I Want To Be A Racing Driver! 9 Learning Throughout The Sessions.

When it was Jayden's turn to go he gently depressed the throttle and entered the track.

A lot has changed since the first time Jayden drove a kart so instead of trying to go as fast as he could from the start he planned what he would do for this session.

He figured it would be best to first have a proper understanding of the track. He would feel how the kart behaved in the meantime anyway so that's how he started the session.

While he was driving around going pretty slow other drivers were already putting in fast laps.

Jayden was not bothered by this and kept driving around slowly. Every lap he completed he had a better understanding of the track. He was also beginning to feel how the kart was behaving trough his inputs. "Driving a real kart is totally different!"He thought. "It reacts immediately to my every input and I can feel everything through the steering wheel and the seat".

After completing another lap he noticed a marshal waving a sign indicating there were only five minutes left in the session.

"I have a good enough image of the track now. Time to increase my pace a little each lap"

The next five minutes Jayden started increasing his pace. Braking as late as he could at every corner one lap. Then accelerating as hard as he could out of corners the next one. Even taking corners at speeds that were far too high almost leaving the track. He even pushed so hard that he even spun out in a fast corner.

The parents and instructors who were watching from the sidelines saw this happening. A few of them smirked and others shook there heads. Jayden's dad couldn't figure out why he was driving like that. "Jayden's driving is usually very smooth. Why is he driving so aggressively now?" he thought.

Melvin Luke and Xander were standing together. "Can I have the form of the driver in number 99?" Luke asked Xander. Xander looked through the papers for a bit and presented the correct form to Melvin.

"Are you going to pull him off track?"Xander asked. He could not understand how someone could be driving so badly. "first he was going so slow and now he's all over the place he thought"

"No this is the first time he is driving a real kart so as long as he doesn't get in the way of the other drivers let him go," Melvin said. Melvin was also trying to figure out what Jayden was doing but after seeing the form he thought his way of driving came due to inexperience.

looking further he started paying attention to other drivers. He could see there were some with experience who were driving around with a good amount of speed. In his mind, he picked out 6 drivers that were promising and Octavia was one of them. Did not mean that only they would acquire a license but they were the ones he labeled as talented.

Luke, on the other hand, was also paying attention to Jayden and had a totally different idea about his driving than Melvin and Xander.

"He was going slow the first 10 minutes and then suddenly started speeding up. I think he was really trying to gather information about the track first and now he is figuring out the karts performance. Let's see what will happen in the second session!" He thought.

Meanwhile, in kart number 99 Jayden was having the time of his life. "This thing is amazing!" he thought. "The brakes are incredible, the steering is precise and the engine is a lot more powerful than the ones I usually drive!"

Just as he thought he had a good enough understanding of the kart to try a proper lap the chequered flag was waved.

Session one ended.

They were all waved back into the pits. and got out of there karts.

Melvin called them together to review the session.

"Were you all able to get a good enough understanding of the kart and track?" he asked

"Yes sir" They all replied. No one wanted to look like they did not know how to drive so even if they were not confident the did not show it.

"Are you sure?"Melvin asked while looking at Jayden. "the second session we won't allow erratic driving! If you're not in control we will pull you off track"

Jayden looked at the kids around him and noticed everyone was looking at him. It seems he caught their attention with his driving in the first session.

He shrugged and no longer paid them mind."How else would I figure out how to drive this thing" he thought.

Noticing Jayden would not request help Melvin gave up and continued.

"From this session onward we will track your lap-times. Remember what I told you before! this session is about consistency. Complete your laps in the fastest time you can without making mistakes and try to keep them as consistent as possible. I would rather see you doing laps in the 44 consistently than see your times swinging between 42's and 44's."

They all nodded and were ready to get back into their karts when Melvin suddenly called out again.

"One final thing you need to know is that if you cannot lap faster than 45's consistently you will not be allowed to apply for the written exam. This means you will not be able to get a license this year!"

"Not lapping faster than 45's means you don't belong on the track," one boy said.

He was looking Jayden's way when saying this but Jayden was already walking towards his kart not paying him any attention.

This boy was one of the children that came with their own full racing gear and he even has his own kart on track here today. He also was one of the children Melvin noted as having talent for the sport.

From the sidelines, the boy's father yelled at him. "Stop trying to look like your a professional racer and get going Vincent. Can't you see n.o.body is listening to you?!"

Vincent was surprised to see he was the only one still standing and quickly ran over to his kart.

Again the instructors made sure they were all properly seated and secured and let the marshal send them back on track.

Jayden no longer planned on going slow. He figured out what the ideal racing lines would be when he was discovering the track and he also knows how much he can push his kart. That was his reason for driving so erratically in the final 5 minutes of the first session. The only thing he wasn't able today in the first session was set a clean lap.

"I will have to set a fast lap-time first and see if it is doable for the whole session or if I have to reduce speed to improve consistency.

When it was Jayden's turn to get on track he immediately went for a fast lap. His first full lap after leaving the pits he pushed himself to the maximum. He noticed while completing the lap that he was not feeling comfortable pushing this hard so for the following lap he slowed than a bit. He kept slowing than a little bit every lap until he found the speed in which he felt that he would be able to drive around consistantly.

Feeling a lot more comfortable he became more aware of the other drivers around him. The closest one in front was about 200 feet ahead of him and the closest behind 30 feet. He had a nice s.p.a.ce to drive in now so he started focusing on driving in his usual smooth driving style.

Jayden always felt that the best style to drive is to be as smooth as possible with his inputs. Only turning the steering wheel one time without having to correct any slides. Pressing the brakes progressively without locking them and sliding further thus losing time. And lastly only apply the throttle when he is sure the tires won't spin-up or he loses control over the rear end of the kart.

The reason Jayden is able to do this is that he has an amazing driving sense. He can feel where the grip is through his steering wheel and his seat. It's almost like a sixth sense. The second reason Jayden can keep up this smooth racing style is his ability to concentrate for long periods at a time.

Now that Jayden could concentrate on his driving his lap times started to increase again bit by bit without him noticing. This came due to his driving style becoming increasingly smooth. Thus there was no extra strain when driving and his lap-times kept decreasing. It did not take long before he caught up to the driver in front.

Instructor Melvin had told them before to let faster drivers past but the driver in front of Jayden was not planning to move aside. Jayden thought about pa.s.sing him but noticed the marshal waving the sign saying 5 minutes again. He really wanted to pa.s.s the guy in front. He even pulled beside him on the straight intending to get past but he defended the inside line and braked so late that his kart kept sliding forward instead of turning almost crashing into Jayden who tried to overtake him around the outside. "Better not get in an accident!" Jayden thought remembering his fathers and the instructor's many warnings. He gave up trying to get past and drove well below his optimum pace until the session was over. Pulling back into the pits after seeing the chequered flag Jayden looked at the driver who was driving number 48. He must have felt Jayden looking at him because he looked backed and smirked!

This infuriated Jayden. He knew he was faster but that didn't matter if he couldn't get past.

He calmed himself down by thinking back to his session. "I learned a lot this time around. It's good that this isn't a real race otherwise I would have gotten really frustrated. Like the instructor said its better to be fast. That way you can start ahead of others and not get held up!"

"Nothing to worry about though," he thought. "Next session is all about lap-time. I at least have to beat that guy!"