Rally driving is a motorsport in which road legal cars - albeit highly modified and souped-up versions of production models - compete to set the fastest time on roads and off-road stages. In spite of that, it’s possible for children and teens to get involved in the sport before turning 17 and getting their licence. Here’s how…
PASSENGER RIDES
The sensations you get from riding in a rally car around a track are very different to those produced by their more conventional cousins on public roads. It’s something that not even video games can replicate. If your son or daughter is convinced that they want to be a race car driver when they grow up, we recommend you give them a taste of what that might involve before committing to a fairly expensive hobby.
This is where passenger rides come in, the opportunity to sit in the front seat of a rally car as a professional instructor takes it for a spin. You can organise a passenger ride in Hertfordshire at a driving experience centre and request a rally car like a Nissan 350Z or a Toyota Supra. They’ll take kids from the age of 5 years old around that track, and it should be enough to confirm their petrol-headed intentions, or make them reconsider.
DUAL CONTROLS
So, your kid’s ridden in a rally car and that's supercharged their desire to get into motorsports. You might well find the idea of them getting behind the wheel of a full-sized car, with plenty of power under the bonnet, pretty unnerving. Never fear, there’s a way for them to have a totally safe introduction to the world of rally driving.
A dual-control vehicle doubles up the pedals and other key levers and switches in the cabin, meaning that the responsibility for driving can be transferred safely, and even incrementally - one element at a time - from one person to another. In this case, that will be from a trained and experienced instructor to a junior driver. In this way, youngsters can get a feel for controlling a car without ever having full responsibility over its trajectory. There’s a rallying centre in Worcestershire where instructors will even take children who can’t even reach the pedals (so longs as they are 8 years of age or older) for a ride, working the accelerator, clutch and brakes while the little one steers.
AWESOME RALLY TECHNIQUES
Of course, rallying isn’t just about driving, but controlling a car with precision, skill and flare. Some of the most iconic images of rallying feature huge jumps, sideways cornering and clouds of smoke. How do the drivers learn to do that?
One answer is at a rally driving centre in Gloucestershire, where the Cotswolds Hills provide the backdrop to child-friendly driving experiences. Sessions here begin with an assessment of each child’s abilities.If it’s their first time at the wheel, they’ll go on to learn the basics of car control. If they already know what they’re doing, the team of professional-standard racing drivers will introduce them to some tricks of the rallying trade, including powerslides and handbrake turns. The minimum age to go drifting here is 10 years old.
