The 2 cars pulled up to the starting line with Sweeper in the leading position.
For a change, Keiichi did the countdown and on the go the two cars launched onto the course.
The FD launched hard with the 4WD system that Sweeper had put in it but the short lead that he gained on start was quickly reeled in by Joushima around the first few corners.
Keiichi watched the 2 cars disappear before returning to the rest of the team and Carlos who were smiling.

"What are you smiling so wide about? You know the stakes if we lose don't you?" Keiichi said to Carlos.

"When will you stop worrying so much about losing a race? Don't you have ANY faith in us?" Carlos asked harshly back at Keiichi.

"I will stop worrying when this project is over… Besides it isn't your head that's on the line if we lose, my tuning shop risk being cut out of the World Cup franchise if we lose these races and quite frankly. WE NEED the commercial exposure we get can get from sponsoring the World Cup that you guys seem to enjoy yourself in. Even though we do not do live events…" Keiichi paused.

"Well for this race I am not sure who will win… But I can tell you the secret behind Sweeper's speed, or rather how he learned how to drive fast." Carlos looked at Keiichi.

"That would be interesting to hear Carlos, he has never told me." McClintock said as he reached for a soda can on the table that Jane was sitting next to.

"He has 20 years of military experience under his belt, and he started quite early… All those years of fighting do leave some marks on a man, and for Sweeper he lost the ability to sense fear…" Carlos paused and McClintock shot in.

"Now that is great! If he cannot feel any fear he can push the car even harder and go damned fast."

"It is not that good McClintock, your fear is there to protect you, that fear is helpful in telling that you are about to reach the limit of the car." Chang replied to McClintock.

"Chang is correct, since Sweeper has lost his ability to sense fear he is at risk if he loses concentration… He had learned to overcome the lack of fear and sense the car using his body and with that judge his own and the cars limit, but that requires concentration and if he loses it…" Carlos stopped as he thought of the scenario.

"He is bound to end up in an ugly crash!" Carlos finished the sentence.

"But how did he lose the ability in the first place? It sounds absurd to lose the fear just like that." Keiichi asked.

"Often getting extraction from a fire zone is quite difficult. So Sweeper often relied on own ways of transportation to get out of the heat, that meant with crappy cars or fast cars and that is driving under heavy fire from machine guns and tanks. Basically if you do a mistake like these mountain pass drivers here do, for an example understeering by a half tire width, it is not as severe on the road itself. But out on the battlefield that could mean getting hit by that tank shell, or that burst of 7.62mm. Basically Sweeper learned to drive fast under those conditions combined with a lot of luck, facing death uncountable amount of times your fear will gradually decrease and in the end disappear. That is what happened to Sweeper, even though I doubt he is sleeping well at nights and such from all the psychological scars he has received." Carlos said.

"How do you know all of this? Have you tried the same thing?" Keiichi asked.

"HELL NO! I am not suicidal enough to push my luck that far! He told me that when I asked where he had gotten his speed from… I have used more traditional methods to learn my skills. Practicing oversteer control on a dirt surface and then moving onto tarmac." Carlos replied quickly.

"I thought you and Sweeper hated rallying?" Chang asked.

"We hate rallying as a sport… It is great to learn the basics of oversteer control on as your counter steer requires less input compared to tarmac driving. But once you got the hang of it you screw the dirt and stick to the road. Even though I must admit it was fun beating the local Impreza boys on dirt with my Skyline." Carlos said and smiled.

"But how long can Sweeper keep his level of concentration?" Keiichi asked.

"That is a good question, I am sure you know the 30 minutes limit for humans? But it is really depending on the situation. He is not going to have many issues with his body at least since he is used to giving it more abuse than what he is doing now." Carlos replied.

"But shouldn't Sweeper have the definite advantage with all that power he has on the FD? It is a lightweight high powered car after all." McClintock protested.

"On a course like this the power will only help him so much, and with an opponent of that calibre it won't be of much help. His best bet is to drag it out and hope that the opponent makes a mistake." Carlos replied.

Keiichi grabbed the radio and got the report that the first run was over and the two cars were returning.
Carlos went over to the starting line and waited for the FD and the S2000 to arrive for the 2nd run.
After 10 minutes the 2 cars arrived at the top and the positions were reversed, Carlos got Sweeper to roll down the window.

"Just keep it going Sweeper, your best shot is stretching this out… Your tires are better than he is; you are using wider tires..." Sweeper interrupted Carlos.

"I know, that's what I am trying to do here, but he is not an easy opponent." Sweeper stopped.

"Tell me something I don't know! You think that God Foot guy was easy to beat? Anyways, just keep it up." Carlos walked away from Sweeper's FD as he rolled up the window and they went onto the second run.

Back at the stand the Takahashi's were still crunching numbers on a laptop and discussing in the distance.
Carlos shook his head as he looked at Ryosuke and Keisuke talking.

"So they hope to crack same data out of this?" Carlos asked Jane.

"Yeah, after Sweeper made that bet they are eager on gathering as much data on our team as possible." Jane replied.

"A very smart tactic if you ask me. They are our main opponents after all." Keiichi said.

"Nevertheless, I doubt that Takahashi Ryosuke can hatch a winning solution against Sweeper, that's for sure." McClintock said and crunched the empty soda can.

On the downhill the positions were reversed and Sweeper was chasing Joushima, who was using lines that were meant to confuse the opponent.

"He sure is a fast driver, using the tire slip angles to achieve a faster way of driving. No wonder they call him God Hand. Though he isn't driving the best line of the course, but I won't fall for such a trick, not here, not now." Sweeper thought as he continued chasing the S2000.

It was a tricky race, as the opponent went absolutely all out on Sweeper; both of them were driving as fast as they could.
God Hand had noted that the FD was keeping up without any visible problems at all.

At Hoshino's position the team was eagerly awaiting the results of the race when Hoshino spoke.

"The FD is a masterpiece in engineering. The S2000 is in fact a copy of Mazda's receipt on creating a cornering machine, everything from suspension setup to balancing out the body. However, stock for stock the FD would beat the S2000 because it has a much more powerful engine that is equipped with a turbocharger. The 13B-REW is a fearsome engine compared to the 13B-RE that was in the FC." Hoshino said.

"But what's the difference between the 2 13B's except their name?" A Purple shadow member asked.

"The W in the engine code is basically related to the dual air intake per intake port. It uses a single port at lower engine revs to improve low end torque, and opens up the secondary intake at higher RPM to aid in the quest for more power. But whatever the 13B had as strengths, the FD that Jou-chan is battling doesn't have that engine anymore, it has been reborn as a completely different car. It is a monster machine with very few weaknesses. Jou-chan doesn't have the engine response card to play either since the opponent is also running a NA engine. He is also at a disadvantage power wise and traction wise. Even though power is not the most significant factor on the downhill it still plays a role that you cannot ignore." Hoshino said.

"Will Joushima-san be allright?" The Purple shadow member asked.

"It depends, a stretched out battle will be disadvantageous for him. If he is going to make a difference he will have to make an attack early and try to leave the FD." Hoshino said.

The finish line radio guys relayed the message that the two cars had passed with minimal gap between them and it was time to prepare for a 3rd run.
Several minutes later the cars rolled up the road again to do another downhill run.

"This can really take some time to settle…" Chang said.

"The opponent is top class after all; a few hardcore lovers of the World Cup have been saying that the best years were back in the 70's and the 80's. That was when the most skilled drivers were out on the courses and they were pretty good. Joushima Toshiya is from the 80's of the World Cup so he is a darn good driver. The fact that we actually got to see him again is amazing enough, but putting up a race like this…" Keiichi shivered as he thought of it.

"So it is that amazing? But how long can this last?" McClintock asked.

Carlos looked down at his clock and then back at the course where the two cars had disappeared around the corner for the 3rd run.

"20 minutes so far… We should start seeing some effects of wear and tear this round…" Carlos said.

"You are right Carlos, both tires and drivers is about to snap from the intense load put on them." Jane said to Carlos.

"No doubt will they keep on racing tail to nose through the course. This seems to be a true battle of endurance. But this time Sweeper is leading." Keiichi said.

"That may prove to be a problem. It is closing in on the 30 minutes deadline and already now the effects should start to show themselves. You cannot get past that level no matter how effort you put into concentration practice. It is genetically decided how long you can concentrate." Carlos said.

On the race course Sweeper was leading the race, but no matter how fast he went, that S2000 was right on his tail.
Sweeper did put some distance on the straights but it was clear that Joushima had changed his driving style from when Sweeper was chasing, because now his cornering speed had increased compared to earlier in the race.

"I cannot shake him, no matter how hard I try… I need to push it some more." Sweeper thought as he approached the corner.

The FD dived into the corner at a fast speed, Sweeper noticed that he hadn't been paying attention to the G forces he had been feeling through his hips and now he was going too fast into the corner.
The car was in a push understeer situation, the G load to the front tires were too high for the tires to sustain the grip of the road.
Instantly Sweeper's left hand went off the wheel and the left foot slammed in the clutch pedal, the left hand continued its movement towards the parking brake and pulled it.
A loud whine from the rear tires and the rear came swinging out, Sweeper quickly let go of the parking brake shifted down to get into the power band and starting to counter steer to prevent spinning out.
Joushima tried to use this opportunity to counter attack but quickly noticed the FD was blocking the road while moving sideways.
The RX-7 avoided the outer guardrail by a hair before it continued its acceleration.

"That could have gone bad if I had reacted slower, seems like I will have try not to lose my concentration." Sweeper thought.

Sweeper slammed the gas pedal to the floor and used the engine power to recover quickly.
It was followed by a classic out-in-out line grip style cornering in the following corner.
For Sweeper, drifting was something very natural, but he had an expertise within grip driving to allow him to conserve his tires through a race.

At the top the radio chimed in with a report:
"This is point 3, the two cars just passed by. The FD did a handbrake drift through the corner then followed by a grip turn. But he is still leading the race!"

"This is what I feared would happen." Carlos said as he looked down on the tarmac.

"What do you mean by that?" Chang asked.

"Sweeper never uses the handbrake for anything else than to correct a mistake, such a mistake may be to go too fast into a corner. And he usually doesn't go too fast on the entry unless he has lost his concentration!" Carlos quickly replied.

"This race may go bad…" Keiichi said but was silenced by Jane.

"This is no time for pessimistic comments! Sweeper is not aiming at losing this race; I know that he will keep on pushing, no matter what!" Jane said.

"Yeah, he will push it as far as it can go; he drives with no fear so if it does get ugly it will get VERY ugly." Carlos said.

"What do you mean with very ugly?" McClintock asked.

"You know what he means, fatal crash at high speed… The type of crash you don't live to tell the tale about!" Chang said.

The 3rd round wrapped up with the same result as the earlier rounds.
It was time for the 4th round, and everyone knew this was where it was going to be settled, it had already drawn out and both drivers and machines were getting tired.
The two cars lined up for the start and on the go the 2 cars launched, but clearly it was a much lighter launch than what they had done earlier in the race.

"I cannot stand the thought of losing this race at this point…" Keiichi said followed by cursing in Japanese.

"Sweeper's chance of winning lies in this round, the S2000 is starting to show a weakness from his driving style." Jane said.

"And what would that be? That guy is a good at racing; I have yet to see a weakness." McClintock replied.

"Sure that his driving style gives him quite a bit of speed, but it is bound by the laws of physics. The driving style is putting a high load on the rear tires, and after racing for this long they are about finished now, not a whole lot of grip left in those. And Sweeper is running wider tires with a hard compound, the wider tires runs cooler and with a hard compound they can last a lot longer. In the end, the S2000 will lose due to its tires wearing out, and it is the worst way too." Jane said.

"Yes, an understeering car is easier to control than an oversteering car, because in an understeer situation all you can do is slam on the brakes. Oversteer however, requires skill in slowing down while maintaining direction, and since the S2000 is rear wheel drive, getting power down is also going to be more difficult. All in all, the longer this race stretches out the more disadvantageous it becomes for God Hand." Carlos said.

Down on the course, Sweeper was fighting to keep his focus on driving; it was difficult to do as he was getting tired from sustaining high G forces and sensing the limit of the car.
As he looked at the S2000 diving into a corner he noticed the rear end let go and Joushima had to apply more counter steer to prevent it from spinning out.

"His S2000 is starting to become more oversteer happy… His tires must be wearing out! Yes! Finally an opening I can get in this race. My tires are still ok; I still have a firm grip of the road!" Sweeper thought and started stepping on the gas.

The FD begun to pick up the pace slightly and quickly closed in on the S2000, now it was just to keep applying pressure to the opponent and try to force an opening.
On corner exits, having 4WD was clearly an advantage, the S2000 no longer stood any chance to escape the FD, Joushima had to be careful with the throttle since his rear tires were pretty much worn down.
A straight popped into view and Sweeper did his first part of the counter attack, taking the inside lane as the S2000 went wide to get as much space for acceleration as possible, the two cars rolled up side by side for the next corner with Sweeper rolling for the outside.
The straight was short and it quickly changed into a braking contest, the S2000 quickly dived in to take the inside, however Sweeper changed direction heading for the outside, waiting for Joushima to lose grip and enter counter steer mode.
The entry speed he had used to cut off Sweeper was a bit high, and resulted in grip loss at the rear end of the car.
As the S2000 begun drifting for the outside, the FD cut the inside and used its 4WD traction to out accelerate and pass Joushima.
Joushima couldn't accelerate any harder, his rear tires were at their limit, all he could do was watch the FD take off and dive into the next corner.
The battle was settled, it was all over, the cars had decided the victory over the driver.

At the top the radio report ticked in.

"This is the finish line! The FD won, I repeat the FD passed the S2000 and it won the race!"

"Roger that, head back up here we are done." Jane replied in the radio before she turned towards Keiichi.

"We are lucky that your pessimistic attitude doesn't affect the races." Jane said in a joking tone.

"Assume the worst, but hope for the best…" Keiichi replied.

The team had some small chat until the 2 cars returned to the top and Sweeper got out of his FD to greet the rest of the team.
Even though a normal person would clearly show signs of having issues walking, Sweeper didn't.

"That was the most intense battle I have ever experienced… Only Carlos can give me those kinds of moments usually." Sweeper said.

"Well we are heading back now; this is wrapped up with another nice victory… Next stop will be Irohazaka next weekend." Keiichi said.

"Emperor will be a cake walk compared to these guys." Sweeper said before he headed off to the bus, leaving the job of loading up his car to the mechanics.

Joushima and Hoshino went over to Jane and Keiichi who had already begun packing up their gear.

"It was some great races tonight! So how are the World Cup events running?" Joushima asked.

"Well, next year is a celebration run, we are going mountain passes only to celebrate the addition of these to the track list instead of the normal highway runs and circuit races. Was there anything in particular you wondered about?" Keiichi asked.

"Well, we are interested in joining up for next year and see how some of the younger generations drive… It was great fun back in the 80s; it is something we both have missed." Hoshino replied.

"Not a problem at all, there are a few newcomers that have applied for next years competition, it is invite only so we will get back to you later on, any phone number we can reach you guys on?" Keiichi took out a notepad and a pen.

Hoshino and Joushima gave Keiichi their phone numbers and wandered off to their cars.
While the mechanics finished the loading up and headed out, and that concluded another weekend of racing.