Life in the Fast Lane

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Life in the Fast Lane

Welcome to the stories of Riviere Corporation Racing, a team entered in the Formula Mundus World Championship a team with titles to its name. Their Three driving musketeers of Megan Harrison, Z Kennedy and Amy Ashton take much of the spotlight but the husband and wife combination of Satella and William Watts provide willing and able support. Come and sample their high speed lives.

Table of Contents

The Queen of Speed
Debut
The Return
Getting Back In The Habit

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The Queen of Speed

Sixty four...seventy two...eighty...eighty eight...ninety four....yes that was it there were ninety four ceiling tiles in the room. She hurt all over, she didn't remember much, she remembered taking the corner, coming out of it onto the straight and then, she'd felt like the tyre had clipped something and suddenly the car had gone airborne, after that it was a total blank. She was Megan Harrison, the number one Formula Mundus driver for Riviere Corporation Racing, the defending Formula Mundus drivers champion and now hospitalized because of a freak accident, in professional racing it was her first major scare, yeah sure she'd had shunts back when she'd raced touring cars and before those back in her karting days but she'd never been like this.

"How long have you been awake?" someone asked from the doorway, Megan glanced over and saw her team mate and best friend Z Kennedy stood there still in her racing overalls, with the top undone, baseball cap on and carrying in one hand the winners trophy from the days Sisko Grand Prix.
"Not long." Megan said "You won I see."
"Course I did." Z said, she placed the trophy on the table at the foot of the bed and then perched on the bed herself "How are you feeling?"
"Like hell." Megan said "I've never been through anything quite like that."
"Let's hope you never have to again." Z said
"I can't feel my legs Z." Megan said
"Yeah." Z said slowly "The doctors said there could be some spinal damage."
"What else did the doctors say?" Megan asked
"You've got a broken right leg, which includes by the way a shattered ankle, you've also done your wrist in." Z said "They thought you had a concussion but apparently not and then there's the spinal damage."
"Do they know if I'll walk again?" Megan asked
"Afraid they don't at the moment." Z said, Megan sighed "Are you giving up?"
"Course not." Megan said "It's just I'm used to driving a car at high speed and I'm lying here like..."
"One thing at a time Meg." Z said "First let's get you well and then we'll get you fit. Everyone wants you back on the grid."
"Is Amy taking my spot for the moment?" Megan asked
"Yeah." Z said
"Well wish her luck from me." Megan said "If I'm not racing I'll be watching."

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Debut

Amy sat in the Riviere Corporation Racing garage, it was about half an hour before the lights would go out and the Ametisinian Grand Prix would start. She had her overalls on and her helmet in her hand, her first Formula Mundus race, starting eighth it wasn't a bad situation to be in, she was starting in the points she'd hopefully finish in the points and hit the ground running. But she was under no illusions Megan's absence had increased the pressure not only on Z but also on Amy herself, after all there were now teams who were sensing weakness and smelling blood, so until Megan got back they'd just have to do the best they could.
"You all set?" Z asked
"Yeah." Amy said

The two of them walked side by side to the grid, Z giving as much advice as she could it was the usual sort of thing No pressure on you...enjoy yourself...watch out for the fast starting Rytol behind you. They reached Amy's car first as she was starting further back, she got in and put her helmet on while Z continued a little further down the grid and did likewise. It wasn't long before the cars took the formation lap and then Amy found herself in the situation she'd dreamed about so many times, on the grid of a Formula Mundus Grand Prix, the red lights coming up one by one first there was one then two, then three, now four red lights and shortly after five...the engines were revving around her Please don't let me screw this up she thought as the green lights came on and the cars roared away.

As it was Amy actually got a reasonable start, she took a couple of places which did wonders for her confidence right off the bat, the pit stops saw her drop back down the order but the good news was that when everything settled down after the second pit stop she found herself in clear air back in eighth position, not bad at all really - to start eighth and potentially finish eighth.
"It's Smenko's Natalka up ahead." the voice of Satella Watts came over the radio "See if you can catch up."
"Ok." Amy answered

Amy tried and it was going quite well, she was reeling the Natalka in considerably easily but she just ran out of road, another lap and she'd have probably been on the Natalka's gearbox but the checkered flag came out first. Still not bad started eighth finished eighth, claiming four world championship points, a solid debut for her.

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The Return

Round ten of the calendar, the halfway point of the season and the paddock had rolled into Hambley for qualifying, they still had a few minutes before qualifying was going to start in earnest, but the sounds of the various teams making their final preparations was evident. The two Riviere drivers Z Kennedy and Amy Ashton stood out in the pit lane, racing overalls on as they chatted about what they'd experienced in terms of the track in the practice sessions, the other drivers were making their way through to the pit lane from the paddock as well, some of them chatting with their engineers others getting a look at the conditions. Suddenly though Amy and Z stopped talking which seemed odd because it appeared that something had surprised Z.

"What is it?" Amy asked, Z didn't answer she walked past Amy who turned and also saw what it was standing there a few metres away leaning on a single crutch was their injured team mate Megan Harrison. Z almost knocked Megan over in her excitement at seeing her there, something Amy managed to avoid
"You should have said something about coming down." Z said "When did you get released from the hospital?"
"This morning." Megan said she glanced at Amy "Enjoying yourself?"
"Yeah." Amy said
"You're doing well keep at it." Megan said, Amy smiled same old Megan encouraging to the last.
"Up for a stroll down the pit lane?" Z asked "Because I can think of a lot of people who'll be glad to see you up and about."
"Lead the way." Megan said

The trio walked or in Megan's case somewhat hobbled, down the pit lane, heads turned and there were smiles the paddock was happy to see the sports champion back in the fold even if all she was going to do was watch. When she saw the side pods on the Magpie Racing car with the words 'Stay Strong Megan' displayed on them, Megan wiped a tear from her eye she met Ālex Andreu of Magpie shortly after that and exchanged a quick conversation before bumping into Enric Tomās and Takeshi Nakanishi, the bromance between those two was obvious but that was the whole point wasn't it? From sport would hopefully come friendship, it was good to see it. Next up was the other Chiyoko driver Ryo Yokazura, caught just as she was putting a white helmet on - another sign of respect for Megan that like the Magpie side pods would continue to the end of the season, the two women shared a few moments in which Megan congratulated Ryo on her victory on home soil something that she'd always remember, not just because it was a home win but also because it was her first win in Formula Mundus.

Continuing up the pit lane the Riviere trio arrived at the Rytol-EMAC garage, the team that had challenged Riviere so much the previous season, there wasn't much mystery as to what was going on as the engines were revved, EMAC did after all take great pride in their speed achievements. Now came the interesting moment as Sam Halliday, Megan's championship rival from the previous season, came over - there was a hug and a conversation in which Megan inquired as to how Oliver that being the son Sam had had with Matilda Osman the former Queen of East Moreland was doing. There were more pleasantries shared as the head of Formula Mundus Matthew Baxter came over and welcomed Megan back to the paddock.

"You back to race?" Matthew asked
"Not yet." Megan said "But I will be, need to get my muscle strength back first, I feel like I lost a fair bit of it in the hospital."
"Make sure you're at your best when you come back." Matthew said
"I'll be better than my best." Megan said "After all everyone else is improving race by race, I'd better do the same."

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Getting Back In The Habit

Megan threw herself back on the gym mat, she'd been doing gym sessions for weeks now trying to get her muscle strength back. She'd lost none of her race craft, her simulator sessions proved that her current problem was getting race fit again.
"Treadmill's next." someone said, this was William Watts, the husband of Riviere's team principal and also the driver coach.
"You're such a taskmaster." Megan said
"If we're getting you back this season then I need to be." William said.
"Right." Megan said, she got up and got onto the treadmill
"Nice and easy just a mild jog." William said
"Ok." Megan said

So she started jogging, truth be told the treadmill had been her nemesis in her recovery because she'd been running long distances to ensure she had the muscle stamina to get through a race, so far she'd been doing ok but she wasn't totally comfortable yet.
"You're coming down the back straight Ryo Yokazura driving the car in front you're gaining on her, next corner's a left hander what do you do?" William asked
"Move to the right." Megan said "If I can't get her down the straight I'll hold around the outside of the corner Ryo tends to drop her guard on her outside on occasion."
"Why not feint outside and go for the inside?" William asked
"Because Ryo always guards that line." Megan said "You usually need a sequence of corners to get her on the inside."
"Ok you come out of the corner neck and neck what then?" William asked
"Any kers I've got and foot hard down." Megan said "Try and outdrag her."
"She mimics." William said "Next corner's on your inside."
"Squeeze her as fair as I can and take the racing line through the corner." Megan said "I should get out ahead."
"Well your wits are as sharp as ever." William said
"Just got to get my body to the same state." Megan said

"You will I'm sure of that." William said he sighed, Megan didn't have any physical scars but mental ones? That was a different matter and there was only one way to know for certain, Megan was going to have to get back behind the wheel.