thetoy

My daughter got to drive the corvette for the first time today in a autocross. This was the first time she had ever driven the car and the first autocross she has ever driven. Most of the clubs require a drivers license to run but they allow it if your parrent is in the car with you. She had a blast and can't wait to do it again. On here 10th run of the day the car twisted the driveline in half again and spoiled her fun. I have done this twice now with this new engine in it. The smile on her face the first time she floored it was priceless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REjUhDng6fs

RusherRacing

Now thats the way to teach your daughter to drive!!

vettehardt

If anybody has children out there, let them autocross. Wether they do it in your vette, or a cheap beater it WILL make them a better driver on the street. They will learn to handle the car and they will learn what the car can and can't do. It will teach them accident avoidance. It will also give them an outlet to thrash the car so they won't do it on the streets.

I am a prime example of this. I started autocrossing what was then my dads and is now my 73 vette the weekend after I got my liscense. I am now 31 years old. I have never had a speeding ticket, nor an accident. The only "accident" I have had were hitting two deer in my 98 Z28. But because i knew how to handle my car, I minimized the damaged to a crumpled hood. I was almost stoped when the front bumper got the deer's legs and he fell on the hood. I never even turned it into insurance because the damage wasn't much more than my deductable. The second deer didn't do any damage.

I can't count the number of times I have avoided an accident because I knew how to handle a car. I've missed people pulling out in front of me, 2X4s falling off the back of trucks, idiots chainging lanes into me, etc. If you can teach your kids to handle the car and not be distracted by outside influences (i.e. cell phone) they should go a long time without an accident.

Look to get your teen involved in teen driving schools. Tire rack has their Street Survival teen driving schools as an example. http://www.tirerack.com/features/mot...t_survival.jsp

People, politicians especially, keep pointing their finger at teen drivers saying they are too dangerous on the roads. Just because they have the highest accident rate. It isn't because they are teens, it's because they don't have the training or experience. Don't let your politicians raise the driving age limit. Make them create and enforce more training before a liscense is given. Also don't be afraid to let your teen drive your car at an autocross. Remember it is a controlled environment where there is little chance of wrecking the car.

tjZ06

Talk about jumping in the deep-end! You put your 15 year old daughter at the wheel of a 650RWHP car at an AutoX, that's trial by fire. It sounds like she did very well though (I didn't watch the vid). I agree AutoX is a great forcing function for early driver improvement. If you can stay ahead of a 'vette (particularly one with that sort of power) on an AutoX course where everything happens so quickly standard traffic becomes a breeze. As long as your daughter learns when it's appropriate to drive aggressively, and when it is not she'll be a far safer driver for it.

-TJ

L98Terror

That is cool, can't wait till mine is old enough, harder for mom to say no if we are both going LOL

Kubs

That is really cool! Just recently my fiance took her '01 Grand Am GT to her first autocross ever, with our local Corvette Club (NCCC event). She was the only metal car but beat the pants off of almost all the lady Corvette classes and a handful of men too! She has ridden with me for years and wanted to try it on her own and did great! (I was her coach )

Congrats to your daughter! You better look out she may beat you one of these days when you least expect it!

JiminVirginia

PA Z06

Super cool

KILR-RYD

Awesome, I waiting when I can teach both my kids to do that, but I got long ways to go, my son is 2yr old and into cars for now and the other one is on the way.

But this is the way to go. I am going to start on my son with karting school as soon as he is 7 in hopes for pro racing

LEAVINU

..... 2 thumbs up to you.

shakedown067

That's awesome. She's got better throttle control than some of the guys at my last autocross.

c4cruiser

Have to agree with tjZ06 and while that's a great experience for her and it looks like she had a clean run and a whole lot of fun, I'm really surprised that the group running the event let her drive.

Every autocross event I have attended doesn't allow anyone to drive a vehicle without a valid driver's license and almost every insurance carrier does not allow anyone under 16 to ride or under 18 to drive.

I have been an event coordinator and chair of autocross events for a number of years and I know full well that had anything happened when she was driving, the insurance company would probably pay, but there would be no way the event hosting group would get insurance again.

racerbob4

I love it. When my son was 16 I took him out to a church parking lot when there was about 2" of snow on the ground and still snowing for some "driver training". I took the car around the lot in a few controlled spins and slides and then let him take over. He had a ball learning about car control and we spend about 45 mintues in the snow just learning how to control a slide. 8 years later he won the T2 runoffs in a Camaro in the rain all due to car control.
Bob Hines

KILR-RYD

very cool, wish Ic an teach my son like that..

Han Solo

I did that with my daughter, Ashley, too for a while. Then she lost interest and got hooked up with a boy that wasn't a car guy.

stevensa

Very cool and very trusting in your daughter, esp on that course which seems to have 1234242 things to hit.

vettehardt

With NCCC anyone can start driving at 16 as long as a parent has signed a minor waiver and the driver has a valid liscense. Same rules apply to passangers. The passanger has to be eligible to compete in the event.

thetoy

Her first run she ran over every one of the slalom cone about 10 of them she wasn't judging the size of the car very well, but did much better on all the other runs. That was my first time in the passenger seat of my car in a autocross. I did get a little nervous a couple of times and told her to go a little lighter on the throttle. The throttle response on that car is instant with very little movement of the throttle and she said it was the bumps that made her give it alittle more than she wanted. She has a lot to learn about the car and didn't even no she was spinning the tires at times. I agree 100 percent about getting young drivers into autocrossing or driving schools I wish I would have know about it when I was younger. I met a fellow corvette guy at the drag strip and he said I had to try autocrossing. I did with him and have been hooked since then.

BrianCunningham

Looks like she had fun

and she'll be better driver on the road now that she knows what cars can do, and not do.

BTW 1st autox and it's in a 650rwhp car

Zee Freak

That's great to see.
My dad started me out in autox when I was 16.
I see you are in Oregon. Where was this autox at?