Shift,..... Skip Shift

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Shift,..... Skip Shift

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Richard Petty Driving Experience says you can skip the clutch pedal

With manual transmissions being phased out of everything from Fords to Ferraris, it's no surprise that beginning on Thursday, the Richard Petty Driving Experience will no longer require the use of a clutch pedal to learn how to drive a stock car.

With the company's "Can't Drive a Manual? No Problem" campaign, the driving school will allow students to get behind the wheel of a stocker and be push-started so no shifting will be required. The school says that now, every driver's full attention will be on the instructor, driving lines and gradually increasing speeds on the oval.



Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/2011083 ... z1WeRJm1oK
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Re: Shift,..... Skip Shift

Post by Tups »

Rope-Pusher wrote:...push-started so no shifting will be required.
A new level of being retarded has been unlocked.
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Re: Shift,..... Skip Shift

Post by noob5,000,000 »

Are we going to start teaching our kids to run before they can walk?

I hope this is some kind of sting operation, and the people who show up for this retardation will be prosecuted for being stupid and a pussy.
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Re: Shift,..... Skip Shift

Post by theholycow »

Which gear will they use?
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Re: Shift,..... Skip Shift

Post by Charles421 »

Wow this is so lame.

Not sure if serious. :roll:
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Re: Shift,..... Skip Shift

Post by Shadow »

theholycow wrote:Which gear will they use?
"To get out on track, the school uses Range Polaris ATVs with push bumpers in front. They get behind the car and push up to 25 mph, which is when you can pop the clutch in fourth gear without damaging anything. Once you're in gear on the track, the only thing to do is hit the gas pedal."


Great...now we have race car driving school for retards. Terrific.
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Re: Shift,..... Skip Shift

Post by Shadow »

Hmm.... do aviation schools allow student pilots to fly a plane before they are able to lift off a runway?


Yes, pretty much unrelated, but this conversation made me wonder about that...
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Re: Shift,..... Skip Shift

Post by RITmusic2k »

I love that analogy, Shadow.
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Re: Shift,..... Skip Shift

Post by Squint »

Wait wait wait. We're looking at this all wrong. It just means we can become race drivers because no one in the future will know how to use the funny stick to get started.

Just a giant win for all of us :lol: :wink:
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Re: Shift,..... Skip Shift

Post by theholycow »

That made me curious. I remember when I was a child we went on a small airplane and the pilot let my dad take the yoke for a minute or two, but that certainly wasn't flight school.

http://www.takewinginc.com/firststep.html
THE DETAILS:
  • Pre-flight ground session —Hands-on aircraft preflight orientation.
    Taxi tme — Hands-on learning of how to start, taxi, and takeoff.
    Flying the airplane! — While under the guidance of your FAA licensed instructor, you’ll hold the controls (yes, there are two sets of controls) and fly the airplane all while enjoying the view of our beautiful valleys, mountains, rivers, and farm lands from the air!.
    Pictures — You bet! We take digital pictures while you are flying so you can share your experience with friends and family after you land.
    Refreshments — We return for a sparkling cider reception and presentation of your First Flight Certificate and Logbook
So, you show up for a two-hour program and they walk you through taking off and flying (and by their omission I suspect they do the landing).
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Re: Shift,..... Skip Shift

Post by Rope-Pusher »

It's really a "Driving Experience", not a "Driving School". No one out there racing EVER started this way.

"That fat, old stockbroker looked pert good during his two laps at speed. Ya think he's available to race for Keslowski in the Nationwide event this Saturday? Brad would REALLY like to rest-up his broken ankle a bit more before Sunday's Sprint Cup race"
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Re: Shift,..... Skip Shift

Post by Shadow »

Rope-Pusher wrote:It's really a "Driving Experience", not a "Driving School". No one out there racing EVER started this way.

"That fat, old stockbroker looked pert good during his two laps at speed. Ya think he's available to race for Keslowski in the Nationwide event this Saturday? Brad would REALLY like to rest-up his broken ankle a bit more before Sunday's Sprint Cup race"
If they are teaching people how to drive a race car around a track, I'd think a driving school is a fairly accurate description of the organization. Most racing pros today started out on karts, long before they were old enough to drive an actual car. And the whole "regular Joe driving a race car" concept hasn't been around all that long.
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Re: Shift,..... Skip Shift

Post by Rope-Pusher »

^ Well, that's where you'd be wrong. It's not about learning to drive, it's about NASCAR Wanabees paying money so they will be allowed to take hot laps in something that looks like the actual racecars. It's a profit thang!
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Re: Shift,..... Skip Shift

Post by Jastreb »

theholycow wrote:That made me curious. I remember when I was a child we went on a small airplane and the pilot let my dad take the yoke for a minute or two, but that certainly wasn't flight school.

http://www.takewinginc.com/firststep.html
THE DETAILS:
  • Pre-flight ground session —Hands-on aircraft preflight orientation.
    Taxi tme — Hands-on learning of how to start, taxi, and takeoff.
    Flying the airplane! — While under the guidance of your FAA licensed instructor, you’ll hold the controls (yes, there are two sets of controls) and fly the airplane all while enjoying the view of our beautiful valleys, mountains, rivers, and farm lands from the air!.
    Pictures — You bet! We take digital pictures while you are flying so you can share your experience with friends and family after you land.
    Refreshments — We return for a sparkling cider reception and presentation of your First Flight Certificate and Logbook
So, you show up for a two-hour program and they walk you through taking off and flying (and by their omission I suspect they do the landing).
I don't think the flight training analogy is exactly fitting here. Taking off is a more advanced skill than straight flight and gentle turns (holding the controls), because you have to keep the airplane pointed in the right direction as you accelerate down the runway, raise the nose when you reach the right speed, but not too much because you might stall, and establish the proper heading and rate of climb. In the one flying lesson I took, the instructor let me do turns and and gentle climbs/descents once we were in the air, but he handled the takeoff. In the case of driving a car, learning to start can be learned without knowing how to go fast.
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Re: Shift,..... Skip Shift

Post by AHTOXA »

Shadow wrote:Hmm.... do aviation schools allow student pilots to fly a plane before they are able to lift off a runway?


Yes, pretty much unrelated, but this conversation made me wonder about that...
It doesn't happen all of the time, but here I wholeheartedly agree with your point.
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