Girlfriend Burnt My Clutch

I think it should be ok. I learned to drive stick in my GT 350. I did that one too i was worried but its working fine,..

They got my clutch hot trying to drive car onto a flatbed at my dealership the owner had built to take to the body shop. As soon as the owner started smelling a burnt smell inside the car he told them to shut it off and let it cool down and winch it on. I worried for months. The owner who has knowledge of performance cars from some he owns said it would be fine that as long as you stop and let it cool as soon as you smell that if you do. Thats been a year ago and my clutch seems fine.

Voodoo5.2 said:

Let my GF attempt to drive my Shelby in the parking lot. Walked her though how to drive stick for about an hour. And she burned the clutch a little. Seems like she gave it to much gas and didn't fully let out the clutch. Is the clutch okay to take that kind of abuse just once or should I look at already getting a new clutch. And the actual cost of it. Car has 4000 miles on it. so I'm just not sure how long the clutch should last on this.

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Teaching a manual tranny newbie in your GT350, now that's bravery. Or something. ;-)

If you are teaching your girlfriend to drive a clutch in the GT350, then start out in a parking lot and don't let her touch the gas pedal.
Start out just letting the clutch out from a dead stop at idle and do not touch the accelerator. The factory tune will not let the engine die when it is done slowly and the car will smoothly start out.
Have her do this a number of times until she is comfortable with the action, with a goal of not hanging too long at the grab point of the clutch.
Probably one of the biggest factors to get over is the fear of killing the engine. This will help with the comfort level of not giving too much gas pedal.

ringmaster said:

Teaching a manual tranny newbie in your GT350, now that's bravery. Or something. ;-)

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My bride learned on my '67 GT350. It was the only car we had at the time.

ringmaster said:

Teaching a manual tranny newbie in your GT350, now that's bravery. Or something. ;-)

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Unless that is the wife and so you'll have no choice or get her one!

We bought our '18 GT350 in April. Wife and I determined the last time she'd driven a manual was early in our marriage back in 1998 (1996 Nissan Maxima). So 20 years later, I was impressed when she drove the GT350 just fine.

Today, I took our 17-year-old son to a parking lot and attempted to teach him how to drive a manual. He failed miserably. After killing the car for the 4th time, we decided to try again on another day. I like GT_Dave's suggestion of not touching the gas. Will attempt that the next time.