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Man. Itsuki's improved quite a lot.

Looking forward to the next chapter.

Little teaser for you in between me doing laundry. Time to live up to the title of Boxer Battle, eh?

****************

Ryosuke wiped the sweat from his forehead and set down his wrench, looking at the Porsche with no small amount of awe as it rested on the lift, wheels stacked carefully to the side. Tatsuya was looking on curiously, keeping track of every alteration that had been made.
“How long will this take to return to my Wangan tuning?” he asked, making notes on a small pad of paper.
“Now that we know what settings to shoot for, it'll be pretty simple. Just adjust your coilovers, brake bias, downforce settings, and alignment. I can't do much about the turbo lag or the gearing of your transmission, so you'll have to be satisfied with running these passes in second gear. I've got a set of wheels that'll fit your hubs and clear your coilovers. They're a smaller diameter, with smaller tires on them. That'll change your effective gear ratio because of the different diameters, but your speedometer and odometer will be off. It'll help you a little bit without having to open up your transaxle and change gearing.” Ryosuke sat back and took a drink from his bottle of water.

“I'd like to try this out on Akagi. Have you been able to help with the balance?” he asked, remembering the disconcerting feeling of the front end lightening dramatically, the tires losing their bite on the road.
“Still a little tail heavy, but I think you should be able to manage it. The alignment is the big thing, that's what will sharpen up the car's low speed response. I've changed toe, caster, and camber angles to benefit handling. If you try and run above 225 KPH, I won't be held responsible,” Ryosuke said, letting the car down off the lift, new wheels installed and ready to go.
“Why did you get involved in racing like this?” Tatsuya asked, running his hands over the gleaming Blackbird.

“For a number of reasons,” Ryosuke replied. “Why do you ask?”
“Well for me it was to relieve stress, at first. Then as I got faster and faster, it was to be recognized as the king of the Wangan line. I was alone at the top for a number of years until that Z appeared. Now my dominance is no longer complete. I've lost to him, a number of times. And yet when I had the chance to eliminate him completely, I sacrificed my own car to save him.”
“What do you mean?” Ryosuke asked.
“A few months ago the Z was stolen by the sister of the previous owner. She took off and made a run for the harbor, with the intent of ditching the car in the ocean and ending its life. Moments before falling in, she bailed out of the car, a few scratches and bruises but nothing serious. The Z rocketed onward, and at the last possible second I collided into it with my car, knocking the Z to safety, but damaging it and my own car in the process. That's why my body panels are made of aluminum and carbon fiber, because I damaged them. I could have let that car hit the water, and that would have been the end of it. The end of its winning streak, the end of its killing spree, the end of my challenger. And the end of my fun.”

“Fun?”
“You must have felt it too, at some point in your racing career. Don't lie, Takahashi. It gets lonely at the top, and you stagnate there, getting stale and feeling old. People like us need challengers that are wild and undisciplined, fresh and deadly. Dealing with Akio I learned more about my own abilities than I did before. I improved more in a few months of chasing him than I did in the years before. People like us, the master strategists, need emotional drivers to shake us up. Don't you agree?” Tatsuya asked, looking at him intensely.
“I do. I have my own Akio here in Gunma. He would be an admirable opponent for you now that your Porsche has been retuned for the mountain pass.”
“I'll race him if you want, Ryosuke, but my target is you.”
“Awfully trusting of you to let me work on your car then,” he said with a smile.
“You and I are men of honor. You take pleasure in making your opponent as difficult as possible, don't you? I've seen your RX-7. There's nothing like that here to challenge you. Not your brother, not this challenger of yours. I think the reason you spent so much time working on my car is because you knew you had a chance to create something that could beat you, and you're looking forward to the battle.”

“I am,” he said quietly, setting down his tools. “How much practice time would you like?”
“A week. Let me race this challenger of yours, and after I'm through with him, we'll battle.”
“And if you lose?”
“If I lose to your challenger, I will know more about you than if I've won. I'll still challenge you, Ryosuke, win or lose. Do you accept?”
“I do.”

*

nice, you've set up nice challenges.
lol

As usual, well written dialouge.

excellent! keep it rolling!

i keep checkin for another one....**hint hint**

I keep checking for updates as well. Im stating the obvious that Project D will be more advanced after tasting Wangan style racing, and vica versa with Akio and Blackbird.

PS: I would love to see BUNTA try Wangan against Blackbird and Akio at the same time lol.

Just getting online real quick to post this before I forget when I go to Lala-land.

I just want you to know that I really love the interaction between these two. We discover a bit about the men and the reason behind their obsessions. And such insightful dialogue, specially the one where Tatsuya expresses his outlook about being on top.

What I like the most is how you show Ryousuke's passion about cars and racing in general. I know that you've always highlighted how dedicated he is with his pet projects and such, which I think you've made mention about twice in White Comet Downfall. But this chapter feels a lot more personal to the reader, or at least to me, that we're treated to a small, intimate moment where Ryousuke pours his heart and energies into something he loved doing so much. And to me, getting the reader emotionally involved with the characters is what makes reading all the more pleasurable.

Okay, there. Shutting up. It's beddy-bye for me. Good night/morning all!

(PS--If you post this fic on ffnet, I hope you don't mind me copy/pasting this review on there. I don't think I'd remember everything I just said here.)

This is good,im likeing this, keep up the good work, it will be a interesting race between blackbird and the ae86 seeing as how he says he will learn alot more about him if he lost to takumi, so this will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.

Absolute hot writing!! Keep it up!!

Meh, busy few evenings, so no huge update, just a little bit to keep you going.

****************

Takumi looked at Itsuki with arched eyebrows.
“Five seconds?” he asked, taking his eyes off the road for a second to look at his friend and make sure he wasn't exaggerating like he usually did.
“And what kind of car was it again?”
“Iketani said that it was a Fairlady Z. It was blue, and turbocharged. It made over six hundred horsepower, Takumi, and I was able to catch up and pass him in the corners. He blew past me on the straight, but I was able to pass him in my hachi-go!” Itsuki wiggled in his seat, a huge grin on his face.
“Kyooooo!” he shouted happily, stopping suddenly as if he had been switched off.
“What's wrong?” Takumi asked, downshifting to manage the next corner.
“A Porsche 930 turbo!” Itsuki cried excitedly, bracing himself as the Porsche shot past, its speed so insane that it rocked the Corolla as it passed. A white Spirit R RX-7 soon followed, a small flame bursting out of its tailpipe as it downshifted to make the turn. A yellow NSX Type-R brought up the rear of the procession, aggressively attempting to pass the Spirit R as it went.

“Oh my gosh!” Itsuki shouted, happy out of his mind. “Who were those drivers? They're incredible! Such insane speed! Perfect control!”
“The Spirit R was Ryosuke's, the NSX was Yoshiro's, but I don't know who's driving the Porsche. He must be good to be in the lead with those two chasing him. That's a lot of pressure to deal with,” Takumi said, remembering the intense pounding pressure he had felt whenever Ryosuke chased him.
“I've never seen a Porsche on these roads. They're not very good for it,” Itsuki set, settling back into his seat.
“Why do you say that? It's a foreign sports car, isn't it? It must be very good,” Takumi responded, not even attempting to catch up to the three supercars as they rocketed downward.
“It has its engine in the rear, which makes it handle weird. The rear of the car attempts to come around and the front end is light, so it can be dangerous. They can be grip-driven very well, but they can't drift. They're very good for high speed runs though.”
“Hmm,” Takumi said, burning the image of the Porsche into his mind. “What would it take to make them run well?”
“Challenge on the downhill. The weight shifts to the front and helps keep the front tires planted so you don't have to worry about oversteer as much. The uphill would be kind of scary in a car like that. They've got a lot of power, Takumi. Naturally aspirated boxer engine, a high rev big displacement version of the Impreza's engine.”
“How big?”
“A six cylinder engine of three liters or more,” Itsuki said, blushing. “I wish I knew more, but it's a foreign car. There was one in the professional drift circuit, it can't drift without special tires for the rear. Once the rear end gets out of control on normal tires, it can't be controlled again. The car spins out. The special tires help it drift, but no one else can buy them.”

“Sounds like a real challenge. I'd kind of like to race something like that,” Takumi said, his pace quickening slightly as his blood pressure rose, his racer's blood beginning to boil.
“Why?” Itsuki asked.
“Every car I've challenged has been made here, in Japan. If different people have different driving styles, different countries must have different kinds of cars. Daichi Yoshiro, the man in the yellow NSX, he tuned his car like Americans do and he almost defeated Ryosuke. There was a margin of half a second or less. No offense, Itsuki, but I think I'm running out of challenges,” Takumi sighed as he upshifted, sending the AE86 screaming downhill faster and faster until Itsuki began to grow nervous. With the tachometer buried Takumi tapped the brakes hard and swung the car through the corner, drifting at an incredibly deep angle, more for show than speed. Catching the car Takumi let it come out the other way, pushing the car wider and wider until it was almost sliding completely sideways down the street.
“You've got great car control,” Itsuki said, forcing himself to relax.
“Hmm? Oh, I'm sorry Itsuki, I was just playing,” Takumi responded, waking up from his daydream. That Porsche had been chased by Ryosuke. Maybe he knew who it was, and if he could be challenged.

At the base of Mt. Akina Takumi caught another glimpse of the Porsche, this time trailing the RX-7 as the three cars made their way off to a local diner. Takumi dropped Itsuki off at his house and then went home, his mind ticking over as he went. Parking the AE86, he looked at the Impreza and sighed. Kneeling down, Takumi reached out and felt the width of the tire with his hand, then compared it to the hachi-roku's.
“I use a 195-width tire, but the Impreza has a 225. That's an extra thirty millimeters of contact patch,” he said. The light flicked on and Bunta appeared on the step.
“What are you doing to my car?” he asked.
“Can those tires go on my hachi-roku?” Takumi asked.
“No,” Bunta replied, turning around and going back inside. Takumi rose and followed him into the living room.
“What do you mean? Why not?” Takumi pressed.
“Because they're mine and I don't want you ruining them,” came the grumpy reply.
“But is it possible to put them on the hachi-roku?”
“Not with your wheels. You need a wider wheel with a different offset in order to run tires that wide without damaging your suspension. If you used those tires on your current wheels, they would deform too much and you would have difficulty controlling the car,” Bunta explained simply.
“Oh. Do you know anything about Porsche?”


“They're good cars, for the most part. German. Designed for fast roads and grip driving. They have their engine all the way in the back, which makes them handle strangely. Properly tuned they can be vicious, and a lot of people that can afford to spend that much have great success racing them. If the driver doesn't know what he's doing, they're deadly. Because they have so much weight in the back, if the rear end loses grip and starts to oversteer, it's very easy to lose control of the car and spin out.”
“Can the hachi-roku, well... never mind,” Takumi said, walking up the stairs. Bunta's eyebrows arched slightly, but then in a moment of kindness, he got up with the Impreza's key and threw it up the stairs.
“You may not like it, but it might be the only way to win.”

This post has been edited by thx712517 on Nov 27 2007, 03:49 AM

Another awesome chapter. And it's nice to see Takumi learn more.

BTW, Porsches are known for lift-off oversteer. Just keep that in mind.

Cause the buttocks get lifted up a bit right?

anyway, awesome fanfic, love the other fanfics too, makes me relaxed

Gread read THX! Maybe Ryosuke can start a new team called Project W (Project Wangan lol) made up of the Spirit R, Porche, Devil Z and NSX.

Humm Bunta showing a little compassion to Takumi, hopefully show him some tricks in the imprezza, another technique maybe, keep up the good work, lunch time

Oh mann this is interesting. I could imagine the FD, Porsche, and the NSX racing down the pass. Three powerful cars battling it out.

Attention thx:

That is all.

This post has been edited by rogersj3 on Nov 29 2007, 05:52 AM

Time we got interesting. Dueling battles, one on Akagi and one on Akina. Thank God the work week is over, I thought it would never end. Next week is finals week for almost all of my classes, so lots of studying and cramming for tests. I embrace my two weeks of no class with joy. They can't come soon enough! Only ten more days until freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedom!

***********

“What if I don't want to win?” Takumi responded, throwing the keys back to his astonished father. “I'm tired of people forcing me into the Impreza any time some unstoppable opponent appears on Akina or Akagi or anywhere else. The hachi-roku is my car, isn't it? If it's my car, truly my car, then it's my decision to race it, isn't it? Win or lose I feel the best behind the wheel of the hachi-roku.” Bunta looked at his son, squinted slightly, then shrugged his shoulders.
“It's your choice,” he said over his shoulder, disappearing into the other room. Takumi trudged up the steps and fell down on his bed.

“I don't know why I feel like this, but I feel like my loyalty is torn. I owe the hachi-roku for what its taught me, but everyone else keeps pushing me to drive a new car. With the new cage the car is so much stronger, I feel like it has more left in it. I don't think the hachi-roku has been maxed out yet, but the Impreza is faster. I can't lie,” he said, his mind running over his last attack on Akina, the Impreza reaching the bottom eight seconds sooner than the 86. He turned over in his bed and huffed.
“I can make the hachi-roku faster. I need to practice more.”

*

Keisuke smiled slightly, his blindingly yellow FD resting at the top of Mt. Akagi, engine idling with the normal rotary whir slightly louder with its less-restrictive exhaust. The blue S30Z was a few meters away, its own twin turbo inline six ticking quietly, idling smoothly.
“When do you want to start?” Akio asked, covering a yawn.
“Might as well start now. You have someone down at the finish?” Keisuke asked into the radio, waiting for the reply.
“Ready down here,” came the answer. “Clear of traffic, no issues.” Keisuke handed the radio to Kenta and stepped into his car. The two powerful coupes revved, their engines roaring with power and blowoff valves screaming into the cold autumn air. Kenta slid between the two and raised his arm.
“San! Ni! Ichi! GO!” he shouted, flinching as the two cars accelerated with incredible violence, rear ends wagging as their tires fought for traction. At the end of the short straight the blue Z had catapulted into the lead, leaving Keisuke's FD trailing far behind.

“I won't let you win this easily!” Keisuke shouted, diving deep into the curve and pushing the FD for all it was worth, twin turbos forcing it forward as quickly as possible, his shortened gearing helping to reduce the time he spent out of boost. At the apex of the corner the Z's unstoppable lead began to slow, until at the exit of the corner Keisuke's FD had gained a few precious meters. At the next straight the Z gained again, its incredible power pushing the car forward with unreal speed. Keisuke felt his eyebrows shoot upward and his mouth hang open in shock as the ancient blue Z quickly disappeared around the next corner.

“What kind of devil is this?” he asked, pushing harder. The FD was screaming toward redline when the Z's dim tail lamps appeared diving into the next corner. It had incredible power, and traction to match.
“This car's speed is unreal,” Keisuke muttered, aching to get close enough to analyze its actions. On the straights it shot into the lead, propelled forward with enough thrust to make a rocket feel inadequate. In the corners it used grip driving with no attempt at drift, in fact the car's whole method of driving was extremely conservative.
“Probably necessary with all that power,” Keisuke said, remembering Ryosuke's comments and the simulation. The laptop's prediction made him growl and push the FD harder, feeling his anger rising. There was no reason that ancient piece of steel should be ahead of him on the touge.

Akio hit the brakes to bleed off speed before turning the wheel and feathering into the throttle to clear the corner. The Devil Z was an incredible machine, but until last night it had been tuned for the Wangan. After narrowly defeating the AE85, he had spent hours retuning the coilovers, brake bias, and the carburetors to optimize the Z for mountain passes. There were still some issues, and it hurt not to be able to reach 300 KPH, but it would only be for a short time.
“The midpoint is approaching. I can enjoy myself there,” he said, hitting the brakes again and feeling the powerful four wheel disc brakes hauling the Z down from speed in order to make the next corner. Just a few more corners and then he could unleash the power of the Devil.

Keisuke could feel the FD gaining on his opponent, slowly at first and then hand over fist. Something was changing that was letting him make up ground. Was the Z driving slower on purpose? Shaking his head he charged forward, diving recklessly into the attack in an all-out chance at passing. At first he was two corners back, then one, and now they were charging down the straight side to side, the FD edging slowly past.
“Something isn't right,” Keisuke said, “it's a trap. He's fastest on the straights. Something's wrong here. What's he making me do?” He glanced over at Akio, who was focused entirely forward, every fiber of his body straining to control the Z. Keisuke kept his foot down, slowly passing the Devil Z and taking the lead. Drifting through the corner he suddenly saw why the Z had been holding back. There was a pile of leaves on the inside and outside of the corner, swept there by the wind. With the FD in full drift, the rear wheels would hit the leaves and lose traction. It would be all over.

Keisuke's brain shut down as his body and instinct took over, manipulating the throttle, brakes, and emergency brake while steering as quickly and with as much precision as possible, fighting to narrow the FD's drift angle and keep the tires out of the leaves. His efforts were almost successful, but the rear wheels caught one last patch of leaves and suddenly jerked the FD around, letting the Z pass and forge ahead with its incredible speed. If anything, it was driving faster now while the FD screamed sideways down the straight. Keisuke recovered his coupe and pointed it after the Z, forcing his foot to the floor in a desperate attempt to catch up.

*

“Fujiwara, would you come and meet me?” Ryosuke asked. After a few moments he nodded and shut the phone, putting it away and turning to Tatsuya.
“He's going to come. You'll have a chance to speak with him and, if you choose, challenge him to a race. I'm going to warn you, your car still has a dangerous amount of lift-throttle oversteer. If you take your foot off the throttle your rear end will slide out, and I don't know if you'll be able to react fast enough to get it back under control with the weight of the engine affecting your balance.”
“Let me worry about that, Takahashi,” Tatsuya said as he walked back to the Blackbird. Within half an hour the panda Trueno arrived, its high compression engine and open exhaust noticeable from kilometers off. Tatsuya listened to the car's bizarre idle, a mixture of the individual throttle bodies, the high compression pistons, the header and exhaust, and shook his head.
“I'm used to turbo cars,” he admitted to Ryosuke, “these all-engine cars sound unrefined. Is he truly your opponent, or are you doing this to make me feel better before bringing out your challenger?”
“Sounds like you have a bit of an ego,” Ryosuke replied. “This is one of two people that I know of that can defeat me. One is my brother, and the other is this man here, Fujiwara Takumi. We've raced before, and he has defeated me with that very AE86. I know on the Wangan line they're little more than rolling road blocks, but here, on the curves of Mt. Akagi and Mt. Akina, he is the top dog.”
“If you say so, I'll respect your wisdom,” Tatsuya said, stepping forward to greet the approaching Fujiwara.

“My name is Shima Tatsuya,” he said, bowing slightly.
“Fujiwara Takumi,” came the response. He glanced over behind Tatsuya and saw the Porsche.
“So you're the one that owns that car?” Takumi asked, looking with intense interest at it. When Shima nodded he walked closer, running his hands over the fenders, looking at the tires, and gravitating toward the rear of the vehicle to admire the large spoiler.
“Is it true that the engine is in the back?” he asked.
“Yes,” Tatsuya replied, opening the rear of the car to show him. Nestled under the black curved bonnet was a large and powerful-looking fuel-injected flat six.
“How much power does it make?”
“Anywhere from 300 HP to 600+ HP, depending on the tune. Takahashi Ryosuke has helped me repurpose the car's tuning for mountain passes. I usually do top speed runs on the Wangan line, approaching 300 KPH. For that I use all the power I can, but for here, I haven't decided yet. I wanted to challenge you to a battle, Fujiwara Takumi. Do you accept?”

Takumi looked at the stranger. He was dressed in black, somewhat pale as if he spent a lot of time indoors, thin, and had the casual attitude of someone with a large amount of money. He gave off almost the same aura as Ryosuke, but different, as if his was of the same intensity but a different color. The Porsche was monstrous. Takumi remembered seeing it lead the Spirit R and the NSX Type-R downhill, so not only did it have tremendous power and grip but its driver had skill. It would be an incredible challenge.
“When and where?” he asked.
“I was hoping tonight, right now, on this mountain,” Tatsuya responded, waving a hand toward Mt. Akina. Takumi's eyebrows arched upward slightly in surprise.
“Is this not acceptable?” Tatsuya asked calmly. He was polite but purposeful, and he wouldn't give up until he had his answer. Takumi got the uncomfortable feeling that just under his polite exterior there was a razor-sharp blade that would not be deflected from its target.

“I'm low on fuel. If I can have a few moments to fill up, then yes, I'll race,” Takumi said, unable to believe his words. It was almost unbelievable to be pitched into a battle against the very car he was admiring earlier. Fumihiro handed over a can of fuel, and Yoshiro left in his NSX with radio in hand to cover the finish line, while Ryosuke and Tatsuya made their way to the peak. Takumi finished filling upthe hachi-roku and looked at Fumihiro.
“I don't think this is real,” Takumi admitted.
“Oh?”
“I wanted to race against that Porsche when I first saw it. My dad offered me his own car to battle with because it had more power, but I turned it down to race the hachi-roku. Now that I'm here and I've seen the car up close,” he admitted, “I think I may have made a mistake.”
“There are no mistakes, Fujiwara, just choices we make below the conscious level,” Fumihiro said pointedly before taking the empty can from him and offering a small smile.
“What's the point in racing if you're always winning?” he said before walking away. Takumi checked the oil level on the hachi-roku, then shut the hood and got inside. Starting up the engine he let his forehead rest on the wheel for a moment as he collected his thoughts.
“Fumihiro is right.” He started up the engine and climbed to the peak, his racing blood beginning to boil.

nice, i hope to see the next chapter soon.

Another great chapter that was well worth the wait.

Good stuff, Takumi being pretty hard headed, eventually he need to wake up and realize he has suprased the ae86.

^ And for some strange reason, that bullheaded tenacity of his gets him through the race. Go, Taku!

Lets all wish THX good luck in his finals so that he could get down to the business of writing awesome fics! I am curious as to how this saga will end. Good luck THX. Hopefully you ace all your tests.

I know this isn't a huge update, but it is something to put up between now and Wednesday. I've already got my Health & Fitness final done, as well as American Politics, leaving only Careers in Psychology for Tuesday evening. I think I've done good so far, so we'll see how it ends up.

Man, now I want a 240Z.....

************************

“San! Ni! Ichi! GO!” Fumihiro shouted, throwing his arm down and jumping out of the way as the two cars shot forward, accelerating down the short straight before the road began to grow steeper, the Porsche holding back behind the AE86 as the two plunged downward at faster and faster speeds. Takumi glanced in his mirror and felt his forehead furrow as he tried to analyze the Porsche's decision. Suddenly the answer came clear.
“He wants to study me,” Takumi said, diving into the familiar corner at eighty percent of his full speed. The Porsche drew back at the start of the turn, but by the midpoint it came close and by the end of the turn it was on his rear bumper. Rocketing down the straight Takumi noticed that the Porsche, initially at full throttle, suddenly let off the gas to stay behind the Corolla.

“You want me to show you the entry speeds for Akina, huh? Alright, I will. Wouldn't be fair if you didn't know, would it?” Takumi said, pushing the 86 harder into the next corner, watching with one eye as the Porsche fell back at the beginning of the turn before becoming glued to his bumper by the apex.
“Slow in and fast out, every corner. I guess that's the limitation of the rear engine Porsche,” Takumi said. “I should be able to exploit that quickly. He has great power though, so I can't let him overtake me on the straights or I may not be able to recover in time. I would be able to pass him in the corners though if I had to. I think it's time to have fun.” Takumi downshifted into second and floored it, the four cylinder monster under his hood revving up to its redline, tires screaming for traction as he shot forward, diving into the tight right hand corner at the very limit of his tires. The Porsche quickly fell behind, shocked at first, but then it began to charge, making up for lost time in the corners by thundering down the short straights with monstrous power, accelerating quicker than Takumi had ever seen before.
“So, this is how you drive?” Tatsuya said softly, downshifting and hitting the brakes hard in order to make the corner. Even with Ryosuke's extensive tuning, those who drove any generation of the Porsche 911 knew it was Slow In, Fast Out unless they wanted to risk losing control.
“Impressive. I didn't think such an antiquated car could battle so valiantly,” he remarked, burying the throttle and grinning slightly as the boxer motor's incredible power surged Blackbird forward with unstoppable force.
“He can pass me in the corners, but I can overtake on the straights. From the drive up, I'm running out of chances to pass. If I can get ahead of him here, I may be able to hold him off. But if I win this battle, I won't know anything about Ryosuke's greatest rival, which will hinder me in my battle with him. I hate to do this to you,” he said as he caressed the shifter, “but we need to lose.”

*

Keisuke hit the emergency brake and spun the FD around the goal marker, an orange cone standing large in the center of the road. The Z had already made its way around, its rear end whipping out with a gentle jab of the throttle, and was already passing him by. The FD screamed around the cone and shot upward, the rotary engine roaring with power as it forced the lightweight coupe up the steep incline.

Akio shifted into second and pushed his foot to the floor, the Devil Z's engine shrieking with animal fury as the Z lunged forward with a burst of explosive acceleration, the rear tires threatening to disappear into a cloud of smoke at 62 KPH. Second gear was gone in a rush, followed by third, the engine throbbing with power. Keisuke watched as the FD drew close enough for him to read the plate before the Z pulled effortlessly away, charging uphill without slowing down at all.
“What kind of monster is this?” Keisuke asked, snarling in frustration. The FD was operating at maximum capacity and his own physical strength was beginning to fade from the demands placed upon it, and still the Z was gaining.

Akio glanced in his rearview mirror for a moment before focusing once more on the road ahead.
“It feels like Hakone, but it looks different. I don't know, I don't like all these curves. You can't run free like you can on the Wangan. I know you want to run at full throttle, Z, but I can't let you. I won't let you. Whether we win or lose, he will battle us on the Wangan, and we can show him then how we race,” he said, gripping the wheel tighter in his hands, feeling the coilovers working away as the Z scrabbled for grip as it shot uphill, powered by its twin turbo inline six.

*

Tatsuya downshifted again, his foot stepping heavily on the brake pedal as he forced Blackbird to slow down for the corner. There was a long straight ahead, enough for him to make his move. Lifting off the brake slightly ahead of schedule he felt the rear of the car slide, catching it with a prod of the throttle and a touch of countersteer. With the Porsche pointed in the right direction again he buried the throttle and began to shift upward, rushing forward until he was just behind the AE86, then passing, then ahead. Streaking past the Corolla he smiled, putting as much distance as he dared before pushing heavily on the brakes again to make the next corner.
“I don't want to pass you, but from Ryosuke's mentions of you, you seem to reach a higher driving level once you've been passed. I want to see your attack. I have a feeling that when you pass me, as I know you will, I'll learn more about Ryosuke and how to defeat him. Teach me, 86,” he said, doing his best to remain ahead.

Another great chapter


The way your switching from one race to the other, then back again is just like an actual episode