The Skyline and Impreza were lined up together at the start of the course. Takumi began to strap himself into the Driver seat of the Impreza.

"Ok Takumi, remember with Stage Mode activated you will have no engine braking but the Antilag system will mean that you are instantly in the power band when you step on the throttle. It will handle very similarly to your Father's car but it is much lighter so you can attack the corners with more aggression."

"Ok I understand I'll take it easy for the first few corners to get a feel for the car and then attack from there."

With that Takumi began the switch sequence to fire up the WRC Impreza and once the car had a settled into a smooth idle pressed the button which engaged stage mode.

"Ok ready to begin." Takumi shouted to Joshua.

Takumi then engaged launch control and held the throttle and clutch to build the boost up to allow the Impreza to leave the line at maximum speed.

Once the car reached peak boost Takumi released the clutch pedal allowing the car to explode away from the starting point, the sequential gearbox allowing near instant gear changes.

As Takumi reached the first corner Josh prepared to follow in the Skyline. Starting the engine Josh allowed it to idle briefly before giving a large rev.

'I wonder what it'll feel like with these tweaks Abi has made' Josh thought to himself. He floored the throttle before releasing the clutch causing the Skyline to explode away from the line, all four wheels spinning.

Despite Josh driving flat out there was no chance of the Skyline catching up to Takumi in the WRC Spec Impreza, at the pace he was driving Takumi was going to beat the Mt Akina record by at least 30 seconds.

"This car is amazing" Takumi shouted to himself, the stress of the G Force the car was capable of was showing on his face.

Approaching the hairpins at speeds he had never done before Takumi's face was one of pure bliss. 'If this is what the professional drivers get to experience all the time then I know what I want!'

With that Takumi threw the Impreza into the turn and hooked the inside wheels into the gutter allowing him to take the hairpins at full throttle with only minimal loss of speed.

Meanwhile Josh was pushing the skyline to its limits. There was no chance of matching the time Takumi was about to set but even the time Josh was going to achieve in the Skyline smashed the previous record by 10 seconds.

The crowd were stood silent, awestruck by the speed which both cars were attacking the course.

"They can't keep this speed up!" someone in the crowd shouted.

"Tell that to the drivers, no one has ever driven Mt Akina at such high speed." replied another.

A few minutes later Takumi and Josh were both stopped at the end of the course. Smoke pouring off the brakes on both cars, tyres ripped to shreds.

A member of the Speed Stars who had been in charge of timings came over to the drivers.

"Josh, you beat the previous record set by Takumi by 10 seconds…"

"Awesome!" exclaimed Josh

"However Takumi, driving the WRC Spec Subaru Impreza…"

The Speed Stars member took a deep breath in.

"Takumi. You smashed the previous record set by yourself by 45 seconds."

"What!?" Takumi exclaimed shocked at how much time he had beaten his previous best by.

"So Takumi, are you going to making the jump to professional racing then? You seem like you'd be extremely competitive." Josh coyly asked Takumi.

"I was undecided until tonight" Takumi replied
"However after driving this car I've made the decision, I want to become a professional racing driver."

"You'll go far Takumi." Replied Josh, a massive grim on his face.

"We should probably head back up to the start. I think we've promised everyone a race to remember"

"Indeed we have" replied Takumi.

With that the drivers made their way back to the cars and drove back to the top of Akina at the same speed as normal traffic allowing the gallery of spectators to get the best view possible of the cars.

Upon reaching the top both drivers parked their cars in the best position for the crowd to get up close to them.

Josh had already let Abi know to move the Clio and GT86 into position on the start and to leave the cars idling allowing them to get up to temperature.

"Ok!" Josh addressed the crowd

"It is time for tonight's race. This will be a single round race, we will start in equal positions, and first to the bottom is winner."

With that both drivers entered their cars and made sure they were fully strapped in.

Abi was to start the race, before getting into position she made her way to the driver's window of the Clio.

"Be careful Josh, I've got a bad feeling about this race."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Besides if I stack it I've always got you to rebuild it for me"

With that Abi made her way into the starting position between the two cars.

"Ready!" Abi asked while pointing at both cars. Both drivers nodded to confirm they were ready.

"GO!" Abi yelled

Both cars roared away from the line. Takumi at first pulling a slight lead thanks to the traction advantage given by RWD. As soon as the Clio gained grip however it's racing gearbox allowed Josh to claw back alongside Takumi thanks to being able to flat shift.

Both cars reached the first corner still side by side, Separated by mere inches. This continued for the next few corners before Takumi was able to claw ahead a lead.

'Now the race really begins' Josh thought to himself and grinned before flooring the accelerator.

Unbeknownst to Josh the rear left wheel bearing was starting to collapse on itself.

Takumi glanced behind worriedly 'Something's changed about his driving. There is an aura I've never seen before.'

Both cars stormed through then next series of corners, not even an inch between bumpers.

The only noises heard were the sounds of screeching tyres and screaming engines, both cars being pushed within an inch of their lives to keep up the extreme pace.

As they rounded the fast left hander Josh felt the first hint that something wasn't right with the car, a faint vibration was starting to be transmitted through the chassis by the failing wheel bearing. The vibration was so slight that it wouldn't be picked up by most people however to an experienced racer it was the first sign of a developing issue.

'What's that vibration? It only feels slight but it's coming from the back of the car. I'm not going to worry for the moment. I'll investigate the issue after the race'

Back at the start line the Speed Stars and Takahashi brothers were listening to the radio reports of the race.

"The cars are driving so close together… there is no gap visible between the front of the Clio and rear of the 86, surely they can't keep this up!?" came the shaky voice through the radio.

"I've got a bad feeling about this race brother" Keisuke quietly said to Ryosuke.

"They are both brilliant drivers but no one can push as hard as they both are without a high risk of something going wrong, if not a mistake then some form of mechanical failure, not even high spec race cars are designed to take the abuse the downhill at these speeds places on them."

Ryosuke pondered a moment. "You may be right, this is the reason I've placed our team on standby ready to respond instantly if anything were to go wrong. It's a precaution I've been taking for Fujiwara's last few races due to the intensity of them."

Moments later the radio sparked back into life. "There's something wrong with the Renault, it's making a high pitched screeching noise, the driver can't have noticed though as he's pushing Fujiwara harder than we've ever seen!"

Keisuke grabbed the radio "WE NEED TO STOP THE RACE!" he roared before going back to a normal level.
"Try to signal the drivers to abort the race, there is no point risking lives for an exhibition."

A few moments pass before the next radio call.

"We've tried signalling them but they are pushing so hard they aren't seeing our signals. They are coming up to the fast right which goes suddenly into a sharp left, neither car has shown any sign of slowing."

Josh had known for a few corners that the issue with the Clio was beginning to develop into something worse, the loud screeching noise was barely audible inside the car but on the previous right hand turn had become just about loud enough for Josh to pick it up. With how hard both Josh and Takumi were pushing however the thought never even crossed his mind to back off and abandon the race, the only thing that mattered was getting ahead of the GT86.

As he threw the car into the fast right ready to dive on the brakes a slight wobble occurred, knocking Josh out of his concentrated state. Before he could react however the rear left wheel completely locked up. "Oh shit!" Josh shouted as the back end of the Clio span round too fast for him to react, the front bumper just clipping the rear Bumper of Takumi's GT86 before the car slid backwards into the barrier destroying the rear left of the Clio.

At this point Josh was little more than a passenger, as the car rebounded off the barrier and straight towards the passenger side of Takumi's GT86.

Takumi realising what was about to happen floored the throttle of the GT86 managing to force the car out of the way of the out of control Clio.

The Clio then smashed head on into the barrier before the supports holding the Armco up failed causing Josh's car to plunge off the road into the vegetation below. As it was sliding down the hill one of the wheels dug in causing the car to roll multiple times down the bank before coming to rest on its roof.

"THE RENAULT CRASHED!" screamed the voice through the radio.

(To be continued when I get rid of my writers block (no idea when as I got to this point months ago but I do hope I can finish this)