Tire tracks on my head.
The Animal House joke went right over.
I have no regrets for all the time I have spent at race tracks.

 

Uh... Better come out to California they are all over the place






[QUOTE]Originally posted by Tox
[B]

I like the dry wit of this.

 

You guys are all worked up about kids driving? Sure they cause a lot of accidents, but at least they are usually involved in them as well, and not just causing them and driving away like the older drivers. Never been in a near miss due to a kid, but in several due to short drivers with grey hair. Driving school? What's that? Not in CA or CO (during years lived in each).

You Earthlings have only yourselves to blame for the idiocy of imposing morals over biology and thinking that biology will loose. You will all become successful, and thus soft and weak and our invading forces will crush you without even recognizing your presence!

 

My guess would be the dude flies an F15.

 

Regarding age required to obtain a license:
It is unfortunate that any age chosen would be applicable to the "average" person. Let's use 18 for example meaning the average 18 year old would be assumed responsible enough to handle a " 2200 - 4500 lbs weapon capable of 100+mph" (average car or SUV). Of course the reality then is that there are some 14-15 years old that are responsible enough and some 20-XX year olds that are not.

On another note: I believe that people should be re-tested periodically to continue the privilege of having a license. As noted before, there are many elder people who no longer have the ability, reflexes etc. to safely drive on public roads.

FYI: I'm 34 and have been driving (mostly RWD sports cars) for 15 years. My only accident (besides being rear ended later in life) was on the 3rd day of ownership of my first car (1982 Mazda RX7). I personally was not experienced enough at that age to handle a RWD car that loves to oversteer. Hopefully we learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of others.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Nachtmeister
[B]Welcome to the board Phillip .
While I think that the basic drivers education in America is not as extensive as in other countries, I guess that a larger portion of those people who own real sportscars seem attends to performance driving schools and/or go to autoX and/or the track.

 

This is another great thread.

I was waiting for an infantile 'flame' response to the initial post, but none has yet followed. This is why I like coming to this board - intelligent discussions. This is obviously not a product of the internet, as morons abound everywhere. Rather, I think it is a reflection of S2000 owners and enthusiasts.

Thank you to everyone for the respect, objectivity, and maturity in your posts.

My father holds the absolute extreme point of view - he believes all cars on public roadways should be speed limited to 35 mph for the good of everyone. I always argued strongly about the lunacy of his opinion, but at times it does make sense in a strange way.

 

I don't think this will prove to be a problem for younger drivers. Performance cars from say the 80's, would now suffer in comparison with some of todays hot hatches and even family saloons. A Porsche from 10 or 20 years ago is nowhere near it's modern counterpart in performance or build technology.

The current resurgence in the performance car market, which was politically bad news only a few short years ago, is pushing the peformance envelope all the time. The ecological pressures to reduce emissions and engine size will see some exciting high performance smaller engines developed in the not too distant future.

The space age technology we enjoy in the S2000 is only the start.

 

Totally agree.
Also with the technoligical progress in engine technology will come progress with safety. Now that's a great thing.

 

Yes, I totally agree with your point about technology. Whatever is next will be amazing, the Honda Dualnote for example, wow! Technology with today's autos is flying fast, look back even 10 years, I'm excited as to what's next! Just the other day in autoweek I read BMW will have a 240hp 2.0L, pretty soon our S won't be so great! Even one of the Korean mfgs. had a similar engine in a prototype car recently.

Actually what I meant to emphasize was that it can be hard for the individual to consistently improve vehicles. I should have been more clear; I mean, if a 16 year old is fortunate enough to have an S2000 as his first car, most often the parents purchased it for him, and unless they keep buying cars for him or he acquires an uncommon amount of wealth at a young age, he probably won't be able to keep that up for long. And in my opinion, you'll have to spend MUCH more than $30,000 even over the next 5 years to find a new car that is significantly better and more fun than our lovely s2000!

I was fortunate enough to have a free car from my parents as my first car at age 16, but as I worked myself I bought faster and better vehicles. In my 5 years of driving, here are the 1/4 mile times of my vehicles, in order of ownership:

17 sec
16 sec
16 sec
15 sec
15 sec
14 sec
11 sec (if you count the motorbike)

I meant that if I had started out at a 14 second car, which would have been reasonable 5 years ago, I probably wouldn't appreciate the s2000 as much as I do now. Improving in increments not only allows you to gradually increase the limits of your driving skills (which is very important), it allows you to truly appreciate the engineering masterpiece that you own, relative to other more average vehicles!

If I owned a new 911 turbo as my first car, I'd probably go downhill in my vehicles for a good while before I went back uphill! And if I didn't drive anything else, I'd probably think all other cars are slow later, rather than realizing how fast mine was.

The s2000 IS just the start, but I doubt that in 5 years from now, most then-21 year old former s2000 owners will (likely) be driving an 11 second daily driver. Start them out slower, like the Germans do!

btw Cedric, I like the new snowman avatar!