During the next morning, anyone looking at Nick would have thought he was a big kid, who can't wait to meet Santa claws. Truth to be told, he was actually waiting for his 'gift' just like an impatient kid would for their Christmas presents. He was already up by 5 AM, and knowing his car won't arrive until Judy does, he did the most reasonable thing anyone would do in this situation. He kept on bombing the noticeably annoyed rabbit with messages like 'Are you there yet?' and 'When will you arrive?'
Originally, Judy planned to drive the car to Nick by 10 am, but as time passed and messages were starting to accumulate, this deadline got reduced to 9:30, 9:00, and after Nick's Thousandth Question Judy decided she would just do it at 8 Am, so the fox would finally stop texting her. At 8:12, it finally happened. The mustang pulled over in front of him, and even though its appearance changed a lot, the grumpy rabbit hopping out of the car made everything clear to Nick.
"Hey, Carrots, finally! I was starting to get worried you would just keep her to yourself." Nick said while looking at the now silver-colored car, that had two straight black lines running through its hood, and roof. As he gently swiped his paw through the top of the roof, he noted "Bogo knew how to make it obvious I'm here to race, that's for sure. With this livery, I think everyone will be 100% sure I'm there for some trouble."
"Believe me," Judy passed the keys to Nick "This one is still nothing compared to the ones the big crews have. You could say, this is a more common one. Didn't you see the 'blacklisters' cars? Burning claw marks running through the sides..."
"Now that you mention it… Yeah, it looks boring compared to those." Nick admitted, "How did driving it feel?"
"Feel free to try it out yourself" Judy shrugged while going to the other side. "But I'll be honest, it did feel great. Now I have an idea of why you chose this car."
Smiling at this information, Nick sat inside the mustang and started up the engine.
"Alright, Let's head to the racetrack of Savanna Central," Judy said, clicking her seatbelt. "They are expecting us soon. Originally we were scheduled to go there at 11 am, but since you acted like a baby this whole morning, I had to make a few changes."
"Well..." Nick grinned while gently pushing the gas pedal and turning onto the road "It worked out, didn't it?"
"I should have just muted you as soon as your third message came through." Judy shook her head disapprovingly.
"Really? Would you do that to your Partner?"
"If he is this annoying… Yes, Yes I would, and next time I will!" She pointed at Nick to emphasize her statement. "Anyway… The whole track will be yours for 3 hours, try to make the most out of it. I've read a few articles about racing yesterday, and watched a few videos to be able to help you."
"And now you will bomb me with your advice, won't you? I hate when you do this, but... Do I have a choice?"
"Nope!" The rabbit shook her head and already started her little presentation. "Alright, so with high speed and rear-drive vehicles, especially with this type of car you will most likely experience understeer. It's when you turn the wheel and keep going forward because of your momentum and lack of grip on your front wheels. Fortunately, you can ease it by breaking in front of a corner."
"O-okay." Nick chuckled while stopping at a red light. "So in conclusion… If you reach a corner… Slow down… Wow, I'm learning SO much right now by your advice, PLEASE keep them coming!"
"NICK! This is serious!" Judy blurted "You weren't even behind the wheel since you got your license! When was that exactly?"
"4 months ago..." the fox confessed
"See my point? So please just… Listen to what I have to say alright? I've stayed up all night just to gather information since I knew you won't do that, and I don't want to lose a friend because of the lack of knowledge! If you'll get into an accident and you somehow survive it, you can be 100% sure I will be there with my first words being 'I told you so!' So can you at least pretend like you care?"
"You sure made your homework…" Nick exhaled slightly with a smile in the corner of his mouth. This seemingly meant a lot to Judy so he decided to listen through whatever advice she had in store, and try to memorize a few things just to calm Judy down a bit. "Okay, okay sorry. So? What was that about the understeer?"
As much as Nick tried to listen to Judy, he couldn't. While he was actually a good learner, when it came to random pieces of information he wasn't interested in, he just loses interest in the topic in record time. He acted like he was there, but rather focused on the road. It was a weird feeling driving for the first time in traffic in months. After getting to the track it just got weirder.
He knew he could go as fast as he could, but seemed to be stuck at 120 miles per hour at long straights, even though the car was more than capable for 180 maybe even 200. He thought it would be easy to push the pedal to the metal, and just let the car speed through at max speed but turns out, fast is scary. He knew two things. First, he wouldn't admit his fear to Judy for anything, and second, with this speed, he won't win any race or admiration from the crews. This whole plan was standing on weaker paws than a 7-month-old pup who just took their first steps.
"Alright, I'm glad you took my advice to start slowly," Judy said slowly, but the nervousness could be seen on her. "You got used to the track, now try to feel the car. You can… try to go a bit… Faster."
"Alright. Hold tight to your seat, carrots, because you are about to see some professional driving." Nick said and tried to pull himself together for the next lap.
"Yeah… That's what I'm afraid of too." Judy muttered and got prepared, most likely for the worst outcome
After a long right turn, they saw the starting line. Nick took an inaudible breath and pushed the pedal more than he was willing to before. The acceleration pushed both of them back in their seats. The engine roared, meanwhile, the fox remained silent, he even held his breath, thinking that this could help him focus more on the road. He glanced at the speedometer, which was showing 114. As he was only in third gear, he shifted up, and the engine gave a relief 'sigh' as the RPM bounced back to 4000. However, this lasted about five seconds. After this short amount of time, one more gear shift was due. The car was quickly accelerating, that was obvious.
He shifted again and took a look at the speedometer. 157. He knew he had to stop this habit if he wanted to focus on driving. As a sharp turn was coming, he pushed the breaks and shifted back to second gear. During the turn, he felt the centrifugal force trying to push them out of the track but also felt the grip of the tires keeping them on. There was something special about this feeling, he couldn't describe. Feeling full control of the turning car, while still going at 50 miles per hour.
The corner ended and it was time to push the pedal again. His starting doubts seemed to suddenly disappear. He got more confident, and felt the pushing feeling of the acceleration again, as he speeded up. He didn't miss the chance to look at Judy, who seemed terrified. She always turned with speed like this at car chases, but it seemed like when she wasn't the one in control, it terrified her.
"What is it fluff, impressed by my skills?" He asked, now with a genuine smug smile, and addressed his victory when Judy couldn't answer. He prepared for a quick left, which was followed by a sharper right. He slowed down but seemed like it wasn't enough for the sharp turn. Understeer in practise… Nick thought to himself and stepped on the brakes a bit more than he should have. He slipped a bit, while the tires screechingly complained. "Oops… Heh… my bad." He said and positioned himself back in the middle of the road.
Another long straight line was coming. This was the point he knew he could reach the top speed of this car and right now it was his plan. He pushed the pedal, third gear fourth, fifth, and finally reached the sixth one. His gaze was fixed on the road, and he could only hear that he was going at the car's top speed by the sound of the engine. He couldn't help but take a look at the speedometer, that was dancing between 195-196.
As only a slight corner was coming, he gently pushed the break and tried to shift into fourth gear, but he made a mistake. As soon as he released the clutch, the engine gave a loud roar, just like a lion would when someone steps on its tail. The front end of the car started turning dangerously left so, Nick made a quick right turn with the wheel to avoid hitting the wall. It was a success, but now it was turning left, and before he could react it already did a 360° turn and was already on the way to do another one.
As he had no idea how to react, all he could do was push the brake, and turn the wheel to counteract the and stop the spinning. After its third full turn, the car finally stopped on the side of the road, in the gravel trap. The danger was over but they both needed a few seconds to calm down.
"Did..." Judy gulped. "Did you just shift back to second gear instead of fourth?"
"Yeah…" Nick said, with his paws glued to the wheel, and his eyes stuck wide open." I might have done that..."
"Well… We got lucky the gravel trap was there. Otherwise, it could have ended WAY worse. If you plan to drive like this out there... I will make sure you wear a helmet too."
"Heh. Sure... That way nobody will take me seriously." Nick rolled his eyes.
"If you do things like this, the other mammals won't take you seriously, let that be with a helmet or without."
As Nick twisted the key again, the engine started up as if nothing had happened. "Yep," The fox said, "My babe is still running fine."
"Now you call 'her' babe? You should give it a name too."
"Well… she can go fast… Looks beautiful… Hard to control… I might as well just name her Judy."
The rabbit needed a few seconds to realize what the fox just said, and upon understanding it, she gently hit her partner's shoulder "Shut up." Judy chuckled, but her heartbeat rate was probably still above 120 per minute. Realizing she was still grabbing the roof handle, she finally let it go and took a look back. Only a lighter smoke trail showed their route of travel and 2 black brake lines crossing each other all the way to the gravel trap. It was the remain of Nick's desperate attempt to stop the car. "And let's not do THIS again."
"Well..." Nick felt the previous shock disappearing "Let's be honest! It was awesome! We should definitely do this at another corner!"
"Don't… You… Dare…" Judy said while pointing at Nick. "You know that Bogo told me to watch your performance here right? If I decide you are not capable of this undercover job, he will search for someone else.
"Oh really? So basically you are my supervisor, is that right? Well, in that case, I'll make sure to make you proud, boss." Nick said while pushing the pedal, and slowly getting out of the gravel trap back to the nice and grippy asphalt. He made a few more laps and realized something about himself. He was afraid to shift into sixth gear after his little show back at the corner. Even on the long straight he rather stayed in fifth, with a struggling engine rather than let it go and shift up. This way he felt safer and believed he was in better control of the car.
With this tempo, even Judy seemed to be a bit more comfortable. She still held her breath on faster corners, but her fear wasn't as noticeable as it was at the beginning. One thing was sure, racing on the streets will most likely be more challenging. But what could go wrong?