CHAPTER ELEVEN: FF or FR?
Ram and Evan shook the woman’s hand. “We’re Ram and Evan. Nice to meet you, err…helmet-wearing woman.” - The woman did not reply to them. She got into their car and pointed at theirs; Ram and Evan looked at each other and got into their car, strapped themselves to the seats and ignited the engine.
The organizer stood between the cars, and lifted both arms; before counting, he took a glance at both drivers, to check that they were ready. “Starting the countdown! Nine, eight, seven…!” - As the organizer counted down, both drivers blipped their throttle pedals and then started revving their engines. The launch control systems kicked in. “Three, two, one…!”. Before launching, both drivers looked at each other, before putting all of their attention back at the road.
“GO!”.
(Race’s theme!)
Both cars launched forward, diving into the track. As the cars slid their tyres through the first metres of the straight, their exhausts backfired. The cars finally gripped the road and started accelerating; the faster response from Ciara’s SCT sequential gave her the upper hand against Ram, who banged through the gears in his manual car. Both cars approached the first corner.
“Alright, Ram, first corner is a fast one to the left. Stop accelerating, and grip it; if you understeer, blip the brakes.” - The cars pushed through the first corner fast as a lightning, both engines screaming into the night; Ciara stopped throttling as she approached the second corner, letting the weight transfer onto the front tyres, cancelling the understeer that FF cars produce. Ram followed her neck to neck, gripping his way through the corner, and fighting a hint of oversteer their car produced.
Both cars approached the first hairpin. Ciara pressed the downshift paddle three times, engaging 2nd gear; Ram, on the other hand, heel toed his way into 2nd gear. As both cars entered the hairpin, the small Pulga suddenly started sliding through the corner. “Evan, what the hell was that? How can a FWD car do that?” - Said Ram, suprised by what had just happened. “It’s called liftoff oversteer, Ram. She lifted her right foot sharply, making all of the car’s weight transfer to the front. As the rear end had no grip, it kicked out.” - Replied Evan.
As soon as she got out of the corner, Ciara throttled again, taking advantage of the fact that her car was FWD; the rear wheels came back together, cancelling the oversteer. Ram followed her, but the gap had widened a little bit. Both drivers floored it on their way to the second hairpin.
“Alright Ram, drift this one; once you get out, floor the throttle, we will catch her up in the first high speed section.” - As Evan explained this to Ram, he entered the corner, clutch-kicking to make the rear end slide; Ciara, on the other hand, followed her line, gripping and sharpening her cornering blipping the brake pedal with her left foot. Both cars exited the corner and entered the first high speed section, where the more powerful Herluna closed the gap between him and the tiny hatchback.
Both drivers entered the third hairpin, powersliding their way through it. “Alright, Ram, try to analyze your opponent’s weaknesses. We need to overtake her at the five consecutive hairpins, so try to preserve the front tyres.” - As Evan explained this to Ram, he fought the oversteer his car induced during the corners. “These guys are not bad at all. They’re still keeping up with me.” - Thought Ciara. “Alright, I need to lose them at the five consecutive hairpins or else it’ll be game over for me”.
Both cars gripped the fourth hairpin; Ram avoided oversteering by holding back when it came to the throttle. On the other hand, Ciara left-foot braked her way through the corner, sharpening her trajectory. Both cars entered the second high speed section, where Ciara kept an eye out for possible overtaking attempts, but had to block none at all. They pushed their way through the medium speed section, and approached the next hairpin.
Both cars dived into the fifth hairpin, neck to neck. While Ciara gripper her way through it, Ram drifted his way through it. “Alright Ram, change of plans. We’ll try to overtake her during the next hairpin, and you’ll block her all your way through the five consecutive hairpins. Understood?” - As Evan asked him, Ram nodded. If he blocked her during the five hairpins, she wouldn’t be able to overtake them back, and the race would be theirs. They had to try it.
The sixth hairpin was close now; Ciara positioned herself on the outside, to use the late apex technique; but ram got on the inside. Ciara looked at the rear view mirror. “What are they going to try?” - Thought Ciara.
Ciara started braking, while Ram braked later, entering the corner first and starting to drift, barely managing to control the oversteer the car was producing. Both cars exited the corner, with Ciara now behind the Helruna. She still couldn’t believe her eyes: had she been overtaken by a simple late braking technique?
She did not let that break her morale, though; she kept drafting behind the Helruna, keeping up with the coupé. “Alright, Ram, watch out here, she might try something here. Give her hell.” - As Evan announced this, both cars dived into the consecutive hairpins; Evan kept blocking every attempt made my Ciara to overtake them by drifting. However, during the last consecutive hairpin, he braked way too late. Ram had to brake further during the hairpin, a mistake Ciara took advantage of by using the late apex technique to block any recovery from them.
“Evan, I think I screwed u-” “Just keep driving.” - Ram got interrupted by Evan, who was noticeably nervous.
Both cars finally arrived at the last hairpin; as they dived in, Ram attempted to overtake by the inside, dropping his wheels into the gutter. However, Ciara also realized that and dropped her wheels into it too. Both cars exited the hairpin, entering the last straight at full speed. Ram took advantage of the higher top speed his car was able to reach, finally closing the gap.
“Are we doing this, Evan?” “Yeah”.
Ram positioned his car on the inside of the turn as soon as they entered the last section. Ciara looked at her rear view mirror. “What are they going to try?” - She thought. The Helruna and the Pulga approached the last hairpin. Ciara then realized what they were going to try: they were on the inside of the last corner, and could push her out of her line.
At the finishing line, people were biting their nails as they heard the tyres squeal and the engines growl and roar. A few seconds later, the Helruna appeared, followed by the Pulga. Ram and Evan crossed the finishing line first. They couldn’t believe it, they won!
Both cars returned to the summit, where the organizer was trying to get people to calm down. “Alright, people! Last race of round 1 will be…Yui Takeda vs Daniil Vyacheslavovich! Racers, get ready!”.
To be continued.
Times spreadsheet:
and if that were to happen in the finals - it would be a let down.
