I am female, almost 40, race in the dirt and tarmac and am scared to death of my STi. It's a freakin' monster and I know it, thus I treat it with respect and use in within MY abilities.
I did let a 17y/o drive mine from here to Bethel for NEFR, but I also threatened him within an inch of his life AND made him follow me. (I was driving the truck and towing the rally car.)
He is also scared of me, so I know he was behaving, and I did let him use it a few times over the weekend unsupervised. But again, he knows I would murder him if he wrecked it. Would I let a kid of mine drive one regularly, HELL NO!
but it does depend on the kid. when I was 19 I wanted to buy my cousins escort gt, my uncle told me it was too powerful and wouldn't let me drive it without my father with me. So I went out and bought a faster car.
But I was paying for it and the insurance and I didn't wreck it.
Driver ed should focus some on car control? maybe kids would be more respectful of powerful cars if they could see how quickly things can go wrong, very wrong. Don't know about the rest of you ol farts, but I learned on an icy lake. Nothing to hit, but lots of ice to scare the crap out of you.