Mini launches teen driving school at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
MINI has teamed up with the new teen driving school Miles Ahead to bring licensed youth to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and train them to drive properly. Indy 500 veteran Stephan Gregoire founded the effort to combat the high number of crashes, injuries and deaths involving teenage drivers.
The chance of a teen crashing in the first three years of driving is 82.9 percent, according to Mini, and a 16-year-old is 20 times more likely to be killed in a crash than an adult. Furthermore, in 63 percent of teenage passenger deaths, another teenager is driving the vehicle.
Mini has supplied 12 copies of the Cooper hardtop to be used for half-day courses at the Speedway. The courses include on-track and classroom instruction.
Instructors for the program come from either the Izod IndyCar series or the Firestone Indy Lights series. For 2011 and 2012, the roster of instructors includes Dillon Battistini, Dan Clarke, Conor Daly, Alex Lloyd, Philip Major, Stephen Simpson, Stefan Wilson and James Winslow.
