The real issue is when you’re in a truck that doesnt have a handbrake! That’s some tricky foot-work timing and clutch slipping that take people even longer to learn! The parking brake is either a foot pedal or on big commercial trucks- air.
I haven’t had issues doing hill starts with air handbrakes, basically the same deal really as a regular handbrake just without feedback through the lever.
Never had to try a hill start with a foot handbrake though, I imagine those could make things harder.
Ya, i could see that setup being similar . But the truck i drove was basically a button, not a lever, lol. so steep hills you just do some good slipping and quick feet!
A foot handbrake wouldnt even be possible, those are pretty much just parking brakes. They are on a ratchet type system, too. The further you push the pedal the harder the brakes grab and the pedal holds that position automatically, the only way to release is either pull the “release” lever with your hand, which requires you to bend way over so you cant see the road. Or re-apply foot pressure to release, depending on the design. You’d need 3 feet, pretty much.
The trick is to actually know what you’re doing and not use the handbrake unless you’re parking the car and exiting it. I don’t know where the handbrake on stops shit comes from but in 20 years of driving manual I never had to do that a single time.
i used to live i a pretty mountainous area, and handbrake starts can be absolutely necessary… on a steep hill where you roll backwards a couple of metres before you can quickly move from the brake to the accelerator and clutch, its just dangerous to do it any other way (not to mention i imagine it’d fuck your clutch plate relatively quickly because it’s have to slip a LOT to arrest your significant backwards momentum)
… and honestly i’m so used to it i just do it on every even slight hill because it’s just… easy? makes you less “quick engage and accelerate” because you don’t have to worry about it: the car is always under control; you’re never rolling; take whatever time you need
The real issue is when you’re in a truck that doesnt have a handbrake! That’s some tricky foot-work timing and clutch slipping that take people even longer to learn! The parking brake is either a foot pedal or on big commercial trucks- air.
I haven’t had issues doing hill starts with air handbrakes, basically the same deal really as a regular handbrake just without feedback through the lever.
Never had to try a hill start with a foot handbrake though, I imagine those could make things harder.
Ya, i could see that setup being similar . But the truck i drove was basically a button, not a lever, lol. so steep hills you just do some good slipping and quick feet!
A foot handbrake wouldnt even be possible, those are pretty much just parking brakes. They are on a ratchet type system, too. The further you push the pedal the harder the brakes grab and the pedal holds that position automatically, the only way to release is either pull the “release” lever with your hand, which requires you to bend way over so you cant see the road. Or re-apply foot pressure to release, depending on the design. You’d need 3 feet, pretty much.
The trick is to actually know what you’re doing and not use the handbrake unless you’re parking the car and exiting it. I don’t know where the handbrake on stops shit comes from but in 20 years of driving manual I never had to do that a single time.
i used to live i a pretty mountainous area, and handbrake starts can be absolutely necessary… on a steep hill where you roll backwards a couple of metres before you can quickly move from the brake to the accelerator and clutch, its just dangerous to do it any other way (not to mention i imagine it’d fuck your clutch plate relatively quickly because it’s have to slip a LOT to arrest your significant backwards momentum)
… and honestly i’m so used to it i just do it on every even slight hill because it’s just… easy? makes you less “quick engage and accelerate” because you don’t have to worry about it: the car is always under control; you’re never rolling; take whatever time you need
I also used to live in a mountainous area so I’m no stranger to it either…