The Art of Racing in the Human World: Chapter 2
#2 of The Art of Racing in the Human World
Back at the Wolfpack Motorsports headquarters in Furrithopia, the three top members of the team stood in the garage, each clutching rule books for the GT4 series and looking at various parts of one of the Maserati MC GT4 race cars.
Ricky stood at the tail end, looking at the huge carbon fiber rear spoiler. It was iffy if the aerodynamic properties of the wing were in compliance with the rules.
"Carbon, come take a look at the spoiler. I'm not sure it's in spec."
The otter, who had been looking at the carbon-ceramic brake calipers, stood up and came to look at what was wrong.
"What's the issue?" he asked.
"I don't think that this is legal." Ricky pointed out the wings endcaps and how they flared out from the top of the wing to create a bit more stability.
Jarrod perused the rule book, flipping it to a page about rear spoilers. His eyes blurred as he blazed through the section, digesting the information like a computer would.
"It says here that the endcaps are allowed to flare out, but only so much." He grabbed a ruler and held it up to the bottom of the wing, checking the dimensions. "It's legal by 3 millimeters."
Ricky smiled. They wouldn't have to modify the wing, at any rate.
In short order, they established that the car was entirely legal to race without any modifications. The cars beautiful blue and orange paint scheme gleamed under the bright lights of the garage. Modeled after the human Gulf fuel cars of old, the scheme was a new take on what that fuel had done for motorsports. There were two cars in the garage, the 97 and the 06. There were an additional pair of backup cars, one each, that would be shipped out to the first race of the season.
The first race was to be held at the historic Road America race track in Elkhart, Winsconsn in only a few short days and they were already behind schedule because of the length of the lawsuit.
"Come on, let's go!" shouted Jarrod at a pair of anthro Labradors, who were in charge of loading the four cars, and the supplies, onto an old surplus U.S. Air Force C-141 cargo plane.
The Labs hopped to and pushed the ton and a bit of one car up the loading ramp and tied it down.
"Wheels up in thirty minues!" called Ricky from his office at the back of the building. The team's private test track had been built on an abandoned airport, similar to Top Gear UK.
Furrithopia was originally French territory and had always been the home for furs. In the 1960's, the furry populace managed to get their paws on some weapons and had quickly driven the French out. A year of negotiations later, they had agreed to leave the island and its inhabitants alone, provided that they would agree to go to war if the French ever did. Since that seemed so unlikely as to be funny, the furs readily agreed.
As a result of this, a vast majority of the population spoke fluent French.
An hour later, the cargo jet was airborne, bound for a small airport only a few miles from the race track.