‘You're Not Automatically A Driving Hero Just Because You Can Essentially Pat Your Head And Rub Your Tummy'

Take a seat, anywhere will do: couch, chair, park bench, doesn’t matter. Comfy? Good, we’re going to perform a simple exercise. Stretch your legs out in front of you but hold your left foot back slightly. Now extend that left leg whilst simultaneously retracting your right leg slightly. Not too tricky, yeah? It’s about to get harder. While performing the aforementioned leg movement take your left hand and wiggle it forwards and backwards. Got it?

Scott Newman

I hope so, for as you’ve probably surmised, you’ve just gone through the motions of changing gear. It takes a bit of co-ordination but it’s not particularly difficult, proven by the fact that millions of people each year achieve a sufficient level of competency at this task to be awarded a driving licence.

Given the relative simplicity of this skill, why is it so often held to be the arbiter of driver ability? There are so many more challenging activities behind the wheel than swapping cogs – steering progression, trail braking, holding oversteer to name just a few – but imagine the ridicule if you’d mastered all this yet announced at a car meet that you couldn’t drive a manual?