine. The goal is to gradually remove your foot from the clutch pedal and get the car rolling very slowly, without stalling the car or touching the gas pedal.

Slowly lift your left foot off of the clutch pedal until the car starts accelerating. This point, where the clutch starts to engage, is called the "bite point". The higher you lift your foot, the stronger the "bite" of the clutch. If the clutch bites too hard before the car is rolling fast enough, the engine will stall. So, bite gently while the car accelerates, and then when the car achieves a constant speed, completely lift your foot for full bite, causing firm rotational connection of the engine to the wheels.

With practice, you should be able to do the above fairly quickly and smoothly, without stalling the engine or causing the car to jerk. You don't want to take too long because that overheats and wears out the clutch.

You'll now be slowly rolling, powered by the engine at idle.

Going faster

At this point, you can step on the gas to go faster. If you step on the brake instead, you may stall the engine. It's not terrible, but it's not cool to do that. You'll have to restart the engine by repeating all of the above.

When the engine reaches about 3000 RPM, quickly depress the clutch fully while taking your foot off of the gas. If you do this right, the car will coast at the current speed, and the engine will slow down without slowing down the car.

Gently shift into second gear (don't force it) and fairly quickly but smoothly release the clutch. Once your foot is off the clutch, you can apply more gas to go faster. You may find that applying gas before fully releasing the clutch will smooth things out, but don't overdo it. It's one thing to use the gas pedal to achieve the right engine speed, and it's quite another to use the gas to accelerate the car. Don't try to accelerate while your foot is on the clutch, except when starting from a standstill. Doing it between gears while rolling wears out the clutch. Shift gears, then accelerate.

Once you have completed each shift, move your left foot away from the clutch, and your hand away from the shifter. I emphasize this because it's a terribly important habit for you to form. If you develop either of these two bad habits:

1. Resting your foot on the clutch pedal
2. Resting your hand on the shifter

You will be hurting the car, and causing a costly future repair. I'm serious. Respect the hardware. It is delicate in this respect. Touch the clutch and the shifter only when shifting, and otherwise leave them alone. Better cars even provide you with a foot rest for your left foot when it isn't operating the clutch. Use the foot rest. It is not just for comfort. It's to protect your wallet.

Stopping the car

To stop the car, take your right foot off the gas, then step on the brake, then, as the car slows, depress the clutch as necessary to prevent the car from stalling. By no means should you always step on the clutch while slowing down. Frequently you'll slow down without needing to shift. In such cases, don't touch the clutch. Remember, the clutch is for shifting.

If you are stopping the car, e.g. at a stop light, you should be shifting into neutral. If you are parking the car, you should be shifting into first gear. In either case, you'll need to use the clutch.

If you are only stopping the car for several seconds, there's no need release the clutch while you are in neutral. You can shift directly into first gear and start rolling again by releasing the clutch as we did above. But don't rest at a stop light with your foot on the clutch for more than several seconds. It's good practice to shift to neutral and release the clutch at stop lights. Otherwise you are inviting money problems.

When to downshift

Sometimes you need to slow down the car without stopping. You might not need to depress the clutch to avoid stalling the car, but once the car is moving more slowly, if you try to speed up without downshifting, the car will perform badly. It may shake unpleasantly and will fail to accelerate. This is called "lugging or laboring". It's when the engine won't stall, but it also will not give you the torque are requiring from it. You are almost stalling it, but the momentum of the car itself prevents the engine from stalling. You need either to downshift, or to stop the car.

Don't downshift into first gear

Downshifting is a bit harder than upshifting, but downshifting into first gear is the hardest of all, and it's bad for the transmission if you don't use an advanced shifting technique that I'll get into later. Even so, it's something that's hardly ever necessary. Just don't do it. Instead, stop the car, then shift into first gear and start again.

Downshifting into all the other gears is completely common and sensible (except the top one, of course).

How to downshift

To downshift, first make sure the car is going slowly enough to downshift. This means the engine is turning at a speed where stepping on the gas would not be very effective at speeding the car up. If you downshift when the car is moving too fast, you will slip the clutch and perhaps over-rev the engine. Not good.

Fully depress the clutch and release the gas. Fairly quickly shift into the next lower gear. You'll feel some shifting resistance, but this is expected, because the synchronizers are speeding up the clutch plate. The longer you wait to shift, the more work the synchronizers will have to do to speed up the clutch plate. So be prompt.

Once in gear, release the clutch smoothly while stepping on the gas to make the engine speed match that of the new (higher) clutch plate speed. Once the clutch pedal is released, continue driving in the new gear. Generally, you will accelerate.

Double-clutching

As an experienced driver of cars with manual transmissions, I can't leave you alone with the above explanation of how to downshift.

There's a shifting technique that greatly reduces wear on the synchronizers, and potentially speeds up your shifting, especially your downshifting.

The idea is to use the engine and clutch to do what the synchronizers would otherwise have to do. It's to use something big and strong to do something delicate. So it takes practice.

Remember that the job of the synchronizers is to make the clutch plate turn at the speed required by the desired gear.

While the transmission is in neutral (in the middle of a shift), the clutch plate is spinning freely, slowing down because nothing is driving it (and there's lubricant around the gears it drives in the transmission). Pushing the shifter into a gear causes the clutch plate to speed up or slow down as that gear requires.

But what if, say, in a downshift, we release the clutch while the transmission is in neutral, and step on the gas a little bit to speed up the clutch plate? We can then depress the clutch pedal again and push the shifter into the desired gear with almost no synchronizer resistance. We then can complete the shift by releasing the clutch and using the gas to match the engine speed to that of the clutch plate.

Using the clutch this way doesn't wear it out at all because the clutch plate is so light compared to the entire car. The clutch can instantly speed up or slow down the clutch plate while the transmission is in neutral. And once the clutch plate is going at the right speed, the desired gear slips in "like butter".

Double clutching is most useful when downshifting. But it can also improve upshifting, especially between first gear and second gear, since these gear ratios are further apart than other adjacent gears are from each other. But when upshifting, double-clutching is quite optional, because the the clutch plate is slowing down anyway. Double clutching while upshifting just slows it down faster. Double-clutching while upshifting is basically a performance hack, while double-clutching for a downshift really does help your transmission last longer.

Starting on a hill

If your car is parked pointing down a hill, it makes getting rolling really easy. As soon as you take your foot off the brake, the car starts rolling before you start removing your left foot from the clutch pedal. You just need to release the clutch pedal smoothly when the car reaches the speed it can travel while the engine is idling.

But if you are pointing up a hill, you may need some additional skill. The skill required is greatly reduced if your car has a feature called anti-rollback.

The skill is to use your parking brake to prevent your car from rolling backward before you can get it moving up the hill. You need to engage the parking brake until you've released the clutch to the bite point, and then release the parking brake and the clutch pedal so the car can go up the hill. Doing this smoothly without stalling the car will take some practice.

Doing this in reverse (attempting to back up the hill from a standstill) is even harder. You might want to just go down the hill and turn around somewhere.

The anti-rollback feature effectively operates the brakes for you, releasing them automatically once the car starts rolling, or after 3 or 4 seconds. Even if the car doesn't move forward, anti-rollback does disengage by itself, so be careful.

Go down a hill in the same gear you'd go up it

If a hill is very steep, you want to go down it with good speed control. Your brakes aren't a reliable way to achieve this, because they can get overheated and fail. A long steep downhill is deadly for brakes.

The worst thing you could do on a steep downhill would be to stay in neutral and rely on your brakes. If the brakes fail, the car will just keep speeding up.

Instead, shift into the same gear that you'd use to climb the same hill, and control your speed with the gas pedal. When your foot isn't on the gas pedal, the engine itself will prevent the car from going too fast. This is called engine braking, and it's the only safe way to go down a long, steep hill.

Shift for the future

If I'm driving down a flat road, and I encouter a hill to climb, I downshift right before I reach the hill, allowing the car to easily climb the hill.

It's like riding a multi-speed bicycle. If you downshift too late, you may have a hard time getting up the hill because you'll be wanting to maintain speed and downshift at the same time, which you cannot do while going up a hill. If you lose too much speed while downshifting, you may just have to stop the bike, pick up the rear wheel to shift the bike into first gear, and then try again to ride up the hill.

With a car, if you don't downshift before the hill, you may end up stalling or lugging on the hill, and if it is steep enough, it might be hard to downshift enough before stalling the car.

In this case, you may find yourself wishing you had an automatic transmission. You might even think that an automatic transmission is inherently superior to a manual one.

But consider this: an automatic transmission cannot see the hill. At least not with today's technology.

Automatic transmissions are reactive to the difficulty experienced by the engine. They cannot downshift before the hill. In this respect, they cannot match the performance of a manual transmission. They shift later than a good human driver would.

Is the convenience worth the drop in performance and fun? You'll have to decide for yourself. I choose stick.