CHAPTER 2: Practice session begins.
Ryo had arrived at the mountain pass and had told his team members that Sweeper was going to show up.
Akira: "I doubt he will be here, let alone accept it.
I don't trust army kids."
Ryo: "When Sweeper says he will be here he will be here, no matter what.
After all being on time is something that is normal in the army."
Miki: "You are right; it is only 19:45 he still has 15 minutes to show up."
Akira: "I still doubt…"
In the horizon they heard a loud rotary sound.
Ryo: "You still doubt he will show up?"
Around the corner a FD came sideways and accelerated towards the parking lot before stopping.
Out of the car an American looking guy stepped out and looked at Ryo.
Sweeper: "So this is the place you run at? Well I tried to be earlier but I had to take a few looks at this pass first."
Ryo: "It is fine Sweeper; you are actually 15 minutes early."
Sweeper: "Oh I didn't notice."
Akira: "I expected a Japanese driver and not some American Gaijin."
Ryo: "Shut up Akira, he is not an empty airhead and I suggest you watch your mouth."
Sweeper: "I guess we foreigners ain't so popular in Japan, well let him have his rant I don't really care.
Anyways Ryo what can you tell me of Project D? Knowing you I guess you have been watching them for quite some time."
Ryo: "Well, they are fast; I plan to take the downhill against their AE86."
Sweeper: "AE86 eh? That is quite a surprise."
Ryo: "Make no mistake it is very fast, I checked its record it has beaten quite a few people.
Even a pro driver in an EK9 Civic Type R."
Sweeper: "Interesting, what about the uphill driver, the one I am supposed to take on?"
Ryo: "He is damn fast, he is good at tackling high power cars and he is already called the FD specialist and he drives a 1993 Mazda RX-7 with some body kit mods and a power output rated at 350 HP."
Sweeper: "Well his car alone will lose towards mine but his skill sounds interesting.
FD Specialist eh? I guess I got to show him who's the FD specialist."
Ryo: "So are you going to do it?"
Sweeper: "Having seen what I have seen and heard what I have heard I would love to test myself against this guy.
Besides I doubt he is the true FD specialist, that's a title I got when I raced in the World Cup series."
Miki: "World Cup series?"
Sweeper: "Yes it is a series of semi Street and track racing, not fully authorized so we never get called pro drivers on paper like those in F1 racing.
But nevertheless we are equal in skills if not better and we race our own cars.
I have been racing this FD up till last year actually, that's when I got beaten and sabotaged by some kid in a Trans Am.
I changed cars and got a monster machine built after that, and that is the machine I use this year that is coming up as well."
Ryo: "A monster machine? Care to tell what it is?"
Sweeper: "That is a big secret actually, I have test driven it and I am very happy about its performance but I believe this FD should suffice for this upcoming race.
350 HP is nothing compared to the 1500 HP GT-R's I have faced in the World Cup series."
Ryo: "Don't underestimate them Sweeper, they may have a lot of skill to give you a pain in the butt."
Sweeper: "Yeah, that's what I am hoping for. I will NOT underestimate my opponent, in fact I think I will overestimate him instead, prepare for the worst and hope for the best."
Tomihiro: "What have you done to this poor FD then?"
Sweeper: "You would be surprised…"
Sweeper popped the hood of the FD and left the drivers door open.
Ryo and his team members gathered around the car and got a shock when looking under the hood of the FD.
Tomihiro: "Man, just looking at this gives me the chills.
A 4 rotor dual 13B power plant is every RX-7 drivers dream, but mostly they go NA.
You got it TURBO CHARGED!"
Sweeper: "Yeah, I needed that to match the speed of some of the other guys in the world cup, but that's not the biggest surprise and strength of this car."
Akira: "How high can you rev this engine?"
Sweeper: "Well, the normal rev limiter is set to 9000 but I guess for the battle I will stretch it a bit."
Tomihiro: "Just a 9000 RPM rev limit isn't the optimal for a rotary of this calibre; you have PERIPHERAL PORTS for Christ's sake."
Sweeper: "Oh that, well I still got the original ports too, notice that box over there?" Sweeper pointed "Well that's a special electronic circuit, works kind of like a VTEC system does, at 7000 RPM the normal ports starts to close up and the peripheral ports opens up to unleash the extra 300 HP.
It is strong on engine wear but for a racing engine it is great and when driving it around the block on normal ports it is great but not too powerful."
Ryo: "How much is the power output?"
Sweeper: "Like I said it was made to compete with monster machines, I think it was around 1200 HP or 1100HP or so.
I don't really remember the number exactly."
Akira: "1200 HP! That's insane how do you keep the wheels planted?"
Sweeper: "Well let's look at the interior then."
Sweeper closed the hood and lead around to the drivers side where he pointed towards the gear shifters.
Sweeper: "The answer to that question is right there."
Akira peeked in and noticed there were 2 handles."
Akira: "What the hell! Two handles for just shifting gears?"
Sweeper: "No, the 2nd one is a part of the custom designed gearbox I had to have.
Its job is to shift from FR to 4WD when driving or put it in AWD mode, same type that the Skyline GT-R uses."
Ryo: "4WD, isn't that a bit heavy?"
Sweeper: "Well the car gets heavier than your standard FD, but I have lightened up most components that are possible to get lighter in a FD, and the AWD system is using lightweight and reliable parts as well.
The total weight tips the scales around 1 ton or so."
Seji: "How much did this machine cost you to build and run?"
Sweeper: "Ahem, that's something I cannot express in numbers, but I can tell you this it really teared into my accounts.
And in case you wonder the work I do pays quite a bit so you can guess that this thing is certainly not cheap.
I bet I could probably buy several Ferrari Enzos for the same price."
Tomihiro: "Well why didn't you just buy a faster car then?
Instead of spending so much on a FD."
Sweeper: "Well, I am used to FD's, it was the FD that changed my racing career and style and made it possible for me to get better.
I don't feel like swapping cars, besides I have tried quite a few but I keep coming back to this 1998 model of a RX-7.
The 98' Type RS is the best RX-7 ever built in my opinion and it really suits my driving style."
Ryo: "Well I think that Takahashi Keisuke of project D will have his hands full when it comes to this machine."
Sweeper: "Well I wonder how he will drive, but I'll do it."
Ryo: "You already said you would."
Sweeper: "Well, I have done my runs on the uphill of
this course,
do you mind recording a video for me so I can watch
it?"
Ryo: "Not a problem, I think Akira here is the one most suited to do that, he is the fastest one we have on the uphill.
Him and his 4WD Impreza."
Akira: "Well I guess I could do that… But I still don't like that Gaijin."
Sweeper: "Well I will be heading back to the hotel, here is the address." Sweeper handed Ryo a note with the address on it.
"Just deliver the tape to the reception as a message to room 333.
I will pick it up when I am done with the days work."
Ryo: "Not a problem Sweeper."
Sweeper got into his FD and took off.
Ryo got out the camera he had kept in his Garaiya for street racing purposes and handed it to Akira.
Ryo: "Now get that tape done, and do it properly.
Take Yuji with you, he is the one most skilled with electronics and camera work."
Akira took the camera and gave Ryo a bit annoyed look but at the same time that he hated doing something for a Gaijin he knew if they did a bad job the team might lose and that was bad.
Yuji took the camera from Akira and got into the passenger seat.
Akira took off with the Impreza and headed down to start on the uphill.
The day afterwards Ryo was heading into Tokyo in his Altezza to deliver the video tape they shot on Sunday.
He handed it to the receptionist and left heading for home to do his preparations for the upcoming race.