Thread: High performance cars and young drivers

I think Mr. 18-year-old has missed the boat by a decade or so. Those days of an easy licence and jumping into your hotrod are over! Has he realised yet that girls prefer some sort of a car to no car???

Originally Posted by tony66_au

And he let her get away...........

Keep that one on the back burner for the next on of us that ends up single.


I remember my driving "test" for my p's. Down the cop shop in Birdsville (we were there at the time). What'll it be for you today he asks. Driving test, go out back of the shop, hands keys to police cruiser ute. Driver round the block, come back undamaged. Done, license.

In reference to today vs yesteryear. Cars gone by there'd be some indication that things were not going to plan before they happened. You'd hear tyres squeal, things would lurch, you'd know something was not what it usually was. And it either went from there to back to normal if you backed down and all was good and you'd know for next time or it didn't and there'd be another [insert name of car here] gone.

These days it's a different kettle of fish. The last car I drove that had good feedback was a JZA80 supra, with ABS, power steering disconnected, 500+ HP and 6 point harness. These days even so called super cars are removed from positive feeling with their flappy paddles and electronic everything.

One big issue I see is that they buy these cars and the following happens;

1. They can't afford to insure it. Solution; make insurance mandatory. Regulated so it's affordable for the types of cars that the level of driver can deal with. Not realistic, logistically impossible excepting that myself and a chosen few dozen from here were the ones to implement it and oversee it's running with canings for those involved that do not comply with what we see fit.
2. Modification. Both positive and negatives, yes some mods to std cars are ok. Falcadore suspension can certainly be improved to handle better given the power they have. And with improved ability allow improvement mods. All mods to be inspected at a flat $25- cost per mod type by area (suspension/wheel/tyre one, engine another etc). Buying expensive/spending to modify cars to go fast and then not stop or compromising the vehicles stopping/handling performance by fitting cheap (because after the go fast mods it's all they can afford) tyres and brakes etc. This should be part of the inspection system. If one part of the car is a compromise to another or it's overall performance (brakes don't match speed ability, tyres vs suspension) then it's unapproved and off the road. See point 1 for implementation method.
3. Training and testing; Learning from the family doesn't really work. Kids either have no respect for the parent or are in fear of them (stuffing up or damaging car), either way not a constructive learning environment. I know professional drivers, both truck etc drivers and racing drivers that refuse to teach people to drive even though they'd be considered good drivers, they are smart enough to know they are not trainers. Training to start at 6th grade. REALLY. Show them a wreck (no bodies, not yet). Start with pics from an innocuous looking area, then pics of the wreck in site then the wreck itself. Explanation of where person would be in wreck, even ask if they think a fully grown person would fit into a footwell. Year 7/8; move onto pics/videos of sites (still no bodies but blood spatter). Start having passenger training rides with professional trainers in ordinary family cars, normal everyday driving then ramped up into situations that can occur and see just how a std low perf. car won't handle. The do same in modified family car to show it still won't do it even with someone who knows what they're doing behind the wheel. Year 9; start physical training in closed conditions start in auto to a level where they can all perform satisfactorily then move onto, first on foot, having them mentally look at a road situation where each person is a vehicle and their roles on the road interacting. Then having a class drive in the same situation they mentally enacted where they are the traffic. This would enable them to see the difference between seeing what they think will go one and then what you can actually do in a car. Year 10; Go back a step and teach manual for everyone who is physically able. Only exemptions are those who physically cannot. These people should be given passenger drives in a manual to be shown how different it is in terms of accelerating, stopping etc and why they will encounter different things from different cars (it's not necessarily the driver making the car go slow, start slowing earlier etc). During both 9&10 move from basic theory teaching to teaching for both theory & prac testing. Run the L test and have class achieve this together to build it as a group achievement. Then it's not a me and you situation on the road (at least for them) it's hopefully seen as an "us" thing. Year 11/12 (plus through 10) run prac teaching on the road, to build a minimum no of hours before they can drive with any non professional trainer. Also in 11/12 run a class for learning with different types of vehicles, 4WD's, small trucks etc. Both as passengers (on road) and driving (closed roads) so they see what the drivers of these vehicles have to deal with and then experience what it is to drive some of these for themselves. See point 1 for implementation method.

Currently those that do survive the initial 5-8 years and make it past the stage then those that are idiots will think that they are good drivers because they made it, continue to be a problem for the rest of us.



I'm not going to be holier than thou, I drove a small, 1135cc car for the first 5 years. Could outrun a lot of things (again power or cylinder only restriction doesn't work) but only had 1 speeding ticket, knew my ability and that of the car (from circuit days) and knew what APPROPRIATE speed was. This is the thing, I believe missing from the vocabulary. 110 is hardly appropriate for a suburban street, common sense tells us that. It's also not appropriate for the freeway if it's raining cats and dogs. But 80 is hardly appropriate for a country road in good condition where it's 300km between stops. Fatigue is a bigger factor than an extra 20 or 30km/h especially when added into a multiple day journey.


Sorry it's so long but rant is part of what I didn't post earlier and whatever else I feel is necessary since.