For those with a stick shift tranny.

An F-car can be stalled. I have an older one, 1987. Like the Kia, if I let the clutch out slowly it will go. I've never just let the clutch go, it's hard on the car. It might go forward, but it wouldn't be smooth. My past experience with other cars is that it will jump and buck, maybe keep going, maybe stall. With the older Ferrari's the thing to remember is that they aren't set up as drag race cars that are amazing from 0mph, they shine from a rolling speed, or some would say 50mph up to their limit. In the case of my car 150mph. Haven't found a safe place to go that fast, and at the age of the car, all the bits are old and it may not be safe either way. For your knowledge, people find my ferrari easier to drive than my 4 cyl Ford Ranger pickup.

 

A manual transmission is seen by many as fun because it can be driven so many ways and is so much more entertaining and flexible, except in stop and go traffic of course. Even a Ferrari stinks in traffic.

 

Just don't tell your Mom how you feel about her car's status. Might hurt her feelings.

 

Especially a Ferrari stinks in heavy traffic!

I recall reading an account in Forza magazine of a novice who was allowed to drive an F40. The owner of the F40 told him not to "feather" the clutch, just let it out.

I find that my 308 works best if I don't let the clutch out too slowly (i.e., "feathering" it), but not too quickly, either. After a bit of experience driving a Ferrari, you learn to let out the clutch at just the right speed.

But to answer your question, partially, my Ferrari doesn't stall as easily as most other stick-shift cars by simply dumping the clutch before giving it any gas.

 

Depends on what you mean by "powerful" -- i.e., on a fairly large displacement, normally-aspirated engine with a reasonable street flywheel inertia (like a TR) = fairly resistant to stalling from standstill; on a turbocharged, small displacement engine with virtually no flywheel = real skill required (even though it may make huge high RPM power).

 

I can tell you from first hand experience that my 430 is very easy to stall. The flywheel is small and light giving the motor very little centrifical (IIRC) force and stops easily when starting out.

Dave

 

Flywheel weight and gearing also come into play in this scenario.

 

Inertia is the word you are looking for

It is all about rotational inertia. Bigger engine have more of it than small ones and V12s are better than V8s - but there are many factors including flywheel weight (like hardtop's 430). Racing and high performance motor have lower inertia than general run-of-the-mill motors to enable them to gain and loose revs quickly.

I used to drive diesel Landcruisers a lot - 4.2 straight 6 engine with a redline that appeared to be about 3,000 (but was probably 4.5k )... you can let the clutch out anyway you like and unless you are standing on the brakes it won't stall. Big capacity american V8s are similar. But as with all things engine related - there are loads of variables

 

+1. We had a Land Rover Defender. On a off road course an instructor put the car in first, let out the clutch and we literally idled over a tree stump. I will never forget it.

the Defender was geared extremely low, had a 4.0 V8, but only made 190HP, if that.

 

190 HP only at rated rpm, and only at full, wide open throttle. At idle it might make 2 HP.

Gearing plays a large part, but flywheel mass is a much larger part. I have a 28 HP tractor that weighs 7000 pounds, but i can dump the clutch at idle (350 rpm) and it will just go. If its much above idle and I dump it, it pops the front tires off the ground and slings dirt. Put a large enough flywheel on an engine and the enertia can become unstoppable. It can also become unrevvable, where it takes forever for the engine to accelerate/decellerate. Lighter flywheels make cars accelerate faster, but are harder to get rolling. Heavy flywheels make them easy to get rolling, but they wont accelerate very good.

 

As others have noted, it's not purely a power (torque, actually) equation.

ANY street car can go from a stop without any gas at all, if you feather the clutch and are on level ground. More torque = the faster the clutch release can be.

But at the same time, at the races I regularly witness 800+ HP cars stalling when they try to drive slowly around the paddock. The clutch construction in that type of car is almost on/off with no "friction zone" to slip the clutch, hence you have to apply quite a bit of gas and launch aggressively even if you only intend to move one parking spot forward. The point you should take from that is that a Kia can go from a stop without the gas, while a mega-HP car cannot. So you see, there's more to it than just how much power you have.

 

When I had my 1989 348 I COULD get it rolling without applying any extra power, but it was a very slow release of the clutch pedal. It worked much better to run it at around 3-4k RPM and then feed more throttle as the clutch picked up. This is also a much better technique for getting the back end to step out for fun!

BT

 

I beg to differ. I much prefer a manual even in stop and go city traffic, especially the inch forward kind. You are probably asking why! And it has to do with the automatic trannies I have had to live with. Long ago, autos came with really shlushy clutches, and when you foot was on the brake, the impeller was completely stalled out and you could use a light touch on the brake. Now with the lock up clutches (always trying to engauge) you have to use even more brake pressure, and enven then, the car/SUV will want to inch forward even with your foot on the brake. Its so bad, that I drop the autos into neutral at stop lights. I am not talking one or two cars here, but all autos I have owned since 1990 (14).

{Note if my SUV was offered with a manual I would have gotten the manual. If the computer keeps track of how often I shift the lever, the count will be close to 20K times with 50K miles on the clock. Every stop light, after turned on, most down hills, a couple of up hills,..... The auto decision algorithm is screwed up; and due to the number of vehicles of different manufacture and engine size to weight ratios, all of them being similar CANNOT be a coincidence.}

 

same here.

except when i'm stuck in the single lane mountain roads around my house, which get backed up due to being the only route to/from the coast. especially on the weekends during the prime pleasure driving times. stop and go up the steep incline is a bit of a pain. you barely get the clutch out and then you stop again. and i hate to leave more than a car length in front! i feel like "that guy" at the stop light. i try to creep as slow as possible but the damn auto trans drivers like to do the halting progress crap.

normal city stuff and highway 5->3 merge stuff i'm totally fine with and hate auto trans especially in those situations. with the auto, instead of feathering the clutch you are always feathering the throttle and managing the brake; annoying.