re:wow....5 pages....it must still be winter.
At over 100 posts, this thread is interestingly long. And as Stan says, it must still be winter.
My view: I don't want to share the track in my FF with a 14 year old. Some of them will have talent and all of them will have Dad's money behind them. A few of them will be emotionally mature enough to handle the responsibility to themelves and others in an open wheel formula car - not enough for my comfort out there. This was bad enough during FF's heyday in the late '70's & I'll include a famous Italian-American racer's son in that number.
Now I find myself operating an indoor karting center. We adopted most of our guidelines from a mentor in Virginia that has 2 of these facilities and about 5 years under his belt. We have junior karts (smaller in size and hp) for kids from 8 to 15. Yes, 15. You have to be 16 to drive our adult karts. The state of NC regulated our junior karts to a top speed that isn't challenging to kids over about 12. After clearing it with our insurance carrier, we are launching a new program called Super Juniors for ages 13-15. Those kids will have to come to a school where we will get an opportunity to evaluate their maturity and their on-track skills. If we feel good about it, we are going to let them drive the adult karts in heats with adults. If they act out or can't handle the mix with aggressive adults, then it's back to the slow machines. And all of this trouble and caution is for an indoor facility with 6.5 HP karts racing on a tight track where speeds are nothing compared to FF, FC, or whatever. Even here it will turn out to be a maturity issue. Pass with skill and judgement or just slam someone into a barrier to get around. We'll see.
jg