Help, 1973 Barn story
09-22-2004, 12:16 AM
#31
Instructor
Join Date: May 2003
Location: california
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Well, in some ways I dont have a fair opinion because I come from a small town with a lot of back roads where there is not much traffic. But on the flip side it is like autocrossing all day long. Anyways, I do agree he should maybe spend the first few months learning how to drive the pressure of a stick shift in a more simple and safe vehicle.
09-22-2004, 10:12 AM
#32
Blake, as you stated in your original post:
"None the less, 2 months after I got my license (I had the car for a few months before) I was on my way to pick up a girl to go to the movies, got a little carried away driving, and locked up the brakes coming down a hill on wet roads."
I believe this constitutes being irresponsible. We all do stupid and irresponsible things at times due to inexperience. Many times in life, inexperience leads to being irresponsible. Time and experience are lifes best teachers and the only ones that we tend to really listen to...
Good luck.
"None the less, 2 months after I got my license (I had the car for a few months before) I was on my way to pick up a girl to go to the movies, got a little carried away driving, and locked up the brakes coming down a hill on wet roads."
I believe this constitutes being irresponsible. We all do stupid and irresponsible things at times due to inexperience. Many times in life, inexperience leads to being irresponsible. Time and experience are lifes best teachers and the only ones that we tend to really listen to...
Good luck.
09-22-2004, 07:06 PM
#33
Instructor
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Santa Rosa, Ca
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Jim- excuse me for the poor phrasing of my story. My accident occured when I literally got carried away by the car, not carried away as in doing something stupid. The brakes locked up and I didnt know how to respond due to lack of driving experience. I panicked and held the brakes, keeping them locked and losing control. Was actually doing about 7 under the limit at the time due to wet roads.
Blake
Blake
09-23-2004, 09:05 AM
#34
Rennlist Member
Hey guys, lets get back on topic 
Ruf965, did you buy the car???
Ruf965, did you buy the car???
09-23-2004, 06:37 PM
#36
Burning Brakes
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio
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I agree with the inexperience thing to a point. As far as what you gain from experience (in this case, the understanding and "touch" of handling a 911 and judging traffic behavior), some people "get it" right away, some take years, and some never "get it". Some people are quick learners, are "naturals" to understanding and finessing certain things, an others are not.
I am 29 years old, have over 250k miles of driving experience, and find some of the warnings people gave a little out-of-line. None of them know the father or the son. The father is probably the best-qualified person to judge his son's ability to handle a car like an early 911, and none of you are. Just because a lot of people on here had poor judgement as teenagers or had peers like that, that does not mean that all teenagers exercise poor judgement, and that does not mean that all teenagers can not learn how to handle a 911. You have to start some time, and you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
I was one of those reserved, "careful and calculating" teenagers. Behind the wheel of my modified 260-hp Trans Am and my painfully tail-happy 86 Fiero GT. In the snow and rain that most of your 911s will never see. I had a few near-accidents in my first couple of years of driving, all having to do with oversteer in the Fiero in the snow and rain, but none resulted in an accident. Why? Because I was being extra careful, going extra slow and giving extra stopping distances, shifting carefully, applying the throttle and brakes extra gently. You can call it luck, but luck favors those who make better choices. I was compensating for my inexperience by slowing down, etc., and it paid off.
God, how I wish I could have had HPDE or even just a half-day autocross school back when I was sixteen. No one told me about oversteer or weight distribution. I learned that the first time it snowed. When this guy takes his son to his first autocross, the kid will already be leaps and bounds ahead of all the nightclub/golfcourse/marina showoffs who tool around in 911s because it's a "Porsh", and a lot of the forty-somethings who swirl wine at PCA parties but never show up for anything that requires a helmet.
Give the father some credit. He knows his son and is the only one worthy to make such a judgement. He didn't ask anyone's opinion about "should I let my kid drive it"; he asked about how much financial and practical sense the restoration made. I know it is not common - in fact it is rare at best - but if you find it so hard to believe that a sixteen-year-old can exercise the judgement and responsibility to safely operate a 911, then maybe you have to re-evaluate your own standards.
Nothing hurts the feelings and morale of a careful, intelligent, responsible, rational teenager who does everything he is supposed to and shines better than so many supposed "role model" adults than being treated like one of his animal peers, the very thing he doesn't want to be.
Okay, back to the front-engine pages I go...
I am 29 years old, have over 250k miles of driving experience, and find some of the warnings people gave a little out-of-line. None of them know the father or the son. The father is probably the best-qualified person to judge his son's ability to handle a car like an early 911, and none of you are. Just because a lot of people on here had poor judgement as teenagers or had peers like that, that does not mean that all teenagers exercise poor judgement, and that does not mean that all teenagers can not learn how to handle a 911. You have to start some time, and you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
I was one of those reserved, "careful and calculating" teenagers. Behind the wheel of my modified 260-hp Trans Am and my painfully tail-happy 86 Fiero GT. In the snow and rain that most of your 911s will never see. I had a few near-accidents in my first couple of years of driving, all having to do with oversteer in the Fiero in the snow and rain, but none resulted in an accident. Why? Because I was being extra careful, going extra slow and giving extra stopping distances, shifting carefully, applying the throttle and brakes extra gently. You can call it luck, but luck favors those who make better choices. I was compensating for my inexperience by slowing down, etc., and it paid off.
God, how I wish I could have had HPDE or even just a half-day autocross school back when I was sixteen. No one told me about oversteer or weight distribution. I learned that the first time it snowed. When this guy takes his son to his first autocross, the kid will already be leaps and bounds ahead of all the nightclub/golfcourse/marina showoffs who tool around in 911s because it's a "Porsh", and a lot of the forty-somethings who swirl wine at PCA parties but never show up for anything that requires a helmet.
Give the father some credit. He knows his son and is the only one worthy to make such a judgement. He didn't ask anyone's opinion about "should I let my kid drive it"; he asked about how much financial and practical sense the restoration made. I know it is not common - in fact it is rare at best - but if you find it so hard to believe that a sixteen-year-old can exercise the judgement and responsibility to safely operate a 911, then maybe you have to re-evaluate your own standards.
Nothing hurts the feelings and morale of a careful, intelligent, responsible, rational teenager who does everything he is supposed to and shines better than so many supposed "role model" adults than being treated like one of his animal peers, the very thing he doesn't want to be.
Okay, back to the front-engine pages I go...
