Programmed Lives – Second Stage
Chapter Fifteen
It took him a good five minutes for Ryosuke to find him but, after going around the paddock area, he finally found Takumi sitting on a dark corner near their team's motorhome, the same one where the young man had found Mina-chan earlier on that day.
'Hey, do you mind if I join you?' Ryosuke asked.
At first Takumi looked surprised to see him there but, after a few instants, he shrugged his shoulders and went back to looking at the ground between his feet. Ryosuke sat down next to him and, after considering several ways to start this conversation, he said:
'I think you couldn't have started better,'
'What? Ryosuke-san, I sucked!' Takumi exclaimed thinking his Team Manager's had lost it.
'Yes, you did and we will use this as an advantage,' Ryosuke said.
'An advantage?' Takumi asked, as usual, not really understanding what Ryosuke said.
'Yes, the way you drove earlier on was appalling. Your friend Itsuki drives better than that blindfolded.'
Takumi couldn't be any more confused: comparing him to Itsuki was hardly a good way for him to cheer up.
'This means that everyone is going to underestimate you and, this will be an advantage for us,' Ryosuke explained, finally saying something that made sense.
'Ryosuke-san, I'm not sure I can do it,' Takumi said.
'Yes you can,' Ryosuke said shaking his head.
'I can't focus,' Takumi started.
'You're just nervous. What that guy said would make anyone lose their cool.'
'You never lose your cool Ryosuke-san,' Takumi said and he started feeling a familiar heat on his cheeks.
Ryosuke laughed at that softly and grasped Takumi's shoulder making Takumi turn to face him. The young man panicked thinking that Ryosuke would notice how perturbed Takumi felt every time his Team Manager spoke to him.
'Look, I'm going to tell you something that I've never told anyone except my wife,' Ryosuke said apparently failing to notice the slight blush on Takumi's cheeks, 'the reason why I quit active racing wasn't because I was afraid of guys like that one at the box. The real reason was you.'
'What?' Takumi asked, his eyes widening with shock.
'Yeah, you and my brother Keisuke made me realise what I didn't have or, rather, what I had that you didn't and which made you much more suitable to become professional racers,'
Takumi's face was the perfect expression of perplexity. He simply hadn't understood a single word of what Ryosuke had just told him.
'I'll put it in other words,' Ryosuke said and Takumi was eternally grateful for that, 'I knew what my limits were. The problem was that, at some point, I'm not entirely sure when, I became aware that what we do, driving insanely fast in impossibly twisted roads, is extremely dangerous. For some reason, I started putting that fact together with the rest of the variables that I used to win races.'
'Ryosuke-san…' Takumi said frowning for he wasn't really sure he wanted to be listening to Ryosuke talking like that.
'Don't get me wrong. I wasn't afraid of having an accident. I consider myself a lot braver than that. It's just that when I came up with my absolute speed theory, I realised that one has to have something else than good driving skills and a properly tuned car. One also needs the instinct to go fast, and the mind power to ignore the fact that, by going that fast, you put yourself in a very dangerous position. Unfortunately for me, I no longer can shut out the thought that what I'm doing is dangerous. This conviction has only grown stronger ever since my son was born and I realised that he relies one hundred percent on me. Not that I was ever interested in becoming one but, now that I have a family of my own, I am absolutely sure that I'll never become a professional racer.'
'Ryosuke-san…' Takumi repeated but the older man just let go of his shoulder and got up.
'Come on Takumi, show everyone what you can do.'
Takumi felt something strange in his stomach. Was it only the fact that Ryosuke had called him by his birth name?
'Can I ask you something?' he asked still not getting up.
'Of course,' Ryosuke replied.
'Why do you have so much faith in me?'
Ryosuke looked at him briefly before replying:
'I thought I had answered to that already. Look, you and my brother are the only two drivers I know who, in addition to having excellent driving skills, have the almost suicidal tendency to keep pushing the car to its limits. In your case, you also have some sort of lucky star that seems to protect you against everything that may harm you. I think that altogether, you and my brother are an unbeatable pair. The least I can do is to help you express all those skills in the best possible way by giving you the best car I can.'
Takumi finally got up.
'I'm very grateful for that Ryosuke-san. I promise that I'll try to be stronger from now on.'
'Please don't, if you get any stronger, you're going to cause some serious damage to my ego,' Ryosuke joked smiling.
Takumi dared and laughed at that.
'Now, let's go back before Keisuke goes and beats the crap out of that driver, personally, I think he deserves it but I'd prefer if we beat him on the track, what do you think?'
'I agree,' Takumi said.
'Let's do it then.'
By the time they got back to the box, there were only ten minutes of free practice left and Keisuke was about to get back in the car to do his last run.
'Hey, do you mind if I…' Takumi said to his team-mate.
'No, be my guest,' Keisuke said stepping away from the car then, with an evil smile, he said, 'go for the car number 15.'
'Car number 15? Got it,' Takumi said smirking then, he got inside the car and drove out of the garage picking up speed as he cruised through the pit lane.
'Guys, we're gonna have some fun now,' Keisuke said laughing.
Back on the track, Takumi decided to pretend that this was his very first run. This time he wouldn't allow his mind to wander. He was going to drive seriously.
Doing what his dad had told him, he focused on the road and his car. Forgetting about everything else, including the cars he, one by one, overtook.
He quickly found himself having fun, experimenting with different lines and deciding which ones were better to make better times.
Finally, he saw it: the car number 15 was just ahead of him. A black Honda NSX. Takumi smiled briefly before getting serious again.
They were driving in one of the two main straights of the Suzuka circuit. At the end of the straight, there was a hairpin corner that led to the slow section of the circuit, one that went slightly downhill. Perfect.
Pressing the accelerator a bit further down, Takumi made the FD get as close as possible to the NA-1 and, soon, the Honda driver found himself having to train Takumi's car too. Takumi was grateful Ryosuke had explained to him that by driving so close together, the car in front had an aerodynamic handicap while the one behind could go just as fast with half the effort.
By the time they got to the corner, Takumi had already prepared himself for his next move. Using the extra speed he had saved for that moment, he feigned an inside attack only to brake briefly so he could switch to the outside line when the Honda was closing the inside.
After that, it was just a matter of pushing the car through the space left, overtake the Honda and, just to make sure its driver realised who had overtaken him, Takumi braked again so the team's name, written on a sticker stuck at the rear windscreen, could be visible to the NA-1's driver. Then he pulled away from the Honda.
'You're fucking fantastic!' Keisuke said to him the minute he stepped out of the car.
'I would have paid millions to see his face!' Matsumoto agreed.
Takumi looked at Ryosuke and said:
'You were right, Ryosuke-san,'
'I know, I always am,' he said smiling confidently.
'Yeah, that's not what he says when he speaks to the missus,' Keisuke whispered while passing his arm around his team-mate's shoulders.
'I heard that Keisuke,' Ryosuke said then, he added, 'I can't wait to see the day when you'll be married,'
The whole team laughed at Keisuke's horrified face.
The next day they woke up to find a cloudy day that threatened rain.
'Not good, we'll have to change all the settings if it rains,' Fumihiro complained looking at the latest weather report delivered by one of the circuit's officials.
'Can't be helped,' Ryosuke said, then speaking to the team, he said, 'guys, this is it. Yesterday we were only testing the circuit, today we're fighting for the pole so everyone will be a lot more aggressive, Keisuke, you and Takumi will need to remain focused even more so, no wandering out of the garage, ok?'
'Sure,' Keisuke said while Takumi just nodded.
While the team worked on the car, Keisuke and Ryosuke spent a few minutes talking to each other while Takumi studied the data from the previous day, understanding it all with the help of Fumihiro.
The qualifying session started at exactly eleven o'clock and Keisuke was the first one to have his chance. The pole system allowed for each team to set their best times with their two drivers, these times would be added up together and this combined time was the one which set the time that would count towards the pole.
Keisuke was really lucky for several reasons. The first was that during his run, the car had just been serviced and therefore was at its best possible condition. The second was that there was very little traffic on the track which meant having an almost free way all the way around the circuit. The third was that the track itself was still dry.
Things were much different by the time it was Takumi's turn to do his best lap.
'It's raining,' Fumihiro said stating the obvious.
'Takumi, we'll need to change the settings,' Ryosuke started saying seeing that the young man was climbing into the car.
'No, just change the front tyres,' he said.
'What? Are you nuts?' Matsumoto exclaimed.
'Do as he says,' Ryosuke ordered understanding what Takumi wanted to do at once.
'Thanks,' Takumi said smiling shyly at him.
Takumi drove out of the box a few minutes later with only the two front tyres suitable for the track's current conditions.
'What's he doing?' Fumihiro asked Ryosuke.
'Fumihiro, you're forgetting something important about Fujiwara.'
'What is it?'
'He's used to drive up and down Mt Akina with his 86 changing none or very few of the car's settings. He probably feels he can do much better with the settings he used yesterday,'
'What about Keisuke?'
'Don't worry about that now. After we finish the qualifying we'll decide what to do,'
'Sure,' Fumihiro said, as usual trusting Ryosuke's judgement and, by the time Takumi passed the finish line for the first time in that session, Fumihiro realised that his Team Manager had been right. Takumi's time, albeit a bit slower than Keisuke's, was still the fastest set by all the drivers still out on the track.
'Oh no,' Keisuke said looking at the monitor.
'What is it?' Ryosuke asked joining his younger brother in front of the screen.
The black NA-1 was just behind Takumi.
'Aniki, I swear, if that bastard does anything to our car I'm going to beat him up so badly that his own mother won't be able to recognise him,'
'No need for that, I think Takumi will handle him well enough,' Ryosuke said.
Just as Ryosuke was saying that, the black Honda made his move pushing Takumi's FD towards the inner edge of the track. It was very clear to everybody that the Honda's driver was trying his best to send Takumi's car to the grass.
'No, no!' Takumi shouted and, just as it looked like he was losing ground, he saw something in the track that made him smile.
Lowering his tyres into the circuit's small gutter, he hooked them there and, pressing the accelerator, he passed the Honda that, in the effort of pushing him inwards, had left a very large space and now Takumi used it to his own advantage.
Takumi thought that he was safe when he felt something bumping against the back of his car. This made the car slide dangerously towards the left but Takumi managed to get the car back under his control.
Looking at the rear mirror, he saw the black Honda literally stuck to the FD's bumper. Takumi's brain made a decision in a split-second. He pressed the brake for just a short moment, just enough for the Honda to crash, very lightly, against the back of the Mazda. Then Takumi accelerated again.
Before he had to turn left for one of the corners of the circuit, Takumi saw the Honda going into a wild spin, finally sliding on the wet grass till the car was stopped by the tyre wall which protected the outer wall of the circuit.
This accident made the circuit marshals stop the qualifying session and Takumi was forced to go back into the pit lane.
There, in his team's box, he found a very disturbing scene: the Honda's Team Manager was there with his fist up, held by two circuit officials, threatening a seemingly unconcerned Ryosuke. Meanwhile Fumihiro and Matsumoto were doing their best to hold Keisuke up too.
To be continued…
