章節 28: Passed with flying colors!
While Jayden exited the pitlane Kevin pulled out a digital stopwatch from his pocket. He walked to the barrier as close to the start/finish line as he could as he planned to keep close watch of Jayden's lap-times. His plan was to note all of Jayden's lap-times to make better comparisons throughout the sessions. If possible he would have liked the official results but those were only given at the end of the exam. This would be too late for Kevin. The times were needed to make sure the information Jayden gives him matches what is seen on the track. "Let's see if the kid's feedback is accurate enough to help make setup changes. Otherwise well have a tough time creating a good baseline setup.
On the track, Jayden had just finished about to start his first flying lap. "The track hasn't changed since last time I drove here so I can start feeling out the kart immediately!" he thought. The following laps Jayden proceeded with his usual process of pushing for a fast lap, slowing down and then speeding up again lap after lap. The only change from before was that where he normally would concentrate on improving his lap-time he now concentrated on anything and everything he felt through the kart. This was what he had planned with Kevin and he did not want to disappoint. All the while he was growing more and more fond of his kart. While all the karts that he had driven off this class should essentially feel the same this one was different. "This is incredible! I can feel so much more than I did with the other karts and it responds much better to my inputs" Jayden thought. Feeling as if the kart was almost a part of his body Jayden was gaining confidence. This allowed him to speed up more and more until he pushed too far and he almost spun off the track losing the rear end. This struck him as odd. if he had pushed too hard losing control was to be expected. But it happened almost instantaneous and if his reaction would have been any slower he would have spun off the track. "I need to ask Kevin about this!" He thought. Continuing on he noticed that pushing to the limit would make the kart feel on edge. It would be harder to control and could spin out at a moments notice. This confused Jayden but he kept at it enjoying the process of fighting the kart and keeping it under control. For him, it was a tough but fun challenge and he would see where his limit was.
Still, at the start-finish line, Kevin was keeping a close watch on Jayden's progress. "Looks like he noticed the difficulties in the current setup. He is managing it pretty well though" He thought. Looking at his stopwatch he was pleased with Jayden's lap-times. Starting with a 42.6 on his first lap the stopwatch showed the times in chronological order from first to last. The times read " 42.6, 42.8, 42.7, 42.5, 42.2, 42.0, 43.0, 42.9, 42.3, 42.1 and the final lap just went by in a 41.9." Without knowing it Jayden had already equaled Stephan's fastest lap time from 2 years ago. Kevin was satisfied for the moment as it was plain to see that while Jayden was struggling he still managed to keep the kart under control and increase his pace.
Melvin signaled that the first session was over. He made a few comments about how everyone was performing and what he expected from them for the next session but he could see they were distracted. Even Luke and Xander were not really listening and kept looking over at Jayden and Kevin. The reason being that as soon as Jayden got out of the kart he started a very animated discussion with Kevin. He was using his whole body trying to explain to Kevin about the sensations he felt and how the kart behaved in certain situations. Kevin, listening attentively asked a few simple questions when he needed more details and let Jayden do most of the talking. He wanted to see how much the young boy was able to notice without him saying anything.
While this was happening a small crowd was slowly gathering without them noticing. From within this group, Sandra came forward wanting to but into the conversation. Just when she was about to say something Kevin shot her down. "Don't you know its rude to mingle in a conversation between a driver and his engineer when they are discussing setup changes?!" He said giving her an annoyed look before ignoring her. "E-engineer?" she stuttered. While the group took a collective deep breath. Luke who had been walking over sighed with appreciation. "Professional teams are really different. They even send engineers to help out for a simple racing license exam" he thought. This assumption wasn't actually correct. The only reason Kevin was here with Jayden today was to help him get a baseline setup. They would usually do this on a test day but they were short on time and needed to maximize every second of track-time they got.
After Jayden had finished explaining everything he felt and experienced in the first session Kevin finally told him what was wrong.
"I purposely gave you the stiffest setup possible just now. This makes the kart ultra responsive but also a lot harder to control! Its easier to lose traction, the tires lock faster under braking, bumps can unsettle the kart and the kart can spin out easier on the limit and is harder to control mid-slide! I must say you did very well controlling the kart with this setup and still managing to set the lap-times you did. The next session is all about consistency so I will only soften up the suspension a bit. When you get out on track again focus on your braking and accelerating. I want to see if you can manage to keep it nice and tidy with this setup."
Quietly listening Jayden was absorbing the information like a sponge. He had learned more about a kart today then he had when studying by himself before and he was in awe by Kevin's knowledge and expertize.
The final two sessions went by quickly. Jayden had followed Kevin's instructions and could feel how the kart had turned more to his liking in every session. He could now brake extremely late. accelerate out of corners a-lot earlier than before and when the kart dis slide he could control it with a single movement of the steering wheel or by applying the throttle without ever having the feeling of being out of control. It was a surprise to no-one that when it was time to explain the results Jayden was the first one called out by Luke and Melvin. He had been the most consistent by far lapping within the 42's for the whole of the second session. Never going under a 42.2 or higher than a 42.7. That was a maximum difference of 5 tents over 16 laps. And this was with other drivers on track which he had to pass without losing time to achieve this. To top it off in the final session were they simulated qualifying he had posted the fastest time by far with a 41.4. This was almost equal to the fastest time ever set on this track with this type of kart. Needless to say, the instructors could not help but show awe on their face when explaining his results. He had blown them all away. What pleased Jayden the most was that he had beaten Stephens time by a large margin. This showed him that he did improve quite a bit compared to 2 years ago.
When Melvin concluded their explanation he gave him his final results.
He had passed for his racing license with flying colors. He now had everything he needed to really start racing.
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Crosti
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