Would you let your 11-year-old drive a 180mph Porsche?

Telegraph

13-07-2025

My first feeling on seeing my son Finn climb into the driver's seat of a Porsche 911 is, simply, envy. I've never been a passenger in a Porsche, let alone driven one; and yet here he is, taking the wheel of this elegant sports car with a top speed upwards of 180mph. At the tender age of 11. As far as driving goes, he's peaked way too soon.
We're at the Dunsfold Aerodrome near Guildford – AKA the Top Gear test track, where stars including Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz took the wheel of the Reasonably Priced Car back in the day – the latest addition to the 70-plus venues around the country where the company Young Driver offers driving experiences for children between nine and 17.
Finn is a huge fan of cars and something of a demon on the driving-simulation games and go-kart tracks that have so far been the sum of his time behind a wheel. The question is whether driving a real car will similarly feel like a game – and, crucially, whether his foot will reach the accelerator pedal.
Taking the wheel
The experience starts with a taster session in a little Suzuki Swift hatchback, fitted with dual controls as you would find in any driving school car. His instructor spends a brief few minutes running through the basics, after which Finn pulls away surprisingly smoothly for a first-timer and takes off down the track.
By the end of his 30-minute lesson, he has not only circled the track a few times but also practised indicating, braking and parking, learned to change gear, navigated some cones and performed a three-point turn (his favourite bit, he tells us later).
But really it's all about the midnight-blue Porsche 911, which Finn has watched gliding around the track, eyes wide.
Time for the Porsche
When this most famous of sports cars arrives, it's a different beast altogether. Like the Suzuki, it has been fitted with dual controls – good to know, given it can accelerate from 0 to 60mph in less than four seconds – and, once again, the focus of the lesson is on safe, controlled driving. After Finn fastens the seatbelt and adjusts the rear-view mirror, his instructor talks him through operating the clutch, which is considerably heavier than the Suzuki's, and he drives off.
There's a dashcam in the car with a splitscreen view, with one side of the screen showing what Finn can see (very much like a video game, in fact), the other side showing the expression on his face as he drives.
While he could be forgiven for being a little apprehensive, he's apparently as cool as a cucumber (he tells us later that he wasn't nervous at all, simply excited). The instructor, just out of shot, can be heard reminding him to look at the road rather than the gearlever when changing gear, as well as to slow smoothly when approaching a corner, or steer a little more to the right or left.
Playing it safe
There's a nominal speed limit of 40mph, although children who are confident and practised enough are allowed to go a little faster. This way, they get a sense of the potency of a powerful engine and the dynamics of one of the world's greatest sports cars, as opposed to a go-kart, but in a safe, controlled environment.
They are not simply having a junior petrolhead moment, but learning the basics of responsible driving.
The theory is that children who take driving lessons at a young age are more receptive to instruction, but have not yet developed the arrogance that can make some 17- and 18-year-olds more difficult to teach.
It follows that children who have already had driving lessons in a safe setting such as this are more likely to require fewer lessons once they reach legal driving age. They are also more likely to pass their test first time – not an insignificant consideration given the current waiting time for a test is up to around six months, as well as the costs involved in lessons.
Perhaps the most compelling statistic, however, is that children who have experience of driving before the age of 17 are also far less likely to have a crash in those potentially dangerous first weeks and months after passing their test.
According to research by Young Driver, its former students have been involved in 84 per cent fewer road accidents in the first six months after passing their driving tests, compared with the national average.
The verdict
The average 11-year-old, of course, doesn't really have road safety front of mind, although one hopes they will be taking it in on a subconscious level. For Finn, the experience is one of pure adrenaline – and pure fun: as he unsurprisingly puts it, 'the best day ever'.
While the driving video games he has played have helped him, he thinks, to be more precise when steering on the track, the experience of not only being in but actually controlling a real car is entirely different from go-karting: 'bigger, faster, more powerful'.
He is confident that he would now be able to drive a car safely on the road, but slightly dismayed when told that won't be happening for another six years.
On the way home in our now hopelessly underwhelming Nissan Qashqai family car, it appears his expectations have been irrevocably raised.
Bentley.'