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The announcers words rang in my ears. "The Championship Full Circuit race will begin momentarily." It was everything I'd always dreamed of. I'd watched the Dream Matches on TV more than a few times, when I was little, like ten, I remember my Dad bought me a racing helmet and I wore it for the 24 hour Speedwell Dream match. I fought my parents at every turn to be able to stay up and watch the whole thing. That was just watching it. Now? I was about to experience it. I had the team, the cars and the willpower I needed to see it through.

"Huddle up guys", I said as we all came in, "what do we have?"

"We have the IROC, the Saleen and the Audi", Jack said, "Josh and I will Drive the Camaro."

"Tristan and I will drive the Saleen", DJ said.

"And Alex and I have the Audi", I said, "according to where we finished, were in second place. We line our cars up according to PI, that means the Camaro's out front, the Audi is in second and the Saleen is last."

"Ain't no one passing me once they get back there", DJ said smiling, "plus diesel goes the distance."

"The Camaro's got more power than every other car out here as well", Jack said, "let's see how much of it I can use."

"Let's do this", Tristan said.

Jack, Josh, Tristan and DJ went to get changed into suits while I just pulled mine on from the waste up as I hadn't taken it off from this morning.

"You sure about this Seth?", Alex asked, "maybe driving that beast is better left to a pro."

"I just got done racing a 780 horsepower Cummins swapped Firebird with more bite than bark and drag racing a 1,200 horsepower Camaro, I can handle a 1,000 crank horsepower Audi TDI."

Alex looked at me, "you got some determination, I like that."

"Drivers to your cars please", the announcer said, "drivers to your cars."

Alex and I walked to the Audi as DJ and the other came back and got in the Camaro and Saleen. I could hear a bunch of other cars start up as the announcer began calling out potions.

"In first place", The Ref said, "Team Falcon. Morgan Rossi, 2015 Pontiac Firebird TransAm GTA. Susan Clarke 2015 Toyota Supra 3.0 GTR, Jack Clarke 2015 Koenigsegg One-1 GT and team leader Joseph Kane, 2015 Falcon Peregrine GT-ONE."

Oh.

Shit.

The GT-ONE qualified!?!? At first, I was stunned, then I remembered what I'd been told when I was first invited to the Dream matches.

"Your Falcon GT-ONE qualifies a Lamborghini Reventon due to the rear end they share."

I sighed, this wasn't going to be an easy race. But I didn't need easy, I just needed do and if I could beat the GT-ONE, a car which had been built for the sole purpose of going fast, then it would make today even more of a dream than it already was.

"Team two", the Ref said, "Jack Ramos, 1990 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z. DJ Hayes, 2011 Saleen S331 King Cab and team leader Seth Allen, 2015 #8 Audi Sport R10 TDI GTR."

The announcer went through the other teams and by the time everything was said and done, all of the new Great Eight were on the track, along with the old Great Eight and the Falcon. All in all, this was a 17 car showdown. I could feel the rumbling in the air, smell the exhaust and the power. The seats of my car vibrated from the toque that was threatening to slow down the Earth's rotation. My heart was racing, I felt every nerve in my body pulse with near uncontrollable excitement. The pit crews of each team were running through final race checks and quickly retreating.

They weren't using a red light green light starter this time. They were using a count down. The timer was at 10. I could feel my limbs getting crazy tight as I put one hand on the shifter, standing by to throw it into drive when the timer hit zero. 9. The cars began to rev and warm up their engines. The Falcon's high pitched hypercharged wails audible over everyone else, instilling fear into the drivers of lesser cars. 8. More revs. 7. Some of the cars were inching forwards as they tried to intimidate other drivers. 6. The sounds of every car shifting into drive filled the air. 5. Tension. 4. Torque and horsepower fighting for dominance. 3. Shivers. 2. This is it. No turning back now.

"GO!"

The sounds of screeching tires and wailing superchargers filled the air. The Audi gave a lurch as the rear wheels spun rubber to the track in a two second fight for grip before slinging us forward. The tach climbed to 5,000 almost faster than I could blink. I gave a flick of the paddle and there was a Koenigsegg style lurch as the transmission shifted into second gear. I caught the Koenigsegg One-1 in the corner, but lost the lead in the straight as his acceleration was better than mine. DJ and Jack eased into the corner, passing the 87 GTO and 90 Camaro behind me as I fought the Koenigsegg for my lead back. I began to brake at the 2nd red marker and flicked the paddle down to second gear before taking the Koenigsegg in the corner. He dogged me through the straight and into the second corner, where I manged to come out faster and lose him.

Joe's friend Susie and the new Supra were out in front of me now, behind Ross and Firebird and the GT-ONE way out in front. Judging the trouble that Alex had in the previous race, I knew catching the thing was going to be hard, even more so since Susan raced Supras for a living.

I dogged her to both corners in the first S and then all the way through Concrete Alley, managing to over take her in the fifth corner. Now I was behind Ross, who had about 300 feet over me. Putting my foot as far into my new Audi as I felt safe doing, I managed to close 240 of the 300, but lost some of the distance when I entered the corner. I matted it down the straight and went through turn six faster than I should have, but the risk was worth the reward as I was now right behind Ross and it would take me literally flying off the track backwards for him to lose me.

"Not getting away form me this easy!", I shouted through the helmet as I flicked the car into 4th gear and putting my foot in it. I got 5th hear at about 178 miles an hour and I didn't get sixth until 210, but by then I was downshifting for the corner. I couldn't afford to cut the sand like Ross and Susie could, so I played it safe and braked for the corners. Then I managed to get onto the speedwell.

"Go time."

I gave the car 4th gear and man did the V12 in the back take it. I watched the tach climb from 3 to 7 thousand before I gave the car 5th gear. 180, 190, 200, 210, 6th gear. 220, 230, 240, 250, 7th gear, 260, 270. The tach was slowly inching to 12 thousand RPM and 280 miles an hour. The steering was loading up the more diesel I fed the engine, but I needed to keep the speed as Ross and Joe were still in front, and whats worse was while I was ganging on the GTA, I was losing the GT-ONE. I wasn't surprised, the car was built to go 510 miles an hour.

I managed to slip past the GTA by the end of lap one. My time was 1:24.482. I braked before I had even hit the finish line in an effort to slow down just enough to get into the corner and accelerate out of it without crashing my car. I flicked all the way down to 4th gear and gave more brake than I should have, coming into the corner at 156 miles an hour and managing an exit speed of 163 in an early 5th gear shift. Joe was just braking for the second turn. Damn was the GT-ONE a fast piece of kit.

I gave the V12 whatever it wanted in a desperate bid to catch the Methane sucking W-24 that was repeating to win this race. I hit corner two of the track at 90 miles an hour in third and gave a flick to fourth as I put the pedal to the floor. Joe was just out front, braking for the third turn of the second lap. As he made the turn, the car oversteered a little, halting his acceleration just long enough for my Audi and I to slide in behind him.

The Falcon hissed and roared at us as we screamed down the straight to the first S turn. The Audi hollered right back. Joe and I went through the corners bumper to bumper and then hit Concrete Alley. The Falcon basically said, "see ya!", and was down at the next turn faster than I could flick fourth gear. I had my foot in the gas so hard I was legitimately afraid I was going to punch a hole in the floor of my car. I hammered the next turn at 120 miles an hour, just barely missing replacing the silver paint on the right side of my car with a red Bugatti decal.

The Falcon was already through the next two corners and braking for the turn to the next straight. For a second, everything slowed down and I glimpsed a way through the next two corners that was a single straight line. I put the car in 4th to recover from the drift and took it. Before Joe was half way into the turn, I had him, then past him.

"See ya bro!", I said through my helmet as I hammered down the straight and into the next corner.

My joy was short lived. Within two seconds my hitting the corner, Joe was right there. I could see the Falcon's evil looking headlights in my rear view. Them, plus the way we built the grill, made it seem like I was being tailed by some monster that was enough to make even Satan pull the covers over his head at night. The Falcon couldn't take me in the corners, they were two narrow, which meant I had t deny Joe every opportunity to pass in the straight.

I flicked to 5th gear as I came out of the corner and matted it. Joe came out of the corner and the Falcon came charging at a rate of acceleration I had never seen before. He came so fast that if I cut him off, I would have sent us both home in a pile of carbon fiber and mangled titanium.

Joe hit the next turn seconds before I did. I dogged him through them and then we both hit the speedwell.

"Here I come", I said giving the car 4th gear. I put the pedal to the floor and didn't let up. Giving the car the gears as the engine asked for them. 180, 190, 200, 5th gear, 210, 220, 230, 6th gear, 240, 250, 7th gear, 260, 270. But try as I might, there was no catching the Falcon. I ended my second lap with 1:24 dead, while Joe was at a blistering 1:18.009, very near high 1:17, the fastest laps ever set on this track. I couldn't hear them, but I imagined that the crowd and the announcers were going nuts over them.

For twenty laps the race dragged on. I made several pit stops for new tires, brakes and diesel and each time I had to fight for second place back. It was only when Joe made his first pit stop that I was able to really get a foot hold on him around lap 13, but even then, by lap 15, he was once again so far out in front thanks to All Wheel Drive and 6000 horsepower that there was zero chance of catching him.

At lap 20, I had Joe at my front bumper in the final corner. The speedwell and a single Hypercar was all that stood between me and the victory of my dreams.

"Not this time", I thought to myself, "you'll win this race when this car goes up in smoke."

I didn't brake through the turns, though I should have. I felt a jolt as the GT-ONE and my R10 traded silver and black paint. My GTR rolled right up on the speedwell, it was do or die time. The Falcon was braking.

"Go."

If I had a few cameras, I could have shot a clip of Fast 7. I flicked to 5th gear and put my foot on the gas. The V12 took what I was handing it and the GTR shot forward. I was easing into the straight from the well when I saw the GT-ONE turn in. It's headlights in my rear view were scary, just short of having a gun in my face scary.

"He's gonna catch us Seth", Alex said.

"No he's not", I said.

I gave the V12 as much as the current set up would allow. In the end, it wasn't enough. The Falcon caught me and passed the finish line with a 240 foot gap between us. Second place. Strangely though, I was happy as I started to slow down and pull off the road. Even though I'd lost, I had raced the Circuit of my dreams, the event of my dreams, in one of finest cars in the world and now, according to rules, I was the Audi Rear Wheel Drive Champion.

"I'm the Audi champ", I said as I slowed to a stop.

Alex put his hand on my shoulder, "how's it feel Seth?"

"Like I'm dreaming", I said.

It took another five minutes for the other racers to safely stop. Once they did, the drivers were called to the rewards. They dealt out the cash first. Second place prize was 500 thousand dollars and a silver trophy that weighed about 30 pounds. Joe received a million dollar cash prize, a gold trophy the same size as mine and the keys to the new Great Eight cars. After everyone had applauded him, he stepped up to a podium.

"Thank you everyone for coming out here today", he said, "the race however, is not over."

The crowd quieted with shock.

"The race is never over", Joe said, "a racer is never really done racing until he's dead. As long as there are fast cars, it's your destiny to always race them. A lifelong goal that is never really fulfilled."

Joe talked for a while and after he was done there was a huge reception. There was a huge am mount off food, fun and one of my favorite rappers, Trick Daddy, sang one of my favorite songs, Represent. In the middle of the concert, Mom came and got me.

"Time to go honey", she said, "long drive home."

I took one more look at the stage and had the urge to fight, but what was the point? There was nothing more to do. I followed my Mom back to the Ford where Dad had all of our things packed up and ready.

"Everyone ready?", Dad asked.

"Think so", Jack said holding the keys to the Camaro.

"All abroad then", Dad said.

While everyone else climbed into the Ford, I stayed behind.

"You coming Seth?", Dad asked.

"Actually", I said looking at Trent, "kinda wanna go in the Audi."

Trent smiled, "Don't worry Mr. Allen, I'll make sure he gets home safe."

Dad smiled and shut the door with a thunk.

"Let's go brother", Trent said.

We walked to the Audi and slid inside. I did up my racing harness as Trent started the car.

"Bear with me Seth", Trent said, "it's been forever since I've driven a Performance Automatic."

"Right is gear up and left is gear down", I said, "there's no clutch."

"I saw the clutch part", Trent said. We followed the Ford and the Camaro out of the raceway and onto the highway. Trent gave the car second gear as we hit open road and third as we hit the interstate. I'd just made millions of dollars, bought my first car, which was my car and not a project car and made the dreams of my best friend come true. No where to go now but up.