Gears
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All cars require gears. Low gears give the engine the most force but least speed. High gears are required for higher speeds but have less force so are unable to pull the car away from a standstill. Therefore, gears need to be changed depending on the speed and pulling needs at any particular time. Some cars do this automatically, some have manual gearboxes.
For the sake of this lesson we will assume a manual gearbox.
In a manual car, gears are changed by the driver using a lever which is usually placed to the left of the steering wheel on a floor mounted central console. Look at the top of the gear lever. You will see a diagram showing which way you need to move the lever to select the gears. Most cars have four, five or six forward gears and one reverse gear.
When moving the car away from a standstill, 1st gear is selected. As the car gains speed, higher gears are selected until the highest gear is selected for high speed cruising. As the car changes speed in general driving, so the correct gear needs to be selected to match that speed. Listening to the engine note is a great help when determining the correct gear at any particular time. We will go into this in more detail in later lessons.
When selecting or changing gears, the clutch pedal should always be pushed down.
When changing gear, use the palming method shown in the video to avoid accidentally selecting the wrong gear. With the engine switched off and the clutch pressed down, practice changing between gears. Practice any combination of changes. Try to get used to how these changes feel using the palming method. Don’t look down when changing.
Gear changing using the palming method
Use the video to see how you can practice gear changes.
