Neal’s Car!

Neal got hisself a car for Christmas but since I rarely see him these days I wasn’t able to post pictures till now!  It’s a Mazda RX8 sports car – very slick and cool.  He was kind enough to let me practice a little as a warmup for my starting driving lessons hopefully sometime next month or the month after, and I have to say that I have a whole new appreciation for the intricacies of handling a vehicle..

First of all, his car is a manual (which is also the type of license I’ll be aiming for), and learning how to go from 1st to 6th gear seems ridiculously complicated because you have to take the clutch into consideration (only managed to try practicing going from 1st to 2nd over the weekend since we’re trying in a deserted parking lot at 0200 in the morning!).

Second, gauging distances (especially when reversing) seems downright impossible, especially given that you’re just using teensy little mirrors…but I guess at some point it gets easier – I hope!

There’s more, particularly adjusting sensitivity during the switch between clutch and gas (I stalled quite a few times), taking into account slopes (stalling on a hill would be a nightmare!) and… well, it was quite an experience.   I hope to get a few more practice tries before going in to start lessons because I really don’t want to pay more than the minimum cost (already a hefty 158,000 JPY) which only provides 20 hours of practice time.   I know I’ll be bugging Neal (whenever I get to see him next)! (^^;

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