Potty, agreed, there is no logical in that.

Were it up to me, weight/power restrictions would be based on proven ability to handle the vehicle in an official test.

Age is a slightly convenient proxy, but there's plenty of older drivers with limited driving ability who almost certainly should be kept away from excessively heavy or powerful vehicles. And I'm one of the few people who will honestly admit that their driving skills are probably below average (as are those of 50% of the population), so it would apply to me too.

I think that one reason for the ban on inexperienced drivers driving V8s is probably more psychological than material.

That is, certainly in these days of exponentially increasing petrol costs, the allure of driving a V8 would mostly be restricted to revheads to whom the appeal of raw grunt outweighs the prohibitive expense involved in driving a bloody great petrol-guzzler. That's why they're cheap to buy secondhand - few experienced drivers would want to own one these days.

Admittedly, Potty has given reasonably good reasons for his desire to own one of these mechanical dinosaurs, but I think anything that separates young revheads from fast cars on our roads has to be a good thing, even if a few apparently more sensible drivers are temporarily inconvenienced. Mind you, young Potty seems a bit too informed about relative horsepower and acceleration for my liking - who knows about that kind of stuff except revheads?

Will I disappoint anyone with my idea?

We have the problem of huge mismatch of car power with brain power of a driver. Let my proposition to be legislated explain why.

The common license to be divided into 3 categories a,b,c depend on capability of a car. Car capability meaning of speed and acceleration, perhaps also mass. The lowest c be for least capable and suited to students, teenagers, pensioners and less mentally capable. Cars allowable be the older, and newer but less powerful. License requirement for c class be much more strict than at present, and include ability to drive in all road situations, to share road with all road users, and be just difficult to pass to first timers. Lots more training required and be more costly.
Level b for more powerful cars be allowed only after blameless driving record for 3 years on lower level and much more comprehensive training and be able to drive more powerful cars, and be much more expensive (say $2000 or more). The highest level a of license for most powerful cars, after blameless driving record on lower level for 3 years and much more training and cost to get it.

This system would solve so many problems and is perhaps the most fair. The most fair not from perspective of current mismanagement, but from objective point of view, where safety gets priority.
With my proposition, no teenager would steal powerful car for joy riding. Everybody would instantly spot – wrong driver in wrong car. The hoons would be a thing of a past because most hoons do not use mini morris but use powerful commodore. And if they have enough brain to obtain higher license it would be too precious to loose it by stupid hooning.
Everybody could have license but if you want to drive more powerful and potentially more dangerous car, you have to prove you are capable.

Not only less car related crime but psychologically, the lower category drivers would observe that drivers with higher category, drive safer and more courtliness.

CJ... I dunno if he knows too much about the stats, given that he's mentioned he's planning to become a mechanic. Being an aficionado of motor vehicles isn't an automatic assumption they'll behave like a hoon.

That being said, I agree with your overall point that the demographic is more prone to car accidents.
I agree... though I grapple with it somewhat, given that when it comes to other forms of discrimination, I don't think it's justified to categorise people by their age, sex or ethnicity and the dictate rules to them on that basis.

I guess it comes back to the 'within reason' argument. We stop children from driving because they're not ready for it, and this seems reasonable, as it's a progressive thing that applies to everybody at a certain stage, and it makes sense to progressively introduce them to driving.

But in this instance, it would seem that there isn't any logic in the rule... but, my solution probably wouldn't be well liked by you potty, as I'd probably advocate the restrictions be brought to a more uniform standard that is still quite prescriptive.

Yeah, i understand where your coming from, all of you, and i like the idea about having drivers prove their capabilities in a particular car. I'd be more than happy to go through ANY driver training course and any test possible to prove my abilities and intentions with the sort of power im chasing. im an old school kinda kid when it comes to cars, and im happy to learn how to handle them better and treat them with complete respect. I know the consequences of powerful cars, one of my cousins died ina car accident and that changed my whole attitude to cars. So yeah im more than happy to go through any procedure necessary

Good on you Potty. If only all young drivers were of the same mindset.