CHAPTER 89: LIGHTING A FIRE UNDERNEATH HIM.

Fatih and Enaam were barreling towards the downward braking zone of the Ashby hairpin. With Enaam caught up behind Fatih, he immediately went off the rubber line on the inside, overtaking Fatih through the corner. However, he overshot the corner and went wide on the exit. Fatih, who remained on the racing line as much as possible, overtook him on the exit, keeping his leading position.

It looked like Enaam knew that everything hinged on the first lap; whoever was in the lead by the end of it would have the leverage and protection of a few corners, which would help them open a gap that would be difficult to close unless the front driver made a mistake. And having watched Fatih go from one push lap to another while still keeping his lap times consistent, he knew expecting a mistake from Fatih was wishful thinking.

At Wilkins, Osiers, and the Boot corners, all places with overtaking possibilities, Enaam pushed for an attempt. But Fatih, having already imagined what he would do if he were the one chasing, closed all of those opportunities, not leaving a gap for Enaam to even think of doing anything as they passed the final straight and entered the second lap.

Now with free air and the freedom to drive the kart, which was set up to be as fast as possible, his mentality shifted from racing to a qualifying simulation. He started pushing the kart to its absolute limit, balancing on a knife’s edge where a single loss of concentration or control meant he would be sent out to the grass or lose enough time for Enaam to mount another attack.

As Enaam followed Fatih, he found himself suffering a swing in speed. He gained speed and closed the gap on the straights, but the same slipstream that helped him there forced him to be careful in the corners. This resulted in a net loss of time at the end of the lap instead of a gain. With each consecutive flawless lap from Fatih, the gap continued to increase in small increments. By the eighth lap, he was already a full second behind Fatih. He managed to maintain this gap as the slipstream effect on the straights finally balanced the loss of time in the corners, but it had killed any chance of him getting close enough to mount an attack in the final laps.

........

"I think we can call them in to save the engines for the final phase," Steve said after checking the gap that was now being maintained for quite a few laps.

The first-lap battle was very exciting for all those in the tent, from the pit lane and the parents watching from the grandstands, seeing a glimpse of a tight back-and-forth battle. But it had only lasted for that single lap before Fatih showed the edge he had over Enaam, despite Enaam being a top-five finisher of the 2013 World Karting Championship.

Based on his continuous improvement, Enaam was expected to be a contender for next year’s European and World Karting Championships, as Lando Norris was finally going to move from KF-Junior to KF. This made them even more excited to see Fatih deliver a similar performance in the competitions he was going to join this year.

"No, let them go to the end of the session," Ricky said as he watched Enaam push his very best, still trying to close the gap, having not given up yet. He didn’t want to prematurely end the kids’ hard work and tenacity.

Other than that, it was also to give Enaam a new target to beat next year when his strongest competitor was expected to move to the higher category. This would happen should Fatih attain a permanent inclusion into the FIA’s talented driver list, which he was currently included in on a probationary basis pending reevaluation following his performance in the three races he was bound to compete in this year.

Depending on that, he could either continue benefiting from the list’s privileges, such as entering higher karting categories despite not meeting the minimum age through age waivers and license upgrades. But if he failed to deliver a good performance or it was proven that his physical, mental, or driving capabilities were below the standards of the category he was competing in, they would revoke it for his safety. In the eyes of Ricky, it now looked like a done deal that Fatih would remain on it if he showed half of what he did today in just one of those races.

"When you are finished, send me a copy of the telemetries of this and the final session, together with the report about the test," Ricky added before he walked out of the tent, planning to leave the track as he had an appointment to get to and couldn’t stay until the end to watch the final session.

But as he walked through the pit lane heading to the parking garage, he raised his head to the sky in the middle of the track and saw a drone remaining stationary as if anchored, with its large mounted camera looking down on the track. He remembered seeing it go up a few minutes before each session and lowering from there, chasing Fatih when he was on the final laps of each session, making him very curious about how the footage captured by it was going to look.

He immediately made a mental note to ask for the footage during their next meeting next week, a period agreed upon beforehand to allow them to pore over today’s test report and come to a decision, though it looked like everyone here had already reached the same conclusion: that he had passed with flying colors.

.....

Burak watched from the grandstands with a proud smile that hadn’t left his face since the first lap when Fatih took the lead and kept it, opening the gap all the way until the checkered flags were raised.

However, this dominant performance also acted as if a fire was lit under him because he was now about to enter uncharted territories. His experience was limited to national karting, and although that might still be useful on the international scene, there were areas where he was very inexperienced.

The use of in-depth telemetry, which was rare in the national scene, was considered the norm here. The post-race debrief, which was done with just words and a few notes in national karting, was done here with software. Engines were tuned and jetted for weather and altitude, then dyno-tested to match performance across the race weekend. And although the engine part was not his responsibility, he now realized that he needed to return to school if he expected and wanted to continue being Fatih’s coach through this period, and if possible, even into his single-seater career.

Another reason was to justify the amount TOSFED was spending on all of this, from his salary to the payments made to Ricky Flynn Motorsport for their services.

£150,000—that was the fee TOSFED was expected to pay to RFM for Fatih next year to allow for his participation in all the competitions he was expected to enter. The fee itself was expected to be more, but that remainder would be covered by Rümeysa.

And although the services included in that fee covered full race support like mechanics, data engineers, logistics, top-of-the-line machinery, and testing days, it was still an amount that dwarfed the expenses in the Turkish karting competitions. So he needed to increase his knowledge to justify his presence beside Fatih, or he risked being replaced, which he would rather choose than drag down Fatih if he was unqualified.

Thankfully, TOSFED had already offered to pay for his education so that he could do it during the weekdays while he continued supporting Fatih in competitions on the weekends, should he choose to go ahead with it. And after seeing Fatih deliver and perform, he didn’t want to be left behind, as he wanted to see where this talented prodigy could take them on the motorsports ladder.

"He did his part. Now it is my turn not to disappoint him," he said to himself before turning to Rümeysa, who, after years of being in motorsports and researching everything she could in order to be helpful to her son, could now understand the magnitude of what her son was doing on the track. Her face didn’t bother to hide her feelings at all, as it was as bright as a full moon on a clear night sky.

"Now I can say with confidence that the three competitions he is entering are going to be a home for many surprises," Burak said to Rümeysa, who nodded her head like a loaded spring.

Although he knew there was a chance that Fatih couldn’t deliver in an actual competition, none of those who knew him believed that was a possibility. Their previous worries were not due to performance anxiety but due to the concern that his highest performance might not be up to par with the international scene. But now that the calibration had been done and it showed his performance to be no different, all of those worries and small doubts had just vanished completely, not leaving behind even a thimble of them in their hearts. They could now only look forward to it.

"I can’t help but look forward to the reactions and the aftermath of it," Rümeysa said, knowing that if his performance was explosive, he was going to receive another round of offers from manufacturers and other private teams if they decided not to be conservative and use the "wait and observe" tactic.