Chapter Text
Drive to Survive
Pre-Season Testing
Racing is dangerous, Korra knows this. But it’s the most exhilarating thrill. The feel of the car like an extension of your body when everything is right. Nothing feels better than the G-forces of the car ripping through your body while hugging the turns through esse turns, flicking left and right at 150 miles per hour. Feeling the racing harness holding you back as you slam on the brakes for tight hairpins, feeling the Gs build as you accelerate down the back straight, the intensity of hard fought battles.
Asami tells Korra it’s like a compulsion to get to the lead, Korra always tells her it feels like her soul isn’t complete unless she’s on the top step of the podium.
Reporters and journalists always ask Korra what the secret is for her success, how does she win so often in such a competitive field and she always jokes about being a prodigy, and she’s not wrong, but she always makes sure to answer seriously too.
Her real answer now is her race engineer Asami Sato. Her closest friend. A friendship formed through junior category friendly rivalries that built the deepest trust between them. They finish each other’s sentences when going through car set up sessions, a single word over the radio conveys so much it’s like a secret language to them. No one knows Korra’s mind like Asami.
Asami just barely missed out getting a race seat, her dad owns the team but when you have a chance to sign The Avatar, Korra’s nickname in the sport, you sign her even if your daughter feels betrayed. Asami struggled to come to terms with it but when offered the chance to engineer for Korra she accepted without a single doubt. If that’s as close as she can get to winning, she’ll take it; for now.
Her father values her feedback of course, she is a valuable member of the development team. Putting in hour after hour driving the car around the Future Industries test track, Asami’s pride in the team is indescribable. Watching her dad build the team from nothing, especially after the death of her mother at a young age, with their star driver Tahno they’ve managed to rack up a decent amount of wins but the championship has stayed out of reach.
Going into the new season, Asami is confident that they can win that illusive constructor’s championship with Korra at the wheel. Asami had been wringing the car’s neck around the test track all during off-season.
She can feel the car is one meant for history. She dreams, like every racer does, of a clean sweep of the whole season, twelve wins out of twelve races. No team has ever done it but after ripping around the test track day in, day out for the better part of two months has Asami believing it’s possible.
Testing Day One
“Avatar Korra, do you think you’ll be able to win the championship in your first year?” A reporter barks at her in the press gaggle.
“Well, I trust my team to have built a great car. My teammate Tahno seems pretty confident from the morning test session so I’m excited to get behind the wheel and get a feel for it.”
“Asami Sato, who many reporters were calling heir to the throne, lost out to you in the battle for the seat you took, is it weird to have her as your engineer?”
“It wasn’t a battle for the seat, look she is my closest friend off track. The rivalry on track in our junior series ends when we’re out of the cars and she has always pushed me to race better so having her in my ear through a race will be perfect.”
“Korra has time for one more question!” Her PR assistant chimes.
“Did winning three junior championships make you over confident?”
“Yeah I’m not answering that.”
~ ~ ~
“Welcome everyone watching to the second session of pre-season testing. We are in for a barnstorming session as all the second drivers get a chance to get behind the wheel of their brand new cars for the 20th season of the highest echelon of motorsports, Formula 1.” The first announcer excitedly exclaimed. “We will be your commentators for this session and the whole season, I’m Ollie Jakes and beside me is Mina Tran, 7 time grand prix winner.”
“Usually we have a whole host of rookie drivers taking part in this session for the first time but this year it’s all eyes on Korra, nickname Avatar, the lone rookie in the field this season, to see if she can get up to speed and match her rapid team mate Tahno, the Wolfbat. Can she get up to speed in what looks like a very capable car from what we saw in the first session?”
“We will see Mina, we will see over the next 4 hours of green flag running who can get to grips with these incredible machines on the cutting edge of technology. The green light is on in the pit-lane and there’s a few drivers immediately hitting the track.”
~ ~ ~
Korra made sure to be at the front of the queue, her competitive nature calls for her to be the first in line. Nothing in front of her but open track, the wheel in her hands, the air rushing past her helmet.
“How’s the car feeling?” Asami chimes in her ear.
“Feels good, no weird sounds so I’ll get straight to running laps, no need for check overs.” Korra answers in a slight sarcastic tone.
Racing drivers always hate installation laps. Why get all strapped into the car just to poodle around a lap and come in when nothing feels wrong, she thinks to herself as she roars down the back straight.
Braking point, apex, accelerate, exit curb. Those are the only thoughts in her head for the first 30 minutes of running before the other drivers start to join in on the track.
Now the real fun, not exactly racing speeds but still racing mentality, noticing who is holding back on the throttle, who is running low on fuel to flatter their actual performance, who is bluffing their performance. All while getting to grips with her own car.
Having driven this regulation of car a hand full of times in practice sessions last season, the cornering speed continuously amazes her. Just push the braking point a little more here, she thinks, just a little sooner on the throttle here. Confidence building more confidence and the car rewards her more and more until…
*Bang*
“Oh! and Korra finds the wall!” Ollie exclaims, echoing across the track from the loudspeakers around the grandstands.
“Miraculously she manages to keep all the wheels on her wagon and she trundles back to the pit,” Mina pips in, “she was doing well to build in speed but sometimes you have to find the limit by going over it. She looked fast out there though, I doubt this will crash her confidence one bit. Hopefully just a quick repair of the rear wing and she’ll be back out there.”
“Korra, you okay?” Asami calmly calls over the radio, trying to keep her nerves from affecting her voice.
“All good Asami,” Korra calls out quickly. “Definitely pushed that braking zone as far as I could,” she replies with a slight chuckle in her voice. “Coming back to the pits.”
“Strat 5, blue 6 on the wheel, mind the loss of downforce from the rear wing damage.” Asami knows that chuckle well, she will have to come to terms with Korra’s recklessness that she knows comes with how she pushes the limit. A trait she loved to exploit when racing against her, but not one she will love to corral when getting her to win a race.
“A red flag is called to clean up the debris. Mina, let’s talk about the obvious thing we’ve seen in this first half of testing: that Future Industries car looks planted and Korra looks fast, are we in for their first serious championship contention?”
“Well Ollie, obviously we don’t know what their run plan is, we don’t know what everyone else’s run plan is, but we do know Korra was consistently finding pace and setting faster and faster lap times so she’s obviously comfortable in that car and feels confident to push the car, I think we might be in for a very competitive and entertaining season.”
~ ~ ~
Back in the garage, the team of mechanics swarm the car, taking apart the structures holding the wing on, checking the chassis to make sure nothing is hiding major damage, running diagnostics on the gearbox and engine hoping for the best the energy of the crash didn’t damage anything in the most sensitive parts of the powertrain.
“How did the car feel out there?” Asami asks, already knowing the answer.
“Oh, it feels amazing. Balance is good, very neutral, really slides around the corners beautifully. It’s like it’s reading my mind corner by corner. How’s my times compared to Tahno?”
Always the competitive spirit Asami thinks to herself before answering, “you’re about even with him, you have room for improvement through all of sector 2, so carry more speed onto the back straight and don’t hit that wall again and you could probably gain around a tenth of a second on him through there.”
“How close do you think the field is?”
We’re still trying to crunch the numbers but the only team we’re not confident in our numbers is Varrick, they haven’t put a ton of finished laps together.”
“They are definitely trying to keep their reliability together, it looks quick on track, like that car disappears around the esses, then I catch up on the next straight and it smells like burnt electronics.”
“So we’re thinking first and last place is about a second apart but Varrick could be a wildcard if they get their act together.”
“That car feels fast Asami, you really nailed the development. I wish you were my team mate instead of Tahno. It’s not the same without you on track.”
“We can talk about that later, let’s focus on getting you up to speed.”
Asami felt hopeless but if she could guide Korra to victory maybe her dad would give her a chance whenever Tahno’s contract is finished.
She was just as fast as Korra in their head to head but his refusal to explain why he chose Korra for the seat and not her shouldn’t encroach on getting her best friend up to speed.
The more she can focus on getting Korra onto the top step of the podium, the better; all I need to do is channel my competitive spirit into getting Korra onto the top step, Asami thinks to herself, trying to will it into existence, that sweet taste of champagne shared between them will all be worth going through the difficult period of not driving.
Asami really didn’t mind honing her engineering skills, she’s was instrumental in the team’s success through the years but this year feels different. She was so close to getting the seat, she hounded her dad about it for months, not quite begging but it might have seemed like it to anyone that didn’t know any better.
Of course he didn’t help with off hand remarks like “When you’re ready for it, the seat will be yours.” She came within a point of winning the junior championship, with Korra just squeaking to the lead at the last race, it was such a close season and what more did she need to prove?
Korra had offers from every team, mostly for development drives but written promises for a drive after a year as a development driver, and sure it’s selfish for her to think she deserved the drive more than Korra but your dad owning the team should have some perks.
~~~
“And I spy the Future Industries car back on track after it’s little shunt, glad to see everyone back on track, even Varrick Racing seemingly has solved the troubles that ailed them and are looking competitive. Mina, What is going through the minds of the drivers in these testing sessions?”
“At the back of their minds is hoping this brand new car doesn’t decide to spontaneously deconstruct itself, there’s a lot of trust in the teams but that thought can linger in the first testing session, especially in the teams that don’t have a huge budget for development testing over the winter break. That could be my own neurotic thinking though, it happened to me in my first testing session and that worry never left my brain for the rest of my career. The main thing every other driver is thinking is where does everyone else’s car stack up to where their car is. And lastly, hoping no one ruins their lap or session. No one wants to be the person who ruined someone else’s session. You won’t ever hear the end of it.”
~~~
Korra had no trouble getting back into the groove, her ability to shake off a shunt and totally compartmentalize just came second nature to her.
It’s a vital skill for any racing driver to attain and she always felt she had mastered it in a zen like fashion.
Monks spend lifetimes trying to attain the same level of mental clarity as a racing driver. A profession that demands you exist solely in the moment.
A racing driver needs to be able to bounce back and forget about any prior incident behind the wheel.
“Korra, last lap you managed to match Tahno’s lap-time from this morning. How’s the balance feeling with the cooler weather?”
“Feeling a little looser at the back, still manageable though.”
“We’ll compare telemetry in the debrief, 30 minutes until end of session.”
“What’s the catering options for the debrief?”
“Chicken wings or Steak tips with waffle fries.”
“Hell yeah!”
~~~
“And that concludes day one of pre-season testing, Future Industries leading the time sheets for both sessions today, are they the team to beat? What are your thoughts and observations from the day Mina?”
“Future Industries look pretty strong and it’s always a great feeling finishing the first day with great reliability. I’ll be talking to the team principals a little later to get their thoughts, make sure to catch that on the official F1 MoverTube channel later today. It’s looking competitive between every team in the field. Korra looked to be getting along with the car quickly, as we expected her to based on her junior formula career. Will be fun to watch her all season with all you lovely people back home and at the track. Stay tuned for our thorough analysis from our trackside experts. Thank you for watching and we’ll see what day two brings us tomorrow, I heard rain is forecasted, should be spicy stuff.”
~ ~ ~
Korra had hated the debriefs when she first started out racing, it was always uncomfortable for her to sit there and analyze her performance.
Whether it was a good race or bad race, she always wanted to just forget it and focus on the next race.
It was Asami that nailed it into her head that to do better you have to track the good and the bad and learn from it.
That the debriefs were important for learning and getting better. “It’s not all seat of your pants driving,” Asami told her years ago, “your whole team is pulling for each win with you.” Probably helps that Asami grew up in the world of racing and engineering.
Korra had been racing for as long as she could fit in a go-kart but getting sponsored as early as she did meant she didn’t have to worry about building her own kart like so many other kids did. Mako and Bolin learned the ins and outs of the mechanics of building and maintaining their karts.
Korra had enough sponsorship money to always have the best karts. She just had to get in and perform and that’s how she became known as a generational talent.
“Korra, your times were matching your team mate by the end of your stint, how was the car feeling as the track rubbered in?” Asami asked.
“Yeah, the balance definitely shifted a bit more to the front with the cooler weather, which I don’t mind a pointier car, just want to make sure tomorrow we keep that in mind for the rain coming. I know Tahno was saying from this morning with a slightly damp track from the morning dew that he was hesitant to put his foot down at a couple of corners, right?” Korra replied.
“Yeah, the car felt a bit sketchy with a damp track with the wing levels we were running today. Definitely want to try out some different downforce set ups tomorrow with the wet weather tomorrow,” Tahno responded.
Tahno’s race engineer, Hisa, quickly scribbled down Tahno’s comments on her chaotically organized notepad.
“Any other comments or questions before we wrap up?” Hiroshi asked from the head of the table.
Everyone shook their heads.
“All right, first debrief of the season is a wrap. Curfew is 9 pm tonight, alarms set for 5 am tomorrow for pit stop practice followed by repair drills before setting the car up for the morning session. Last person at the morning huddle is getting the lunch order as usual.”
Hiroshi was well known for running his team with an iron grip, he wanted things done his way and stopped at nothing to turn his vision into reality.
His biggest dream is turning the team into a regular championship contender and hiring Korra was seen as the final piece of that puzzle by every pundit in the sport.
All eyes were on Future Industry Motorsports to see if they could finally deliver across a whole season what many foretold throughout the many years failing to make a championship contention last through an entire season.
Korra left the debrief and immediately went back to the garage to discuss the morning plans with the mechanics and engineers working on the morning set up.
She had learned from her first season racing that the team has your back when you have their back, and she might not have the engineering degree that Asami has but getting directly involved with the mechanics and engineering team when setting up the car had imparted quite useful knowledge in communicating the set up changes she was looking for.
Many drivers struggle to communicate what they’re feeling in their butts or in the hands, and sometimes in their heads, to the engineers in a way that gets at what the problem is.
“It’s feeling a little stage-coachy in the slow corners,” she once heard a team mate telling their engineer.
She got a good laugh out of hearing that.
She knew immediately what the issue was but decided against helping bridge the communication gap hoping for a competitive edge. She ended up losing that race because of a mechanical failure in the engine.
Karma is funny, she thought to herself watching flames shoot out the back of her car while sat on the hill behind the barrier.
Once set up had finished and the mechanics all recessed for the night, Korra made her way back to her room at the motorhome, she was surprised to see Asami waiting outside her room.
“Hey Asami, what are you doing here?”
“Just wanted to drop off the latest weather forecast charts for tomorrow, I know you like to have all the info you can get your hands on. I also wanted to let you know that I am committed to getting you a win this season, I know you know what a winning car feels like and this car has it in it’s blood. You and I this season, we’re golden, nothing can stop us. Anyway, get some rest and I’ll see you bright and early.”
Testing Day Two
Korra’s alarm startled her awake, she had always hated mornings, it was her least favorite part of this career she made for herself, having your schedule dictated outside of your control.
She got up and jumped into her usual routine: made her bed, got dressed, brushed her teeth, went to craft services to get a cup of hot, black coffee. No frilly nonsense, she didn’t have room in her diet for excess sugar so she’s glad she never liked coffee creamer and super sweetened coffee.
She sat down with Asami, who looked like she barely slept, and talked over the run plan for the day.
“The forecast you gave me is right, it looks properly soaked out there.”
Large ocean sized puddles were scattered across the paddock, rain was slowly drizzling out of the grey clouds overhead, sporadic heavy rain was forecast to fall through most of the morning running with light rain promised in the evening making sure that no dry running was possible for day two of testing.
“I had to do some unkind things to get that forecast, I’m glad it was right.”
“What kind of unkind things?”
“I had to sweet talk the clerk of the course.”
“Oh, he’s a creep, so you mean unkind to your soul then.”
“Yeah, wanted to put him in a headlock the way he was talking to me.”
“You should have, I could have sold tickets, make a couple bucks to buy a new helmet.”
“Korra, you do not need a new helmet.”
“Yeah, I do Asami, I want a fresh design for my home race. Actually, thinking about it now, my current helmet doesn’t really jive with the special livery for the team’s home race.”
“Are we not paying you enough? How could you not afford all the helmets you want?”
“Actually, now that you mention it, I could use more money on my paychecks.”
“Well, win some races and you’ll get your bonuses.”
“You were the one saying last night that winning is a lock.”
“I regret ever hyping you up.”
“You’ve known me for long enough to know how that sort of talk just inflates my ego more.”
“I’m surprised I can find space to sit in this room with you and your ego somedays.”
“Like you’re any different Asami, we’re both racers, you know how it goes. We can beat anyone. I think you need more coffee, how are you awake right now?”
“I think it’s just adrenaline keeping me awake at this point, this test weekend is stressing me out, I spent last night talking to my father about the upgrade path we should consider, he kept telling me to get some sleep but I talked his ear off talking suspension geometries and drag coefficients. I just really want to win this thing.”
“We are two hyper competitive souls, I definitely appreciate that quality in you.”
The two women made their way to the garage for the morning start up meeting.
“Good morning everyone,” Hiroshi’s voice boomed across the garage, “I hope everyone slept well, we’ve got a long day today, a lot of moving parts and barely enough time to get everything done but I believe in you all to pull it off beautifully. Now, we’ve got an hour of pit stop practice, I want the mechanics swapping positions every 10 minutes so everyone can do everything during a pitstop. Following that we will have a randomized repair drill. Jo, our esteemed chief mechanic, will pull some papers out of a hat to decide what part of the car is in need of repair. I will time the whole procedure and I won’t hide my emotions well as you are all well aware but I know you’re all rockstars and we’re a well oiled machine ready for anything. Our chief strategist Lin will walk you all through the run plan for today.”
“Thank you Hiroshi, we’ll start by testing out the high downforce package we’re testing for the late season tracks, since it’s raining we thought might as well get some mileage on these parts right away, the parts came in fresh from the factory overnight. So basic A / B installation runs for the normal downforce package compared to the high downforce package first thing, whichever Korra likes we’ll then do some short fueled sprints and end the morning session with a long fueled race simulation with full racing pitstops. We’re going to mirror that for the evening session, it will be warmer in the afternoon so good data on this package for sure. Pitstop team will be rewarded for consistent, fast, quality stops. Let’s get ready to rock and roll everyone, last day of official testing before the start of the season, let’s make it count!”
~~~
“Pit lane open for session in 5 minutes, copy that chief mechanic?” Asami called over the team radio, while looking across the garage at the car just about ready to go out.
“Copy that,” Jo replied, hastily motioning towards the mechanics to verify the wheels are fully fastened, clear off the tire blankets, and clear their hands from the car. Standard operating procedures for the start of a race. Always following the procedure to make sure nothing is ever done wrong when it really counts.
“Korra, hold the ignition button please, I’ll call to you when to release it, copy that?” Asami called to Korra.
“Copy that.”
“Jo, start the engine.”
The chief mechanic inserts a long spindle through the rear section of the gearbox and clicks a handle on the back of it forward, spinning a gear to start the engine, a small mechanical whine spurs the car to life. A deafening roar fills the garage.
“Release the ignition button Korra.”
“Copy that.”
“All hands completely clear,” Jo shouts over the radio.
Asami dons the hood on her rain jacket and takes her place on the pit apron motioning Korra to drive forward.
The car lurches forward, unaccustomed to driving at such pedestrian speeds, it’s quite clumsy and cumbersome navigating tight spaces at low speed.
Asami checks for oncoming cars in the fast lane, motions with a smooth arm spin that Korra is clear to leave the pit apron.
Korra engages the pit lane speed limiter, lets off the brake and dips the clutch while smoothly feeding on the throttle. The engine seeming to whine about how slowly it’s driving. Yearning for the freedom of the open track.
“Green light is on, clear to leave the pits, remember the run plan. One lap for installation check. Steady speed. Then we’ll go from there, copy?” Asami called to Korra over the radio.
“Yeah, yeah. Hurry up and wait. Copy that.”
Korra was released to the open track. Water saturating the tarmac surface. No one in front of her to ruin her visibility from spray.
She cautiously trundled through turn 1 and 2, giving it about half throttle exiting turn 3 to find herself spun around looking back at where she came from.
“Very low grip right now,” Korra called over the radio.
“Copy that, don’t do anything silly out there,” Asami replied quickly.
Korra trundled around the rest of the lap without incident, all the while hoping that the other teams would also get some running in so the track could start drying up a bit.
She dives into the pits at the end of the lap to complete her installation lap. The mechanics swarm the car, checking every nut and bolt, applying flow vis to track the airflow over the car surfaces. Korra calls Asami over to debrief about track conditions.
“Definitely full wet tire conditions. Some big standing water areas here and there. Small river crossing the back straight. Nothing un-drivable, as long as the other teams don’t chicken out.”
“All data is helpful in our modeling, regardless of wet weather or dry data. We’re running our own plans. Don’t worry about the other teams,” Asami replied.
Some armchair experts call rain a great equalizer in Formula 1 racing. And there is some truth to that. Some back-marker teams stand a chance of good results with rain affected races; but ultimately it makes the driver skill even more important.
The right driver, in a decent car, will excel in any condition. Knowing where the grip will be corner by corner, lap by lap. Feeling the slightest aquaplaning. Driving by feel and leaning on all your expertise. It’s exhausting but so satisfying.
And there’s no way to shortcut gaining that expertise. You have to take full advantage of driving in this weather when it comes to you.
“Car is all set, let’s get this session going, Asami called to Korra. “First hour is our short run qualification simulation. I’ll keep you updated on push and recharge laps. Only fueling for about 5 push laps and we’re doing full qualy simulations so I’ll feed you target lap times to simulate Q1, Q2, and Q3. Do you need a couple of laps to get to grips with the conditions or do you want to go in blind?”
“I’ll go in blind.”
Korra never liked the rain but she loves racing in the rain. There’s something almost therapeutic about it in her mind.
The way the car handles through the rivers streaking across the track, driving an F1 car fast is cerebral. It pushes your brain to react in an instant to everything. The rain is like turning that to 11. Every minor correction. Every acceleration. Every braking area. The car will speak to you if you’re willing to listen. It speaks through the steering wheel, through the seat, through your ears.
The track evolves and the wind pushes puddles around and forms new rivers and fresh rain falls and drivers spray gravel onto the track from off track excursions. You learn each lap but in the worst conditions the slate is wiped clean each time.
Korra set to running to charge up the batteries for energy deployment, running the math in her head about how much to push to keep to the fuel plan.
She runs a charge lap to build her battery energy for a push lap.
In the middle of her push lap, Asami pips in to tell her the target lap time. She looks down at her delta and she is about half a second off.
“Fuck, okay.” Where do I find half a second in the first half of that lap? She thinks while barreling down the back straight.
She leans more into the braking zone and finds the confidence in the car. “Oh, there’s definitely more grip here okay,” she thinks quickly to herself. “Push into the braking zone more.”
She finishes her first push lap and gains a quarter of a second on the delta to her target.
Next push lap: quarter of a second over delta.
Asami calls in to give the final target time and let’s her know she has one final push lap before a fresh rain hits the track.
Korra thinks to herself, time to really push to the limit.
Each braking zone, every acceleration, every line through each corner. Push to the limit and throw caution to the wind.
Half a second faster than the target time.
Just as she finished the lap, the skies opened up unleashing a torrent of thick rain across half the circuit. Korra called over the radio and asked for new tires, “these tires are cooked!” She exclaimed.
“Copy that,” Asami replied. “Great job with the qualy sim. We’ll fuel up for a race distance and leave you to gather the laps for the rest of the session.”
Korra pulled into the pits and the team went to work changing the tires and fueling the car. She pulled out from the box and immediately felt how much heavier the car felt on full fuel.
“Oh we went full fuel full fuel,” she exclaimed over the radio to Asami.
“Yup, and we’re running to the very end. If we can we want to check the fuel level calibration so if you get a low fuel warning call back to let us know.”
“Copy that, any team positions I need to be aware of?”
“Cabbage Corps and Beifong Motorsports are still doing qualy runs, we think. They will be flying past you, just keep an eye on the blue flags so I don’t get an earful from the clerk of the course.”
Korra plugged away lap after lap, getting into the groove of the session. She barely noticed the time passing at all.
“Korra, this will be your last lap. They’re doing pre-season scrutineering in the garages so just pull straight into the garage and stay in the car so we can do the weight check.”
~ ~ ~
“And that’s a wrap on day two testing. Korra showing metronomic perfection out there this morning. The conditions tested her and she has passed with flying colors. Leading the rest of the field with most laps and top of the timing board. Her teammate Tahno taking the top spot too in the drier track, will he and Korra be the pair to beat this season? This is Ollie Jakes and Mina Tran, signing off for the weekend. See you in two weeks for the first race of the year.”