A legit concern. You don't want a kid who has had his drivers license a few months to take off in what is basically, a full blown race car. 406 BHP. God forbid he turn off the ESC to see what it could REALLY do.
Yes, I taught him about shit like that. My bad. I just wanted my kid to know, and appreciate cars as much as I do.
He already got in trouble because I told him the, "S" setting on the Audi transmission is, "Sport". But that's another story.
I decided that since he's been such a good driver since he got his license in February, that it was time to let him know, if nothing else, why I won't let him just take off in the rocket car. So I took him over to Taylorsville High Schools big, drivers ed course.
It was covered in dirt from their football field remodel. Shit.
So we drove over, I drove over, to Murray's drivers ed course. Not the best place for this, as there are four light poles in it. But better than any other place I could think of.
I told him to just drive it around the course like he was driving one of the cars he drove in drivers ed and feel the difference. I told him how the car weighed a couple thousand pounds, and most of it was in the front end because of the engine. That there was no weight in the back, where the power was. That it would tend to over stear because of that. Trying to explain why a, "Muscle Car" was what it was, and why it's not like a regular car.
It goes really fast in a straight line. But on the curves? Not so much.
He got it. I have to hand it to him.
I had him back it into the corner of the course, aim it in a straight line, and stomp on the gas. He got THAT too. He realized that this car was going to go WAY faster than any car he's ever driven, WAY sooner than any car he's ever driven.
He got it. But he also said, "It's like driving the Audi."
Well, sort of. I explained to him that that the Audi was a high performance, TOURING car. And as fast as it was, even when you put the transmission in, "S", it has all wheel drive, and will stay on the road when the Camaro can kill you. They are different beasts. You have to treat them differently.
The Audi is much more FORGIVING of your mistakes. The Camaro is a cruel lover. You upset her? And she won't let you off the hook like the Audi. She will punish you.
Then I replaced him in the driver seat. Turned off the ESC, stomped my left foot down on the break, and stomped my right foot on the gas. And left about $100 of Pierelli performance rubber on the Murray High drivers ed lot in a puff of smoke. Well, a few seconds of smoke.
This was to explain to him that if you do that on a curve? You better hope the puff of smoke is a smoke signal calling the paramedics. You don't FUCK with the Camaro. It will treat you bad if you don't know what you're doing. I think, after seeing the pile of rubber in the parking lot? He gets it.
I started to drive out of the parking lot, but I stopped and asked him, "You think you can drive it home?"
"YEAH! You'll let me do that?"
"Yeah. But the visibility in this car sucks. So turn into the number one lane, and stay in it, even if you have to stop for cars turning into the dealerships, all the way to 59th."
He did so.
And he did well. I told him to floor it one time, and he did. For about a second or two, before he realized how crazy fast this thing was, and brought it back down to about 35.
He turned onto 5900 South and got clear to Greenoakes, coming into the neighborhood, before he said, "Did I do well enough that I can take it to dances (at the high school)?"
I just said, "We'll see."
But now, when Deb and I leave town? I really DO have to put the keys in the gun safe. Cause he's no longer afraid of it. Hell, he even parked it in, The Garage Ma Hall when we were done. I'm sure he's feeling ten feet tall and bullet proof at this point.
But that's OK. He's a good driver, and I trust him. And he can tell all his friends, "I drove the, Bitchin Camaro!"
He was so exited about it, that when we were on our way to the driveing range, he was texting his friends about it. I only know because he asked me, "How do you spell, Camaro?"
That's funny.
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