"Full Throttle" Sample Chapter
Raul's bright yellow
car was still just a blip, but I was gaining. We were separated by about
the length of a straightaway. I kept up the pace, calculating that I'd
be up with him with maybe two laps left. I tried not to think about how
sweet it would be to go by him. And I reminded myself that it would be
one thing to catch someone like DaSilva, and quite another to get by.
"Gap is 3. 3 laps. Gap is 3. 3 laps."
I could see him clearly now, maybe 50 feet ahead. Raul had sped up, no doubt on radio instructions from his own crew, and his car looked twitchy, nervous, right on the edge. I glanced ahead of his car and saw what I needed. Traffic. I reeled him in quickly on the next lap as he lost speed getting past a group of slower cars.
"Gap is 1. 2 laps. Gap is 1. 2 laps."
I didn't care what that the gap was. I was right on him now. I tailed Raul for a lap, watching his line, sometimes easing out from behind to the left, then to the right. I wanted him watching his mirrors, wondering where I was, splitting his concentration. It's a lot harder to lead than to pursue and I was counting on the pressure to give me an opening.
We took the white flag signaling the final lap. I knew Raul would stay up in the high groove, protecting his lead, using up as much track as possible in an attempt to block any inside move I might try. I decided going into turn one that I'd feint low and to the left, then if he went for it, take him high on the exit. It was the same move I'd used to get by Stefan earlier.
He took the bait for my low inside move and, as I hoped, eased his car left to block me. At that moment I immediately went high looking for the gap between his car on my left and the wall looming larger on my right. And it almost worked. I forgot that while Raul was fast he was no sportsman. In an instant he realized I wasn't really coming in low, and he moved up high to the right. He knew that I had to be there, and he knew that I would have to lift or be squeezed into the wall.
It was either locking
wheels with Raul, or the wall. No thanks. I had to lift off and brake.
Even so, by then we were just too close, and Raul's rear tire clipped
the nose of the Swift, ripping it clean off the front of the car, sending
it flashing over my head in pieces. The impact cut deeply into the side
of Raul's tire, and it instantly disintegrated snapping his car sideways
in front of me.
I braced myself for impact inside the Swift's cockpit but it didn't come.
We were out of control at 150 MPH, tire smoke and wreckage filling the
air, and then everything just seemed to slide into slow motion. Raul's
car spun gracefully clockwise, I kept going straight, and a chunk of rubber
took off my right side mirror. But somehow, by inches, I missed him. He
slowly disappeared to my right, and incredibly I found myself looking
ahead at a clear track.
I snapped the Swift down two gears and accelerated hard down the backstraight. I'd lost a lot of speed and without a front nosecone and front wing assembly anymore, the Swift wouldn't stick at all well in the last two corners. I checked my remaining left side mirror. No one close. I was up to straightline speed again, but had to back right off for turns 3 and 4 as without any downforce from the nose, the car wanted to push straight up into the wall.
"Stay low! Stay
low! Traffic right!"
Allan had seen what I no longer could. It was Heinrich, howling past on my blind right side as we exited for the last time onto the main straight. I tucked in behind him but knew it was over. His fist punched out of the cockpit as he took the chequered flag for the win, two seconds ahead of me.
I backed off the throttle and flipped up my helmet visor, drinking in the rush of cool air as the Swift coasted through turns one and two. Stefan came alongside, excitedly pumping both his gloved hands up and down like pistons. I waved back. Heinrich also slowed, came alongside on my right, and gave me a thumbs up. I waved back at him too. We cruised the back straight three abreast, waving to each other and to the crowd, many of whom were on their feet clapping and cheering. It must have been quite a show. I hit the radio.
"Hey Allan! Now can I come in?"
"Yes, now is a good time. Excellent drive Edward! Bring it home. Hang on....Just a minute."
There were banging and scratching noises over the radio, and then a new, very loud and very excited voice blasted inside my helmet.
"Eddie! Where are you? Talk to me!"
Aunt Sophie.
"Hello Sophie! I'm in the car. Where else would I be?"
"Of course you are! Yes! In the car! Never mind! Did you have fun? Were you frightened? How is the car? Can we fix it? What do you want to eat? I made---"
I had to cut in.
"Sophie!"
"What?"
"Relax! I'm coming in. Right now. "
"Good! We are
here!"
"OK, I'll talk to you in about a minute."
"Yes! I'll tell the others! Allan! Eddie's on the phone! He's coming into the pits! This pit! Eddie, Allan says he already knows! What? Yes, Rickie, OK...no, don't start! No singing! Yes Caroline I know he is! OK! Just wait a----"
"Sophie!"
"What?"
"What's going on there?"
"No one is letting me talk."
"You do not need to talk to me on the radio. Calm down. I'm turning into the pit lane now. I will be there in a few moments."
"Yes, I know! Allan told me! Nice to talk to you! Bye Bye! Drive safely!"
© Anthony Hampshire, all rights reserved