Even more people had gathered at Akina for the legendary race in street racing history.
Project S' best downhill ace vs Project D's downhill ace on their homeground it was not going to be a sloppy match.
The course had lots of famous points and the galleries were packed to the breaching point as two of the currently most famous street racing teams in Japan were finally going to have their clash and final battle to settle it all.
The setting was very tense as there were supporters for both sides, and of course some people had feelings for both.
Some wanted to see the AE86 beaten but at the same time didn't want it to be beaten at all, Takahashi Keisuke was one of these people as they had found a nice observation point with Kyoko.
Amongst them all there was a certain red Supra that caught Sweeper's eye, and the driver was obviously here to observe for future battles as Sweeper recognized him leaning on his car.
It was an old russian rival of Sweeper from his world tour in the FD, Krugov and his red MK4 Toyota Supra with its 650 horsepower.
He was just as fast as he had a short temper, a combination that could quickly become dangerous for the opponent, and he still hadn't forgotten that FD pulling away from him.
"What the hell is he doing here?" Sweeper asked Carlos pointing at Krugov.
"I don't know but I bet my car on that he is here to see you drive, this battle is special after all Sweeper, you know that a lot of people have gathered from out of town, heck some has even come from out of country." Carlos said with a smile and pointed at a Toyota Vitz/Yaris pulling up and a familiar face popping out of the car.
"Miguel? I thought you were in the US at this time? And where is your BMW M3 GTR?" Sweeper asked the person in the Yaris.
"Heh it is expensive bringing it over here you know and it wasn't worth it to just watch you duke it out tonight. So I got this rental car instead, it is not fast or good in corners but it gets you from A to B." Miguel said with a smile.
As Sweeper continiued looking around he saw several familiar faces that was not Japanese.
Harry Bang a norwegian Dodge Viper driver in the GT1000 class, he was not the fastest be he did still compete.
Clint West the american rival to Harry who drove a RR Porsche 911 and were also competing in the GT1000, often the two got into fights, however they had yet to see each other at Akina.
But in the Japanese crowd there were two familiar faces that stood out and that was because other racers greatly dispised them and their team.
It was Norio Takeshi and Sinjo with their respective team, known for their dirty racing and sabotage.
And of course the regular crazy girl better known as Sakura Tanaka who just walked up to Sweeper and greeted him in a friendly way.
"Hello Sweeper-kun, how are you feeling tonight?" Sakura asked.
"Did my ears hear it correctly? Did she just add KUN to my nickname? I am fine thank you Sakura, please tell me your answer after the race not before." Sweeper said while trying to appear as cold as possible.
"Whatever tactic you are trying to play Sweeper-kun it will not work the way you hope to... You are as transparent as glass so don't think you can hide something." Sakura said and blinked her right eye before she walked away.
"Women trouble eh brother?" Miguel asked.
"Indeed Miguel, I am not sure what to do about that yet... Oh well let's focus on the race first." Sweeper replied.
"What was up with that kun thingy?" Carlos asked.
"Well, kun is a honor prefix to your name like the san part is. However san is only meaning mr/mrs/miss nothing more, however kun is a bit more... Well how can I properly phrase it, it is more on a loving side of things, something you use about your boyfriend for a girl. So you can see why I am a bit worried." Sweeper said.
"Ouch Sweeper, well should you need to disappear for a while just let me know and I will take you away in my Skyline GT-R, there is no way she can keep up with me you know." Carlos said.
"Heh, we ain't quite there yet, but that girl is crazy." Sweeper replied.
Just then Keiichi came running up with Jane towards Sweeper.
"Hey Sweeper, it is your show now, get in the car and get up to the starting grid the 86 has just arrived and we are only awaiting you to start the race." Keiichi said.
"I will be there soon." Sweeper said.
"Good luck out there Sweeper, show them how it is supposed to be done." Miguel said.
"Let us just hope I will not have to blackout tonight." Sweeper replied to Miguel.
"Whatever Sweeper, good luck out there tonight... It is going to be great fun I hope." Carlos said with a smile.
The two moved away from the FD and Sweeper got in and started it up.
Shifting it into reverse and driving towards the starting line, it was time for the big race of all time to go down.
The FD rolled up next to the 86 and stopped at the starting line as Fumihiro were guiding it forward.
Outside the others view Carlos went over to his R34 and entered it and checked the exit lane from the parking lot, he was all set.
"All points are clear! I am counting down. 5 seconds till start!" Fumihiro shouted out and the two cars begun revving.
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!" As Fumihiro's arms went down the two cars launched with the FD using its 4WD system to snap the lead off the line.
As the two cars begun picking up speed after the start a R34 fired up its engine and begun revving before launching hard after the 86.
Keiichi and Jane quickly saw that Carlos had set out to the course.
"DAMNIT Carlos drag launched his car, he is going to mix into the battle?" Keiichi asked.
"No, I don't think that is his plan, I think he wants to see if the 86 driver is as good as we have all made out. He gave a signals around that ever since we started talking about it. Also I think he wants to see with his own eyes that Sweeper loses or wins rather than just hearing it. You know what they say, best of rivals, best of friends when it comes to those two." Jane said.
The rest of the crowd were shocked as they saw the 34 take after the 86 a lot of people recognized it as Carlos' GT-R as his car was known as the bitter rival of Sweeper.
The FD quickly faded away at the straight after the start while Carlos remained behind the AE86.
Sweeper looked in the rear view and saw the headlights of the 86 disappear due to raw traction and power difference.
"I would love to stay behind and have a true battle with you, but I am not going to underestimate you tonight and I am going all out." Sweeper thought and kept his foot planted on the gas pedal.
At the first corner Sweeper braked hard and dived in with grip driving, going full traction on corner exit using the 4WD's strengths.
The FD was made for this battle and was capable of good cornering speeds, but Sweeper refrained from going 100 to save his tires for the later half of the race.
If he had been running on the normal tires he would have been pushing a lot harder than he did now.
But for now that pace was enough to keep the AE86 at a distance.
Carlos on the other hand got a shock as he braked and saw the AE86 dive into a corner at an insane speed followed by pretty intense exit.
The R34 managed to keep pace but Carlos allready understood why the 86 was fast.
"This guy... Man he is faster than I ever thought he could but. I hope I can get to stick with him for a while longer." Carlos thought as he kept his 34 in close pursuit.
Sweeper kept onto the lead through several corners but now he noticed that he had to start braking more than he did earlier.
"This is where it will begin, the true battle of the downhill! Shorter straights to use my power on and a lot more corners also limiting sections where I can make some dashes for the lead. Also it is turning into more downhill driving meaning that my power advantage is further shortened. But nevertheless I should still have the advantage at some points." Sweeper's mind was racing through a lot of thoughts at this moment but still maintained a firm hold and control of his FD.
The FD pulled through another corner and begun accelerating hard on the short straight and that was when Sweeper caught a detail in the rearview mirror.
The guardrail in the corner behind him was being lighted up, which was a clear sign of the opponent chasing him down, and he was a lot closer now.
"I understand what you went through now Ryo... I totally understand it but then again this battle isn't over yet, it is HARDLY started yet either." Sweeper thought and started grinning as he dived into the corner ahead.
Despite the Eight-Six catching up, Sweeper didn't change his pace in an attempt to outrun it, he knew that was useless and stupid at least at this moment.
The entire situation had to follow the simulation down to every last detail, the lead from the start the pace through the corners, everything had been planned up front.
Jane and Keiichi had spent the entire night cracking at simulations with Ryo providing a lot of required details on the 86, in the morning they had given Sweeper written instructions on how to handle the race.
All he had to do was memorize them and follow them, although the strategy was similar to something that Sweeper would have cooked up if he had to do it.
But there were a few missing details that Keiichi and Jane had missed, one was Sweeper's newly added secret weapon that only 3 people knew of.
Other detail was some details surrounding Sweeper's driving skill, Sweeper had left it out on purpose to not give Keiichi and Jane too much of a bother that night, since he knew they wouldn't change a thing of the simulation anyways.
Sweeper's secret weapon would be ultimate weapon and the only thing helping him counter Fujiwara Takumi's blind attack.
A weapon that noone had seen in action before, mainly because none of them had connections to get it like Sweeper had, some had thought of using nightvision once but the lack of light to amplify at a mountain pass made such devices useless.
UV goggles were useless for the very same reason as you weren't hunting for heat sources and even if you were you would be unable to see the guardrails or the road properly so they had very limited usefullness.
As Sweeper looked in the passenger seat at the box he couldn't help but smile at the item lying in there, he just had to wait until the right moment.
In the meantime the AE86 had caught up to the FD and Sweeper noticed it was not alone.
"What the... 34 headlights? CARLOS you damn sleeky bastard!" Sweeper said out loud instead of thinking it.
The 86 made its move, it turned off its headlights and disappeared from view, Carlos was clearly shocked as he observed the 86 dive for the inside past Sweeper's FD and drop its tires into the gutter.
Sweeper saw the 86 come passing him at the inside but he didn't look shocked at all, all Sweeper did was wait for the clipping point of the corner and the 86 to let go off the gutter and begin to make its move for the outside.
As the eight-six made its accleration move away from the gutter Sweeper grinned, it was time for a counter attack on the counter attack.
The FD accelerated hard with the 4WD system shifting torque to the front wheels quickly picking up speed and heading towards the 5 sequential hairpins.
Takumi was clearly shocked of the FD's quick pickup of speed and it only helped to further rub in his 4WD complex.
The blue RX-7 snapped the lead from the 86 and dived into the next corner a bit faster than what it had done earlier.
"If that's the way you want to play then you leave me no choice" Takumi thought and switched off his headlights as he caught up to the FD.
Sweeper on the other threw a look in the rearview only to see Carlos backing off, probably of the shock, but the 86 was gone.
"Blind attack eh? Time to BLACKOUT" Sweeper grinned and pulled the item out of the box and quickly placed the goggles on his head and flipped them down in front of his eyes.
Then reaching for the light switch and turning of the main headlamps and leave the foglights on, it was now time for the move that Sweeper had planned.
The FD went black and disappeared like the 86 but the lack of light didn't stop Sweeper, he still was capable of seeing the road and tarmac as he was preparing for a gutter run.
At the bottom of the mountain the spectators were in an uproar.
"The two cars just DISAPPEARED?" One of them asked.
"Idiot, it is the blind attack that 86 used against that pro racing driver!" The other replied.
Jane and Keiichi were completly stunned as the radio report of the two cars going black arrived.
"This is insane! No lights means that you will crash for SURE!" Keiichi was getting worried again.
"No need to worry, I think I know what Sweeper is doing." Miguel spoke out.
"What the hell do you mean?" Jane asked.
"Sweeper mentioned one thing before he went off, that was blackout, certainly not referring to mind black out it is more like going all dark in either a plane or car to remain hidden in the dark." Miguel said with a smile.
"But that means they are running with their lights off and they cannot see the road. When driving your sight does up for more than 95 of your sensing of driving. Just how can you drive without your vision?" Keiichi asked.
"Simple answer is, you cannot. But I bet my botom dollar that Sweeper has found a way around that. You see airforce and military operatives that practices this technique illuminates the area they are moving through with infrared light. Light that is invisible to the regular eye but for someone with the proper equipment you would be capable of seeing the road although it will be in black and white you will still see a clear nice picture of it. Thing is that this kind of technology is in the military hands and is not distributed amongst civillians. Those few kits you find are expensive and have several faults compared to their military counterparts. But I think Sweeper bagged a military kit to use instead of the regular crappy rare civillian ones." Miguel said and Jane and Keiichi were clearly shocked.
At the next hairpin corner the FD braked late and dived into the gutter, the AE86 missed its ideal braking point and Takumi had to turn on his headlights again to recover and dive away from the guardrail that was coming up fast.
The FD were unhooking from the gutter at a great speed on corner exit, it was now time to go all out and attempt to shake off the 86.
Sweeper was now driving seriously grabbing the gutter in every corner to keep the pace as high as possible.
But the 86 was not giving up either, it was chasing at wide open throttle but unable to close in the gap that the FD had gotten from blacking out earlier on.
The counter attack to Takumi's blind attack was certainly something new to him and was something he would never expect and even now the RX-7 was driving with its headlights turned off.
"Just how can he see and navigate the course like that?" Takumi pondered as he unhooked the last gutter out of the 3rd hairpin.
The FD picked up the pace even more and begun putting a lot of distance to the 86 quickly as the new plan was taking effect and it was clear that Jane and Keiichi hadn't spent the entire night for nothing.
All the maths that Keiichi had been cracking on lines and what Jane had spent looking over the dyno sheets all matched up carefully, the two supervisors who had their own specialized field came together and made sure it all matched up.
The 86 disappared for a while and Sweeper's mind begun thinking a few thoughts.
"I can defeat Akina's 86, I can succeed were Ryo and the others failed... But the question is, do I really want to do this?" Sweeper thought as he kept accelerating down the short straight and the finish line was closing up fast.
"He did show a few threats of that Impreza driver that beat me but he is a lot slower than that guy. If I decide to finish this I will crush a good legend that is in the making..." Sweeper could not get his mind of those thoughts.
"But how can I do it? I cannot lose because that would be hurting a lot of friends... There is only one way to end this!" Sweeper saw the next corner come up and he took several deep breaths while bracing himself of what was to come.
The next motion was shifting the second shifter out of AWD mode and into FR to disengage the front differentials and put all the power to the rear wheels.
And then it would be clear why running 600 HP machines on the passes would be a bad thing.
Sweeper jammed on the brakes and slowed down quickly before commencing the turn into a drift as he had planned.
He had 5 corners to make the trick and it would allready become clear what the problem was as Sweeper stepped on the gas a little harder than what he usually did, the rear begun to move out forcing Sweeper to countersteer more.
The move gave the galleries a shock as Sweeper struggeled to recover the rear end at the corner exit, the 4 rotor was not nice with releasing power gently.
At the next corner Sweeper repeated the move but this time the rear moved close to a 60 degree angle on the exit almost a clear sign of a beginning drifter or deadly worn out rear tires.
The 3rd corner would be where it would happen according to the plan.
Sweeper braked hard and begun the drift into the corner shifting the weight hard and slamming on the power causing the inevitable to happen.
The FD swapped ends and went into a massive 360 degree spinout down the straight as Sweeper struggled to avoid hitting the guardrails, the car did 2 360's before Sweeper managed to straighten it out and the 86 caught up to the cloud of smoke on the corner exit.
As the 86 rocketed into the lead the FD followed in pursuit and now they were running side by side through the last few corners and on the final straight the FD didn't seem to outaccelerate the 86 at all.
The two crossed the finish line side by side and braked to complete the race.
As the two drivers got out they saw another car come chasing behind them screeching to a halt and a rather annoyed mexican getting out.
"I want your explaination on this Sweeper, that smoke cloud was YOURS!" Carlos started as he moved towards Sweeper.
"Well my front differentials broke so I all of a sudden got rear wheel drive and it took me a few corners in an attempt to adjust to it, it felt like the differentials had an on and off effect." Sweeper tried to lie to Carlos.
Before Carlos could answer Sweeper turned to Takumi: "You want a 2nd run at this or should we just call it a tie?" Sweeper asked.
"No thanks you, a tie is ok for me actually." Takumi said remembering the race.
Carlos response was getting Sweeper and finding a more silent spot and begin getting some answers.
"Look here Sweeper, I wanted to be sure your car was in tip top condition!" Carlos said.
"Of course it was Carlos, what do you think about me and FD's?" Sweeper asked.
"Ok I'll cut right to the point, for friends you are a poor liar! I checked your car the night BEFORE this race and I checked everything from differentials to your wire system, the most essentials all prooved to be in ok order and would certainly not break. If the differentials were to break it would be at the start however you had FULL 4WD up until the end and that is a sign that they would NOT break during regular driving. So you were playing a few tricks here and I do not know what." Carlos was certainly angry about the matter.
"What makes you think I like spinning out in FD's? It was an accident!" Sweeper tried another lie.
"Stop it you are insulting me with that! Speaking of which I think you have gone soft..." Carlos said harshly but changing his tone to a more normal voice on the soft part.
"Me gone soft?" Sweeper paused for a while. "Maybe I have... But I got to go now." Sweeper left Carlos and jumped in the FD it was time to head uphill to the top again with the other 2 following them.
At the top they had allready heard the result and the tie declaration and Ryosuke was relieved.
"I dunno what made him suggest a tie but that is the best outcome for this battle." Ryosuke said relieved.
"Why is that Ryosuke-san! If it was that close he would have beaten that guy on a 2nd run and we would have won." Kenta sputtered out.
"You don't know him Kenta, he may have played that card and that chance once, I doubt he would come around to give it once more." Keisuke said with Kenta clearly listening.
As the 3 cars arrived at the parking lot on the top Jane and Keiichi were only partly satesfied.
Carlos and Sweeper got out and approached them while trying to smile.
"It was a tie..." Sweeper started.
"Oh well, even if I sum this up and do the maths we still came out better than Project D since we bagged that win on Akagi." Keiichi sighed.
"What the hell happened?" Jane asked.
"My front differentals went bye bye at the end of the battle." Sweeper tried to play the same lie again only to see Carlos roll his eyes and begin to walk over to his GT-R.
"And you! I want a few words with the so called Brazil's craziest." Jane shouted out to Carlos who froze in his tracks.
"If you want to announce me by my nickname at least get it RIGHT! It is Brazil's FASTEST to you!" Carlos exploded as he walked quickly towards Jane.
"Whatever, who the hell gave you permission to take off and interferre with a battle like that?" Jane asked.
"I DID! Call me a solo driver or supporter of my best friend! Whatever happens I do not betray my friends no matter what happens and if I feel he might need my support I am giving it to him!" Carlos replied in the same harsh tone.
"Tanaka Miki, while I am settling this with Carlos have a look at Sweeper's front diffs. I want to know what failed on them, after all I helped him with a few details on the blueprints for those." Jane said and turned back to Carlos.
As Jane and Carlos were duking it out in a verbal battle Sweeper followed Miki and waited as Miki was under his FD checking the differentials.
It didn't take long for him to come rolling out again and were about to give the obvious answer to Jane when Sweeper gave him a "Zip it" gesture with a zipper motion over his mouth.
"Not a word Tanaka, not a single word about that." Sweeper said and handed Tanaka a few dollar bills before walking away.
Jane and Carlos finished quickly with Carlos walking away clearly annoyed and partly delighted that Project S was finally over.
No need to follow any more orders or do things the way THE OTHERS felt was the best way, Carlos was a partial team player but he had his own ways he liked to play on.
Sweeper on the other hand had also gone out of the line by making a tie on purpose however he was trying to hide that behind the power of capitalism.
'So Tanaka, what was wrong with the differentials?" Jane asked.
"The differentials themselves were okay, but the gears from the gearbox that moves the belt to transfer the power to the front is quite worn down, no wonder the car defaulted to rear wheel drive and had part AWD." Miki explained and Jane sighed.
"Those parts were Sweeper's choice not mine. Well fine then inform him about it we are about to pack up and head back." Jane said to Tanaka while shaking her head.
Sweeper had on the other hand been approached by Sakura who were smiling.
"You said after the race now didn't you?" Sakura asked.
Sweeper got all sweaty and worried as Sakura begun to speak as now he was going to hear it, all the thoughts and his softness lately had been coming from this girl that was standing in front him.
A very pretty girl he might add, and a girl that understood racing and had a love for cars, which was obvious as she owned a NSX and maintained it herself.
And she was also a girl with some temper if you pissed her off, which Satake had experienced and that had made him lose a battle as well.
Nevertheless Sweeper had realized that if there was any girl in the world he could have, it was not Gwen Forrester who loved her work more than him.
It was not Iwase Kyoko who was desperatly in love with Keisuke, and who he had helped unite with Keisuke.
No it was Tanaka Sakura, a girl with a temper and driving skill and a love for him as much as he had cared for her ever since he learned that Sakura had something for him.
The thought of spending time with Sakura was close for Sweeper now, but it was all up to Sakura.
"Y-Y-Yes I-I did." Sweeper managed to say which was NOT like how he usually spoke.
"Well you told me to sit on it for a while and think it through, after going from one end to the other I finally figured out that..." Sakura paused.
"Aw come on and get it over with girl." Sweeper thought.
"I am going to ask you for a date... ON ONE CONDITION!" Sakura said with a great emphasis on condition.
Sweeper was relieved whatever he condition he could cope with it.
"That I get to pick you up for the date and not the other way around." Sakura smiled.
"Sure, I'll check around for a property in Japan or near the Tokyo area..." Sweeper said but was interrupted.
"I got one for you right here Sweeper, and no it is nothing like that goddamn dump of a shack that you have back in Istanbul." Chang said with a smile as he handed Sweeper a set of keys and a card with the address.
"How did you know?" Sweeper asked Chang.
"Team Venom allways looks out for its members you know, and we kinda spoke with Sakura as well and with Koji's help we managed to pick something out that would suit you both. Enjoy it, we can talk about the rent later on..." Chang blinked his right eye and disappeared.
In the background from Sweeper, Keisuke and Kyoko were standing and holding hand in hand.
"I suppose things do not allways turn out the way you expect them to turn out?" Keisuke said as he looked at Sweeper and Sakura.
"For us it took one crazy FD driver and a very weird bet. For him it took a whole racing team and a weird chinese bar owner." Kyoko replied.
The rest of the boys were breaking up, the race was over but the night was still young.
And for certain people it was time to keep building on what they had achieved.
THE END?