February 22, 12:07 AM
A red RX-7 rolled into the gas station and came to a stop at one of the pumps. It was raining and the place was mostly empty this late. The only other car around, a beat up Civic hatchback, rolled out into the night, leaving Saki alone with her thoughts. She took another glance around and pulled the handbrake. Her heart pounded in her chest harder than it ever had before and her car's lopsided idle matched her anticipation. She stared at the clock and bit her lip. It was about time to make her decision. Hang out here and be the first to arrive or roll in at the last second for her grand reveal?
Saki checked her mirrors as she rolled slowly into place. The road ahead was consumed by darkness - surely nobody would be around. She stopped the car and clutched in, pulling the handbrake again and blipping the throttle just to remind herself that she was ready to go. She glanced at the clock again and centered herself. Still plenty of time. Nobody in their right mind would show up an hour and forty-five minutes early. She watched the tachometer wobble for another moment before turning her attention back to the road ahead. Taking a final breath, she put her foot back onto the gas pedal and held the engine at the speed she wanted. Her foot eased on the clutch just enough to put tension in the drivetrain and she counted herself off. 3! 2! 1! The RX-7 screamed off the line as she buried the throttle, dumped the clutch, and released the handbrake as quickly as she could.
The starting section of the course was as demanding as ever and Saki did her best to maintain her speed through the tricky series of medium left-rights as the first of so many hairpin turns came into view. Hard on the brakes, downshift once into second, flick left and then hard back right. Let the car rotate just enough, catch the slide, bury the throttle and pray to every god you know for a good exit. Upshift and hold third gear through the right, left, right, and immediately on the brakes and hard back to the left. The fun's just starting. Another series of sweeping turns, a kink to the left and another hairpin right. Stay focused. Another kink. Hairpin left. Stay close to the guard rail on the outside, now the inside of a gentle move back right. Redline third gear, hard on the brakes, another downshift and another Scandinavian flick to the right. Left kink on exit. Hairpin left. A kink to the right. A kink to the left and an immediate hairpin right, open this time. You're not even halfway done. Exit speed is life. Straight ahead and bury the middle pedal again. Every hairpin is different and this one is tight. Don't over-rotate the car. The red FD squirmed on corner exit as Saki made a big correction on-throttle. She swore loudly. Another right-left into another wide hairpin right. She redlined the car again in third on the run to the next hairpin left. One last right-left and one last hairpin right. Gently over to the guardrail again to set up for a tiny kink to the right. If they haven't proven themselves by now, this is their last chance. A wide open hairpin with a sweeping exit. Downhill like the rest of them but exponentially faster. Again she sent the car sideways, this time maintaining a much shallower angle as the car slid across the slick pavement. Accelerate again through two more kinks. This isn't Initial D you can't just do the jumps on stock suspension. Resist the temptation. She threw the car into another hairpin. One more kink. Left, right, left, right, open left, one more right. A sweep and another sweep. One more left. There's a small parking lot on the right side of the road at the end of this straight section. It's your last chance to collect yourself. Back into it with a pair of isolated switchbacks, a short straight, and a square left. The final five hairpins remain. Saki, starting to feel fatigue, went hard on the brakes again, a little too late this time. Trail braking deep into the corner, she cursed again as the car understeered and kicked the clutch to rotate herself away from the guardrail. It was a major loss of momentum coming into the next series of switchbacks. Easily two seconds gone in a single mistake. She hit her usual braking point in spite of the difference in speed and turned the car in, shaking her head. The FD, clearly more capable than she was, once again rotated smoothly and predictably. She picked up the throttle again, confidence coming back into her. The next hairpin was almost identical, just in the opposite direction. Three more to go. It wouldn't set any records but nobody drove their best on a warmup. Open hairpin right into hairpin left into open hairpin right and one last square left. The hard part was done. She finished out the course without any other issues and started up the other pass just as the banshee shrieks of her vicious 13b REW had finished echoing into the night.
