Tuesday Morning. As per usual, today Towa drove Sumire to work. She immediately went back to it after she got out of the hospital, and it actually seemed to make her recover more quickly as she wasn't sitting around doing nothing. However, he won't be going back home and continuing to sleep for a bit before starting work at home.

Last night Towa slept at the same time as Sumire, which she thought was unusual, and woke up seemingly fresh and alert in contrast for his usual night owl self, but Sumire didn't say anything and was actually happy that his sleep schedule might change for the better.

The actual reason, Towa set the Google Maps to Tsukuba Circuit, the place Mizuho Noda told him to be at today, although he wasn't sure if he's going to arrive there at 9 AM as Mizuho told him to. Towa decided he'd need to rush a bit on the Joban Expressway to get there in time. Luckily, the route towards the expressway was surprisingly clear, yet, it's about 70 km away, so Towa still wasn't sure if he'll make it, so Towa put his foot down pretty hard and maxed out the Roadster at various points he knew there was no speed camera. It probably saved him 15-20 minutes from the estimated time to arrival.

Towa turned onto the Ken-O Expressway at the Tsukuba Junction, heading Northwest towards Kuki-Shiraoka. Then he continued on before getting off the expressway at Joso Interchange. Then it's another 24 km drive through the rural area of Ibaraki. Through the agricultural fields and some small businesses catering to the locals.

Once Towa got really close, there were very small and faded signs with familiar looking blue graphics on it, confirming that he's coming to the right place. That exact sign, which was besides a few signs pointing towards the 1000, 2000 and Gymkhana track, really put doubts into Towa's mind as it said unauthorized vehicles won't be allowed on the premises. Will Mizuho really sort everything out right for him, or will he be turned away?

First dilemma turned up when after passing a few garages in the area, Towa encountered a 'Gate A' sign. It was the first English alphabet, so does that mean it is the correct entry to the circuit? The navigation didn't point to that and it's a tiny side street, also Towa noticed it too late to turn anyway so he pressed on.

He's actually at the Tsukuba Circuit! Suddenly all the doubts disappeared even if it's for only a moment. 'Gate B' was next, and it's clearly closed. The paddock was right there though, behind the fence. 'Gate C' was only a short distance away and very permanently closed.

By this point, the doubt started to creep back in as the Roadster's clearly rolling passed the circuit, but then Towa noticed that 'Gate D' was up next, and it's very prominent with clear signage. The information building was also right there, and the gate was open. The small, no authorized car not allowed sign was a bit worrying, but no one stopped Towa from driving the Roadster into the premises.

Towa then drove slowly through an underpass which was underneath the track itself, and kept going along to where he judged the paddock was on the way. He's coming down south again alongside the fence he was behind a few moments back. There's a Showa Shell Sekiyu station on the right side with a Dairy Queen beside it. This track really had great facilities all things considered.

A moment later, the paddock was right there and the track was incredibly empty, apart from a few, really expensive looking cars parked in the paddock itself, and a few ordinary staff cars that littered elsewhere.

Towa was looking at the cars around the paddock, a white Nissan GT-R Nismo, a distinctive yellow Porsche 718 Cayman GT4, a white Honda Civic Type R FL5, and a red GR86. Suddenly the course staff ran up to his window and knocked on it, which startled Towa so much he slammed on the brake and stopped immediately.

"Sorry, the course's closed today." The staff said to Towa with a smile.

"Ah," Towa stumbled, trying to remember what he should say, "Eh... Mizuho sent me?"

"It's alright, Chi-chan! We're expecting him."

A loud, husky voice came from the paddock area, a fat man came running towards both of them. Well, a fat, middle aged guy with a moustache. His body made his face look really small, his eyes are also really tiny, like a bead. The guy looks like a teddy bear wearing thin rim glasses.

"Koichi Sasagawa?" Towa muttered under his breath as he saw the fat guy, who the staff turned towards now.

"Oh, he's with you, Sasagawa-san?" The staff asked to clarify.

"Yes, thank you, Chi-chan."

Afterward, the staff nodded and gave another approved look to Towa, then he ran back to wherever he was before. Now, Koichi Sasagawa was standing there, looking at Towa who was a bit star struck.

When Mizuho described to him about this person who he had to see at the Tsukuba Circuit, a big guy with glasses, with a really kind eyes, he was imagining a person like Koichi Sasagawa, who's a racing driver contemporary with the legends such as Tsuichi Tatsumi, Sasuke Sarusawa or Koshi Uchiyama.

"You're Towa Wakisaka, correct? Urasawa told me to take care of you. Park this right next to the GT-R and we'll start."

Mizuho 'Urasawa' Noda actually set up a meeting with a racing legend for him?! Towa was flabbergasted as he's driving the Roadster to park where the other cars were. He saw a few other people sitting at a table in the paddock itself. One of them was a bald man. A very distinctive bald man. Sharp jaw lines and big eyebrows. That's Koshi Uchiyama.

The other two were unfamiliar to Towa, but one of them looked incredibly young, perhaps so young he's maybe not even legal to drive yet. The other was about the same age as himself, but was wearing a racing suit so he guessed was a racing driver of some kind.

Towa walked towards the table, and the three people there noticed so they stood up to greet him.

"Good morning, I'm Towa Wakisaka." Towa said nervously to the three of them, and Koichi was now joining.

"You drive a Roadster? Good car, that." Koshi Uchiyama noted as he looked at the white car Towa arrived in, he had an unflappable aura about him.

"I'm Ken Kasugano, nice to meet you." The guy in a racing suit greeted Towa, who held his hand to shake.

"And I'm Kumataro Tatsumi." The very young person then introduced himself, the name rang a bell to Towa but he didn't know why...

"Hello. Uh..." Towa tried to think why that name bugs him.

"I'm Tsuichi Tatsumi's son. You can call me Kuma-chan."

Tsuchi Tatsumi's son, that's why! Towa never learned about a racing driver family, of course, but the surname did ring a bell. Kuma-chan looked about 14 or 15 up close which was really young.

"Alright, so, this is Towa Wakisaka, he'll be joining today's session, I hope you two don't mind." Koichi said to his two previous students, who both nodded.

"Are you learning how to race, Towa-san?" Kumataro asked, he looked extremely impressionable like any young kid would be, and he seemed very eager to talk to any car guy like Towa.

"Eh... I just want to drive better." Towa replied, still kinda nervous.

"That's good! Koichi and Koshi-sensei are the best. You'll be learning a lot!" Kumataro said with excitement. He really did look like his father if he's a teenager.

"Uh, I'm sorry Kasugano-san, which racing series are you currently on?" Towa turned to ask Ken.

"Oh, I'm currently in Super Formula Lights and GT300, but I'll be going in Super Formula next year." Ken replied with a smile.

That kinda explained why Towa wouldn't know Ken Kasugano's name as someone who didn't really follow racing that closely. He's still a more junior pro level driver.

"Alright, since you're new and we don't really know how good you are..." Koichi spoke directly to Towa, "We'll have to establish that."

"Establish?" Towa was a bit confused.

"We'll see how good you really are out there," Koichi continued, then turned to Ken. "...Ken, can you ride along with him on a 3 lap session?"

"Hah? Is that okay?" Ken was a bit surprised by that.

"Let's see how much you've learnt, observe and report to me about what you think of his driving." Koichi explained.

"If you say so..." Ken nodded.

Towa really didn't bring anything to the track. He had no helmet or driving gloves or anything, but Koichi had some spares that he gave to Towa, and he put them on with the help of Ken.

Then Towa and Ken got into the Roadster, which was moved to the front of the paddock and ready to go on the track. Towa was really nervous at this point as he'll be doing something he'd never done before. Towa also didn't realize that Ken was also really nervous, because he'll be riding in a car with someone he didn't know.

Out of the pitlane, everything sort of intensified in Towa's mind. Yet, Ken was as calm as anything. The speed of the hesitant driver was still slow, but Ken had not really ever been in a car as a passenger on a race track before.

Tsukuba Circuit was a track with 9 corners, 5 rights and 4 lefts. It was opened in 1970 as a venue for young, emerging car enthusiast groups to have a place to run their machine. It's a deceptively simple looking track, but difficult to master as the line used might seem counterintuitive.

The first corner, Towa didn't press on that much, partly because he thinks he needed to warm the tires up, and partly because he's still scared to shit. Although slowly he then gained more confidence to push harder, especially after the second hairpin which was the 4th corner.

Ken was observing every move Towa's making, as he's scared, but also felt the need to do as Koichi ordered, and report back whatever he thinks of Towa's driving.

Ken could already judge the level of ability in the 5th corner, which was a fast right hander, one never really need to brake with the Roadster as one can only lifted slightly to put the weight out front, but Towa braked very early and way too much for this corner. It was very clear Towa was a complete beginner.

Towa was driving faster in his opinion, gaining more confidence and using all the lateral grip the AD09 tires had, which with every lap, made Ken more scared because the braking points and driving lines were all wonky.

As he's coming up to the third lap, at the seemingly never ending right turn at the end, Ken decided he'd gather his thoughts and actually help Towa.

"The first corner, aim for the apex itself as a straight line." Ken shouted.

"Huh?" Towa was confused as to what Ken was saying to him.

"Brake slightly before the 50 meter board, look at the curb and turn it in. Stick to the inside."

Towa followed all the instructions from Ken, although he's braking way earlier than suggested, he did follow the line in which Ken also gestured his hand to signal where to go.

"In, in, wait, wait," Ken told Towa, who's not going fully on the throttle yet as the car turns around the apex of the corner, "Now push."

The Roadster was at the limit of the grip, this meant that the tail end stepped out slightly as soon as Towa pushed the throttle fully, and he had to correct the steering wheel back very slightly.

"Good, good, good. Smooth steering. Try straight line this one. Brake as soon as you reach the curb. Aim for the corner."

The Roadster went on the wiggly bit as almost a straight line, with only slight steering input required Towa was able to go full throttle, and brake as soon as he reached the outside curb.

"Stick to the inside! Use the banking."

The Roadster turned into the inside curb, using a little bit of it as Towa turned in too early. He had to slow down by not pushing the throttle yet, but as soon as he got to the apex he could push the throttle fully, and the car drifted wide on the exit of the curb.

"This next one, don't brake. Just lift." Ken continued his instruction, but Towa was quite shocked to hear that.

"What?!" Towa exclaimed.

"You can brake if you're really scared, but try not to. I'm not going to backseat drive."

Towa did brake, but very slightly, he let the car maintain its speed and scrubbed it out by steering input. The tires scream, and the steering feedback feels lighter when the car's losing its front grip, but it was right at the edge of the limit of the tires itself, thus being able to turn in very quickly, much quicker than Towa could manage before.

Then, it was a slight left kink that could be done with full throttle in the Roadster, but Towa wasn't on it fully because he's scared.

"You could have definitely taken that flat out." Ken made the observation, which Towa noted in his mind.

"Okay!" Towa replied.

"Next one, 70 meters. Brake and aim for the corner. Stick to the inside."

Towa obliged, he braked at what he judged to be 70 meters, and stuck to the inside of the corner, which while feeling a bit unusual, was the correct line as this, and many other turns, have banking that helps the car turns.

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The Roadster then got onto the straightaway, the longest one. The Roadster's actually capable of going pretty quickly on this straight line, about 160 km/h.

"I know the last corner's pretty scary, brake at 110 meters. Turn in very late. Much later than you'd expect." Ken instructed.

"Okay!" Towa shouted back.

Towa braked at exactly the point Ken told him to, and as soon as the turning point came up, Ken gestured his hand again and Towa turned the car in. This last high speed corner seemed to never end. It's a long sweeping corner that's very scary to Towa, like pretty much the whole track.

"Stick to the inside, stick to it. Now go, full throttle. At the pit escape road. Use the outside curb."

Towa did exactly as told. The Roadster finished another lap, and it was a whole lot quicker than any other lap beforehand, even if there's no timing done right now.

"Felt good?" Ken asked, as Towa slowed down to cool both himself and the car.

"That was really good! Thank you." Towa replied.

"Well, you need some work, but you're pretty good for an amateur driver who's never done it before."

Towa was pretty delighted to hear that from Ken. He smiled as the adrenaline did make him pretty upbeat, and that last lap did feel really good. He felt he could run the Tsukuba Circuit much quicker than when he started.

Towa parked the car in front of the paddock again, there, only Koichi was left sitting at the table, while Koshi and Kuma-chan were already gone in the GR86. Koichi got up and came to both of them as soon as the Roadster parked.

"How was it?" Koichi asked through the window.

"It felt good, Sasagawa-san." Towa replied, clearly ecstatic.

"What do you think, Ken?"

Ken didn't say anything, he put his hand up on a wave and murmured something like, it's so so.

Towa stopped the engine and got out of the Roadster alongside Ken. Both remove their helmets and walk to Koichi, who's eager to hear what Ken had to say, as with Towa.

"So?" Koichi asked again.

"Well, his timing for braking and accelerating is very poor right now, and there's virtually no sense for the racing line." Ken was very straightforward with his verdict, which made Towa's heart sink a bit.

"Ehhh?" Towa exclaimed, surprised.

"Well, your steering control's okay. Your sense to correct the oversteer is very quick, but still overreacting at some point, and not enough steering at some other." Ken continued with quite a scathing sounding verdict to Towa, which made him a bit annoyed and dejected at the same time.

"Well, he is a beginner after all, it is to be expected..." Koichi added, before turning to Towa, "I think it's better if you go to the Gymkhana course with Kuma-chan and Koshi."

"The Gymkhana course?" Towa wondered.

"Yeah, go out the entry, back to Gate A and look for the track entry. That's the Gymkhana course. They probably have already started the lesson. Go now quickly!"

"Sure, Sasagawa-sensei!"

Towa nodded, then he quickly jumped back into the Roadster to drive away where Koichi told him to. He drove back out of Gate D, and back alongside the track towards the small street with Gate A sign. He got there quickly, then turned into the side street, following that road along, across the intersection, and found the Gymkhana Course sign out front leading to another small street. There was indeed another entry there into an empty parking lot.

Inside was a skidpad, an empty area where you can set up cones to have a small obstacle course for practicing. The red GR86 was doing donuts inside that area, a very neat one, clearly being done by a very skilled person.

Towa parked the Roadster outside the skidpad, and waited to see what's up.

As soon as the driver saw Towa standing there, the GR86 stopped doing donuts and drove right up to him, Towa was extremely surprised to see Kuma-chan was the one driving.

"Towa-san!" Kumataro shouted from the driver's seat, before Koshi motioned his hand telling him to park up.

The red GR86 seemed brand new, and it's being driven by someone underage who's abusing it like there's no tomorrow, but Kuma-chan clearly wasn't an ordinary teenager. Well for one he's the son of the legendary racer Tsuichi 'True Champ' Tatsumi. A many time champion of the racing world who had even driven in Formula 1 before.

"Did Sasagawa-sensei send you here?" Kuma asked as soon as he got out of the car alongside Koshi.

"Yes." Towa replied.

"Is that so?" Koshi mused, "Maybe you need some basic lessons."

It did sound pretty disheartening that Towa must learn with a 14-15 year old boy, but it's clear that he needed it, and he would benefit so much from it.

"You saw what Kuma-chan did right? Ever felt the urge to do it before?" Koshi asked, he's always speaking in a completely flat, smooth tone.

"No, Uchiyama-sensei." Towa replied.

"Ehhhhh?" Kuma exclaimed, "That's the boring answer, isn't it?"

So much from a boy probably not even out of junior high school, but he's probably right.

"Well, what did he say?" Koshi asked again, which confused Towa a bit.

"What?" Towa asked for clarification.

"What did Kasugano say? About your driving that is." Koshi explained.

"Ah, so... He said my braking and acceleration needs work and my steering is bad..."

"That's why we don't let him be a teacher just yet. No 'softly, softly'. It's fine though, that's totally normal for a beginner." Koshi said, then turned to Kuma, "You move that GR86 away for a bit, go watch Youtuber or something you kids do these days."

Kuma-chan cringed slightly, hearing the old man trying to sound hip. He went back to the GR86 and moved it out of the skidpad.

"Okay, let's start with the absolute basics. I'll assume you know how to launch your car."

Koshi said, while walking to get in the Roadster, which Towa quickly followed.

"This is really nice, isn't it? White Selection?" Koshi commented, which surprised Towa.

"Ah yes, it is the White Selection." Towa replied.

"Bose stereo, screen, leather seat. You really splashed out for this one. Now, you see that solitary cone out there that Kuma-chan was donutting around?"

Towa followed Koshi's index finger, and saw that exact cone in the middle of the skidpad.

"You drive to the end of the skidpad, alright? Then aim the car at that cone." Koshi instructed, which Towa obliged.

It's a bit unusual, seeing the cone maybe a hundred fifty, two hundred meters away right in front.

"Now, I'm going to test your braking, but there's a catch. You must not modulate the pedal." Koshi started explaining.

"Not modulate the pedal?" Towa asked.

"Yes, no going softly at first and then hard when you realize you can't stop. You have to do it in one motion. Try to get the closest to that cone. Whenever you're ready."

Towa didn't understand much, but knew that Koshi probably would explain later. He revved up the car, before releasing the clutch pedal to launch it away, the sticky tires are very good and let the car almost no wheel spins as Towa launched it with the right RPM.

Towa had no idea when to brake, he had to guess, so he braked way too early for that. He had to release the pedal to let the car get closer by instinct.

"No!" Koshi suddenly shouted, "Go back and do it again. Don't modulate."

Towa realized what he did wrong, so he understood why Koshi said that.

"I'm surprised you don't just stomp on it and use the ABS. You're actually thresholding it." Koshi commented, appearing genuinely surprised.

"Yes, my dad taught me that. It's better to stop this way while hard driving." Towa replied, not thinking of anything.

"Who's your dad? Also like cars?" Koshi asked, very curious.

"Yes, he has had some sports cars before, an NB Roadster and recently a Z34 Fairlady Z."

"You dad's correct by the way, it's better, although if you don't know how to modulate, it's not wrong to rely on ABS, but they can get tripped over, so be careful or consider removing it if you're going to be serious about track driving."

"I probably won't be! I'm just a normal person wanting to drive better."

Koshi couldn't help but smile from Towa's will to learn and great attitude for doing exactly so. He understood completely why 'Urasawa' would send this guy over, despite normally being a recluse who probably didn't care about this shit. That and a few other things.

"Okay, try again." Koshi signaled his hand to Towa, a finger gun.

The second try was much, much better than the first. Towa actually got pretty close to the cone as he realized what's needed.

"You're actually pretty good at judging! You know it's a bad habit to remember braking points with a meter board, right?" Koshi said, which made Towa happy, but curious about what he asked.

"Meter board? You mean the signs on the side of the track?" Towa asked.

"Exactly that. Because the conditions are always changing, you can never brake at the same point. Even if it's the same car, on the same track, on the same day. Just a different lap, the different tire temperature will result in different braking distance."

"Ehhh..." Truthfully, Towa never heard somebody putting it like this before.

"It's always the first thing Kenji Kumamoto taught any of his students. Like Urasawa and myself."

Again, that name, 'Urasawa' Noda. Clearly he's someone even a famous racing driver like Koichi Sasagawa and Koshi Uchiyama would revere. Towa didn't know he was a pupil of Kenji Kumamoto, pretty much the godfather of the Japanese racing world.

It did make him wonder why people like Mizuho Noda were not doing the same thing as Koichi and Koshi. Teaching the newer generation of drivers. In fact, why had he never heard of that name before they met?

It's really weird, but Towa didn't think of it any further.

"Alright, now for the fun stuff. Have you ever done a proper drift before?" Koshi asked, to which Towa shook his head.

"On the mountain, I'm always scared of crashing." Towa answered, which made Koshi laugh.

"Hah, well, now is your chance to do it safely. Do you mind if I drive your car to show you once?"

"Not at all."

Towa and Koshi swapped positions, now Koshi was in the driver's seat and adjusting it so his short stature would fit.

"I've driven the Roadster before, they're great cars." Koshi said, almost like presenting the motoring program 'Speed Running'.

Koshi launched the Roadster pretty hard, spinning up the wheels deliberately, he then pulled the handbrake as he reached the solitary cone in the middle of the skidpad, whipped the rear end of the Roadster around, before pushing hard on the throttle to let it keep spinning.

The rear wheels broke traction, which meant the rear end of the car was turning more than the front, Koshi then controlled the throttle, alongside trying to adjust the steering so it's making a clean 'donut'. The car was running sideways in an arc with the cone being the center point.

Towa knew his car could do it, but had always refrain from doing so in public. This was the place to do it, like what Koshi said. After one or two spins around the cone, Koshi stopped and parked the car.

"Now you try and do it." Koshi said to Towa.

They swapped seats again, with now Towa driving and pretty nervous. Koshi had to explain again.

"Technically, there are two ways to do this, I'll let you try either as it's both pretty much the same. First you have to break traction, either by swinging the car around with a pendulum movement, hard foot brake, or using the handbrake. Any way would do fine." Koshi explained, Towa listening carefully.

"What would you recommend for a newbie?" Towa asked, which made Koshi contemplate.

"Ahhh... It depends on the car, but the easiest probably would be the handbrake. Just try the simple 180 first around the cone, go ahead." Koshi answered.

Towa did exactly just that, whipping the Roadster around the cone in a swift, 180 degrees turn. He had a pretty good sense of the car, which made Koshi pretty relieved he didn't have to teach a monkey to drive, he'd rather let Sasuke Sarusawa do that.

"Okay, now, on the point where the rear of the car broke away, you felt it right?" Koshi asked.

"Maybe..." Towa wasn't really sure, but thought there's something in that statement.

"When you feel the rear is coming around, use the throttle to keep that slide going. Adjust it as needed. More throttle to make it whip around more, less throttle to straighten it out. You're an FR driver, you probably knew this by instinct. Look around the cone and you'll feel where the car will be going."

Towa felt that's a bit cryptic, but had to try it for real to 'get' it. Koshi encouraged him by motioning his hands.

Towa pulled the handbrake as the front of the car approached the cone, the rear did indeed come loose, and he pushed the throttle very hard as he knew there's not much power in this Roadster and the tires are really grippy.

The car lost control, as the rear end whipped away too much so the front was now facing the cone, forcing Towa to brake and stop.

"Now, you see, what did you do wrong?" Koshi asked, cryptically again.

"Eh..." Towa was really unsure, but thought maybe he didn't let the car have enough steering input.

"You nearly didn't counter it at all, you held onto the wheels in almost a straight line. Of course you'd spin out. I understand you're nervous though."

"I see."

"Try it again, but you have to let the car help you steer. Let go of the wheel and the front tires will still continue its trajectory. You'd never be able to catch it if you held the steering wheel like on track grip driving."

Towa started again, doing exactly the same thing with the handbrake, which stopped the rear wheels making it swing around more as it lost grip. The rear stepped away, and Towa tried to steer back, which resulted in the same thing, but not as bad.

"Ah, you're getting the right idea, but you have to trust that the steering wheel will go about the right trajectory, you don't have to steer yourself, you'll never be quick enough. Drifting like this is completely different from time attack grip driving." Koshi explained again.

"There's something I'm curious about, Uchiyama-san." Towa said, which made Koshi raise his eyebrows.

"What is it?"

"Why do I need to learn oversteer for grip driving?"

"Ah you see... Oversteer is controllable, but understeer isn't."

Oversteer is controllable, but understeer isn't? That's counter intuitive from what Towa learnt by street driving. It's like nothing anyone ever told him before and is completely confusing him right now.

"Just do a donut consistently first."

Towa gave up trying to understand for now, and proceeded to try and do that for a few times more, getting better and better every time.

After about 3-4 tries, Towa 'got' the countersteering now. He lets the steering return to its trajectory and controls it in a very smooth and finesse way. He kept the throttle pretty much pinned down as the Roadster only got 180 something horsepower, so it's barely enough for a good donut.

"That's it! You got it!" Koshi suddenly shouted on the run Towa did a proper donut, "Now whip it around and do it the other way."

Towa then did exactly that, the same thing, handbrake pulled, let the rear slide, and throttle and steering control to keep that circle movement around the cone. This time instead of going clockwise, he's doing it counter clockwise.

"Alright, time to go back to the 2000 course. I'll stay here with Kuma-chan for more car control lessons." Koshi told Towa, who still looked perplexed.

"Okay, what do I tell Sasagawa-san?" Towa asked.

"That you know how to counter properly now. About the understeer, oversteer thingy, ask him alright?"

Towa obliged, and drove back to the paddock where Sasagawa was sitting, while Ken Kasugano was out in his GT-R. As soon as the Roadster approached, Sasagawa stood up, eager to hear what Towa had to say.

Towa got out of the car, still a bit confused.

"How was it with 'the bald guy'?" Koichi asked.

"He..." Towa stuttered, "Taught me how to brake, and also to do donuts in the Roadster."

"That's excellent. You've done well to pass scrutiny this quickly."

Towa wondered. Pass scrutiny? There was a test?

"Now go out on the course again, you know track etiquette?" Koichi asked, which made Towa shake his head.

"I've never been on a track with someone else..." Towa replied.

"Oh it's easy. On a test day such as this, stick to your line, you don't have to let Ken go through in the corners, it's his responsibility to pass safely. Don't weave."

Towa nodded, although he was still a bit anxious about it.

"Now go, just watch out for the car coming through!" Koichi waved Towa to go back in the Roadster to drive on the circuit again.

Towa duly did as instructed, although he still wasn't sure if the lessons from Koshi would make any difference, he put his helmet on and got in the Roadster to go again anyway.

Gingerly back on the track, observing to see that the mighty fast GT-R wasn't coming up behind. Towa got on the Tsukuba 2000 course again.

The first corner, Towa didn't realize it yet, but when he got to the second hairpin, he found he could brake way later than he did, and turned the car into the corner while releasing the brake to help the front grip. The rear end might have felt like coming round, but Towa knew that it wouldn't actually as he now knew the feeling.

There was still plenty left on the table as he was driving before, so now he could throw the Roadster in the corner at much higher speed, with braking also being easier because he knew how to judge the distance, in combination with the braking point reminder, and not just that alone.

It was at this moment, Towa 'got' what Koshi wanted from the donut exercise.

Oversteering was not scary for him anymore.

If there's ever a watershed moment for any driving enthusiasts, it was this one. The moment you realize oversteer was your friend, and understeer, which usually was thought of to be safe, was not.

Oversteer helped the car turn, understeer made you helpless from the physics of the driving dynamics itself.

The next corner, a high speed right turn that Towa didn't need to brake, he did just that.

A slight lift of throttle to let the front of the car gain more grip, then threw the Roadster in with enough steering input.

The Roadster started to go in a slight slide, Towa could feel that the tires were at the limit of the grip from the steering wheel, yet, there's also this feeling he got from the seat, around his hip. The 'feedback' of the yaw. The Roadster, with these tires, wasn't losing its rear end yet.

As soon as Towa saw the corner exit, he stabbed the throttle fully, and the Roadster drifted wide, and continued its trajectory to the outside green curbing exactly.

It felt amazing.

Towa got it now, even without anyone explaining.

At the Tsukuba Circuit today, Towa learnt something that he could never learn by himself in a lifetime.

Towa learnt the actual limits of the tires, he knew what to feel when the front grip's breaking away, he also learnt the 'feeling' when a corner approaches, how much he had to brake, and at which point he could accelerate away. He also learnt the correct driving lines that will let all of those techniques shine through.

The more important lesson, and the one that's changed everything, was that he learnt how to correct the oversteer with instinct, and to control it even if he's not quick enough to catch the first surge, and the feeling when the oversteer was coming.

This one track day, with instructions from great tutors, and fellow students, transformed Towa from merely a safe and competent road driver, into a properly good one.

This feeling, what Towa's having at the end of the day, was the exact reason why anyone becomes a driving enthusiast. It's to master this hunk of metal, rubber and plastics, to conquer any piece of tarmac that awaits them.

The rest of the spring, Towa promised to himself that he'll catch up to 'Urasawa' Noda, no matter what.