Daynight Racer (Completed)

Chapter 9

The first thing Lyst noticed was how jerky the car was from standstill. As she glided along the pitlane, she felt as if she had just recovered from a concussion.

L: Is there something wrong with the clutch? I think I hurt my brain.

R: Nope, the clutch is designed that way. Don't be dramatic, Lyst. Get used to it.

Lyst swore she could hear the tease in Rick's tone, and it made her frown inside her helmet. But soon that frown turned into a grin as she crossed the pitlane exit.

There was no more speed limit, and Lyst very well knew that. For the first time, she put the pedal to the metal. The engine responded by revving higher and higher, spooling the turbo, and cranking more torque and power. Lyst was pushed into her seat by the G-forces, and she felt the sensation of speed with every fibre of her being. It was utterly exhilarating to say the least.

A few seconds of straight line acceleration was followed by a corner. Lyst let go of the throttle, and used her left foot to stomp on the brakes hard. Immense inertial forces pushed her body towards the front of the cockpit. If it weren't for the HANS device, she was pretty sure she would have smacked her head against the steering wheel, earning her yet another unpleasant concussion.

Lyst then turned the steering wheel left with one swift motion, and the car responded without any complaints. Despite being sloshed around in the cockpit, driving this car felt so... effortless, like the car was an extension of Lyst's physical body that could be easily controlled.

"Holy cow, that was really something," she muttered to herself as she made the corner.

Lyst continued to drive around the track. She felt everything, from each bump on the track to the way the wheels were turning at who knows how many times per second. She was having the time of her life. Nothing could drag her, nothing could slow her down, and certainly nothing could wipe the grin off her face.

Perhaps Lyst was having a little too much fun with the car that she forgot its limits. On just her second ever lap, she went a little too throttle-happy on the exit of a hairpin, and the rear wheels lost traction, stepping out into a spin. Instinctively, Lyst cranked the steering wheel the opposite direction, but then the front wheels gripped the ground too hard and pushed the car in the other direction. There was nothing Lyst could do as the car fell into a spectacular spin, only to land on the grass patch on the side of the track a few seconds later.

R: Are you alright?

L: I... What happened?

R: You spun. Now try to get the car on the road once more and come back into the pits, please.

Lyst was still a little shook by the scary incident, but she followed Rick's request nonetheless. She eased the throttle, making the wheels turn slowly. Thankfully, the rubber gripped the slippery grass nicely, and Lyst was able to limp the car back on track. She weaved the car a little to get rid of any excess dirt stuck on the car, and then got back up to normal racing speeds. She entered the pits at the end of the lap.

***

"Phew, that was tiring," said Lyst as she pulled herself out of her racecar.

Ashley handed her a towel. "It sure was. Look, you're drenched in sweat."

"Partially because it felt like a sauna in there." Lyst replied. "It was what... forty, fifty degrees in there?"

Ashley stuck her palm into the cockpit and shrugged. "About right."

The two girls went to the back of the garage, and Ashley waited as Lyst took off all of her safety gear and race suit. When she reappeared from behind the tyre stacks, she looked just like any normal girl, with no hint of her being a racing driver just a few minutes ago, except for the drying sweat of course.