Team-BHP - How and when did you learn to drive?

Fortunately or unfortunately, I don't have any funny memories of the days just after learning to drive.

Here's how it happened : since childhood, I observed my dad and uncle drive; picked it up little by little. On some days, I pretended I was driving the car. (Emulated every bit of it like changing gears, moving the steering, pressing pedals etc.; all without the key in the keyhole though). Mustered the courage one-day, asked the watchman to sit beside and took the car out of the garage and put it back in.

Been driving like I was born to do so since!

Quote:

Originally Posted by revintup (Post 2550962)

A simple query from her "Why are there three foot pedals when all i have are only two legs?":uncontrol:uncontrol

Man, that statement sounds so innocent, I feel guilty laughing about it! :D

@girishglg, nice thread you've started here, just made me remember my initial days of learning to drive.

I bought my first car and quite naturally a M800 about 10 yrs ago, I booked the car and didn't know how to drive one. Enrolled into a driving school and paid for both the driving lessons and the license. Day 1 - the driving instructor asks me to remove my shoes and socks before I get into the vehicle, thought it must be some auspicious thing to do that and got in. Then asked him "boss can I wear them now?", he was like "no sir, you need to get a feel of the brake, clutch and accelerator pedal". The just thought for a moment driving the car around bare feet and putting the shoes back on everytime i stopped somewhere. NO WAY DUDE! I was hell bent on wearing it and learning to drive, boy thank God I stood my ground! I still see my cousin and one of my friend religiously removing their footwear everytime they get into their car :uncontrol

Now that I started off with a not so good note with the driving instructor, he decided to give me the scares by taking me to the main road with heavy traffic on day 1. After riding a bike in Bangalore's traffic and playing Road Rash and NFS for hours together never really got intimidated. Should've seen the look on his face when I asked him can we extend the drive by another 30mins and make it an hour! :D

Typically these driving schools offer about 10 hours of driving instruction and park about 1 hours for DL tests. After 2hours of driving, I struck a deal with them that I will use about 3 more hours and then let my dad take the remaining 5 hours, just had to pay them a little extra. So after about 5 hours of learning I took delivery of my car and drove it quite comfortably back home.

Then starts the interesting next few days of my plight with half knowledge on manoeuvring and reversing, will share it in another post!

Aah. Fond memories them all.
Our factory had couple of diesel Ambys, and I learnt to drive in them.

On a highway, my only plan was to move to the top gear as soon as possible and then floor the gas! Thats when my driver taught me a few tricks.
Firstly he taught me how to use the gear with the rev range and when to upshift. However, the most important lesson learnt was a funny characteristic of a DI Diesel mill. If you floor the gas, the acceleration would be very gradual. Instead go at it like a toggle wherein you pump a bit and then you let go(like revving a Stroker). And boy, the car did accelerate faster the toggle way. I still have no idea why it happened so(I would like to know the mechanics: Guess it used to put less load on the diesel pump etc)

And with lesser vehicles on the road, the rear wheel drive Amby was sure a lot of fun .Now I miss those days so bad :(

Another one, i always thought driving a car was just like driving scooter or motorcycle just a little bit simpler. When got married in 2001 decided to teach my wife car driving as she was already used to driving scooter (geared one) so understood the concept of clutch et all.

So one fine weekend she was on the wheels and i was on the co-driver seat and gave her the initial set of instructions. She started the car, pressed the clutch, slotted the first gear and was very slowly releasing the clutch (the car would stall). It happened twice and i was slightly irritated and spoke like a husband to a learning driver who happens to be wife (Assuming that i have hand brake to stop if things get out of hand).

After the husband talk and gyan she got some josh and pressed the accelerator fully. The Car rocketed forward towards a tree scaring both of us i felt she was not able to control hence pulled the handbrake FULL to stop the car, but guess what the handbrakes only apply on rear wheels and a front wheel drive car will still pull by dragging the rear wheels. So the car went into circle Front wheels pulling, rear wheels dragging. Realizing its not going to stop i slipped my hand and switched off the ignition. This happened in few seconds and was enough to get our harts racing :), neighbors laughing and my parents smiling from the balcony. Fortunately it was a ground so there was no chance of hitting anything except trees or sidewalls of house.

Promptly gave up the idea of husband teaching wife how to drive (History says this has never worked) and sent her to a driving school. Still reaping the fruits of that decision. Today i can relax when she is on the wheels.

I was all too jittery after completing the driving school lessons and when took to the wheels ffor the first time. My feet were wobbly. I spent some time to get into the rythm of using the three pedals.

One incident which I most distinctly remember is when I was into straight driving for over two weeks and once I attempted an incline of the bridge. Its so happened that the vehicle infront of me braked on the incline and I braked instantly. After that I was unable to climb the incline and the engine stalled every time I released the clutch pedal. With sweat gathering on my forehead, I was getting nervous every passing minute. Finally I decided that I will reverse the car till the end of the incline and retry again. It was a funny moment when I was reversing and every passing car giving a cold glance. Phew that was one scary instance. I somehow managed to pass the incline and heaved a sigh of relief which made me more determined to try the same incline next day, those attempts made me learn the tricks of all pedal co-ordination which till date has been really helpful.

During days of public transport travel, I'd observed the driver double clutching and that had stuck in my mind.

When I started learning driving at a driving school - the first time on the road, I did a double clutch and spent the next 10 minutes listening to the instructor explaining why that was not required yet. It was years before I became familiar with synchomesh etc....

Did not own a car for a while after learning driving. So, there wasn't much opportunity to practice my driving skills.

When my elder brother bought a car (and did not have a 4W DL yet!) I was the designated driver. Driving came naturally - maybe there is a 'driving' gene dominant in my DNA!

Nice thread!

I learnt how to drive by myself.
2nd gen 800, where i used to shift gears in a parked car, working the clutch and accelerator with accompanying sounds of general merriment...:)
I graduated to short reverse/forwards in my driveway.

once my mom had taken me to some neighbour's place, and had parked the car in a single lane next to the house.
this was in days when there were a hell of a lot fewer cars on the road.
whe went in, and i was in the passenger seat, with the key in, and listening to a full-flashing-lights stereo system.
Single lane, okay, and this uncleji comes in , in a padmini, and sees our car blocking the road.
honked once, and waved, but i put my head out and screamed, "cant move, dont know driving".
nodded sagely, and backed out about 300ft(in a padmini, in a single lane!)
and took another route to go around this 800 in his way.

meanwhile, i decided, hell, lets see!!
reversed it out and and parked it outside, which was again a single lane.

and guess who comes by after 2 minutes?
:D
deja vu, perhaps?

he STARED DOWN at me, as he somehow managed to edge past.
that stare, comparable action today would have seen him get out, abuse me fully, call my ancestry in question, break a window, scream at my mom, call the police, and he would have forgotten who he was, and asked "do you know who i am?" .......ah, but politer times.

I started learning to drive my helping my dad park and take out our old Fiat (Premier Padmini) from the parking at our house.

I was about 8 then i guess. 2 hours every afternoon of summer holidays was allotted by me for sitting inside the car and act as if I am driving.

Then when we got our second hand M800 my dad used let me sit next to him in the car while going on highways and I just used to handle the steering for about 10-15 mins. Then slowly I started parking the car in our garage.

Just as I was finishing my school and joining college we got a very good driver. He was very experienced and I used to learn so much from him. I would say he was the best driver we ever had. I observed and learned so much. Now I am well known in my circles to be a very good driver.

My first driving lessons were by my dad and he believed that driving doesn't only mean that one should learn to drive(like so many drivers we hire) but one should learn about the car and driving comes naturally.This prompted me to look under the hood and sit in the driver's seat and try out the gears when car was standing still.Slowly i knew many things and noticed many things when dad used to drive.Then first lesson started in 1996 after my 10th Boards in a very huge field we have in our city.That was famous only for learning to drive.But by that time,dad had undergone CABG(heart bypass surgery) so the driver taught me.It took me exactly 3 days to learn the controls.I was not allowed to drive on the city roads as i was underage as per my dad.Finally got my licence made when i was 17 and then there has been no looking back.But my dad started travelling with me after nearly 3 years as he was scared to sit with me.Sorry,forgot to mention the car,it was 1987 Maruti Suzuki 800 with a Japanese engine.We still have that car with over 2lakh kms and doing ok.

My dad taught me how to drive when I was around 14 or 15 years old - which was pretty irresponsible of him when I think about it now stupid:. I used to drive around the side roads of Ambattur Industrial Estate in Chennai on weekends when there was no traffic.

I started off in a Toyota Corsa - which was an automatic. I guess he wanted me to get the hang of just driving without having to bother about changing the gears initially. But I soon graduated from the corsa to a Maruti 800 which obviously had the manual gear box. Finally, after driving around the 800 and the corsa for about a year or so, my dad let me drive his pride and joy - his 1963 Ambassador Mark 2.