Teenage Driver Training (long)

[HaleyD@YANKELOVICH.COM (Haley, Doug)]

Resurrecting an old thread.  I asked the list last fall about the best sources
of training for a teenage driver.  Got a lot of answers:
     * Al Powell responded with a good (long) list
     * Trisha Bethen suggested Speed Freaks
     * Eric recommended Skippy
     * Brian Vinson in a well-reasoned note suggested
MASTERDRIVE in Colorado (turns out they're oriented to training teens
BEFORE they get their license: great program!!)
     * Marshall Fletcher recommended club schools
     * Andrew Duane recommended "offensive driving" schools
 (which I'd still love to do myself)

Well, my 16 year-old daughter and I ended up at Bondurant, which Al
Powell correctly identified as being more concerned with car control
than defensive driving.

Wouldn't you know it.  We're signed up for 3 months.  Two weeks before
the course, she cracks up the Sentra SE-R.  Fortunately, no one hurt,
except my bank account.  She left-turned in front of a Adnoh diven by this
sweet Irish woman.  Said woman turned to me afterwards and whispered
 "now we don't need to get the *police* involved in this, do we..."
So, no points on the license, but $5,000 out of my bank account.

So we did the three day Bondurant course.  I'd highly recommend it for
a teenage driver (especially a girl).  First, she learned a tremendous
amount about limits, what a car can and cannot really do.  She had a
great spin on the autocross, but later went on to set fastest time. The
environment was safe, the cars had full roll cages, and the surroundings
well laid out for training.  For instance, the skid cars allowed wild skids at
25mph rather than the 50mph that would have been required.  I found this
much more realistic than my previous training with the ones that simulate
the big skid experience using bald tires on flooded pavement.

She also learned how to handle a car at speed. As Al pointed out,
Bondurant is big on teaching car weight transfer. By the end of the third
day, understeer and oversteer weren't simply concepts, she had the
feel for it:  on the racetrack she was setting up four wheel drifts and
confidently trail-braking to set the chassis up for accelerating out of
corners.

She was treated as an adult (good thing, all being equal behind the
 wheel) not only by the instructors, but by the other students as well.
Her confidence was a bit shaky after her accident, but she came out
of this course with self-respect and real skills.  She now looks much
further down the road when she drives, and she constantly keeps
her options open.

So it's an investment (cheaper than her crash tho!).  I figure, I can't do
much about hormones (and judgement), but this course is a real boost
to her car skills.  Even if she does do something foolish, I have much
more confidence she will now be able to manage her way through it
based upon what she's learned.

Now I'll even let her drive the S4! (Audi Content).
*****************************************************
Doug Haley (haleyd@yankelovich.com)
"There is no fundamental difference between a sufficiently advanced
technology and magic" (A.C.Clarke)
'92 S4 (mine)
'95 Saab Turbo Conv (mom's)
'91 Sentra SE-R (now fixed)
'61 Alfa Giulietta Spider Veloce (ours)
*****************************************************