Kids in the DRIVING Seat

PICTURE THE SCENE: It’s a rainy Sunday afternoon, and you, an eleven-year-old, are driving a full-size road-going car around a real-life track. Not just any car, but your parents' car! And you are driving it better than they ever could! You are cool, calm, focused, in control. You know exactly what you are doing…

Imagine no more, because this is the REALITY for the kids of the Under 17 Car Club (U17CC), a volunteer-run organisation transforming pre-17s into incredibly safe, skillful and confident drivers. 

ROADSTER! was invited to spend a day with the club at Castle Combe racing circuit…

The ULTIMATE driving head start!

Founded nearly 50 years ago by author Sandy Barrie and racing driver Barrie 'Whizzo' Williams, the Under 17 Car Club (U17CC) is a supervised program that provides young people, typically aged 11 to 17, the opportunity to learn essential driving skills and advanced control techniques on closed circuits before they are legally allowed to drive on public roads. Club members get to take part in exciting, fun and inclusive activities whilst learning essential skills to make them safer drivers on the road when they reach 17. 

Roadster’s day with the club began with a WILD introduction that instantly showed the club’s ethos of trust and skill: “This is Cameron,” our host Edelgard said to Sam. “He’s 15 years old. Give him your Dad’s car keys, he’s taking you for a ride!”

“You should have seen Dad’s face!” recalls Sam. “He knew nothing about the club, we didn’t know Cameron, and NO ONE else had ever driven Dad’s car! Amazingly, Dad did as he was told and got in the BACK of our car as Cameron got in the front, and I got in the passenger seat!”

Roadster! Dad need not have worried. Cameron took us out for an amazing, well-disciplined, and well-controlled drive around the circuit. “I’ve driven around 100 cars with the club,” said Cameron, “but this is the first time I’ve driven a Dacia Duster!”.

There were lots of other cars out on the circuit, all driven by children, with parents or instructors by their sides giving them instruction. Real cars, real driving.

SAFETY & RISK REDUCTION!

• Accident Rate Cut: U17CC Graduates slash their first-year accident risk from 20–25% to just 4–6%!

• 4x Safer: Alumni are statistically 4 to 5 times safer than peers trained at age 17.

• Builds Trust: Instruction is given without dual controls, maximizing student confidence and responsibility.

• Vetted Team: Club is run by DBS-checked, committed volunteer Instructors and Marshals.

• Fewer Convictions: Graduates are significantly less likely to receive traffic convictions.

  
  

For young drivers like Cameron, getting behind the wheel with the U17CC is a serious, structured education. Kids can join the club from the age of 11. Instruction is usually given by parents using their own cars and following a structured programme, but every third session the club’s instructors, many of whom started in the club themselves, teach in the students’ car without dual controls. The very first instruction is how to stop safely. Skills build from there, following a rigorous grading system that progresses from 'ungraded' all the way from Grade 5 up to X (Institute of Advanced Motorists  “first” standard). Kids are taught responsibility from day one.

We then met 13-year-old Archie, who, in his Grandad’s Ford Focus ST, provided an impressive display of foundational skills, situational awareness, and advanced techniques, under the watchful eye of his mentor / instructor.

Archie demonstrated a remarkably high level of driver skill and aptitude for a 13-year-old! Archie’s U17CC journey began in February 2024, when he was just 11 years old. His initial lessons started simply: "I started by going around in a circle to figure out the fundamentals like the clutch.”

Archie’s impressive technical display demonstrated one of the club’s core principles—you are learning to become a superb driver through proper seat time. The club meets approximately 36 times a year, and kids spend much of their day driving; the hours of driving experience rapidly add up!

Lunch, Theory & Teamwork 

Lunch is extremely important to the Under 17 Car Club (U17CC) . Not only is it a chance to eat some great food but it is also a chance to stop and rest - an extremely important skill in driving. So important, that the club have a mandatory stop period during every session during which time ALL cars have to break and park up for an hour. “It’s vitally important that the club members understand the importance of taking breaks.” says Edelgard “Rest and mental preparation are as fundamentally important to safe and effective driving as technical skill, encouraging essential good behavioral habits in our young students”.

Over lunch, Sam got to try a classroom-based activity, hazard perception on a laptop, while young club members were frantically filling in theory test answers from this week’s batch of questions.

SKILLS MASTERY!

• Advanced Grades: Uses a formal structure up to Grade X (Police-level roadcraft).

• Specialised Training: Includes skid pan techniques and simulated motorway driving.

• Vehicle Variety: Teens drive a wide range (buses, 4x4s, rally cars) across diverse sites.

• Early Start: New members accepted from age 11 to maximize skill integration.

  
  

Beyond individual instruction, the U17CC also incorporates fun social elements, such as the Team Challenge, a high-pressure timed manoeuvres exercise in which groups compete on tight circuits. We watched over a group of club students taking part with real precision being applied to avoid hitting cones and incurring a penalty for their team. 

The U17CC offers exceptional variety in both vehicles and training locations.Due to the club's "own risk" structure, it is common for members to swap cars as they progress through the grades, giving them the chance to experience vehicles—from vintage Nissan Micras to high-performance cars — helping them to appreciate different handling dynamics. The club utilises multiple sites like Bovington (for junctions and roundabouts) and Lyneham (for motorway style practice). They also provide specialist education and development in skid pan control, night driving, and gala days even provide the opportunity to drive large vehicles like lorries!

Roadster’s final treat of the day was one we could share together—a thrilling high-speed drive around Castle Combe circuit in a high-performance BMW X5 M, being driven by one of the club’s advanced driving instructors. With an impressive 550 horsepower, the X5 M is a serious machine. “The most impressive thing is the handling," said the instructor as he threw the 4x4 quickly through a bendy chicane obstacle, "it does things you shouldn't really be able to do in a car of this size". The instructor was right… it does!

COST SAVINGS!

• Budget Price: Membership costs less than £400 per annum  (Around £12 per session if you go to all of them!)

• Lesson Savings: Advanced control means fewer paid lessons at age 17.

• High Pass Rate: Graduates report up to a 79% first-attempt pass rate (vs. national 47%), saving re-test costs.

  
  

With that, Roadster’s day with the Under 17 Car Club came to a close. We came away feeling utterly converted by the principles of the club, convinced that this model of graduated learning — building confidence, road craft, and hundreds of hours of practical driving experience in a safe environment — is not just a responsible way to learn, but the essential foundation all young people need to radically eliminate the horrific rate of new driver accidents.