There's a never-ending thread about this on either the miata.net forums or the bimmer forum (maybe both).

Apparently they don't teach this technique in the US, as most people learn to drive on automatics.

In Ireland and the UK, using the parking brake on a hill is the way everyone does it - you rarely, if ever, see people rolling back when the light changes.

 

The blocker ring is predominantly functional for 1st gear. People who over-rev do so in a mistaken downshift to 2nd. For example when they are accelerating to redline in 3rd and accidentally going into 2nd instead of 4th. Also, an accidental 5 - 2 downshift when 4th was the intended gear.
The other gears do not have such blocker rings (I think - if they do, they do not intervene in such a dramatic way as the one for 1st gear). But as I said earlier, even the 1st gear blocker ring can be defeated or worn down to the point it no longer provides a firm resistance to 1st gear engagement from high speeds.

 

Is wearing of the blocker ring to the point it no longer provides protection common, or do you only know of the one instance?

 

interesting!!

 

I personally have only witnessed this in one car. The owner tracks the car, so it's possible that track cars may be driven in such a way that mediates this condition. I can't say for sure.

 

Thanks for all the info xviper.

 

Wow... Well, I live in Virginia where you RARELY find a flat road... and if I ever pulled my handbrake up while engaging first, Id get laughed at... if you practice enough... you can do it with little to no harm... w/out using the handbrake.

 

If you're sitting on a steep incline facing a red light and the guy behind you pulls up to within a few inches of your back bumper, I wonder if he'll think a "little harm" to the front of his car is "laughable"?
You drive using whatever technique will suit the ocassion or circumstance and NOT necessarily on the basis of whether or not you get "laughed at". Sometimes pride will cost you money.

 

I lived in Virginia for 4 years, and I don't recall many roads with heavy inclines. Even still, unless you heal / toe the brake and throttle perfectly, you will roll backwards. If you just try to switch your right foot from the brake to the throttle quickly, you will roll backwards.

 

Although I had a motorcycle license at 15 and drove standards regularly I later took drivers education and (maybe dating myself) it was taught in an old VW bug. One of the techniques taught and tested on was starting from a hill using the parking brake. Anyone that laughs is simply narrow minded and blowing off a valuable practice, especially when stopped at a light on a steep hill.