How to understand the car’s controls
Understanding all the pedals and the switches!
You’ve done your cockpit drill, you’ve made the car safe, now what the hell does everything do?!
Hand controls:
Steering Wheel: Pretty obvious. Imagine a clock face, your left hand should be between 9 and 10, and your right between 2 and 3, don’t let them drop below 9 and 3, or you’ll have trouble controlling the wheel.
Your instructor will describe the pull-push technique, and ask you to ‘feed the wheel’ around. At first this seems odd, but as long as you keep each hand on its own side of the wheel, it will become natural reasonably soon.
Indicators: These are on the stalk within finger reach of the wheel, usually on the left side (though not always, so check). Keeping your hands on the wheel, and stretching your fingers out, imagine turning the wheel left, and you will naturally switch the indicators to the left position. Making sure you are not going to confuse anyone, practice switching the indicators on and off, left and right.
Wipers: These are on the opposite stalk, and are used in the same way, hands on the wheel, fingers outstretched. If and when it starts raining your instructor will run through these in more detail.
Handbrake: Big lever in between the seats, now often referred to as ‘the parking brake’, as it is only ever employed when the car is still, or ‘parked’. Practise with this (your instructor will hold the car still with his footbrake so you don’t roll), by pulling the lever up and pressing the button in - this unlocks the ratchet mechanism which locks the brake on. Keep the button pressed in and move the lever down until it is horizontal, rather than at an angle. Then re-apply the hand brake by pressing the button in and pulling it up as tight as it goes, then releasing the button - this will lock the brake on, and you can release the lever and it will stay in the ‘on’ position.
Gears: You have checked that this is in neutral already, and felt the springs which bring the gear stick between 3rd and 4th gear when in neutral. When changing always be aware of which gear you are in, and which gear you need next. For example, moving from 2nd to third means that you need to move the stick up (towards the front of the car) one click into neutral, then let go to allow the springs to bring it into the position under third, then up again. Practise moving through the gears smoothly, Palm away from you for 1st and 2nd, into neutral, let go and either up or down for 3rd and 4th, and palm towards you for 5th. You may want to find reverse, but different cars vary for selecting it, and you will be introduced to that later.
Foot Controls:
You must use all of your foot controls carefully, smoothly, and in the correct order, at first this takes time, allow yourself to take a moment to get it right. Even when you feel you should hurry up because of traffic, anyone behind would much rather you took a second or two more to get it right, than waste a minute by getting it wrong. Your instructor will ask you to ‘add gas’, ‘smoothly bring your clutch up’, and ‘gently brake’. Sometimes he may ask you to ‘cover’ a pedal - this means to place the relevant foot above it, ready to use it, but without pressing it.
Left Foot:
Clutch Pedal: The one on the left. Your instructor will have a diagram to explain this, but essentially it connects the engine to the wheels, and disconnects it in order to set off and change gear. This is not a switch, it works gradually and it must be used carefully and smoothly. You will have positioned your seat, so that you can control the clutch through it’s whole travel. Pressing the clutch to the floor disconnects the engine, and can be done swiftly, but bringing the clutch back up (when in gear) needs to be done slowly and smoothly, introducing the power from the engine to the wheels gradually.
Right Foot:
This foot will have to operate 2 pedals - gas (go) and brake (stop), this also means that you can’t say ‘go/stop’ at the same time to the car, it helps not to confuse it!
Brake: The middle pedal. At first you may not be a great judge on the brake, but your instructor will not expect you to brake hard, so be careful with it, and squeeze it gently to bring the speed gradually slower. Progressive braking means starting off lightly then progressing through the pedal travel to continue the braking. To avoid a jerk to a stop, just before stopping you can ease the pressure of the brake slightly. You will practise this as you park.
Gas: The one on the right. It’s easier for us to say ‘gas’ than ‘accelerator’, so all instructors become American on this one. While the engine is on, practise gently pressing the gas pedal and listen to the engine noise. Look at the rev-meter if you have one on your car, and recognise when you are revving the engine too high - anything above 3000 revs and it sounds like it’s working too hard. Gentle pressure will bring results, so try not to be too heavy with it.
Driving is all about control, and control comes from within the cabin of the car. At first you will be so worried about control your attention will mainly be within the cabin, and you may not be fully aware of what is happening outside. Keep everything slow and smooth, and you will find that you can listen to your instructor, control the car, and be aware of what is happening around you.
Good Luck with setting off!
All content © Tim Manwaring