The Roads That Entwine (B-Spec drivers story)

[Storm_SP17]

Hi! So, I thought I would make a little story based on the new B-Spec Drivers that I am currently making on GT5. I decided to write the first chapter before posting here, and some of the pics are already waiting to be added to text, but I just thought I'd make this first post a quick introduction to what this thread is about, before you see a great massive wall of text and images.

I won't tell you how the story goes, but I'm hoping that I get enough of a good first impression from you guys here at GTPlanet to encourage me to continue to write past this first chapter.

A few of you may recognise that I was recently going to write race reports on the GTPlanet Rolex Sports Car Series in its debut season, but because of many hiccups, I decided not to. If you were hoping for more of the RSCS stuff, then be sure to check this out.

Chapter One, coming soon....

 

[Storm_SP17]

England – 3am:

“… And that concludes the highlights to the Canadian Gran Prix for another year. This is Will Buxton, signing out!” said the commentator on the television, before the distinct blip of a television being turned off followed a moment of silence in the dark room. A young man, dressed in little more than a pair of boxer shorts, fell back onto the bed he had sat at the edge of for hours, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness after watching the brightly lit screen. “So you’re finally going to come to bed now then, Harlow?” asked a voice next to him. The young man turned his head and laid eyes on the silhouette of a slender young woman lying next to him, the covers loosely draped over her lower half. Harlow sat up again, only this time he rose to his slightly numb feet and stumbled around to her side of the bed. He knelt down next to her face and smiled. “I guess so, heh. I’m sorry Megan; you know what I’m like with my motorsports…” Harlow softly whispered, kissing her nose. The tip of Megan’s nose twitched, yet her eyes remained closed. “Of course, I’ve had to put up with it for three years.” She replied, playfully poking him. However, she managed to poke him in the eye, and Harlow let out a short yelp.

“That was my eye!”
“Oh baby, sorry! I didn’t have my eyes open…”
“Well now that makes two of us!”

The pair laughed loudly to themselves, the noise bounced around the room for a good while until there was a thud on the wall. The laughter had woken their neighbours, it would seem. Their hysteria died down shortly after, while Harlow got into bed. “We need out of this flat, babe.” Megan whispered, as Harlow moved in closer. His hand rose to touch Megan’s back carefully, before fondling the hair behind her ear sweetly. “I know, Meg… Hopefully the race day in London tomorrow will see me raking in some extra money. I’m glad it’s an afternoon slot for the compact car class, or I’d be pretty buggered for the morning.” Harlow began. “You never know, it might be the start of something big.” He added with a smile. Megan coughed out a short laugh. “Yeah, yeah… you say that every week.” She taunted, a grin widening across her face. Megan reached out for his hand from behind her and clasped it, pulling him closer and putting his arm around her body. Harlow drifted off to sleep, but Megan lay awake for a little while longer. His hand was resting upon her stomach, while her hand drew circles over the back of his with her finger. A single tear of joy fell upon the pillow at a thought in her mind.

Meanwhile… Japan – 12pm:

A moonlight blue Mitsubishi FTO GPX 94’ flew down the straight at Suzuka, with numerous other cars in the pit garages and many spectators overlooking the track, which had been laid out to use the East Course layout. The FTO’s loud roaring engine as it entered the first and second curve sent the fans wild with joy, showing a very ample grip to hug both apexes without issue. The car glided through the S Curves into Dunlop, before attacking the apex at the right hander leading to the main straight. The back of the car swung off the track under the stress of the manoeuvre, but the driver inside maintained great control and poise to bring the car back and caress the final sweeping curve to the straights, much to the delight of the spectators. After another lap, the Mitsubishi pulled into the pit garages, where the driver was awaited by a crew of three.

The door swung open the moment the car stopped, with the rest of the cars and drivers looking to see who the driver was. As the driver leapt from the Mitsubishi, the helmet came off within seconds, and to the surprise of many bodies in the paddock, the driver was a young Japanese girl no older than 18 years of age. “You guys! That car is amazing; I can’t believe you’re letting me loose with it today!” The girl yelled, leaping through the air to hug one of the men waiting to greet her. “Now now, Sayu, we all know you can handle this car well, but I did contemplate sending you back home to Nagoya after pulling that little kick before the pits on your first lap.” The man scolded politely. “I’m sorry, grandpapa. I’ll be safer in the race.” Sayu replied, with a cheeky wink and a grin. Her grandfather let out a sigh… he knew she wouldn’t once she was set free on that track again.

“The close-ratio 5 Speed we installed seems to be working well at delivering the power, Akiyama-sama.” One of the crew, a mid-twenties Japanese male with chin strap facial hair and glasses, stated to Sayu’s grandfather. “Good work, Kurai-kun, and a ‘well done’ goes to Matsuda for tweaking the engine too. 194bhp should be more than enough for this race.” Sayu’s grandfather commended, looking at the younger, clean shaven male polishing the car. As her grandfather talked with the crew, she eyed the competition a bit more. Sayu was going to start just one place ahead of a formidable Integra Type R 03’; a car with over 200bhp as standard and similar weight. Since it was a grid start, she was hoping to get the jump on the cars ahead of her, from the 5th place she was given, before the first corner. However, she began to shake with nerves. “Don’t worry…” her grandfather spoke, noticing her apprehension, before placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “This might be your first ever race, but just relax. You can drive better than any of these people here, and I’ve been around long enough to know. Besides, your grandmother wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you. She’ll be sitting next to you all the way.” Her grandfather smiled, winking. Sayu began to sob, “You’re right, she wouldn’t would she? Thank you.” Sayu responded, giving her gramps a big hug before drying her watery eyes. With a massive grin, she rushed off back to the car and hopped back in.

Before long, it was only minutes until the start of the race at 1pm, and Sayu was ready and prepared to set off from her starting grid. She thought about what her grandfather had said, and took notice of the cars around her. “If I can apply the pressure early on, I should be able to charge off ahead. As long as that Integra doesn’t follow me….” she announced to herself, glaring at the grid place in her right wing mirror. She then looked back to the front runners, of which a Mazda Lantis, Peugeot 406, Honda Accord and the pole-sitting Renault Megané V6 stood in her way. Her grip on the steering wheel tightened, as the lights went out for the start of the race. Sayu’s foot planted firmly on the throttle, easing ever so slightly as to not create wheel spin. Her start was impressive, passing the Mazda Lantis on her left with ease. However, as expected, the Integra opened up the taps on its engine and roared past her on her right hand side. “Damn it! I should’ve blocked him off! Never mind…” Sayu snapped, but quickly maintained focus.

Sayu quickly veered right, seeing that the two French cars occupied the left part of the track, but as she did, she realized that the right looked too cramped and too risky to pass into turn 1, what with both Honda’s fighting for position. It looked as if the first four cars had set up a track-wide blockade in front of the Mitsubishi, much to the delight of Sayu…not. Meanwhile, watching the scene on a monitor, Sayu’s grandfather merely pursed his lips into a smile. “That start was better than I thought.” He said, addressing Kurai and Matsuda, who stood next to him watching as well. “At least she’s not last, I guess.” Kurai replied, somewhat bewildered. Sayu’s grandfather shook his head. “That isn’t what I mean, Kurai. Look, she’s being blocked off. It means Sayu can’t just open the taps and speed off like she’s able to. Plus the Integra got in front of her too, so it will be a case of having to follow it through instead of outright passing it.”

“I see.” Both men answered…

“Try THIS on!” Sayu erupted in the cockpit, steaming through the inside of the first and second curve. She had easily swept through the first curve and moved up to fourth ahead of the Accord, while in the next corner, the plucky young girl dived into the apex, putting the FTO’s nose ahead of the Integra mid-way through the corner. However, it was not the end of that placing, as the Integra powered around the outside into the S Curves to reclaim third before Sayu knew what hit her. The Accord tried a pass up the inside of the Mitsubishi, but with a simple “No you don’t” from Sayu, the FTO roared through the first left hander and hugged the apex into a right hander, putting a healthy gap behind her and closing up even more on the now third place Peugeot 406 coupé coming into the next left hander. As she glanced ahead, she could see that the Integra was behind the Megané, which had been first for the best part of this first lap. She couldn’t relax, however, as she found herself stuck behind the Peugeot.

Sayu had to shadow the 406 for the rest of the lap, but by then the Honda Integra made light work of the Renault Megané leading up to the last corner, and as lap two began, the Integra took a one second lead over the Renault. The young Sayu decided it was time to attack, and as she took Turn One just behind the Peugeot, she bolted over to the outside of Turn Two and zipped around the outside of the apex hugging 406. Sayu’s grandfather, as well as Matsuda and Kurai, burst into applause. “Sugoi! Akiyama-sama, I didn’t realize Sayu-chan was this good! She didn’t use the apex, and outpaced a 3-Litre!” Matsuda joyfully remarked. Sayu’s grandfather just laughed. “Well, I for one am not surprised. You know sometimes Honda allows amateurs to run a lap in one of their cars along this East circuit? Well, Sayu broke a record by over 2 seconds, but it didn’t count because she was only 14 at the time; not a road legal citizen.”

“That’s amazing…” Kurai exclaimed.

“Amazing you say? She ran wide the whole way around…” Sayu’s grandfather sighed, before grinning. “She didn’t hit a single apex that day. She got such a scolding from me when she got back, but she just got so excited and so heated she didn’t care. She understands it more now though; she plays Gran Turismo 5 enough and has practiced here in my cars enough times over the years, but she always has that way of finding grip and speed on any part of the track.”

Sayu’s Mitsubishi powered around the outside of the 2.0-litre Megané with ease through the S Curves; just moments after beating the 406 through the second curve. “Sayonara, baka-yarou! HAAAH!” she shrilled ecstatically, as she overtook the French car, waving at the driver inside. She just couldn’t contain the excitement at that moment, and as Sayu motioned the FTO left through Dunlop and swung it right, she found herself inches behind the Honda Integra’s rear bumper. It seemed as though the Integra had been taking it rather easily up the front, almost teasing the other drivers, but with the FTO behind it, the driver put the pedal to the floor, showing brilliant power. Sayu tried to capitalise on the driver’s teasing by taking the outside line, but now had to play catch-up with the machine’s flat out pace.

For the whole of lap three, Sayu kept behind the Integra with deftly sweeping cornering, but the Integra was always able to outpower the FTO upon the exit. She didn’t want to be reckless, but Sayu knew that she absolutely had to maintain pressure, or else it would be too far ahead before the sixth and final lap. “There’s no way I’m letting you get away that easy.” Sayu warned with a devilish grin, moving dangerously close to the edge of the track at the final, tight right-hander leading to the straight. By the start of lap four, the Integra led the FTO by four tenths of a second, with the rest of the pack some four seconds behind the leader, at least. Sayu was well within the drafting zone, but the Integra took up a defensive position close to the apex coming into the first corner to block any attempts of a pass.

“He must know…” Sayu’s grandfather stated in the pits, as he watched the action unfold. “He must at least have been paying attention to her earlier on in the race.”

For much of lap four, Sayu was shadowing the Integra in her FTO from a comfortable distance behind, now and again showing Bello that she was still within striking distance. Through the S Curves, she moved just a few feet away from the rear of the red Honda, after Sayu clearly took the corner much better than her opponent despite the power difference. The crowd was most certainly enthralled by the racing of the front two cars; a true battle between monstrous Japanese machines on their home turf, between two iconic manufacturers.

“Who is the driver anyway?” Her grandfather asked, looking to Kurai for the information.

Kurai opened up a book next to the monitor in the garage, flicking through the race schedule. “Let’s see… ah… Escobar Bello, 27, Honda Integra Type R 03’. He’s the driver, Akiyama-sama!”

“So he’s quite a bit older than Sayu? This should be interesting; I wonder how it must feel to be pressured by a young girl in an older era car.” Sayu’s grandfather pondered, putting a hand upon his bearded chin in thought. “Actually, nine years separates both the driver and the cars. How ironic… this was your doing wasn’t it, my love?” Sayu’s grandfather smirked, walking away from the pit garage for a moment to look up at the sunny Suzuka skies, as if talking to a parted soulmate.

“Nearly had him, but I went in too quickly!” Sayu snapped, pounding a fist on the steering wheel as a quick entry into the tight right turn saw the FTO dive around the outside. However, the manoeuvre fell short, as the left rear wheel shaved the edge of the track, and the speed upon exit forced the young girl racer to slow to maintain control. She feared that she would have to spend yet another lap behind riding the Integra’s coattails, and as lap five commenced, she had to make up the time lost for her minor mistake as well as the speed advantage.

“Jeez, that was close!” Matsuda exclaimed, seeing the close-call on the moniter. “Akiyama-sama, are you sure Sayu-chan will be fine?”

Sayu’s grandfather paused, waiting for Sayu to give her a sign that she hadn’t given up. Yet, when she reached the S Curves once more and closed the gap, he simply shrugged with a faint smile as she tried another pass up the outside before the lap was finished. “Who knows?” He replied. Meanwhile, back on the track, Sayu had planted her nose firmly within the draft of the Honda, the roar of the crowd exploded across the track as the cars made their way through for lap six; the final lap. This was it; the last chance for Sayu to mount one last charge on the Integra ahead of her. She was ready to attack with maximum ferocity this time, with holding back and biding time firmly cast aside. “That’s it, Sayu… pile it on.” Her grandfather muttered to himself, as Sayu’s unrelenting pressure mounted. With the first corner approaching fast, Sayu took a deep breath, waited and broke hard and late. The Integra moved to block the apex off from the FTO and…

... lost control!

The Integra veered wildly over to the left under braking, taking to the sand. Even then, the well-timed powerslide to recover the car brought the car under reigns, and it swiftly tried to re-emerge onto the track before the second curve. It almost looked as though the Integra, deliberately, was going to T-bone Sayu’s Mitsubishi, but Sayu was just too quickly through the bend after a fine display of bravery and skill. “SAYONARAAA MR. HONDAAA!! BYE BYEEEE!!” Sayu screamed at the top of her lungs in utter elation as she sped through the S Curves, being sure to capitalise on the driver’s mistake and make use of the open air ahead of her now. The crowd were on their feet with delight, cheering the Mitsubishi on as Sayu opened up the taps on its 194bhp engine, the tyres squealing through the corners as she hugged each and every apex. She was nearly a second quicker than anyone else through the first two sectors, and looked to smash the third too. Her final lap was a 1:09.983, over a second quicker than the 1:11.129 of the Honda Integra in second place. The crowd, as well as the whole paddock, ignited in a blaze of jubilation. This may only have been an amateur class race, but for everyone involved, especially Sayu, this was a mark of unbelievable work and skill on full display.

As Sayu returned from her victory lap and entered the pit garage, the screams of delight from within the car could be heard from half-way down the paddock, and as the door swung open and the helmet flew off, the whole paddock could hear Sayu Akiyama’s victory cry! “WE DID IT!! GRANDPAPA, MATSUDA, KURAI… WE REALLY DID IT!!!” Sayu sang, the four of them coming together to a rather busy-looking group hug; plenty of jumping up and down in one place was seen. “Good job out there, Sayu. You did fantastic.” Her grandfather said, rolling a tear from his eye. “It was your first race, and you fought hard. Well done!”

Just then, the organizer of the event made his way to the pit garage of the Mitsubishi FTO, where Sayu and her grandfather were still celebrating. “Mr. Daiki Akiyama, Miss Sayu Akiyama. I would like to say congratulations on your win here.” The organiser began, “there is something I would like to propose to you all, and I hope you accept it. It isn’t done often, but the fans and other members of the organisation requested it, so I was wondering if you would all like to compete in other amateur race schedules through the rest of the day. There is another race at 2:30 pm, and two more after that. Would you be interested?”

Sayu was mesmerized by the proposal, and looked to her grandfather expectantly. “It’s your choice, Sayu.” Daiki shrugged, placing a hand on her head. “Okay Mr. Nakajima, I’ll stay on and race, as long as Kurai and Matsuda want to stay and help with the car.” Sayu replied politely, looking at her grandfather’s crew. Both of them nodded and agreed enthusiastically. Once everything was settled, Sayu went to the podium to collect the small gold trophy and a pay cheque for her winnings, she could only think about how the next few unexpected chances at racing were going to proceed.

 

[RCKakashi14]

Nice story! I hope you could keep this up. As for my story, I might as well take a break for a while from writing.

 

[Storm_SP17]

Thanks, its appreciated that you enjoy it. I've been following your story, so its actually quite nice to hear from you. The story you wrote inspired me to do something similar, since I used to do roleplay writing for general fantasy/action and anime fanfic for 4 or more years. I'm a little rusty as you might be able to see, plus I'm not used to doing something more real-life based as a fiction piece, but I'll get the hang of it.

I'll see about working on chapter two soon, but for now I just want to kick back and see if more interest comes along. Might switch the pics over to photobucket though, leave room on here for other things.

 

[DK]

Sayu seems like a barrel of fun already.

 

[Storm_SP17]

Hahaha, when I started writing about Sayu, I was thinking she'd be a bit of a livewire. I'm glad it came across that way.

 

[ITCC_Andrew]

So, this is what you're on about... Decides not to try to race against Storm's B-spec drivers... Decides that this looks like a penalty in the ITCC...

I've decided, though, that this actually DOES resemble the ITCC:

Yeah... And, I've decided that the Integra driver would be much better suited to my new series!

Of course, the backstory of the FTO, is that you're breaking it in, for the ITCC, I know that.

 

[Storm_SP17]

Thanks for that Mel, although I didn't know this was a picture/text-based television show with picture/text-based commercials to boot. Aaaand no, the thing about the backstory is incorrect. Sorry, bro.

So I have part of chapter two lined up for you guys. It'll take a bit of time since I'm doing other things GT5-related in between, but hopefully I should have something for you this week. I have the race replay of the next chapter's centrepoint race already saved, so I'll be getting photo's for it once I begin the race report section.

 

[W3H5]

I like reading these stories but the font is so small and difficult to read. Any chance you could make it normal size?

 

[Storm_SP17]

I definitely could do that if its easier. I'll have to warn you that it'll look even more like a wall of text than before, haha! I hope it doesn't put people off.

Also, just a spoiler of sorts, but the next chapter involves Harlow's race in London, and develops the story slightly between him and his girlfriend, Megan, so a bit of mushy "awww" stuff.

 

[ITCC_Andrew]

Thanks for that Mel, although I didn't know this was a picture/text-based television show with picture/text-based commercials to boot. Aaaand no, the thing about the backstory is incorrect. Sorry, bro.

So I have part of chapter two lined up for you guys. It'll take a bit of time since I'm doing other things GT5-related in between, but hopefully I should have something for you this week. I have the race replay of the next chapter's centrepoint race already saved, so I'll be getting photo's for it once I begin the race report section.

I don't troll, what're you talking about?

Otherwise, I know man. I was just kidding. I guess I just don't have a good sense of humour...

 

[Storm_SP17]

I wouldn't worry about it.