Speed Is King

If there was something that would take the inexperienced race spectator by complete surprise, it would be the incredible roar of the engines.

The sound that the engines of twelve turbocharged Bugatti Chiron Classic IIIs made at full throttle was so loud that all the racers had to wear earbuds within their helmets.

VROAARR!!

The Chirons' mesmerizingly fat and wide tires scorched down the second major straightway of the track at an incredible five hundred kilometers per hour.

The alien modified Chirons were proving to be total beasts on the race track!

"With all the slipstream I am getting from the neon Chiron, I should be able to cut his lead to one car length by the end of this straightway." Kara thought as she narrowed her eyes in concentration.

The lead neon Chiron had a speed advantage going out of the corner, but Kara was enjoying the slipstream that he generated. The advantage generated by the slipstream would prove to be higher with such a long straightway ahead of them.

She glanced at her rearview mirror and found that the black Chiron had returned to his position right behind her. He seemed content to stay where he was even though he had the opportunity to draw level with or even overtake Kara.

The pressure the black Chiron was emanating had increased greatly, and Kara could literally feel the driver's bloodlust and excitement just washing over her.

"He's the real deal, and he is biding his time." Kara thought grimly. "I definitely cannot take him lightly. I have to keep an eye on him and focus on dealing with this sneaky neon Chiron at the same time."

This was the dilemma of the sandwiched racer.

The lead racer had the excitement of being in the lead, but had to deal with the fear of being overtaken by the wiles of the rear racers. This was his dilemma.

The middle racer had to think of ways to overtake the lead racer, AND had to deal with the strategies of the rear racer as well. It was a high-stakes juggle of tasks and it was proving to be rather difficult for Kara.

The last racer had the enormous task of overtaking two racers ahead of him, but he could fully focus on that task without fear of anything behind him. And if all went exceedingly well, he could even watch the middle racer take down the lead racer too.

"I'd rather be the rear racer." Kara thought fleetingly. But she was much too disciplined to allow such useless thoughts to remain in her head for long.

She glanced at the series of corners ahead of them.

"The upcoming high speed corners shouldn't be much of a problem. I don't have to deal with his dirty air just yet."

She had been taught by her instructors that the greatest advantage that rear cars have over the lead cars was the slipstream generated.

Slipstream was basically a zone behind the lead car with less air resistance.

The turbulent air that the lead car had overcome would flow right by the rear car, creating a low-pressure zone behind the lead car and allowing the rear car to experience less resistance, and thus allowing it to go just a little bit faster.

And once the rear car had built up a five to ten kilometer per hour speed lead, overtaking the lead car would be easy.

However, during a corner, the slipstream would turn into dirty air.

The lack of air resistance would create less downforce for the rear car, and thus reducing its grip. In most cases, dirty air would cause the driver to take the corner at a lower speed due to the slight change in how the car works, and the adjustments that the driver had to make on the fly.

Just as she predicted, the first high speed corner came and went without much drama.

The second and third one too.

"This race would be determined in the low speed corners. I need to make my move before then!" Kara decided to attack pre-emptively. "Human or alien, let me introduce you to dirty driving 101 - Fishtailing!"

As the third low speed corner appeared, Kara tensed slightly as she focused on finding the right opportunity to bump the neon's rear without messing up her own racing line too much, and most importantly, without creating too much of an opening for the black Chiron.

VROO! VROO! VROO!

The neon Chiron ahead of her down shifted three times instead of four and immediately entered the corner at a drift once more.

However, because the neon Chiron's strategy was to drift, he was able to maintain a higher entry speed compared to Kara, and she was unable to execute her evil plan.

"I need to get closer! I'll risk it and take the next high speed corner at a slightly higher entry speed," Kara thought grimly.

VROARR!!

Three Chirons exploded out of the low speed corner and began their wild acceleration as they hurtled down the third major straightway.

ROOAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!! VrrrRRRRRROOAAAARRRRRR!!!

It was an intense three-way battle.

The bright blue Chiron was completely left behind.

Slowly but surely, the neon Chiron extended his lead over the other two.

Two car lengths.

One and a half car lengths.

Two and a half car lengths.

Two car lengths.

Three car lengths.

"Damn it! At this rate, he'll pull away completely!" Kara thought in slight desperation. "I'll have to wait till the other cars crash to take advantage of the chaos, or wait till his grip gives out. Patience. Patience."

Kara quickly calmed down and continued to press on.

Very soon, one lap was over.

And as they entered the second low speed corner of the track, Kara's prediction proved to be accurate.

There were two crashed Chirons near the corner exit!

Both were overturned and on fire, and Kara had no idea if the drivers made it out alive.

But she totally did not care..

Her chance to deal with the neon Chiron had come.

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