Generally, you use more accelerator and less clutch than you think you need. Chances are you’ll end up overrevving the engine and maybe shaving a few days off the life of the clutch, but it’ll get you moving.
The thing I always tell people I’m teaching to drive stick is that the reason why hill starts are hard mostly isn’t the rolling back (although that adds some pressure), it’s that it requires more accelerator and more time in the friction zone on the clutch than you’re used to. When you’re first learning to drive stick, you get used to the exact amounts of pedal you need to use on your car in the flat conditions you learned in. Hill starts are really where you start to get the hang of responding dynamically to what the car and engine are doing. That’s really the key to being a proficient manual driver who can jump in any car and drive smoothly from the get-go without a period of herky-jerkyness while you relearn for each new car.
No manual driving test in the US (that I’m aware of). But, if you took your test in a manual, and had to use the hand brake to start on a hill… Well if I was the instructor, it would suggest to me that you are missing an import skill when it comes to driving a manual transmission.
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Regardless, of course it’s best to know how to do both methods in case you do find yourself on a manual without a parking brake. But as a passenger, no, it would not concern me to see parking brakes on hill starts. One of the best drivers I know uses the parking brake for all hill starts and even at stop lights because that’s just what was engrained into him in his UK driver’s education. I’d be silly to be concerned about something like this if every other aspect of his driving is normal. I personally feel safer with someone who parking brake hill starts.
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It’s all what you are used to I suppose. I’ve never seen anyone use the parking brake in any but the most extreme situation/hill. If I did not know of there overall driving abilities, and this was the first time I rode with them, it would suggest to me that they are missing some of the finner points on how to drive a manual transmission. YMMV
Note that I think that even over here, most people won’t bother with the handbrake on slight inclines, only where in steep cases like I mentioned above.
Good question. Judging by this discussion on a UK forum it seems like it’s the “any amount of rollback” part that is an instant fail. So if you could do it without any rollback, it seems like it’s okay. I, too, would not use the parking brake in a situation where there is little chance of any rollback. (Of course, you can heel-toe it, too, even on steep inclines, and not roll back. I just feel parking brake is absolutely 100% foolproof.) Or just borrow a vehicle that does have a parking brake, pass your test, and then do whatever you want.
Maybe some UK or elsewhere dopers that have this type of hill start as part of their test can chime in on what happens in their neck of the woods.
And, yes, you can get very good at just using the regular “foot shuffle” method, too. But especially when I’m driving manuals other than my own, it’s not something I like to do as it generally takes a few hill starts for me to really get the feel of the vehicle. Same with heel-toeing. Heel-toeing in cars I’m not used to takes a bit of practice to get down. I feel safer with a conservative driver who applies the parking brake rather than with a driver who typically shuffles their feet and allows a little bit of rollback. If they do it with no rollback whatsoever, great. But, like you said, it’s what you’re used to. I learned how to drive a stick where parking brake hill starts were quite normal for experienced drivers, so it’s not something I associate with “good driving” or “bad driving.”
I doubt it’s literally “any amount” of rollback that will fail you, just that if you obviously screw up a hill start you’ll fail. It looks to me like it’s not so much that you’re required to use the handbrake, just that since they have the option it would be very ill-advised for an inexperienced driver to risk an unassisted hill start on the driving test if they don’t have to.
It’s hard to ascertain for me, as I find various posts from UK drivers saying that they were required to use the handbrake or be failed. Now, I don’t know if the tests have changed, they are misremembering, or if it is the bias of test instructors. I know it’s only anecdotal, but I have had two different people tell me that their instructor used some sort of version of the “matchbox” test I mentioned above to pass/fail a hill start. Looking up the actual UK test driving provisions, though, I don’t see anything directly addressing this except to say that “hill assist” vehicles are allowed.
The conventional wisdom in the UK is certainly that the handbrake should always be used on hills; whether or not the standard is “any amount of rollback = fail,” I can’t verify, but such a standard sounds absurd to American drivers like myself. It took me a while to find this, but here’s a video of what I’d expect to see on a moderately steep hill. (2:54 in the video if it doesn’t take you there.) You’ll see that he does roll back, but no more than 3 or 4 cm, and then he gets moving along just fine. The point I stress to newer drivers is that 3 or 4 cm is nothing, because nobody’s going to stop that close to you, but it feels more like 3 or 4 meters, so people freak out and end up screwing up the hill start, usually by over-revving it and burning the clutch.
The point is to get the rollback down to as little as possible, but at the same time to feel comfortable rolling back an inch or two without getting frazzled. I’m not a driving instructor or examiner, but IMO the hill start in that video is 100% A-OK. If that’s a fail in the UK, well, disregard all of our advice.
Everybody’s definition of steep is probably different.
Some vehicles have ‘instant grab’ clutches. Maybe old or for what ever reason. I doubt if very many people here could get in them the first time and make a pretty 20° hill start. And adding gravel in a empty pickup the 'first time ’ for you to be pretty I would like to see…
It’s all about what you are used to, in many ways.
A couple of young ladies & one guy I know have totally trashed the clutch in one training session with no E brakes installed or allowed. Lived in a hilly place.
Learning in a modern 15 year old car which is light, lower powered and with all the new materials is way different.
A lot of 20+ year old cars are different for a newbie IMO.
Friend in high school had a 1952 Packard, straight 8, 3 on the tree and after a few miles on an open road, that thing would fly.
Clutch & throttle I never got from lack of a LOT of practice.
“a LOT of practice.” as said all over this thread, is the best way.
