FOREWORD: I, HashiriyaGDB, am submitting this Initial D facfic on behalf of Midnight Dorifuta, the author of this fanfic and a fellow user on the Initial D World Forums. The only things I've done to this is correct some (if not all) the typos.
All trademarks are owned by their respective owners.
Chapter 4: It's Not About Horsepower... per se.
Takumi sat blank-eyed from within the black Recaro driver's seat, looking dimly at the path on Haruna Hill leading uphill. The Starion he drove in pulled an about-face after an unexpected reaction on the corner's exit. No - it wasn't unexpected, per se... only uncontrollable.
That kick. That strange 'power kick', as Takumi called it.
It was a strange kick that occured briefly after Takumi stepped on the accelerator. The engine responded... then, responded again; at least, that was the math that Takumi broke it down into. An initial response was given as he applied the gas... about the same amount of power his 86 had. But then, there was a second surge... an extreme and brutal deliverance of power that occured, despite the fact the car was only pulling 4,500 RPM on the corner's exit. It was extreme as dropping the clutch from a standstill high-rev start, and it was, in its own sense, very, very mellowing to the likes of Fujiwara... Takumi, at least.
-
The gear spacing is very wide, but that's not what's important... this kick... what the hell's wrong with this engine!? Takumi gripped the gear selector and threw the car into fourth gear, slightly dazed at the engine's rediculous response as he was, even at that speed, a little thrown back in his seat a second after upshifting. Takumi knew something was peculiar just for the fact the car was turbocharged... but Takumi's driven a turbocharged car. No, two, three even. Itsuki's 85, his father's Impreza, and even Iketani's S13... but none of them had this neck-snapping... or traction-destroying... response. They had a bit of a progressive - by comparison, at least - come-on, and the effect was less extreme from the point he stepped onto the gas pedal to the point the power was packaged, sealed, and sent directly to the Pirellis, Birdgestones, or whatever brand of tire those cars were wearing.
Takumi saw the corner approaching, and nervously eased off the gas - tapping the brakes a little, even. The speed was very extreme, by comparison, to the 86... and merely 'just' extreme in comparison to the Impreza...but that shouldn't have been a big problem for Fujiwara, right? Takumi's witnessed a 350 and a 380 horsepower accelerate, and the speed they had to enter the corners, and Takumi was also quite used to the kamikaze approach that he almost always took into corners, no matter what car he might have been piloting. Yet, still... why was Takumi hesitating long before he even drove the corner? It was probably because he caught Akiyuki's concerned glance, that slightly nervous look as he was, in a way, observing Fujiwara's very keen inputs... but the problem here was, there was almost nothing keen about this. Akiyuki, about 3 seconds before the actual turn-in, gave Takumi a simple recommendation;
"Try to stay a gear above what you usually use, Fujiwara, and be careful on the exit.", Suzaki clearly stated, and Takumi gave him a side-glance that said to Akiyuki, what would be the use of that? To the instruction of keeping the car a gear up, anyways. Well, that much Takumi followed, on his usual late-braking and barely more-careful mid-corner modulation. Yet once again, Takumi was quite floored by the nature of the car's response, how it so smoothly handled the apex of the corner, seemingly not willing to spin, yet, not wanting to understeer, either... a very neutral set-up that seemed to be a perfect balance between the understeery exit nature of the Impreza and the loose, or oversteery, exit nature of the Trueno's suspension tuning. So Takumi thought he was in the clear, when he initiated his somewhat late throttle application. Thought he was, until the engine 'kicked' again, braking the rear tire's traction, and forcing Takumi to counter-steer, but...
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Akiyuki sat idle in the passenger's seat beside Takumi, slightly shaking his head to Takumi only listening to him in a bit of a half-ass kind of sense. Well, it was Fujiwara's own way... drive quite extreme all the way to the car's maximum potential immediately, as opposed to progressively feeling the car out - what most drivers would do. It was a thing about Fujiwara that kind of drew Akiyuki in, a very curious trait. It made him ponder if Takumi was concerned much about his own life - or if he was perhaps unaware of the dangers that lie within racing. Still, at least Takumi didn't wreck his precious little Lizard - the car that he and his sister put a total of 7 years into slowly transforming from a base-model 2.6 into the monster that it is today. He would sit in ponder for a few seconds, arms crossed as he let his heart rate settle a bit. Somehow he knew that was inevitable, but still, it gave Suzaki quite the scare. Although, he noticed Takumi was quite disheartened spinning out on Haruna's first real corner.
That was Akiyuki's cue, in a sense. The way he watched Takumi the short time reminded him of his own past being - and also, part of what he is today. Hell, his own reaction to his newest upgrade was merely a diluted version of that - merely for the fact that he knew just what to expect... but Fujiwara-san over there? Yeaaaaah... no. Takumi was clueless, shocked, and now at the moment, frustrated and confused. Something that Akiyuki intended to rid him of, and fast. Akiyuki gave Takumi a small elbow, masterfully restraining the wide grin he wanted to show at the situation, giving an expression of consolation.
"It's alright...", Akiyuki admited, sounding himself downright unmotivated.Takumi looked from down at the steering wheel to Akiyuki, in slight confusion.
"What's alright?", Takumi asked, a bit curious... almost instantly, even.
"It's alright that you can't drive the Starion...", Suzaki replied, eyes veering to his own instrument panel. "It's not something I was hoping you'd make record time with, anyways. You did a good job with the entry and didn't wreck... that's all I can ask for." Akiyuki even feintly smiled. He knew this was the little extra push Fujiwara needed... he could see it in his eyes.
"..."
Takumi sat there for a second, silence almost completely overcoming the car- spare for a single bird chirping outside in the morning air. Takumi took another long sigh, befre his eyes set themselves on the car's rear-view mirror, looking in the direction that he should be going. He then asked Akiyuki another simple question.
"...can I try again?"
-
Keisuke kicked the guardrail with a fairly violent force, causing a few chips of rusted metal to fall to the ground. Glaring fiercely down, he was so aggrovated that that green car he saw slipped from his sight and he couldn't catch it. Most likely, it was going to fast that even getting the FD up to speed wouldn't compensate for the distance between the two. The car looked like an unusual standout, not the body style or color that is usually the norm these days. But his brother Ryousuke had heard about it before, yes. Heard a lot about it; 'a green RWD sports car piloted by a would-be rally star that chose low profility over the profit of being a top-level race car'. And supposedly he also had a sister who was big in motorsports, not that long ago.
"Son of a btch must have a lot of horsepower", he muttered, looking to his brother. The funny part was that driver brought the old Keisuke out of him, the small chase into the Haruna area having been lost 20 or so minutes ago. Keisuke knew damn well, he didn't like losing, official race or not. And he viewed this as a small loss. "He's playing with me, dammit! Who the hell is he!?"
"Calm down, Keisuke. You're not acting how I've taught you to act." Taking a drag from his cigarette, Ryousuke glanced up at the sky, before giving Keisuke a bit of a dirty look. "You have no buisness getting your emotions stirred up over a Starion that we don't even know is with a racing team or not. And do you honestly think he sat there waiting for us? He drove by at a fairly fast pace, and you decided to hop in your car and follow."
"...God damn it. It just gets on my nerves, though. Don't people have respect for others' mountain passes? Jeez." Keisuke crossed his arms, trying hisbest to look huffed and angry still, but Ryousuke pretty much embarassed him with that line. Yeah, it has been quite a while since he lost his temper, but... there was just something he didn't like about that Starion.
Wait... Starion? What the hell is that!?
"Uhm... Brother...", Keisuke asked Ryousuke in a dim, low voice... "Just what's a Starion, anyways?"
Ryousuke let off a small chuckle, before eyeing Keisuke, tapping his cigarette as a few ashes fell to the ground.
"I'll tell you", He said, eyes glancing to the FC then back to Keisuke. "The Mitsubishi Starion is a fairly inexpensive RWD performance car from the mid to late eighties." Taking another drag first, he continued his explanation. "There's really nothing all that special about the car, except perhaps its engine choice. It came in two forms, one later in the car's lifespan. One is a turbo 2.6 liter inline four, and the other is a turbo 2.0 liter inline four. But the 2.0 is the father of the 4G63 that powers the current-day Lancer Evolution, while the 2.6 liter is a single overhead-cam engine that's also used in pickup trucks."
Keisuke canted his head slightly to the side, scratching the back of his hair, trying to think.
"So just how is the engine choice interesting? Aside of the fact those Lan-Evos are very powerful... are you saying the one I ran into has a newer version of the Lan-Evo engine?"
Ryousuke shook his head a bit, eyes narrowing slightly. It sent a small shiver down Keisuke's spine as he noticed the look. It was a sign that Ryousuke was becoming truly - even if only slightly interested.
"That might be so, but it might also be quite the opposite..." Ryousuke proceeded to sit down on the guardrail, revealing a small bit of his thought process to Keisuke. "He could also be running a modified version of that 2.6. Believe it or not, I don't know its engine code."
Keisuke chuckled - daring at once to defy his brother's logic. "I think you're thinking too hard, brother. The 2.6 is single overhead-cam! It couldn't match the revability or horsepower of the 4G63... and I'll definately stand firm on that. What about those Evolutions they drag-race? They're running ten seconds flat in the 400 meter! I might hate Lan-Evos, but I can't deny those engines can produce insane horsepower."
Ryousuke shook his head slightly, giving Keisuke a look of slight frustration. He snuffed out his cigarette and stood up, looking Keisuke square in the eye.
"...you're missing the point."
-
Akiyuki tried his best to look suprised, and gave a bit of a confued - and worried - looking nod.
"Yes, go ahead... please be careful, though."
That look of worry changed to an eager grin as Akiyuki watched Takumi fire the Starion back up and proceed to right its direction, before rolling to another dull start - and flooring the gas yet again. This is truly exciting..., Akiyuki thought to himself. The kid's determation is a lot fiercer than it looks.