12 year old kid drives his dads McLaren 650S 163 MPH alone..

12 year old kid drives his dads McLaren 650S 163 MPH alone..

 

Good for the kid. He knew what he was doing, doing it at a track event..

Was he wearing any safety equipment? They just show him in shorts. Can't believe his parents would let him do it without proper safety gear (plus the event folks should require driving suit/etc).

 

I assume this is legit but nowhere in that video do we see him get out of the car after the run. Anyone could have been driving.

 

Good for him that he is learning some cool skills at 12 years old. Just hope they keep him safe. Kids don't always have the best judgement or know how to react if things go south - and at those speeds things can go bad quickly. Not that adults would necessarily do better but it's a lot for a youngster - even one who is mature.

 

Wonder what the waiver looks like to sign off your 12 yo kid?

No matter how much you love cars or whatever the reason is....there is no reason a 12year old should be behind the wheel of a real car..

 

go-kart at best...not a car..I loved cars all my life but never once did i think getting behind the wheel anywhere below age 16 is a good idea..especially going at 163mph..it doesn't take skills to drive a mclaren in a straight road up to speed..it just takes either balls or stupidity.

 

He could be daring or just lucky..whichever the case..I am happy for him he got to do something like that at such young age.

No matter how much you love cars or whatever the reason is....there is no reason a 12year old should be behind the wheel of a real car..

 

go-kart at best...not a car..I loved cars all my life but never once did i think getting behind the wheel anywhere below age 16 is a good idea..especially going at 163mph..it doesn't take skills to drive a mclaren in a straight road up to speed..it just takes either balls or stupidity.

 

He could be daring or just lucky..whichever the case..I am happy for him he got to do something like that at such young age.

 

LOL. Yeah and uh what about those kids who ride dirt bikes all day at the age of 8?

No matter how much you love cars or whatever the reason is....there is no reason a 12year old should be behind the wheel of a real car..

 

..it doesn't take skills to drive a mclaren in a straight road up to speed..it just takes either balls or stupidity.

I agree that a 12 yo shouldn't be driving.

 

I disagree re skills to go 163 in a straight line. It takes a fair amount of focus (in addition to balls/stupidity) because you must remain steady with steering, and very focused on looking where you want to go. This boy must have done it well to not end up in a crash - but I believe a lot of people (regardless of age) would have trouble.

 

Things begin to happen VERY quickly over 120 mph (IMO) and I've driven over 160 mph on a track but it took me a long time to work up to that speed and I didn't like it one bit. Everything went by too quickly and it was difficult to look far enough ahead to anticipate things (like braking points) at that speed. At least it was for me. My personal limit is around 140-145 on a track - even though there are places I could go faster if I wanted to.

 

A lot has to do with the car. The lambo and Cayman feel rock solid at higher speeds. The zeeooosix was awful over 125 - floaty in the nose and wandering all over the place. Inspired zero confidence. I assume the McLaren in question is solid and good at that speed.

 

Kids of course believe they are immortal and don't understand the concept of dying. I hold the parents responsible and find it hard to believe someone would put their child in that position because CLEARLY a 12 yo is not capable of determining whether it's something they should do.

 

 

LOL. Yeah and uh what about those kids who ride dirt bikes all day at the age of 8?

 

 

The medium in which you travel doesn't mean jack S IMO. I know 12yr olds that race go-carts and dirtbikes that will drive circles around 98% of the adult drivers in the world.

 

F1 teams are already watching go-cart racers at 12yrs old, it isn't a huge stretch.

I don't see anything wrong with it, he's well developed for a 12 year old, he looks like he's much older than that, it takes no skill to point that Mac straight and mash the accelerator, the problems start when he will steal the keys and takes it for a joy ride with his buddies

I don't see anything wrong with it, he's well developed for a 12 year old, he looks like he's much older than that, it takes no skill to point that Mac straight and mash the accelerator, the problems start when he will steal the keys and takes it for a joy ride with his buddies

 

I agree with this. I am sure his father has given him plenty of practice. I can see my son having the skill to do that at 12, and I would let him. I would feel safer him being in a car of that caliber on a wide open run way than on a dirt bike like mentioned before.

 

I feel strongly that if you teach your children good racing/driving skills at an early age they will be more responsible when they become teenagers. I use this same logic with guns and hunting with my son.

 

 

Hang on.... The cornfield next door is filled with category three tractors, dragging bone crushing combines, being driven by twelve year olds, within inches of others... Hard to pay attention to this underachiever.

No matter how much you love cars or whatever the reason is....there is no reason a 12year old should be behind the wheel of a real car..

 

go-kart at best...not a car..I loved cars all my life but never once did i think getting behind the wheel anywhere below age 16 is a good idea..especially going at 163mph..it doesn't take skills to drive a mclaren in a straight road up to speed..it just takes either balls or stupidity.

 

He could be daring or just lucky..whichever the case..I am happy for him he got to do something like that at such young age.

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I was flying planes at 12. Plenty of people gave my parents shit for that, especially since my general aviation field was also a military base 20 minutes from Logan. Good parenting does a lot, the kid will be an excellent driver, probably does well in school. Good for him, good on the parents.

 

Faster than I have ever driven!

No matter how much you love cars or whatever the reason is....there is no reason a 12year old should be behind the wheel of a real car..

 

go-kart at best...not a car..I loved cars all my life but never once did i think getting behind the wheel anywhere below age 16 is a good idea..especially going at 163mph..it doesn't take skills to drive a mclaren in a straight road up to speed..it just takes either balls or stupidity.

 

He could be daring or just lucky..whichever the case..I am happy for him he got to do something like that at such young age.

 

I was flying planes at 12. Plenty of people gave my parents shit for that, especially since my general aviation field was also a military base 20 minutes from Logan. Good parenting does a lot, the kid will be an excellent driver, probably does well in school. Good for him, good on the parents.

what i said didn't mean that 12years old are not capable enough...i meant that kids are not responsible enough..but of course good parenting matters most..I know alot of kids below 15 can kart better and faster than adults and won't have a problem driving a car fast and safely on track..just doesn't seem right to put a kid in a driver seat of a car that's all.

 

12 years old flying a plane on the other hand..

Obvious proof that it takes a real man to drive a Lambo.

That's a pretty big 12 year old...pretty sure that kids like 14 or 15. Anyway I don't think this it too ridiculous, yes 163mph is extremely fast, but on a wide open runway in a McLaren? Seems like the safest way to do it. I karted when I was 9-10. Grew up in a rural area and my dad let me drive (with him in the car obviously) when I was 12/13. Driving comes very easy for some people.

Kids are capable of growing up and maturing far earlier than they do in Western societies because of, IMO, bad parenting and just the luxuries of Western society. You get people in their twenties who are morons that you wouldn't trust with a squirt gun, let alone handing them a rifle to go fight a war or putting them behind the cockpit of an aircraft, yet the military does it. There are people in their thirties and forties even who are morons and immature.

that kid looks way older than 12 to me. surely he's around 15?

at least it was in a controlled environment and not public roads