Driving Lesson #3: Sometimes you need to use things wrong in order how to use them right. I had my first scary moment driving and I’m making note of it here in a dear diary moment. I’m learning in a diesel engine and they are very forgiving, maybe to a fault for learners.

I own a petrol Mini and it’s responses so differently to the diesel my driving instructor drives. Taking of in a petrol you balance the clutch and accelerator, in the diesel you can take off using the clutch and not even use the accelerator (I’ve heard you can do this with petrol cars too, but my Mini doesn’t seem to like it).

My scary moment came at a traffic light on a duel carriage way near Forest Side. Traffic was stopped at the light and traffic move away super quickly (it seemed to my away), I tried to keep up and way heavy on the accelerator and tried to quickly move to 2nd gear, I push the clutch in and there’s a rise in the road so the moment is killed and I loose speed and can’t get to 2nd and the car is bumping forwards to get going, cars are flying around me and Gareth my instructor digs me out of a hole and uses his pedals to get us going again.

Flipping from petrol to diesel is tricky I’m spending more time in the petrol Mini than the diesel so I’m a little slow when I swap. It’s important to remember though, good clutch control and speed will work in both vehicles they are not that different.

So, at least using the car incorrectly teaches you how to use it correctly. Onto the next one.