Team Racing Stripes
Part 3:
Kayden twisted the key and the engine roared to life, now carrying a full tank of fuel. As the Sinistra rolled out of the pits, Kaylie yelled to her brother, loud enough to be heard quite a distance away, “Kayden, fang it!”
Kayden responded by planting his foot hard on the gas, the Sinistra skidding wide in one of the corners, barely managing to keep the car going the way he wanted, and only because the car was front-wheel-drive, tires screaming and smoking in what ended up looking like an epic drift, if one believed that anything in a Traville could be considered ‘epic.’
Several laps later, Kayden completely overcooked it in the same corner that Rukari had trouble with, spinning wildly across the track and burning the tires instead of using the brakes to stop. He got the car straightened out and kept racing, just in time to hear another car hitting the guardrail. A glance in the driver’s side mirror revealed a slightly-battered-looking Ardent roaring past, and Kayden stayed out of the way of the faster-moving car.
After a long time of managing to keep the car out of trouble, mostly by driving a little less aggressively and keeping more to the pace he could manage, Kayden had another mishap, as the Sinistra, the Xianfeng, and the Wells all hit the same tricky patch of track and hit the guardrail, one right after the other. The sound of squealing tires announced the Hakumai had entered the same corner, but the new tires provided by Jaden seemed to help keep the mid-engined pocket rocket out of the wall this time.
Not even a handful of laps later, the barge that was the Dover scuffed up against the driver’s side and stuffed the Sinistra into the wall. Kayden reached out through the already-broken window and gave the car an unwanted set of ‘racing stripes’ on the rear quarter panel in retaliation.
A lap or two later, the Dover was in the pits with the engine on fire. Kaylie helped Team Yacht Rockers extinguish the fire, using their 20-pound fire extinguisher and her metal left hand to open up the hood so she could smother the fire. Not long after she helped contain the fuel fire, Kayden brought her the Sinistra, rattling and clanking from the driver’s side front wheel.
“I can’t believe it! Half of these bolts are finger tight, Jaden!” Kaylie exclaimed. “Rukari, grab that wrench and tighten these bolts, please, before we lose another spring.”
Rukari gladly picked up the 1/2 inch wrench and started tightening bolts, giving all of them an extra quarter-turn to make sure they were, even if slightly improperly, actually torqued down. Kayden got out from behind the wheel, then stuffed his older brother into the hot seat.
Jaden gave an indignant yowl at being actually picked up, stuffed through the window like a NASCAR driver, and plopped into the driver’s seat. “Really?” he asked.
“You are too slow in your old age,” Kayden teased, just as Jaden left the pit lane to rejoin the track.