- Young Driver training puts minor students on famous track.
- Suzuki family model features front and centre - just like the show.
- First wave got to drive the actual Reasonably Priced Liana.
There's about to be a bunch of 9-17 year-olds driving on the former (and very famous) Top Gear test track at Dundsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, UK. And the cars will be very reasonably priced.
No need for alarm. It's a new location for the well-established Young Driver programme, which aims to "instil good driving habits long before teens obtain their provisional licences". It specialises in students aged 9-17, using a dual-control Suzuki Swift - a close relation to the Suzuki Liana that served as the first TG Reasonably Priced Car for celebrity guests to race around the specially designed track.
The kids won't be tackling the circuit at Stig-like speeds of course, but Young Driver isn't shy about exploiting the promotional opportunities. A wave of students visited the track last month and met one of the actual Lianas used in the show from well before any of them were born: 2002-06.
Some also had the chance to drive Young Driver’s Porsche 911 around the famous television track.
“Dunsfold is a dream location for a driving school," says Casey O’Loughlin, Young Driver’s senior field manager. "We might be based on a track made famous for fast cars and celebrity lap times, but our sessions are all about calm control, not speed.
“Dunsfold offers a large space, so we’ll be able to offer lots of different driving activities for young people, whether they’re beginners, or have already had a few lessons at another of our venues. Training drivers over a longer period of time allows youngsters to have a solid understanding of how to drive a car before they get anywhere near a real road. Research shows that that creates safer drivers – and we believe it creates safer pedestrians and cyclists too.
“But the lessons are also lots of fun and they’re a great general confidence boost for teens and pre-teens, who take the responsibility very seriously. When they’re reverse parking at the end of the first lesson, it’s often a shock for parents! Plus, what young person wouldn’t want to say that they’d driven the Top Gear track?”
Young Driver’s nationwide network now includes over 80 sites.