How I did it: Few things happened over the last 2 weeks that made me realise I'd done it!



a) 4WD driving in a manual Troop Landcruiser on the biggest sand island in the world!

b) Several hill starts with a Getz on 12% hills (anyone who's driven a Getz will know how bad it does on hills)

c) Getting the same Getz out of a tight parking spot on a hill (admittedly it was a gentle slope, but still, pretty pleased)



And to think I started with an automatic Toyota Echo sedan 6.5 years ago!

Lessons & tips: 1) Keep calm. You won't roll back as much as you think you do. If in doubt--handbrake!

2) Take your time (not too offensively slow though!) Just gently knock out of gear into neutral and knock back into gear

3) You'd be surprised how slow you'd have to go to stall at the higher gears. You can pretty much go 40km/h in fifth without stalling.

Resources: 1) Made good use of rental cars. Usually they've done big distances and with the hundreds of drivers who've driven them there's bound to be someone who's ridden the clutch too much, so you probably won't do too much damage.


2) If you're in a country where driving school isn't mandatory (ahem Australia), take some lessons so you learn the good habits. You really don't want to be paying for a prematurely burnt out clutch because you rode it too much.

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Aug 15, 04:24AM PDT | 0 comments | 4 cheers