Because the folks running this aren't insane, the cars are fitted with a passenger e-brake, the teens are on a course setup with cones, and they go out supervised. Assuming you're at least 4'10" you can hop in the seat for 15 minutes at a cost of $140. A bit steep, but how often does a kid get time behind the wheel of an Aston Martin DB9?

Also, if the British ever get a LeMons series they'll have some great starter cars.

6TH GEAR LAUNCHES ‘TEENTRACKATTACK' – SUPERCAR DRIVING FOR THE UNDER 17s*

For youngsters aspiring to become the next Jenson Button or Lewis Hamilton, and for whom Sunday evening means being glued to TV's Top Gear, the opportunity to stop dreaming and get driving has arrived.

6thGear Experience offers any young person – boy or girl - the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a legendary supercar. Providing they are at least 4ft 10ins tall and can reach the pedals, they can choose between a real Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Ferrari and Audi R8!

No more sitting in front of the box and turning green with envy as Jeremy Clarkson and company ‘smoke the tyres' and screech with excitement while driving the latest/fastest motoring exotica - now it can be your turn, too.

Ideal as a holiday treat, Christmas or birthday present, or even as an exam pass or other incentive, a TeenTrackAttack supercar drive is exactly that – a thrill-a-minute driving experience.

All cars feature an automatic gearbox and are very straightforward to drive, so no previous driving experience is necessary, although more confident drivers can opt to change gears using the ‘paddle shift'. Cars are also fitted with dual controls, and an experienced instructor sits alongside in the passenger seat to ensure each driver gets the maximum enjoyment in complete safety.
The cars you actually drive

Aston Martin DB9 – Aston Martin, James Bond's car of choice.

5.9 litre, V12. 0 - 60mph in 4.6 seconds, top speed 190mph. It'll set you back an eye-watering £111,500 to buy, but your driving experience costs just £89.
Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder – the uber cool Italian supercar – just listen to that engine!

5.2 litre V10 with a blistering 0 - 60mph acceleration of 3.7 seconds, and a top speed of 191mph. £140,000 worth of head turning automotive brilliance and 500bhp's worth of power!
Ferrari F360 Spider – a truly legendary Ferrari created by Italian design specialist Pininfarina, in collaboration with Ferrari's own Head of Design.

3.6 litre 400bhp at 8,000 rpm and 275 lb ft at 4,750 rpm. Top speed over 180mph, and 0 - 60mph in 4.4 seconds. And guess what? It's red!
Audi R8 – Audi also owns Lamborghini and the R8 uses the same chassis as the Gallardo, but is built in Germany.

4.2 litre FSI Quattro gives a 0 – 60mph performance of 4.6 seconds, and a top speed of 187mph from 414bhp. £80,000 ‘fresh-out-of-the-box, and a classic already in the making.
Safety first

Every drive is supervised by a fully trained and experienced instructor, who is not only skilled at driving and controlling high performance cars, but has also been CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) checked for working with youngsters. The instructor ensures that vehicle speed is controlled to match the driver's capability; most young drivers reach an average speed of around 35mph, although with practice and confidence they can go faster. Safety helmets are provided.
Family friendly

Suitable for all the family, a TeenTrackAttack experience is fun to come and watch, too. There's plenty of action, and as well as the driving experience, ‘Hot Laps' are available for a high-speed passenger trip in a Lamborghini with a qualified driver/instructor. Every participant is given a certificate to mark their special drive, and action photographs are also available to maximise the ‘show your mates', take home value!

Locations
6th Gear Experience currently operates from two principal tracks, at Prodrive, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, and Elvington Airfield, York. Two new locations, near London and Manchester will be added shortly.

OMG Audi!

LOL Ferrari!

WTF Ferrari!

OMGLOL Audi!

WTFLOL Audi!

Audi O'RLY?

I Can Haz Lambo!?!

Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood told the Detroit News that Ford's research showed parents would be more likely to let teens use their vehicles with My Key. If it gets them the car more often, the number of teens objecting drops by nearly half. Of course, since a My Key crack will be available on the web about three minutes after the first one hits the showroom floor, we're pretty sure most teens aren't sweating the idea too much. In the meantime, the new feature seems like a smart way for Ford to score sales consideration points with the parents actually doing the car buying. Press release follows.

DEARBORN, Mich., Oct. 6, 2008 – Ford Motor Company is introducing an innovative new technology – called MyKey – designed to help parents encourage their teen-agers to drive safer and more fuel efficiently, and increase safety-belt usage.

Ford's MyKey feature – which debuts next year as standard equipment on the 2010 Focus coupe and will quickly become standard on many other Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models – allows owners to program a key that can limit the vehicle's top speed and audio volume. MyKey also encourages safety-belt usage, provides earlier low-fuel warnings and can be programmed to sound chimes at 45, 55 and 65 miles per hour.

"Ford not only offers industry-leading crash protection and crash avoidance systems, we also are committed to developing new technologies such as MyKey that encourage safer driving behavior," said Susan Cischke, Ford group vice president of Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering. "MyKey can help promote safer driving, particularly among teens, by encouraging seat belt use, limiting speed and reducing distractions."

MyKey is appealing to parents of teen drivers, including 75 percent who like the speed-limiting feature, 72 percent who like the more insistent safety-belt reminder, and 63 percent who like the audio limit feature, according to a recent Harris Interactive Survey conducted for Ford.

About 50 percent of those who would consider purchasing MyKey also said they would allow their children to use the family vehicle more often if it were equipped with the new technology. The added seat time can help teens build their driving skills in a more controlled setting, complementing graduated licensing laws that give young drivers more driving freedom as they get older.

More than half of parents surveyed worry that their teen-age children are driving at unsafe speeds, talking on hand-held cell phones or texting while driving, or otherwise driving distracted. More than a third of parents also are concerned that their teens do not always buckle their safety belts when driving.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), teens are more likely to take risks such as speeding – a contributing factor in 30 percent of all fatal crashes. Teens also are less likely to wear safety belts than older drivers.

Teens surveyed by Harris said they are largely open to MyKey if it means they will have more freedom to drive. Initially, 67 percent of teens polled said they wouldn't want MyKey features. However, if using MyKey would lead to greater driving privileges, only 36 percent would object to the technology.

"We've upgraded an existing, proven technology – the SecuriLock passive anti-theft system – with some simple software upgrades to develop a new unique feature that we believe will resonate with customers," said Jim Buczkowski, director, Electrical and Electronic Systems Engineering – the same team that developed SYNC in partnership with Microsoft. "We also developed MyKey's functions in such a way to quickly spread it across multiple vehicle lines, giving us the ability to go mass market in the spirit of other Ford innovations such as safety belts, stability control and SYNC."

Holding the key

The MyKey system allows the parent to program any key through the vehicle message center, which updates the SecuriLock™ passive anti-theft system. When the MyKey is inserted into the ignition, the system reads the transponder chip in the key and immediately identifies the MyKey code, which enables certain default driving modes, including:

* Persistent Ford Beltminder™ with audio mute. Ford's Beltminder system typically provides a six-second reminder chime every minute for five minutes. With MyKey, the Beltminder chime continues at the regular interval and the audio system is muted until the safety belt is buckled. A message center display "Buckle Up to Unmute Radio" also appears on the instrument cluster.

* Earlier low-fuel warning. Rather than a warning at 50 miles to empty, MyKey provides a warning at 75 miles to empty.

* If MyKey is in the ignition, features such as Park Aid and BLISTM (Blind Spot Information System) with Cross Traffic Alert cannot be deactivated.

Additional MyKey features that can be programmed through the vehicle's message center setup menu:

* Limited top speed of 80 mph
* Traction control system, that limits tire spin, cannot be deactivated
* Limited audio volume to 44 percent of total volume
* A speed alert chime at 45, 55 or 65 mph

Using MyKey to teach teens to avoid speeding can provide an added benefit – improved fuel economy. Ford research shows that driving 55 mph instead of 65 mph consumes 15 percent less fuel, and mastering other eco-driving habits such as avoiding jackrabbit starts and excessive idling can help improve fuel economy by more than 50 percent.

Safety is the key

MyKey is just one way that Ford is helping teens drive more safely. Ford Motor Company Fund's Driving Skills for Life (DSFL) program helps young motorists master four critical driving skills – hazard recognition, vehicle handling, space management, and speed management – that help address the majority of dangerous driving conditions. More than 3,000 teens have participated in DSFL ride-and-drive events. And more than 500,000 people have used the training course since 2003 on www.drivingskillsforlife.com.

[Ford via Detroit News]

According to The Age:

Wildlife officer Greg Chant, prosecuting for the Department of Sustainability and Environment, said when the koala began to make a loud noise, Seabrook tried to retrieve it by poking it with a stick.

Mr Chant said Seabrook then rammed the tree with his Toyota Landcruiser utility, which was witnessed by a number of nearby campers who alerted authorities.

Is that hoonage or insanity? We're leaning towards insanity, likely adolescence-induced. The teen was eventually arrested and charged with a variety of wildlife protection laws and has pleaded guilt to them, accepting a rather modest charge of $2,200.

[Source: The Age, Photo: China Photos/Getty Images]

AAA Supports Passenger Restrictions — Cites Recent Teen Driving Crashes

HB 4151 would make graduated licensing laws even stronger

DEARBORN, Mich., Sept. 12 /PRNewswire/ — Michigan's graduated driver licensing laws are among the best in the country, resulting in a dramatic decline in deaths and injuries since they were enacted in 1996. However, AAA believes that these laws can be further strengthened to help prevent even more deaths and injuries among teen drivers and their passengers.

A significant number of teen crashes in Michigan this spring and summer — including a fatal crash this week in Macomb County — have lawmakers taking a second look at legislation that would place restrictions on the number of passengers that can ride with a teen driver. House Bill 4151 would limit the number of teen passengers to one. AAA strongly supports this bill.

"According to a March 2008 report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), when teenage drivers transport passengers there is a greatly increased crash risk, with greater risk associated with more passengers," said Jack Peet, Community Safety Services manager for AAA Michigan. "In fact, when there are multiple passengers, the crash risk is 3 to 5 times greater."

A recent analysis from AAA finds that crashes involving teen drivers ages 15 to 17 cost American society more than $34 billion annually in medical expenses, lost work, property damage, quality of life loss and other related costs in 2006.

"The impact of a teen crash extends beyond the emotional tragedies and physical injury at the crash scene, with costs that can extend to employers, families, the government and society overall," said Peet. "These economic figures provide one more reason for legislators to improve graduated driver licensing laws in their states."

New research by AAA shows an alarmingly high number of teens admit to engaging in very risky behavior behind the wheel. Some of these behaviors — like driving under the influence — are problems the safety community has battled for years. Others — like text messaging while driving — are new behaviors. They all pose a threat to road users and must be corrected by teens, parents and safe driving educators.

For additional information on teen driving visit AAA.com/safety.

Source: AAA Michigan

CONTACT: Jim Rink, +1-313-336-1513, or Nancy Cain, +1-313-336-1514, both
for AAA Michigan

Web site: http://aaa.com/safety

Jalopnik Snap Judgment: Just because something can be built does not mean it should be built. While we're sure there are some noble uses for this product, we can't think of any. It's built for spying and stalking, and as such will be used almost exclusively to foster distrust and paranoia among families, lovers and employees. Think about it: What's the most conniving, illicit way you can come up with to use the GPS Tracking Key? Drop your filthy ideas into the comments and enjoy the full press release below.

NAPA Dealers Add GPS Tracking Key to Their Automotive Product Line

CARY, Ill., Sept. 2 — LandAirSea Systems, Inc. has announced that they have begun distributing the increasingly popular GPS Tracking Key to NAPA automotive dealers across the country. NAPA has been a long time supplier of replacement parts, accessories and service items to the automotive repair industry and they are confident that the Tracking Key will be a profitable addition to their inventory.

About the Tracking Key:

The award winning GPS Tracking Key is a small, pocket sized device that receives signals from the twenty-four Department of Defense satellites orbiting the earth. Its internal computer determines the GPS location of a vehicle and records detailed travel activities such as times of departure, routes traveled, speed of vehicle and duration of stops. The recorded data can then be displayed with Google Earth(R) over a street map, satellite images or in a text report. Among the growing list of consumers for this device are parents of teenage drivers who have found it to be a helpful tool in keeping track of their teens' whereabouts. By making the GPS Tracking Key available to its customers, NAPA is hoping to attract this most recent category of buyer.

About NAPA

The National Automotive Parts Association (NAPA) was founded over 80 years ago to meet America's growing need for a national auto parts distribution system. They are a retailer's cooperative which distributes parts and equipment to both corporately and independently owned auto parts stores. Today, NAPA oversees 6,000 auto parts stores, 69 distribution centers, 13,000 affiliated NAPA auto care repair facilities and over 320,000 parts in inventory every day. With the advent of 21st century sophistication, the automotive industry and its affiliates have become increasingly complex, their product line expanding to include more than the basic nuts and bolts. The GPS Tracking Key, though unimpressive in size and appearance, is destined to become a standard feature in vehicles nationwide, as more and more consumers become dependent upon its wide range of capabilities.

"The Tracking Key has been proven in the GPS tracking industry to be one of the best devices in the world for passive GPS tracking. It is a very powerful, affordable and extremely easy to use device," said Rob Wagner, CEO of LandAirSea Systems, Inc.

About LandAirSea:

Currently headquartered in Cary, Illinois, LandAirSea plays host to the world's most powerfully engineered GPS tracking equipment. With several varieties of GPS tracking systems in operation across the globe, LandAirSea has become an industry leading provider of effective, affordable tracking solutions for thousands of civilians as well as a multitude of government and law enforcement agencies. For more information, please visit http://www.landairsea.com.

[GPSTrackingKey.com]