I Want To Be A Racing Driver! 18 This Might Really Be Interesting!

"I have enough time to slowly get a feel of the track. No need to push without knowing where I'm going" he thought. This track was long for a karting track. the average lap time was about a minute for the people driving the same karts and Jayden. After almost 3 minutes Jayden completed his first lap. Although he was driving slowly he paid attention to the drivers around him and made sure to stay off the racing line. Crossing the line he looked to the side seeing if he could find hind his uncle. To his surprise, his uncle was busy pointing the camera at a man wearing a suit.

"Wasn't he supposed to film my driving?" Jayden thought, confused by his uncle's actions. Seeing he was again approaching the first corner he put this to the back of his mind and again concentrated on getting familiar with the track.

A few minutes ago uncle Anthony indeed started filming Jayden. But seeing he was driving around extremely slow he got a bit disappointed. "I hope this isn't all he can do otherwise it will be a ma.s.sive waste of time and money. Renting all this camera gear is expensive, let alone the kart and track time!" He looked around to see if there was something interesting going on when he suddenly discovered an older man in a suit standing a few yards away from him. He looked familiar to Anthony so he went to chat with him. He extended his hand for a handshake and said "Good morning, How are you today? Are you by chance familiar with karting? I'm here with my nephew and I was looking for someone who could help me figure out how he's doing!"

The man looked at him, then his huge camera. He finally shook the hand in front of him. "Wich driver is your nephew? I know a bit about racing in general so if you have questions just ask. I'm just looking around today" he said.

"Thank you! My nephew is driving kart number 27 and I think he is just about to finish his first lap. Do you mind if I record your comment's? So my nephew can look at them later? he asked.

The man nodded and looked over at kart number 27 that was now just coming past.

"Is this his first time driving here?" He asked.

"Yes, I think so. How could you tell? Anthony responded. "Because you can see he doesn't know the track layout yet! He is doing a good job staying off the racing line and letting other drivers past so it looks like he has good spatial awareness." He said but although he appreciated the way Jayden was behaving on the track that was all. "Let's see how it looks like when he starts pushing a bit," he thought. Anthony recorded everything the man said. "You never know which footage will be useful later on!" he thought.

Meanwhile, on the track, Jayden was picking up his speed. He had the general layout of the track in his mind now so he could start figuring out the details. "Time to speed up! I don't know how fast I can go without trying to approach the limits." He thought.

Jayden started to visibly speed up. Not going all out yet but feeling out what he could do and where the grip was on track. He figured it would take some time to get used to racing a kart again but to his surprise, it was like he never stopped racing. He had been watching videos online, looking at how fast drivers drove a kart. He now understood that while his smooth driving was good for driving consistently it was harder to go for fastest laps driving like this. He would need to figure out how to let the kart slide when he wants to. This helps to warm the tires and enables you to get the kart to turn quicker. If he could master this would be more complete as a driver. Being able to push for a fast lap when needed but also able to drive fast while keeping the tires and kart in a good state because of his usual smooth style. "I have two hours today. I'll first find out where the grip is and try to set a benchmark lap time. Then see how fast and can go driving with my usual style and finally try to push again but this time driving in a way that should provide the most speed at the cost of tire life!" Jayden planned the rest of his time out.

His lap times were now steadily dropping. From a 2:53.8 for the first lap to a 1:07.1 for his current lap. he no longer got pa.s.sed by everyone and had a nice gap in front an behind him in which he could drive freely. He was now about to try and set a fast benchmark time. His goal was to improve on this throughout the session.

On the sidelines, his uncle was alternating between filming him and filming the man in the suit whenever he had a comment. "He is going a lot faster than before but he is still a way off the times of the fast guys on track." He said, "They are setting lap times in de 55's !"

"They are driving in a different cla.s.s," the man said "their karts have more power and better tires. Off course they'll be faster! Just watch I think your nephew is trying for a fast lap now!"

He had noticed Jayden was on the power a lot earlier when coming off the final corner and entering the straight. He had been looking at other drivers before and only paid minor attention to Jayden but noticing his lap times improving he decided it might be worth watching him for a bit. He immediately noticed that Jayden was carrying more speed into the first corner. Braking late and letting the rear end of the kart slide a bit. Although the cornering speed was higher he could see that Jayden was struggling to control the slide. Following him around the track it was obvious he was not comfortable with the kart sliding. He was carrying more speed but he needed to make a lot of corrections mid-turn which in turn made him lose a bit of the speed he gained. When he crossed the line again his lap-time was only a fraction faster with a 1:06.6

"It looks like your nephew doesn't usually drive like this?" the man asked, uncle Anthony.

"This is my first time seeing him drive. Why would you think he drove different this time? Anthony asked.

The man pondered a bit before he answered. "I'm not sure but it looks like he was forcing himself to let the rear end of the kart slide without being able to control the slide. That's why his lap time only increased marginally although it was obvious he was pushing this time. I think he is trying to figure something out about his driving style from the looks of it" he carefully said. " This could be interesting. He managed to improve his lap time even though his lap was full of mistakes. If he manages to get a clean lap he should be faster by a huge margin" He thought

"What's your nephew's name? And how long has he been karting?"The man asked

"His name is Jayden and I'm not sure when he first started karting. I do know this is his first time behind the steering wheel in almost 2 years though" Anthony responded. "He hasn't karted in 2 years?!" the man exclaimed.

"This might really be interesting!"He thought