WWTBAM Bored

I'm at the Lowell MA folk festival, & today, as yesterday, they're letting my car park in an emergency handicapped spot. Which I feel despondent about but grateful for.

The general design of garages is you drive up a spiraling ramp to get to each floor. The remodeling of the garage I'm in has you going up some down ramps instead. Down ramps are very steep. Which is fine for down. In my stick shift car, traveling at garage speed, 5mph, it is not fine for up. I need to be going faster to go uphill. And woe betide me & anyone behind me if I have to stop halfway up.

People don't realize stick shifts roll backward a few inches down a hill before the gears engage. I've seriously thought of putting a sign on the back of my car to this effect, but here in Boston area it would only draw abuse. (A not too helpful friend tells me I must brake, shift & give it gas simultaneously, but I can't find my 3rd foot needed for that maneuver.) I've started driving around the hill I live on, going for less-crowded streets if not the out-of-the-way flat-road approach just because of tailgaters.

At any rate, while I'm glad the garage is letting me park where they did, I wish they had set a section on the accessible (still using spiral ramp) bottom 2 floors for people whose cars can't make it up a down ramp. It looks, from my company in my spot w/o handicapped stickers, I am not the only one.

It's called toe and heel, only two feet required

If you need to, your hand brake will do.

Wearing out rear brakes by driving w/ e-brake on not good idea. As far as braking & hitting gas w/ right foot simultaneously, not sure my delicate, maidenly woman's size 8 feet can even do this on flat ground w/ assurance. And it also wears down brakes.

Nice that the garage is working with you.

The handbrake trick just takes some practice learning to gradually release the handbrake at the same rate that you are engaging the clutch. Suburu (and maybe others by now) came out with a "hill holder clutch" way back in the 80's. If you had to stop on a hill all you had to do was push the brake pedal a little harder than normal - this would keep all the brakes engaged even if you removed your right foot from the brake pedal. As you engaged the clutch, the brakes would automatically release. A nice system that worked well.

ghostjmf wrote:Wearing out rear brakes by driving w/ e-brake on not good idea. As far as braking & hitting gas w/ right foot simultaneously, not sure my delicate, maidenly woman's size 8 feet can even do this on flat ground w/ assurance. And it also wears down brakes.

So not how to do it, you don't drive with the brake on when you do it right

I have a 7.5 shoe size, so just not saying wie is me life is impossible will get it done.

I wish Acura had that hill-holder clutch. I will check manual but don't think so.

I drove up 2 hours early today, hoping to find a spot on the 2 accessible-to-me floors, but the person in charge recognized me & told me to park in that handicapped area again. I did not refuse.

We both know that on the floors I can't get to there are plenty handicapped spots near elevators. Still, no excuse for me; I'm sure the handicapped would rather be on ground floor near exit.

I hate garage parking anyway; often they have you parking on a down- or up-hill slant, which is also hazardous to stick-shifts. Yes, I know you have to park with car in gear, but that is not a cure-all.

My next car will prolly be automatic, but I sure hope they've got that "hesitates between gears" thing (they formally call it gear lag or something like that) fixed by then.

I realize shifting manually may actually be slower than gear lag, but it doesn't feel like it.

Don't drive to San Francisco.

No plans to drive stick in SF.

I live in Somerville, not nearly as lovely but with plenty enough hills for my car.