Later that night, Belle, Drew, Steph, Cassie, Macca and Ric sat on the beach, just revelling in each others company. They had talked for hours before lapsing into silence until Belle, with a rush of adrenalin suggested that she race Steph. Steph agreed but gave Belle a head start as her car was quicker which Belle declined. "If this is going to be a fair race, we have to start at the same time" she said firmly. Steph agreed. "Ok, that's fine with me, but im gonna kick your ass!" she said happily. They drove out to the 'drag strip' where all the local hotrods raced each other every Tuesday night. Since it was Tuesday, Belle challenged everyone in sight to a one on one. Steph hung back, as she had already beaten everyone in that same car and also in the Maserati. She had a brainwave. She called Drew, Cassie, Macca and Ric over and asked Cassie, Macca and Drew to stay with Belle and make sure that Belle didn't get into any trouble.
She and Ric then headed home and swapped the Maserati for the CCX and CCR. Both were sleek black cars and extremely powerful. When they arrived at the drag strip, with Ric's CCR blaring out AC/DC and the CCX blaring out the Rogue Traders, they proceeded to show the cars off, smoking the tyres, full neons, strobes at full power, music cranked up loud and bass pumping. Then came the showcase. They were going to drag each other. Everyone who had gone up against Steph had lost by a huge distance, but these cars were evenly matched. Steph and Ric pulled up at the starting line and Cassie and Belle hopped in with Steph while Drew and Macca hopped in with Ric.
The starter stepped out in front of the two powerful machines as Steph and Ric sat there revving the engines to screaming point. Steph suddenly changed the CD to Nick Skitz's 'Excalibur' which was her signature prior-racing theme. Steph yelled out "Don't hurt my car or I will KILL you!". The starter dropped the flag and the two cars took off with a squeal of tyres and lights. They screamed down the track and flashed past the halfway point, Steph executing neat drifting techniques, Rick pulling out all stops to keep up. At the second lap mark (they had to do 3 laps) Steph had quite a lead on Ric but suddenly out of nowhere, Ric appeared in front of her.
Steph hated being second, so she took her driving up a notch, from good girl to pro driver. She backed off and then suddenly overtook Ric with a massive burst of speed. Belle and Cassie whooped and yelled as the CCX screamed past. There was no way that Ric could catch Steph unless he employed the only cheat he knew how. He would use the turbocharger. He turned it on, let it warm up then went screaming after Steph. He drew level with her and Cassie yelled out the window "Steph said turn the Turbo off, this is a fair race, NO CHEATING! Belle yelled out "If you don't, she's gonna break up with you!"
Immediately, the turbo was switched off but there was a BANG and Steph heard it, but didn't turn her head. She knew what had happened and she was pissed. As they crossed the finish line after the last lap, Steph slightly in front and Ric an extremely close second, Steph suddenly spun the CCX's wheel and sent the car into a perfect slide stop which caused Ric to break heavily, nearly blowing the brake lines in the process. She jumped out, and walked over the where Ric and Drew were standing. Ric could see she was angry. All she said was "Pop the bonnet". Ric did as he was told, and Steph positioned the CCX so that the lights illuminated the engine bay. Almost immediately, someone yelled out "He's blown the Turbo!" which Steph echoed but with a few expletives as well. She turned to face Ric who was looking nervous. "Why is my $10,000 turbo blown up beyond repair? You didn't turn it off while the engine was still running high did you?" she said quietly. Ric looked ashamed. "Yeh I was so caught up in the race I didn't think. Im so sorry baby. I didn't mean it. It was an accident. Anyone could have done it." He said quietly.
Steph saw his face and immediately, the angry look faded. She couldn't be angry with Ric. She loved him too much. She smirked at him. "You do know it's gonna cost you, don't you?" she said cheekily. He grinned at her and nodded. "Anyway, let's clear the track. Next lot up!" Steph yelled. There were cheers from the other drivers and race-goers as they quickly cleared the track, moved the Skyline in between both Koenigseggs so as not to have it stolen, then the six found a spot to watch the rest of the races. Ric was leaning up against the wall with his arms around Steph who was sitting between his legs in front of him and Cassie and Macca next to them. Belle and Drew were cuddled up on the other side of Ric. When the last race had been run and won and everyone had checked out both the CCR and CCX, the five friends left to go home.