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Fair play, at least they're giving them a chance.

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

I recon that's a top idea. Rather than complaining and arresting them, they're being offered somewhere to play legally.

Lets hope it works.

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

Absolutely! This, in my view, is EXACTLY where we need to be heading.

Years ago when I was a spotty-faced "yoof" I used to tear around in my (don't laugh!) Relaint. (it was a 4-legged one!) Now I still remember the odd disapproving "old git" saying that if I wanted to drive like that I could go on a race track. This just doesn't work when you're talking to kids who can't even afford the petrol to GET to a bloody race track -let alone entry fees! Besides, it was a car I shared with my mum and she didn't like the idea of me fitting a roll cage!

Now if the entry was free AND there was some tuition laid on, AND some basic scrutineering (because presumably some of the "velocipeds" operated by said "yoofs" might not be 100% roadworthy....)

I think the kids would get a real sense of "importance" - like they were being taken seriously. They might even learn some valuable skills AND get the chance to see how basic safety defects make things more dangerous. Who knows? Maybe we'll not only succeed in reducing inappropriate speeds on public roads by providing somewhere to let off steam, but we might even reduce the number of defective vehicles too AND provide better driver training into the bargain!

These kids DO care about what they drive.
Why else would they spend a "grand" on a set of wheels and tyres for a car worth £500?! IF they "failed" scrutineering in front of all their mates, for being unroadworthy, they'd never live it down.

Contrast this with the spectacularly inept efforts of the Cumbria "Safety" Camera Partnership and their "Come-dancing style radio advert where a Bruce Forsyth sound-alike is comentating on some "supposedly" poor driving. to my mind, it's absolutely GUARANTEED to egg-on the very people it's aimed at to see who can get the biggest slide!

Only thing is, the cameras MAKE money but the Knockhill scheme will COST money!

I think it's a brilliant (but expensive) idea. I'd even go further and say that if the odd one died on the track, they should still carry on wit hthe scheme despite the inevitable huge public outcry. After all, rather more than the "odd one" dies on public roads! They are naive if they think that doing it on a track will be "safe". It will be "safe-R" than a public road but as anyone why has read the back of a race ticket will know, "motorsport is dangerous"!

Absolutely TOP MARKS To the Scots.

In fact. maybe I'll even consider emigrating to Scotland!

Absolutely top idea. When can it be introduced in England?
I've always thought that some of the so-called 'boy racers' (where did that stupid expression come from?) have loads of talent and aptitude for driving at competitive speeds. Maybe we'll get the next British F1 champion from this, or at least find several with the potential to make their living in motorsport.
Interestingly, there is a young lad in our village who might have been described as a 'boy racer'. He drove around with numbers on the doors and generally was rather irresponsible. I met his father and thus his son and when the lad learned that I do a lot of competition he came round to see my cars. I took him out in my Cooper 'S' and my Endurance Rover and showed him the basics of driving on the loose and in the wet. Now he's just about to buy a Rover 214 and prepare it, with my help, for Endurance Rallying. He drives much more responsibly on the road and several of his friends are also becoming keen. I even took him to marshal on a couple of rallies so that he can see what's involved. He's asked me to 'coach' him some more before he enters his first event next year. I think he has much talent and will do very well and his mum and dad have thanked me for calming down his road driving.

This won't be a runner in England (and will probably be stopped in Scotland once word gets out).

Why? Well it doesn't discourage motoring or car ownership which seems to be the end point of all Government legislation.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

Speaking from the point of view of someone who's been an instructor in high-performance and race driving and thus seen quite a lot of it at close hand (too close sometimes!!)... It might also have the benefit of bringing home to many of them the fact that they're not nearly as good as they think they are... Which might, but only might, give them pause for thought when back on the road.

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"Politicians are the same the world over... We build bridges where there aren't any rivers." - Nikita Kruschev

Remember the old racing and rallying adage: "When the flag drops, the bullshit stops". They will soon learn that when the stopwatch is running.
At least if we teach the youngsters drive quickly, if they do get into a 'situation' on the public road then they might have a chance of using their skills to avoid it becoming a disaster.

This is a fantastic idea. If introduced country-wide it would save countless lives on the roads by both improving driving skills and by allowing people to "work out their aggression" in a safer environment.

People who participate in motorsport have much better road accident records in the same way that people who go to boxing & martial arts clubs get into fewer fights on the street.

When speed cameras started to become commonplace in the 90's , I predicted that there would be an explosion in the number of racetracks & dragstrips across the country and I have been very surprised this hasn't hapenned yet.

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“For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.” - H. L. Mencken

NIMBYism and "planning permission"... No need to say more!

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"Politicians are the same the world over... We build bridges where there aren't any rivers." - Nikita Kruschev

I think it has. You only need to look at the Pistonheads website and there is another airstrip offering track days (or something similar) pretty much every month! There are kit car manufacturers now who just make a living doing track day cars - they never go near a public road.

Wait a minute... it sounds like a good idea, but I hope it's open to everyone who is not caught driving dangerously too. Otherwise it's a strange incentive indeed.

Isn't entry by getting stopped

Why only for the kids,
I want a go.
If I have to I'll even buy a baseball cap, sports clothing and trainers!
fatboytim

I suppose it has to a degree - Many major modified car shows (such as GTI International) now have inexpensive drag racing/track events as one of the attractions. Then there are the club-level events as you mention.

I'm sure there are plenty of disused airstrips etc. dotted around the country that could be reused as dragstrips. This would get around the planning permission issue.

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“For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.” - H. L. Mencken

A very good idea. Willl teach them to feel speed and the importance of acutal skill as well as get the an urge to drive fast out of the system

I think I once posted up an article by Angela Kelly from the Bolton paper. She also thought it would be a good idea to provide some place for youngsters to fine tune their skills at various speeds.

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Hi all, have only just found the forum via a link, looks great.
We have been trying to sort a similar scheme down here for 12 months including giving the youngsters the opportunity to drive some clubbie race cars on slicks as well other incentives but with some road driving thrown in as well. Even with the amount of goodwill and support that we have these things cannot happen without funding and this has proved to be a problem. We are still trying and may have it sorted out soon but it's an uphill battle and really annoying when you can see some of the "worthwhile" projects that do receive grants.
OneStep