James wrote:No really how? (Thinks of crunching gears in a getaway situation).
Last time I
needed to use this technique was a couple of Novembers ago, after the garage had done some work on the car the previous day and I woke up to find the clutch wouldn't disengage
I characterised the biting point as somewhere below the floor, and pumping the clutch pedal didn't make any beneficial difference.
This was annoying because it was some miles from the garage, and there were a number of busy junctions to negotiate along the way, during the morning busy period.
First problem was to get the engine warmed up, so I started the car with the gearbox in neutral and let it idle. Probably annoyed the people still trying to sleep in the surrounding tents and caravans
Once it had warmed up, I stopped the engine, selected 1st gear, and started it again. Because it was properly warm by then, the engine started easily and immediately the car lurched forward.
This made going over the very severe speed bumps at the campsite a PITA, not least because the exhaust scrapes if the car is moving faster than a snail. This turned out to be a series of starts and stops, getting the car to move as slowly as possible over the speed bumps.
Once at the main road, it was just a question of waiting for no traffic, then starting the car with the now familar lurch, and continue driving down the road.
Turning right onto the busy main road was more of a trial - it was a question of timing, with almost no room for error. Once I restarted the engine, I
really had to be able to go straight away. Scary
Roundabouts weren't too much trouble, as I held back more than usual on approach, until there was enough of a gap to slot in. I think I had to stop only one time at a roundabout, and was fortunate that I was able to use the left lane, (since invariably the left lane on an otherwise busy roundabout is the least busy part).
I finally got to the garage, and they gave me a loan car and I went off to work
One of the tricky aspects to all this was the approach to possible stop situations. What I did was change down to 2nd gear much earlier than usual, and slowed down a lot earlier as well. If I had to stop, I had to remember to pull it out of gear, because although the brakes would stall the engine, my muscle memory was caught out by the engine still trying to move the car forward when I had expected it to have stopped.
there is only the road, nothing but the road ...