Who has never dreaded a hill start? Beginner or confirmed driver, there is always this little bit of stress – to stall or even back in the car (which sticks, of course) right behind us.
There are two different ways to manage your hill start. The challenging or the safe way 🙂
Without the handbrake, winner!
It takes skills. The ability to find the clutch slip point and a reactive right foot; and hill start is overcome without the handbrake. Here are the steps to follow:
- The vehicle is stopped, the right foot is pressing on the brake pedal, the left foot is lightly letting go of the clutch pedal and the first gear is engaged.
- Keep the right foot on the brake while the left foot is lifting up slowly to find the skating point.
- To begin, the brake is slowly released and the accelerator is pressed to help the vehicle start. We lift, little by little, the foot off the clutch and magic! The car moves forward!
With the handbrake, safety!
The slope is steep, starting without the handbrake is frightening and the risk of moving backwards (instead of forward) is too great; in such case, we prefer to use the handbrake to face this hill start. Steps to follow:
- The vehicle is stopped. The first gear is on and the parking brake is tightened.
- Progressively, the right foot presses the accelerator and the left foot releases the clutch pedal, the engine revs up.
- To get going, slowly release the handbrake and the vehicle can move.
And finally, no matter what method you use to get away with a hill start, what matters is that you manage to get moving again!
Have a good time on the road!
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