The Flatout Factory 'Skids for kids' is our introduction to drifting package for juniors!
Children from the age of 12 upwards can come and experience the thrills of drifting in a safe and controlled environment with professional drift racing instructors. Using our specially adapted and dual control cars (the exact same as the adults get to use!!) they get the opportunity to get the engine revs rising and wheels spinning at our purpose laid out track in the Heartlands of Birmingham.
We start off with a safety and basic skills briefing before taking to training tracks to teach them the basic car control skills required to perform donuts, the very first step everyone takes when learning to drift!! This exercise is designed to teach how to make a car start a controlled slide as well as training their reactions and reflexes on what to do to balance this, known as setting a drift!!
A second session in the car sees our young pupils start to perform much longer drifts on our 'beginner corner'. This is a low speed, sweeping corner where they really get to open the power up and perform a much longer drift to start them on their road to becoming the next future drift king and queens! In this exercise the pupils also get to play our popular 'Game of Drift'. This is where they have to try and knock targets down with the rear of the car whilst drifting around the corner!!
The session then finishes with a small presentation ceremony where each pupil is presented with a certificate of achievement for completing the activities.
The team at the Flatout Factory really enjoy working with young drivers. They are often much easier to teach and pick up the skills required far more quickly than 'established' drivers who already hold driving licenses! This year the British Drift Championship saw young Jack Shannahan, 15 years old from Ireland, take top spot on the podium of the Super Pro class, proving that if you start them young enough, then anything is popular. Our very own teams weekend apprentice is only 15 years old and can already show most adults a thing or two on the track!!
The Flatout Factory are keen to introduce todays youth into motor sport. It is a rewarding and enjoyable hobby weather it be driving cars at local events, helping with the mechanics of the repairs or even the 101 other jobs that are associated with going racing. We believe that it gives kids something to aim for, a goal, a past time that is so much better than hanging around street corners as well as introducing them to basic engineering principles which can, if they wish, lead them into engineering as a career, one of the most rewarding jobs going! Everything we see when we look around us has been engineered to work and for every successful name like Lewis Hamilton on the podium there are a thousand unsung engineering heroes that helped to put him there, all proud of their achievements! For this reason the top driver from the 2015 'Skids for Kids' days will be invited back for a half days one to one session with the team! We hope that this will encourage the talent of tomorrow to shine and discover the thrills of motorsport!