RWBY – On the Line
Chapter 2 – The Team
Qrow grinned as his nieces looked at the track in the wine country outside of Vale in awe.
"The grandstands are huge!" marveled Yang. "They must fit several thousand people!"
"Well, the track is in the local stock car circuit, as well as an open wheel series too." Qrow said. "Ozpin knows the owner so we've been using Monoma Valley Raceway for testing since I was driving."
"This is so cool." Muttered Ruby as she looked down the drag strip that ran from one end of the track to the other. "What's with every race track we go to having drag strips built in?"
Qrow snorted. "Some people like watching drag races. Others like watching cars go in circles. But everyone knows that road course racing is the most enjoyable to watch. Come on, the garage is this way." He said as he walked off. "You're going to be meeting the other two drivers on the team today, and probably the four drivers for team Juniper GP as well since Oz and Glinda get along so well."
Ruby shuffled her feet as she muttered, "How will this work? Like, what are we going to be doing? What am I expected to do?"
Qrow snorted, "You are only expected to try your best. This is really just a fancy practice session so you can get used to the cars. Oz and the head technicians will be watching to see what pointers they can give you and help guide you in setting up your car for racing."
"And show off how good you are!" Butted in Yang as they approached the garage. "I herd that the Schnee cars are predicted to be the fastest again this year. I want to prove that wrong."
"With that attitude, we'll beat them for sure." Came a voice from within the garage. Out of the door came Ozpin, drinking from a mug. "Your cars are almost ready, and you two are the first drivers here. You might just get some quality alone time with the track."
"Go suit up." Qrow said. "The cars will be ready when you are."
Ruby and Yang walked out of the changing rooms near the garage, both dressed in the fire resistant racing suits, red for Ruby and yellow for Yang. They walked into the garage and gasped ant the set of cars waiting for them. The one in front was bright yellow, low to the ground, and had a huge wing on the back. It barley came up to Qrow's chest, as he was standing next to it looking it over. The car right next to it closely resembled Yang's racing Tijitu with a bigger wing on the deck, except it was silver with red highlights. Qrow looked up and waved the two over.
"Go ahead. Climb in. These will be your 'offices' for the next little while, so I suggest getting used to them."
Yang immediately pulled her helmet on and began squeezing in through the tiny door. Ruby walked around her car, attempting to get a feel for where the car's corners were before getting in. A net on her right blocked access to the passenger's seat, while the console sat between the netting and the driver's seat. Ruby played with the safety belts for a while before she was happy with how snugly they held her in the seat. She was looking around her 'office' getting a feel for where everything was when Yang fired up her motor. The garage was suddenly filled with the high-pitched whine of her engine, as she slowly pulled out of the garage toward pit lane. Qrow walked over to Ruby's door after watching Yang's car drive down the service road to the track.
"Comfortable?"
Ruby squirmed in her seat. "A little nervous."
Qrow snorted. "Relax. Oz and the team aren't looking for record setting times, this is really just for you to get used to the car. Pay attention to how it handles, what it feels like to wear the tires down, and how it drives in general. The feel will probably be different from what you're used to, so take this time to make it comfortable to spend a few hours in."
"But what if I crash?" Muttered Ruby.
Qrow just laughed. "You should ask your father about the first time in a Prototype. He knocked the wing off in practice and in the next turn, he tried to go right without any down force. Flew straight into the wall and totaled the car in the third lap he ever drove. He went on to win three championship titles and even more races. Don't worry about how it might go wrong, and instead enjoy the drive."
He closed the door and nodded to the engineer to fire her engine up. Seconds later, the car came to life and Ruby put it in gear, taking it out onto the pit lane. Ruby steeled herself, she was going to put down a respectable lap time even if it took her all day to warm up to the car.
Pulling out of the pits, Ruby gunned it up the hill around the left hand turn one and into the sharper right hand turn two as she brought the car up to speed. Turn three was a left-right S bend that crested the highest point on the track before beginning the descent into the sharp right hand turn four. A short straight proceeded turn five, a long left hand carousel that led onto the drag strip before leaving again with a slight left twist off the strip. From there was a short straight to turn seven, a hairpin with two apexes that began the back half of the track. The shallow left-right esses lead into turn eight, a sharper left-right esses and into nine, a long sweeping left hand turn around the start of the drag strip. Turn ten set up for the best passing spot on the track, the turn eleven hairpin that brought Ruby onto the dog-legged front stretch with turn twelve just before the start-finish line to begin her first timed lap.
The first handful of laps Ruby ran were slow, as she was using them to learn about her car and how it handled on the track. Five laps in, Yang went flying past on the front stretch already up to speed and putting her car through its paces. Over the next hour Ruby would slowly pick up speed, knocking a second or two off her lap time each time by as she began getting used to the car and the much faster speed that came with it and seeing the progress on the time boards the crew was holding up at the start line.
Yang had gone past Ruby several times during the session, so when she glimpsed a car in her mirror on the stretch before turn eleven, Ruby gave her the inside line. Except the Prototype that went by wasn't yellow – it was all white and drove with more precision than Ruby had seen out of her sister. As she came around the line again, her suspicions were confirmed as there were now four time boards on the pit wall, indication that the sisters' teammates were now out on the track. On her next time around, Yang's yellow Prototype was sitting in a pit stall while some crew members worked on it. Ruby's time board read 'pit this lap' as she flew by the start line.
Pulling off the gas after turn ten, Ruby slid into the pits and slowed down to a controlled speed as she drove around to where eight pit stalls were set up. Seeing the crew member with her time board standing out in the lane pointing to a pit stall, Ruby pulled in right behind her sister at an awkwardly slow pace, having not wanted to slam into the back of Yang's car if she overshot. The crew jumped the wall and began to work on changing the tires and filling the car up with fuel. Ruby could see Qrow talking with her sister in their pit box, the crew having finished the work on her car. Qrow stepped back as Yang sped out of her box and began making her way back to the track. As her uncle was walking down to her car, Ruby spotted an all-black GT Sports class car go racing down the front stretch with the black time board being displayed for the driver, already less than a second behind Ruby's fastest lap.
The door opened as the crew lowered the air-jacks to put Ruby's car back on all four wheels, and Qrow stuck his head into the car. "So how's it handling?"
Ruby shook her head, "It's really fast. And grips a lot more than I thought it would. I don't think I'm really used to it yet but I'm starting to put down some fast times. Is there a particular time I should try to break?"
Qrow shrugged. "Not really." He pulled up a clipboard with some timetables on it. "Ozpin seemed to think it would be amusing to put some old times on this table. Your aunt's, my sister's, average time on this track is one minute thirty four seconds, but that's over three years of annual testing at this track. Three years to get used to it, to improve her skills. You're running a one forty eight fastest time. That's good enough for me, especially for your first hour in the car. We'll see how it holds up when Juniper GP takes to the track in a few minutes."
"How is Yang doing?" Ruby asked.
"Your sister," Qrow sighed, "Is pushing the limits of her car. She wants to see how far it can go before it slides off the line. She spun it in turn seven the lap before we called her in. I'm a little worried but she's a good driver, and Tai always drove like a madman. She is, without a doubt, a Xiao Long."
He then pulled his head out to watch a bright red Prototype with gold highlights drive past, followed shortly by a green Prototype with pink highlights. Qrow leaned back in, "Well that looks like the Prototypes for Juniper. The GTs shouldn't be far off. I want you go out right after them and get a feel for the car in traffic. From the rumors, one of the GT drivers is decent but the other isn't very good, so keep an eye out. You don't need to pass, but it would be good practice if you think you're ready." And with that he stepped out and closed the door. Ruby didn't have to wait long before a white and yellow GT came down the pits followed by a white and pink GT.
Ruby gunned it out of the pits, being mindful of the fresh, cold tires on her car as she kept a reasonable distance from the white and pink car ahead. The next two laps were spent watching the car in front and bringing her tires back up to temperature. On the third lap, the white and pink car passed the white and yellow car in turn seven when the yellow one slid wide. It quickly became obvious that the yellow GT had been holding up the pink one, because it took off and quickly began pulling away. Ruby caught up to it as they went through the backside esses. She slid her nose out after ten for the inside line into eleven, but thought better of it as she fell back in line with the yellow GT. Her instinct proved good, as the driver stepped on the gas too early and slid wide on the exit. Ruby jumped on the opening and passed the car and was clear by twelve.
Over the next four laps, Ruby began reeling in the pink GT, a second or so every lap. As she finally caught it through the turn five carousel, two Prototypes showed up in her mirror. The white one was leading Yang's yellow one which surprised Ruby; Yang was like a race horse – She hates being lead in a race. The pink GT took a defensive line into seven preventing Ruby from setting up a pass, so she followed on the car's bumper through the esses. Coming out of turn ten, Ruby almost pulled to the inside to pass before she remembered that there were two faster cars right behind her and held her line. Yang had taken an aggressive line through ten and came out on the inside of the white Prototype and passed all three cars on the inside to turn eleven, followed almost immediately by the white Prototype. Ruby grinned at her sister's move; she had used the slower traffic to get around her teammate.
On the next lap, Ruby would pass the pink GT in turn eleven and passed the start line to see her board, along with everyone else's saying to pit. One lap later and she was driving down pit lane and into her stall, before coming to a stop behind her sister's car and in front of the black GT. Yang was already climbing out so Ruby shut off her car and began undoing her belts. As she got the last buckle undone Yang opened her door and helped Ruby out of the car. Ruby pealed the helmet off and set it on the roof of her car before stretching out her slightly cramped muscles while her sister played with her long blonde hair, which never sat right after spending time tucked into her helmet. While Ozpin, Qrow, and a woman Ruby assumed was Glinda were talking, she took the time to examine the other drivers who were climbing out of their respective cars.
The driver of the white Prototype pulled off her helmet to reveal long white hair in a ponytail, which must have become off-centered while tucked into her helmet, and a pale face with blue eyes. She had a scar over the right one and looked somewhat annoyed. The driver of the black GT Sports car had yet to remove her helmet, but from the way her suit hugged her body she was definitely a woman as well.
Team Juniper were all walking down the pit lane together, the first with bright red hair that flowed down her back in a lose ponytail. Next to her, was a man in a green suit with long black hair that had a streak of pink in it. Skipping alongside him was a girl with short orange hair who seemed very happy. Trudging behind them was a boy with blonde hair and a white and yellow suit.
All of the drivers met on the lane and looked each other over. Yang spoke up first.
"Well, nice to meet you guys, I'm Yang and this," She said as she grabbed Ruby, "Is my little sister Ruby."
The red head spoke next. "Introductions all around then? I'm Pyrrha Nikos, Prototype driver."
"Wait," Ruby interjected. "Pyrrha Nikos, like the three time GT3 champion Pyrrha Nikos?"
"The same one." Replied Pyrrha.
The girl with orange hair jumped up, "Oh! I'm next! I'm Nora, GT Sports driver!" She practically yelled. "And this is Ren!" she continued to yell as she grabbed the guy with the pink highlights. "He drives a Prototype!"
The blonde boy leaned in, "The names Juane Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it!"
Yang snorted violently, quickly turning it into a coughing fit as Ruby elbowed her in the side.
The white haired girl nodded and said, "I'm Weiss Schnee, Prototype."
"Schnee?" Yang interjected. "Like Schnee Motorworks? Why aren't you driving for your family?"
Weiss snorted. "I refuse to win just because of who my father is. I will win on my own skill, not his money."
The group nodded, accepting the answer. Finally, Pyrrha looked over at the last driver, saying "And who are you?"
The girl in black, who had still not taken her helmet off, flicked her visor up to reveal amber eyes. "Blake Belladonna, GT Sports."
"You're welcome to take the helmet off, you don't need it now that practice is over." Said Ruby.
Blake sighed, "It takes a while to take the helmet off, and it often gets stuck in my hair. I would rather do it when I can see myself."
Yang nodded, "There's a few tricks when it comes to hair and helmets, I can show you a few if you would like."
Before Blake could respond, Oz, Qrow, and Glinda walked up to the group.
"I see that you all have become acquainted, good." Ozpin said. "We'll have dinner at a local diner and talk strategy for the upcoming season, as well as the schedule for practice on the first race in Mistral. Leave the cars, the crews will pack them up. I'll see you all at the diner."
With that, the group all split up, and the first team practice ended.
And there's the second chapter! A few things I want to address, first being the ages. Ruby is 19, with Yang being 21. All the other drivers are in their early to mid-20s. Also, I am aware that the IMSA Weathertech series has four classes, but due to a lack of characters, and having that many drivers would be a pain for me, I'm only rolling with two – Prototype and GT Sports (GT Le Mans) Also, there is only one driver for each car, with the exception of the one 24 hour race. (As opposed to a team of 2-5 drivers)
Monoma Valley Raceway is Sonoma Raceway. And yes, I worked hard on that name. I used the full track, as opposed to the NASCAR track or the superbike track. I'm going on vacation tomorrow, so I wanted to get this chapter out before I left. –OMOB
P.S. I would like some reviews, guys! Are you enjoying this story? Is it easy enough to follow the racing? Did I misspell something? Let me know!
