Gotta start ’em young
Schemes to get youngsters safely behind the wheel are helping to cement the car’s place in our future societ y. John Evans meets tomorrow’s drivers today
PHOTOGRAPHY MAX EDLESTON
Flynn can’t believe his luck. Autocar’s photographer needs a picture of the 12-yearold at the wheel of the Vauxhall Corsa as he steers it around the driving route laid out at Kempton Park Racecourse in Sunbury, Surrey.
The thing is, the lad has only just returned from doing the same thing – a gift from his dad, Steve, who bought the 30-minute driving experience offered by Young Driver, an organisation that offers 10-to-17- year-olds their first taste of driving in a dual-control car. In the company of a qualified instructor, Flynn and his fellow youngsters follow a route on a closed circuit marked out with cones and road signs and which, depending on the venue (there are 70 across the UK) might also feature a hill start and other technical challenges.
Flynn returned from his first drive cock-a-hoop at the experience – “I got the car to 26mph in third gear and did an emergency stop!” – and now he’s being offered another go, which, frankly, has stunned him.