My Rant on my driving skills

So today, after my big test I decide to blow off steam and take the stang out since it hasn't moved in over a week. So I cruise out to the coast and decide to try out this new driving road my buddy in the car club told me about. I head out that direction and once I got on the road it was awesome. No one was on the road(leads basically no where since the built the main highway) and it has really nice twistiest.

(rant begins)


So anyway I am driving along this road and come to a long, long straight away and decide to do a 0 to 60(speed limit 55). I launch at 1500rpm, pull through first, grab 2nd with wheel spin and go to grab third when I miss third!! I have never done that before on the MGW shifter ever.

Pissed off, I stop and decide to do another run, like I said long straight away. I launch at 1500 rpm again, grab 2nd with wheel spin and grab third only to have my foot slip off the clutch and scratch third (ie I was not all the way in gear yet when I slipped off the clutch. I nearly pulled my hair out, too short to grab well though.

:censored: I feel like a noob! It just makes me sooo mad. I know I was rushing the shifts and forcing the shifter, not being smooth and precise. I just hate when I do that especially when I scratch the gears(only have done it 5 times on my rebuilt trans, hopefully never again.), it sounds terrible and makes me look terrible. I don't know why I can shift fine and then get all nervous thinking that shifting .05 sec will really make a difference in my times, when in reality I am slower because i miss a gear or make myself look bad.

(end rant)

BurningRubber said:

You sure it's you and not the clutch, or quadrant/cable being out of adjustment?

I've had the same thing happen before. Usually my first pass down the track I scratch 2nd and 3rd out of being anxious, then it's fine after that.

2-3 is kind of hit-or-miss with the MGW I've found. It's not the ideal shifter for drag racing because of its smoothness. I've found myself wondering if it's really in gear, when I really need to just bang the gears and go without a second thought.

Practice makes perfect, though. Once you get good with that, try powershifting... Not really, unless you want to risk another rebuilt trans.

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Ya ifs definitely me, unfortunately. The clutch is adjusted great and the car shifts really good at any rpm, except when I rush things. The thing is I thought I was good, seeing as I have driven manual for 6 years now.

I think I just rushed things and lacked precision, because I did a pull onto the 1 freeway and everything was fine. Then the 2nd freeway on ramp pull went great too. I guess I can't always be 100% on 24/7, which makes me mad. Plus, I probably wasn't paying as close attention to my shifting as I should have, they say once you get too comfortable, you make mistakes because your head isn't 100% in the game.

68stang351 said:

I think you're just thinking about it too much.

I mean I have a stock shifter on my 04 and can't recall ever missing 3rd, even when shifting without lifting the on the gas.

I do drive the piss out of it and my other cars so maybe I'm used to it?

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Maybe, this is the first time in a long while that I have missed a gear. I have trouble with getting my timing right when speed shifting because I was shifting too early before and tending to scratch the gears. I never have ever missed a shift road racing, type of drive not street racing which I would never do. I only have ever missed a shift going in a straight line.

Well I plan to slow down and be more precise with my movements and slow work back up to more speed since I think lazy bad habits are causing problems.


One question, where do all you guys do with your shifting hand between shifts? I try to not rest it on the shift nob and hold back onto the wheel to slow myself down from shifting too fast like a ricer. Is this where the issue is?