Learning to drive at 11 !!
Underage driver training at Goodwood promotes good practice for when youngsters are finally able to start thier surrey driving lessons and drive on public roads.
On the face of it, novice under-age drivers, sporty Minis and one of the fastest race tracks in the country doesn’t sound like a combination designed to promote road safety. But with the Mini Drivers scheme at the Goodwood Motor Circuit in West Sussex, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
As its name suggests, Mini Drivers is aimed at youngsters. And it involves them driving Minis. Thereafter, any notion of throwing juveniles into cars and watching as the carnage unfolds is a nonsense. The scheme was Goodwood’s brainchild and its aim is to fill the gap in educating children about driving before they actually take to the road. It’s already proved popular, with more than 800 young people taking part in the year the course has been running.
When Goodwood circuit director Mark Featherstone starts throwing out some facts about young drivers it sounds almost absurd that school-age training isn’t taken more seriously. There are four fatalities a day involving drivers under 21. One in five young drivers crash within six months of passing their test. And 50 collisions a day are caused by 18-year-olds at the wheel.
“We’re passionate about improving these statistics by changing the way young drivers are taught,” Featherstone says. “A driver can pass their test and they’ll never have driven on a motorway. They’ll never have driven at night. And they’ll probably never have driven on a country lane. That has to change.”
To enrol for Mini Drivers, age isn’t a factor. The scheme has had participants as young as nine. Height, however, is vital: so that drivers can reach the pedals, they must be more than 4ft 10in tall. With that box ticked a couple of months ago, Jasmine, my daughter, aged 11, was signed up to see how Mini Drivers works in practice.

