Let Friend Drive F430

I have a 2006 F1 F430. My friend asked to drive, and I said sure without giving him any pointers. Clearly my fault. He was at a red light just lightly blipping the throttle in first gear to hear the car without really moving, which slipped the clutch I believe, before I informed him not to. He stopped for a minute in 1st without holding the brake, which may not be good for the clutch, and I only noticed because car shifted itself into neutral as a result. He was then going up a very steep hill in traffic, wanted to warn the guy behind him he might roll back, so let it roll back in first, which probably is bad for the clutch. Then finally didn't give it enough gas up the hill causing it to sputter in 1st as opposed to smooth operation, at which point we smelled the clutch.

I pray he only did 1% wear or so to the clutch, but I really have no idea. If anyone has any comments, I'm all ears. I'd feel better if someone agreed with my 1% estimate. But the point of this post is to advise fellow owners to tell friends who want to drive 1 simple rule to preserve the clutch: Either be 100% on the brake, or applying enough gas to get the RPM over 2000.

 

Nothing he did would be enough to to any harm to a clutch. Leaving your foot off of the brake causing it to go into neutral has zero wear on the clutch. It stays disengaged. The only reason it's programmed that way is for safety.
The only part out of the whole story that had any "wear" on the cluth would be the part about giving light throttle up the steep hill because the clutch is half engaged and slipping at that point. That is the reason that you got a light clutch smell at that point. He probably dragged it for a second or two longer than necessary, but I can assure you that there was no significant wear caused by your friend......not even close to 1%!
If it was that easy to wear the clutch out, you would need a clutch every 1,000 miles of local driving. If the clutch was that delicate, God help you if you get caught in 1 day of stop and go traffic, you would have had to go to the dealer for a clutch job on the way home.

 

Don't worry!

I wouldn't even classify that as abuse.

 

Thank you both kindly for your reply. Makes me feel immensely better.

 

FWIW I let a good friend drive last Friday which was my first time I did a 360 in a 360...my 360 Car was fine but was the end of his Ferrari experience. Answer next time is no...get your own.

 

Dont let your friends drive your Ferrari. ...just kindly offer to give them a spirited drive.

Its not hard to find a pic on FChat of a CS with its candy coating DOWN in the dirt.

===== with great power comes great responsibility... or something like that. =====

 

its supposed to go into neutral if you sit without in gear without your foot on the brake, no harm done. The others no harm done either. I have let quite a few people drive my 360 who had no idea what they were doing in a F1 (but I am near the end of my clutch life anyway) and its fun to see their reactions driving this great car.

 

So much easier to have a manual ...regardless these cars aren't fragile ...

 

Yes manual =girlfriend can't drive it.

 

Relax and enjoy the ride.

 

How did he manage that?

 

The EXACT same thing happened to me!!!

 

Probably went in a turn hot, and lifted of the gas to compensate?

 

I dont currently own an F-car, but I am in the market and currently drive a 997T. I don't see a problem letting a trusted friend who is a car enthusiast drive the car as long as it is in a controlled environment. It would obviously be wise to brief them on the controls etc. Maybe my opinion will change if I buy my own, but I have always had no problem sharing my toys.

 

If the car is in gear and stationary the clutch must be disengaged. If you take your foot off the brake on an incline and do not apply throttle the clutch is still disengaged. Don't see how either of these senarios can burn the clutch. Now applying light throttle on a hill will cause the clutch to slip. That's the only way you can go slowly up a hill with the car in gear without having the engine stall.

 

It always bewilder me why people would ask for a drive.

Being offered for a drive is a different story. Even when my friends offer me drives, I would treat the cars with utmost respect.

But thats just me I guess...

 

People ask for drive or rides because it's a Great marque and loved by many . I don't see the big deal, it's still a car .

I've let a few drive mine who I knew would take care. This past weekend I let 19y total car nut drive who drove surprisingly well and did rev match very well.

They ain't fragile , they are designed to be driven hard. Just finished a 1200 mile trip which I averaged 80 the entire time and she LOVED it ! That's more miles than most do in five years.

A day at the track puts much more abuse on the car than a few more of slipping the clutch.


Stop whining and drive the bloody thing !

 

Well for me, its just that I respect other people's properties enough that I wouldn't ask to hand over the keys. As simple as that.

It also doesn't help to lower the chance of possible unfortunate events for the fact that Hong Kong is such a dense city filled with people and cars; the roads are also narrow and packed with double decker buses.

 

Wearing of a clutch and overheating/burning a clutch are two different things. You can burn a new clutch with alot of material left on it, then it's of no use.

 

If you saw a puff of smoke, then that would be a very bad sign for your clutch. If you didn't, then it's just some excess wear and you shortened it's life a bit, but not a big deal.

As for letting people drive your car, I say this is generally a bad idea unless you know the persons driving ability or ability to follow instruction closely. The usual horror story is because they floored the gas pedal and didn't actually know how the car would respond. The average person thinks these cars drive like they do in a video game or that they can be driven 'hard' in the same way an economy car can be driven hard. When you floor an economy car, the tires don't break loose and it doesn't rocket in the direction of the steering wheel faster than you can respond.

 

In my case, the guy got behind the wheel, drove for less than 100 feet, went into a very sharp corner (that exited onto a major highway) and floored it. Like a moron, I accidently left the traction control on. He 360'd the car and the inertial sensor cut the fuel to the car for like 10 minutes (it's supposed to do that). So here we are, sitting in the middle of a major highway, cars coming at 70MPH+ and I can't get the car started (no fuel). We quickly pushed the car off the highway.

 

It's interesting...I had one friend who got offended when I told her she could not drive the car...she is a very aggressive driver, so no way I would trust her.
On another occasion, I offered to let a childhood friend who I trust completely drive the car, and he declined...he was too nervous about it!

 

I have hear a similar friend story in his 458 Italia.

Same situation: an incline street, he stopped his 458 waiting for his friend.When he was waiting for him he put some throttle in first gear hearing the car without moving...he did that repetitives times.The result?
Clutch replacement.
Don't know why but i have hear that several times,someone knows the exact explanation?

Best,
FSS

 

More likely glazed the clutch, semantics aside, the operator created a surface profile on the clutch friction plate that has little friction. A glassy like surface.

Strange I thought a dual clutch system would be better at this because it is completer controlled, but i suppose it can happen.

 

+1: Riding a clutch to the point you smell it causes the flywheel to get polished/burned in effect reducing friction. You can also create heat checks which cause cracks on the flywheel surface as well.
Only thing you can do is just take this as a lesson learned and be ready to flip a clutch bill if you do.