Carlos had spent the rest of the practice night getting used to the Hollinger sequential gearbox.
The advantage with a sequential was that you didn't need to use the clutch other than when launching the car.
And as the rest of the team members awoke it was time to get ready for the toughest battle as of yet, the battle against God Foot and God Hand.
The 2 GT-R's lined up with Hoshino leading on Carlos and Carlos chasing.
Hoshino approached Carlos and looked over his R34 and noticed that it was a newer model as it clearly had traces of being a Vspec.
As Hoshino rounded the car he saw the Vspec 2 badge located below the rear right brake light.

"You are driving a Vspec 2 right?" Hoshino asked.

"Yeah, with a Mine's RB26DETT package, it feels really good on the mountain passes." Carlos replied.

"What's up with the body on this car? It doesn't feel like the usual metal and plastic build that is used on the GT-R from factory." Hoshino rubbed his hand carefully along the front right fender.

"I have done carbon fibre modifications to it, to reduce the weight of the car, and also to increase the power to weight ratio of the car." Carlos said, unlike other racers he didn't mind letting others know the specs of his car.

"Carbon fibre… This is going to be an interesting battle." Hoshino said as he headed back to his GT-R.

Carlos got into his R34 and started up the car and gave it a few quick revs before Hoshino followed.
Jane did the countdown and the two cars launched, showing clearly that 4WD was better than 2WD on launch.
It was finally started, the most interesting battle of them all, and Sweeper quickly noticed two familiar faces with radios.
It was Takahashi Ryosuke and Takahashi Keisuke, eagerly listening to the reports of the events during the battle.

On the uphill Hoshino was taking it easy with the black GT-R following closely behind, Carlos were still driving grip like he usually did when he wasn't stressed and driving at his limit.
Hoshino looked in the rear view and observed the black car taking the same line with ease.

"Good, the next generation can at least keep up. But then again, he is driving a modified GT-R so I would expect that much from him. But this race has just started; this battle is going to be really interesting!" Hoshino was talking to himself to maintain a certain level of concentration and to not forget braking.

Carlos on the other hand was keeping quiet while driving, but he was the same type as Sweeper, if he saw a chance to attack he would take it.
Carlos grabbed the shifter, let of the gas and instantly pulled the handle backwards once before stepping on the gas again.
The shift up action was quick and on target, the Hollinger was of great aid in this battle.
Hoshino was shouting DORIYAA as he dived into a corner, but Carlos kept suit with his GT-R and clearly showed Hoshino that in a comparison match, Carlos would have more power and a lot more response than he ever could mount.

"I cannot outclass him, only thing I am superior to him on is power. I can close the distance on corner exit but we are even on corner entry. But even with the near 600 HP that the Mine's puts out, I can barely touch his tail before he begins to pull away from me!" Carlos brain thought as he was chasing.

At Sweeper's location, McClintock and Chang had gathered around him, after all it was Sweeper who knew the most when it came to Carlos.
He knew all of his bad habits when racing as well as his strengths; however, it was a mutual feeling amongst the two.
Carlos knew Sweeper equally well, and in battles that were clearly shown as it was often a dead heat.

"If there is one weakness Carlos has, it is that he isn't a god with the accelerator like Hoshino Kouzou is. That is one of the reasons Hoshino can get out of corners faster than Carlos. But there is one aspect that apparently helps Carlos now, and that is his tire grip management skill, Carlos can push the tires just as he wants them, just like I can do. After all, that is a skill he had to copy from me to be able to keep up." Sweeper said as he looked at the guardrail on the other side of the road.

"So he has copied that from you eh? Did you copy anything from him?" Chang asked.

"Yes, his recklessness to take chances, any chance we get, no matter how narrow it is we will both take them. However, we only take chances that we clearly see that we can win on, not those stupid ones that will send you out of the race in the form of a crash or something similar." Sweeper smiled at Chang.

"Unlike that God Foot, Carlos is more likely to try something crazy? Is that going to be his best bet during this race?" McClintock asked.

"That is one of the things he can win on; he also has power on his side for this battle. The engine he uses is the same that you find in the Mine's R34 GT-R, and that GT-R can beat the HKS BNR34 Driving Performer which is a 900 HP GT-R on straights and corners with ease. And that is with just 600 HP, I am tempted to say it is a mountain pass super performer. It picks up speed quickly and accelerates damned fast and it also out corners regular GT-R's." Sweeper explained.

"But Carlos isn't driving the Mine's R34 GT-R, hasn't he just swapped in the Mine's engine into his own GT-R?" McClintock asked.

"Yes, I think he has just retuned the suspension he uses for the 1500 HP RB26 that he uses for the highway. The monster machine as I like to call it, though he is crazy enough to drift that kind of machine." Sweeper said.

"So how does his car handle?" Chang asked.

"Compared to a regular GT-R, it is damned good actually. But it has a few flaws here and there as the suspension is mainly a mock-up of mixed parts, and it still carries some settings for a 1500 HP engine, so it is not in its best condition, there is still a lot of room for improvement on it. But I am sure Carlos can control that car with ease, when you can slide a 1500 HP R34 around tight corners without any fear, well I got to two things to say to that. One is that you are damned good, the other is that you lack a lot of nuts up in your head." Sweeper was saying with a smile.

"Well, it is not just Carlos that lacks a lot of nuts in the top floor… You will fit nicely into that club as well." McClintock said jokingly.

"Enough of that already, where do you think Carlos will make his move?" Chang asked.

"Carlos will most likely begin to push him on the downhill; after all, he is a lot lighter and carries a lot of power. Though power isn't first priority on the downhill, first priority is techniques, then tire grip and finally power. Having the power advantage is not a disadvantage for Carlos in this type of situation. But he has to pass Hoshino and that may be a problem, Carlos is a crazy kind of guy so I am sure we will get to see him go all out somewhere." Sweeper said.

"All out?" McClintock asked.

"Carlos true art form in GT-R driving, sure Hoshino Kouzou has that long drift on Tsukuba to brag of, but Carlos specializes in drift control on his GT-R, contrary to popular belief, the ATTESA ET-S doesn't try to stop your drift, it assists you in maintaining it if you like. However, with the new R34 GT-R Z tune a new ATTESA was introduced, it creates a feeling of strong understeer on corner exit to maintain stability. Suffice to say, Carlos doesn't agree to that kind of driving where you get forced stability. He likes to have some slight oversteer available so he actually modified his ATTESA to perform with oversteer in most situations; I know it took him a few nights and a lot of fuel to get it right. But when watching his speed through corners afterwards, I was greatly impressed with how his R34 performed." Sweeper said.

"Oversteer related? But doesn't that make him slower and the car harder to control?" Chang asked.

"For normal people that don't drive the GT-R as much as he does, it would be horrible. It is one of the reasons I hate driving his GT-R, but if you wonder how Carlos can control it, the answer is simple. When he first begun with high speed driving, he often had too much power and speed and not enough downforce, which means the car is very unstable at high speeds.
We would normally get a bodykit or a wing to get it to stick but Carlos was stubborn and insisted on controlling it instead.
Pulling his GT-R up to 350 KPH and more with the stock rear wing on minimal downforce is something we would call insane, but he manages to keep that thing under control, how he does that, I have no idea. But he kept saying that he didn't want a rear wing that added weight and a lot of drag. I said it earlier and I will say it again, he is nuts!" Sweeper got a serious look in his face.

"He even dropped the downforce in high speed cornering?" McClintock asked with a shocked look on his face.

"Hell yeah, I know I am still running the stock wing on my Type RS but I do not keep at minimal setting. I was looking for a new bodykit for it though, doesn't matter now that I am soon going to retire from racing." Sweeper said as he looked at his RX-7.

The two GT-Rs arrived at the top of the hill and Hoshino dived in with a DORIYAA, unlike the battle with Keisuke, Carlos was close by and did a twin drift with Hoshino on the turn around, sliding closely in behind Hoshino and the two accelerated for the downhill.
This was where the battle would get interesting, Carlos carbon GT-R vs. Hoshino's heavy weight Vspec 2 Nür.
Hoshino clearly saw that the driver wasn't some low skilled GT-R fan, Carlos wouldn't have any issues keeping up, and on the downhill it would be difficult to pull away from the black Vspec 2.

"This is going to be tough; this battle is going to be more exciting than the one against that boy from Gunma. Well, just bring it on!" Hoshino quickly shouted out his usual DORIYAA and dived into the corner with Carlos closely following.

"He is good that's for sure… But this battle isn't over yet, I am going to catch you and pass you!" Carlos thought as he stepped hard on the power at the corner exit using the response to catch up on the short straights.

The reports ticked in to Jane and Keiichi, they quickly went through the data from match Purple Shadow had against Project D and both Jane and Keiichi were shocked.

"Hoshino's pace is a lot higher than when he raced Takahashi Keisuke…" Keiichi started as he watched the simulation.

"He is putting a lot more load on the tires than he did earlier, his tires will already start to lose their grip on the downhill." Jane was shocked.

"Carlos is really pressuring Hoshino isn't he? That Mine's is a great engine that would leave Hoshino cornered unless he took his tires to their full potential. I don't know if Carlos is playing this strategy on sheer purpose or if it is instinct." Keiichi said while looking at the simulation.

"If Carlos has started playing strategies then that is something new I have never seen him do before. He usually charges in with no plan at hand and is helped out by power and skills." Sweeper said.

"But still I got to admire Hoshino, pushing this hard with a heavyweight GT-R. In the battle against Keisuke he had the traction advantage, but now he is greatly at disadvantage car wise. I suspect he has some skills that he will use against Carlos, but they better be careful of how hard they decide to push." Jane said.

"I can tell you one thing though, Carlos doesn't know what giving up is, he will most likely keep on pushing until the end, it doesn't matter if it is dangerous or not he will do it. I can tell because I have had him tailing me." Sweeper said.

Jane had been correct around Hoshino's tires, the pace was high and now they had begun to lose grip.
Hoshino realized he had to do the same trick that he used against Keisuke if he was to hold off the lighter and more powerful GT-R.
On the brakes and out with the rear end to drift and control the push understeer.
As Carlos saw Hoshino start drifting he was surprised by the speed he was capable of holding with his slide action.

"No wonder they call this guy God Foot, unlike me he can control a stock ATTESA ET-S tuned for understeer using accelerator technique. I am not that good at accelerator control, I turned to tuning instead." Carlos thought before he dived into the corner and stepped on the gas, but it was going to be tough to pass the GT-R as Hoshino blocked the road upon entry.

At Sweeper's location the current status of the race ticked in over the radios.

"As I thought, he has begun drifting to control the push understeer. A smart technique that, and on this kind of a road it has a few advantages, some of the corners it will help to be able to change direction quickly rather than putting down power." Jane said.

"Not to mention the stress Carlos must be feeling, drifting does add a whole new level to battling compared to grip driving. Following the line is more difficult, matching entry speed as well compared to grip driving." Keiichi commented to Jane.

"No reason to worry, at times like this is where Carlos usually shines, I guess we should just hang back and watch this race. There isn't much we can do anyways, it is Carlos' battle." Sweeper replied.

And Sweeper was correct, Carlos brought out his trump card and begun drifting his carbon fibre R34 GT-R Vspec 2.
After all, Carlos driving style was drifting, and it was a style that he had spent a lot of time working on.
When he first had gotten his R32 he didn't like how hard it was to drift, so all in all he ended up reprogramming the ATTESA computer to be easier to tail slide.
Later through his days he began to make it into more serious programming of the ATTESA to achieve the perfect tune for his car and not just pure fun.
In the end, he transferred a lot of his knowledge from the R32 to his R34 and created the ultimate GT-R.
That Carlos began drifting shocked Hoshino, especially since it was a GT-R.

"You really know how to drive a GT-R that's for sure. But then again since you could stay with me on the uphill I knew you had the skill to keep up. But for how long can your GT-R keep the pace?" Hoshino said while drifting through a corner.

Back at Sweeper's position McClintock had a question.

"Hey Sweeper, I heard a rumour around Carlos…" McClintock paused as Sweeper interrupted.

"There are a lot of rumours around Carlos, most of them are NOT true however, and it really depends on which rumour you have heard." Sweeper replied.

"Is it true that he carries the nickname God Skyline, as in the God of driving Skyline GT-R's?" McClintock asked.

"Yeah it is true; I could even swear he knew the car better than Nissan ever would. If you ever need help with your GT-R you should ask him, he knows where to look for any problem it may suffer from and how to make it run perfect in terms of cornering and engine tune." Sweeper replied.

"Just as true as Sweeper here is called God Rotary by the other racers…" Chang shot in.

"God Rotary? Where the hell did that come from?" Sweeper asked looking puzzled.

"Aw come on, don't tell me you haven't heard the gossip around you? A lot of people have seen you drive a lot of rotary cars, SA22's, FB's, FC's, FD's as well as numerous older rotaries like the Mazda 110S. You handled them perfectly and without a flaw in the driving style, your braking was on the dot and not to mention how easy you slided them through the corners." Chang said.

"The Mazda 110S was just a light test ride I never floored that thing so you will have to take that out of the equation. Heh, so they call me the God Rotary, I didn't know that." Sweeper was slightly amused.

"And God Rain we all know who that is, now don't we?" McClintock asked as he looked at Chang.

"Man, I am not that fast in the rain… You guys are over exaggerating, sure I have practiced a lot of driving in the rain but I have never been extremely fast in it." Chang replied.

"Just forget discussing with that guy around that subject, it is hopeless." Sweeper said to McClintock with a smile.

"Heads up guys, they should be entering the long straight to the final corners now… The straight where Keisuke made his move, Carlos may make his move here." Jane shouted out.

"Well it is all ok but asking me it would be strategically better to wait out this round and take out Hoshino on the next round when he has pretty badly worn down tires." Keiichi said.

"That may be so, but that straight presents an opportunity for Carlos and he will not let it slide, I can bet my car on that!" Sweeper said.

"That is a bet you cannot lose, how will your bet with Takahashi Keisuke go then?" McClintock said jokingly at Sweeper.

Hoshino had a better exit onto the straight than Carlos and started pulling away slightly at the corner exit.

"The straightaway where Keisuke made his move, ok… Time to settle this once and for all!" Carlos thought and slammed on the gas pedal and begun shifting up as the response monster showed its muscles.

"You are really packing engine power eh? Even though it is a less important factor on the downhill it still plays a role! But if that is your best acceleration you still won't make it past me in time to take the lead before the corner." Hoshino said and lined up for the inside lane.

Carlos spotted Hoshino's move and grinned.

"Repeat performance eh? Ok if that is the way you want to play it I will, but with a few new tricks!" The two cars went side by side into the corner and begun a braking contest.
Carlos was lighter and used that to brake slightly later than Hoshino and with that move managing to drift his tail out of Hoshino's way.
The 2 GT-R's went into a twin drift in the corner fighting for the exit.

"When drifting high power 4WD cars there are one force that can sometimes be used to your advantage…" Carlos thought and wedged his GT-R slightly in front of Hoshino's R34.

"That is the infamous 4WD Crabwalk!" Carlos increased the slide angle and gave full counter steer as he piled on the power, making the R34 lie dead across the road while accelerating sideways.

"The crabwalk is a very unpredictable force, and most people who see it, face it in an accidental drift situation. But with practice you can actually make it happen and predict where it will end." Carlos saw the exit of the hairpin and the R34 quickly gripped the road launching itself out of the corner with Hoshino in close pursuit.

"That Mexican guy sure is impressive, to pass with a crabwalk like that takes skill and not to mention car control. Yet he pulled it off so easily…" Hoshino said as he closely followed the R34.

At the finish line Sweeper reacted to the tire squalling and blow off valve sounds heard in the distance.

"They are here!" Chang said as he saw the corner being lit up by headlights.

"Which R34 will be in front?" McClintock asked sitting on the hood of his R34.

Around the corner came the black R34 GT-R roaring with the Vspec 2 Nür closely following but without any chance to overtake.
Carlos braked after passing the finish line and pulled up to the rest of the team.

"You did it Carlos; you beat God Foot on the downhill." Sweeper said as Carlos got out of the car.

"Yeah, I didn't expect to pass him like that, the speed I gained on the straight and the 4WD crabwalk… Seems like my drifting practices did pay off in the end." Carlos replied.

Hoshino approached Carlos.

"That was an awesome move you did there, I know you cannot really do that properly unless you know the car you are driving fairly well." Hoshino said.

"Well I have been practicing a lot with my R34 GT-R on various surfaces and speeds…" Sweeper interrupted Carlos.

"Like some people call you God Foot, the guys in the World Cup races have been calling Carlos for God Skyline as he knows a lot about Skyline GT-R's. He is an expert on the handling and power aspect of the car." Sweeper said.

"But there is one thing I noticed, you didn't seem to be able to catch me using accelerator skills on the uphill, but nevertheless you still kept up overall. But then after you passed me I noticed how your car was running from behind and it seemed to be running very different from other R34's I have seen." Hoshino said.

"Well even though we both have the same ATTESA ET-S Pro system with the electronic rear differential I found a different way to drift the car than what you have done. I have reprogrammed the ATTESA computer to aid me in drift control, so I do not have to worry about delicate accelerator control."

"So that's what you have done… Most people use a controller to control the torque split manually, but I have never seen anyone go that close in on programming the ATTESA computer, well those that does mainly does convert it to permanent AWD using a controller and not the path you have walked." Hoshino said.

"So you lost Kou-chan? Well it is downhill now isn't it? Who is the driver from Project S?" Joushima asked.

"That will be me and my 1998 Type RS FD." Sweeper replied pointing at his blue FD.

"A series 8 FD, I heard your exhaust sound earlier, what kind of modifications have you done to it?" Joushima asked Sweeper.

"I have put in a 4 rotor in it, NA as you obviously noticed on the exhaust sound." Sweeper replied.

"Well let us race then…" Joushima said as he went into his S2000 after choosing to chase.