During the week that had past nothing special had happened, other than Sweeper and Carlos heading out to assist Sagara in the battle against The Conquerors where they both had some real fun and fear while driving.
Now the weekend had arrived and it was time to head off to Ibaraki for another Project D take down.
It was against Purple Shadow, the fastest on Ibaraki, with the God Foot and God Hand.

The trucks arrived at the bottom ready for the battle and they begun unloading the equipment.
Unlike other battles, the Purple Shadow crew members arrived at the table that was put up for Jane and Keiichi.

"You are Project S right?" Joushima Toshia asked.

"Yes, we are Project S; I assume you are from Purple Shadow?" Jane asked.

"Yes, I am Joushima Toshia and this man here is Hoshino Kouzou. If you don't mind me asking, are you guys from that World Cup thing for Street racers?" Joushima asked.

"Yes we are, though we aren't much known. Just those that are into the world of street racing know about it, how do you know about it?" Keiichi asked.

"We used to be World Cup drivers back then, I was actively participating until 1993 with R32, when something happened and it was discontinued." Hoshino said.

"Wait a minute; you guys are those Hoshino Kouzou and Joushima Toshia? You guys were legends back then, your driving was already top class level, and you won every single race that you participated in." Keiichi looked surprised.

"Yeah, those were the days, too bad it was discontinued, so these 4 guys are the new breed of the World Cup drivers?" Joushima asked.

"Yes, these are the current leaders and winners of the World Cup, best drivers you can get for the street." Jane replied.

"This is going to be a great battle, it is great to see the younger generations speed, I am greatly looking forward to this race, you will off course have the course for practice so just get started anytime you want." Joushima said.

"Thank you guys, we are also eagerly looking forward to this battle ourselves. We have a request for you, if you will accept it." Keiichi said.

"What is your request?" Joushima asked.

"We want to have the uphill battle first, if that is possible for you." Keiichi asked.

"No problem at all, I will get ready for that one." Hoshino said with a smile.

"Let's go Hoshino, let's leave these guys to their practice." Joushima said to Hoshino before they left in their cars.

Sweeper and Carlos turned towards Keiichi after watching the S2000 and the R34 GT-R leave.

"Who are those guys?" Sweeper asked.

"Ex World Cup drivers, there have been a few problems in the world cup through the years. First one was back in the late 70s after 20 years of operation, 2nd failure happened in 1993 when there was a major split in the tuner market regarding funding, the World Cup was disbanded until 2000 and that's when you guys showed up. These two have been in the World Cup since the 80s and have been the greatest racers at that time, and I think that even for you, these guys are on your level." Keiichi said.

"They are on our level? How did they lose to Project D then?" Carlos asked.

"I suspect they didn't bring out all of their strength, these guys are very polite and nice people, they like to have a good thrill and even if it costs them the victory they don't want to feel unfair. But against you I expect it to be an all out battle of the highest calibre ever." Keiichi said.

"What strategy are we going with for today's race?" Sweeper asked.

"I don't know honestly, this course is giving me headaches in the simulations and their cars are a complete mystery. And the driver profile is full of holes, but if we go by their 80s profile on driving techniques this is not going to be easy." Jane clearly showed signs of frustrations.

"I don't like to hear that Jane… It is bad news." Keiichi got worried again.

"I say we send all four of you onto the course and see who gets the best results. That is the only thing I can say with certainty for now." Jane said before she continued to tap on the laptop.

"You know what this means Sweeper? I bet 10 AMERICAN Dollars that I will put down a much better time than you can, on both uphill and downhill!" Carlos dug a 10 dollar bill from his pocket and slammed it onto the table.

"I am not much of a gambler, but I say that on the downhill I will have the advantage. So I put 10 dollars against it." Sweeper slammed another 10 dollar bill onto the table and told Keiichi to hold onto them.

Chang and McClintock smiled of Sweeper and Carlos' rivalry before heading over to their cars.
The 4 drivers got in and started their engines before heading onto the course; this was going to be a long night of concentration.
Carlos and Sweeper when going out for a challenge on each other they attracted each other like magnets.
No matter how fast the leader was going, the chaser was always keeping up, weather it was Carlos that was leading or Sweeper.
When they drove like that, not even Chang or McClintock stood a chance of keeping up through corners; they were the best of friends, and the best of rivals.
And there was no wonder those two had first and second place in the World Cup when you saw their driving; they were totally different from Keisuke and Takumi when it came to driving.

After doing 3 laps the 4 drivers arrived at the top for further suspension tuning, fuel and a quick rest.
Carlos jumped out of his R34 as he arrived and walked over towards Jane.

"Has my order arrived yet?" Carlos asked.

"Yeah, it was shipped from Australia a few weeks ago, it is in the trailer." Jane replied.

Sweeper came over looking puzzled to what Carlos was speaking of.

"What are you talking about Carlos? What kind of order?" Sweeper asked.

"I and Jane put an order with Hollinger in Australia for a new custom made gearbox for my GT-R. The models they normally have doesn't have ratios that matches my Mine's engine. It is one of those sequential clutch free boxes, nothing like that custom made 6 speed modelled on the Greddy 6 speed that you have in your FD." Carlos said.

"Hollinger, the gearbox choice of serious GT-R racers, the strongest boxes for GT-R's is manufactured in Australia, I bet you are a good customer, I remember when you needed those new boxes after scrapping off a lot of teeth in the 3rd gear."

"I could have fitted one of their usual models but then the power band match up would be horrible!" Carlos replied.

"Let me hazard a guess here Carlos, you want it fitted for the next battle?" Jane asked.

"Better get started right away, if I am to race that God Foot on the uphill it will be difficult and I would like the aid that the Hollinger can give me." Carlos replied to Jane.

"Ok." Jane turned towards the mechanics and started shouting out orders.

Carlos on the other hand quickly jumped into the trailer and got into a boiler suit before jumping back out to join the mechanics preparing the gearbox change.
Jane stopped Carlos as he was half way to his car.

"Hey, what do you think you are doing?" Jane said sharply.

"It is my GT-R! And I will not let them mess around with the gearbox without me checking that everything is correct…" Carlos was interrupted by Sweeper.

"Forget stopping him Jane, if you want Carlos to perform at his best you better let him assist them with the change, after all, god knows what he has done of modifications on that GT-R, an untrained eye might break something on it for all that I know." Sweeper said.

Jane moved out of Carlos' way and saw him run towards the R34 and dive under it.
Sweeper laughed of Carlos' enthusiasm, but he understood his feelings for the car, after all, he was a GT-R lover.
And Sweeper knew that from countless of discussions with him over the GT-R, and especially RX-7 vs. GT-R discussions, that nearly always ended with Sweeper saying: "Remember Brazil Carlos?"

"I am heading out again, seems like they are done with fuelling up and changing the settings, I think I will need some harder tires for my next run, I need to practice some endurance driving on this course." Sweeper said before getting in his RX-7 and drove off onto the course.

Jane watched the blue rotary car disappear with a loud roar, nearly sounding like a F1 car, a typical sound from homemade 4 rotors.
As she turned towards Chang and McClintock they were still waiting for the settings to be completed, apparently they were discussing to pass time, and the subject for discussion was what was better of 4WD and MR.
Over at the black GT-R cursing in Spanish could be heard as Carlos didn't like how some of the mechanics treated his car, but she knew it wasn't serious, just something that is typical for people that love their cars as much as Carlos loved his GT-R.

This was going to be a long night, Carlos would have completed the swap in 2-3 hours tops as there were multiple mechanics working and with proper tools.
Jane turned back to the computer simulation that was filled with holes, not even Keiichi was of much help with it either, and he had trouble coming up with a good strategy.