Jump Start

30. Thirty

Thirty

Thomas

I always found lining up at the starting grid, with a sea of people before a race, to be one of the most stressful situations. I gripped Harper’s hand a little tighter, and she looked up at me and gave me an encouraging smile. She knew I hated this part.

We were standing in front of my car when Harper gasped and then started jumping up and down on the spot. Her smile stretched across her face, from ear to ear.

“What is it?” I asked, leaning down to hear her response as the RAAF planes did their booming aerial display.

“The lead singer of my favourite band is just over there!” She pointed to a couple facing away from us, a few meters away.

“Oh yeah? Who?” I knew who it was, I was just teasing her.

“Reeds! It’s Vaughn Reed, and that must be his wife.” I could tell she wanted to walk over to them, but she was being shy, which was very unlike her.

I strode towards them and dragged her with me, ignoring her as she hissed, “Thomas! No!” while she tugged on my race suit like a small child.

I reached out my hand and realised the bloke had a good few feet on me, height-wise.

“Excuse me, mate,” I said, placing my hand on his shoulder briefly.

He turned around to face me, his sunglasses reflecting my face.

“Wow! Hey, man,” the guy said.

Christ, his voice was deep.

“Hey, my girlfriend here is a big fan,” I told him, looking at Harper, who was hiding behind me, giggling. I pulled her out in front of me and wrapped my arms around her so she couldn’t escape.

“Hey!” she was able to get out.

“Hey there, I’m Vaughn, and this is my wife, Casey Reed.” He extended his hand to Harper and his wife smiled and waved.

Harper took an immediate liking to Casey, the two drawing closer and chatting about Reeds, racing, and the Sydney weather.

“Great to see you, mate. I hope all goes well for the race,” Vaughn commented. He was polite and very good-looking, even I had to admit.

“Thanks, man. Enjoy your press pass! Some good access from those things. Nice to meet you, Casey,” I directed at his wife.

Casey and Harper were still chatting like they were old friends, laughing and looking around the track together. They seemed to have an instant connection.

“Yeah, we’re just here for the end of the year to see our families, and then we head back to Canada for Christmas. V got these press passes because he wanted to come and see his favourite driver!” I heard Vaughn’s wife say to Harps.

I turned back to Vaughn.

“Like a house on fire,” I said, nodding at our girls.

“Absolutely. Case is always happy to meet more Aussie friends, I think!”

As much as I would have loved to hang around longer and chat with the Reeds, I had a job to do.

I politely excused myself, leaving Harper with her new friends, and walked back to my car.

Tony was standing next to the door, ready to get me strapped in.

Harper eventually trailed behind me with a huge smile on her face.

“See! You little coward, I thought you were tough,” I teased, kissing her on the lips quickly before placing my helmet on.

“I know, I get weird around famous people I like.” Her reply made me laugh inside my helmet.

“I’m famous, were you nervous around me?” I asked as I climbed into my Ferrari.

“Nah, you don’t count. I didn’t even know you existed.” I placed my hand on my heart to feign injury.

“I love you, good luck! I’ll be on the radio,” she yelled out over the engines that were firing up.

“Love you!” I said, not even sure she could hear.

All the extra people on the grid were ushered off, leaving the remaining cars. Now this was one of my absolute favourite times. The possibility of what was to come, the adrenaline kicking in, and the sound of the other twenty cars on the grid revving their engines.

This was it, the last race of the season. I had qualified well and was starting from fourth position. Not quite where we wanted to be, but it was a bloody good start.

Ominous rain clouds were starting to build, and the race strategy was being altered in my ear as I readied myself to start. I took one last look back towards the pits and closed my eyes briefly. “Radio check,” I said back to my team.

“Copy, mate. Good luck,” Tony said in my ear.

I was focused and well-prepared. This was my last chance to obtain as many points as possible. I would secure second place in the championship, which in itself was an achievement, but I still wanted to try to reach the best possible outcome for my team.

With the practice lap out of the way, it was time. I gripped the steering wheel, eyes focused ahead, ready to react at the exact moment I needed to.

The sound of all the GTs together created a harmony of loud, boisterous, V8 engine sounds, almost like the tuning of a symphony orchestra.

“Go, go, go!” Tony spoke through my headset, and I was off as I threw the car into the first corner aptly called ‘Hell Corner.’ The car responded beautifully to me, my Ferrari 458 purring along the first corner. As I edged towards the slight incline of ‘Mountain Straight’, Tony spoke over the radio. “Mate, the weather seems to be turning rather quickly. Your second lap might see rain.”

“Copy,” I replied, focused on the succession of Ess bends I was navigating through. I hadn’t moved up a spot yet, but I was able to keep the pack behind me.

There was some trouble in the mid-section from what I could see behind me, drivers in thirteenth and fourteenth place were battling like they were out the front.

I was glad I had graduated from that space, and if I ever found myself in mid-field, it would be because I was not performing at my best .

Focus.

We reached the main straight of Mount Panorama, and as I flew down the hill, I could see the approaching rain cloud that Tony mentioned. Fuck. It was black and had a slight mint green tint to it—hail.

“The fucking clouds are green,” I spoke through the radio back to the team.

“Copy, mate. See how you go. There hasn’t been any rain yet, it’s slow-moving.” We were only on lap two of a forty-five lap race.

“Okay,” I responded, not feeling confident about the outcome, knowing how quickly the weather could turn in rural Australia.

The following few laps had gone without any major issues, the mid-pack still behaving less than favourable. The weather was starting to creep towards the mountain on my twenty-fifth lap.

As I approached ‘Hell Corner’ once again, my 458 hugged the lines perfectly. As I straightened the car up towards the next straight, I saw it.

A few hundred metres up the road, it was pissing down, right where some of the most challenging parts of the track were.

“Go easy up there, mate,” Tony spoke as I approached the incline.

“Copy.”

I was driving at the skyline, and the rain was pelting down on my windscreen. The wiper couldn’t go fast enough to clear the rain and there were small pieces of hail falling.

I peered through the windscreen and slowed down slightly; my visibility was almost zero. I was still also trying to fend off the rest of the pack from behind me.

I made it through the Esses, fuck knows how, mainly from muscle memory, I think. Suddenly, a car approached my right-hand side as we came down the straight.

“What the fuck!” I yelled through the radio, even though the other driver couldn’t hear me. As we drove down ‘Conrod Straight’, he started to weave between me and the edge of the road. He must’ve caught the grass as he spun around and hit me on my driver’s door, careening me off the road at almost 230 kilometres an hour. I tried to use the brakes, but it was so wet that my Ferrari glided across the grass like it was ice, and finally reached the gravel, which didn’t slow me down much more. I let go of the wheel and braced as I collided with the wall.

“Thomas? Jacko?” I heard through the radio, only just through the pelting rain on my window shield.

“Thomas, are you okay, mate?” Tony and Chris were trying to speak to me through the radio.

I self-assessed briefly before answering them. I could already feel slight tension in my shoulders, building from gripping my muscles together on impact. Luckily, apart from that, I felt okay, though it would most likely hit me later.

“I’m alright, yes, copy.”

“Okay, mate, red flag, red flag, red flag, too dangerous out there.”

“Fucking tell me about it. Rusty lost control and sent me off. Stewarts should have fucking cancelled when the rain started.” I knew it wasn’t his fault, but he shouldn’t have tried to overtake me in those conditions.

“We’ve seen it all, mate. He will be investigated.”

I climbed out of the car window and waited for the tow truck. The rain and light hail were still bucketing down. I wanted to get out of the rain and back to the garage. Back to Harper. I knew she would be freaking out.

I helped the tow guys affix the car and hopped into the back seat of the medical car.

“Sorry about the seats,” I said, nodding towards the leather seats pooling with rain from my saturated race suit.

“No bother, mate, it’ll get fixed. We’re taking you back to the garage, then you need to come and see us at the medical transporter.” This was standard procedure. I felt fine, only a little shell-shocked. I couldn’t say the same for my car. The whole right front end was bent in, and I swear I saw something fly off as I hit the wall.

The short drive back to the garage felt like an eternity. We pulled into a stall down from Echidna, and I got out and walked as fast as I could towards our garage.

Soon as I met the entrance, I was greeted by Chris, Tony, and various members of the team. I was only looking for one person.

I saw her, those hazel eyes searching mine. I walked towards her and pulled her close to me, flush against my body, and wrapped my arms around her.

Now, I was safe.