Race to the Finish

After the Catalan GP, there was just a week until the next race at Mugello in Italy. On Tuesday morning, Sunset was waiting for her daily lessons with Slipstream. Soon enough, he wheeled in, with a few books piled on his lap. He cheerfully called out, "Hey Sunset, have you been taught about aerodynamics, yet?"

She frowned a little, "After my last test, Miss Cheerilee confirmed that that lecture is going to be next week. Why do you ask?"

He grinned, "Want a head start? This topic's gonna be important for this weekend. Ever wonder why I was named Slipstream?"

Sunset nodded, "Yeah, the thought did cross my mind, once or twice."

"Right! So, remember I told you my folks were all racers? Grandmother and grandfather were racers, so was my dad and mom. Mama in particular, was an absolute beast behind the wheel. She was well-known as the queen of draft battles, so when I was born, she named me Slipstream. Now, let me tell you what the slipstream effect is. Give me your hand for a sec."

Curious, she obeyed him and he instructed, "Now, join the tips of your little finger and thumb, that's it, kid. Now join your index and ring fingers as well. Make sure your hand is facing me."

When she did so, he gently blew on her hand. After he was done, he explained, "You felt the air right? Can you describe it?"

She screwed up her face in thought, "I felt it go over my middle finger, and a bit of air between the index and ring fingers. Also felt a small draft under my fingertips."

He smiled, "See, when you're riding, the wind is trying to push your body and the bike back, creating some resistance. Now, can you join your fingers again. This time, I want both hands to do it, then place one behind the other."

She obeyed and he blew on her fingers again, "You felt it again, right? Did the other hand also feel the air."

Sunset shook her head and he grinned, "That is the slipstream effect. The lead bike is effectively punching a hole in the air, so the bike behind has lesser wind resistance, allowing them to go faster. Now, Mugello has an extremely long straight that is 1.1 kilometers long. This is perfect for drafting battles, especially since the finish line is a bit further down the road. The bottom line is that, even if you exit the last corner in first place, there's no guarantee that you'll win, unless you have a giant gap to the leaders."

Now that he got her to understand the basics, they continued with their lesson.

Friday dawned and it was time for Sunset and Zipp to head out onto track for the first time. During the track walk, Sunset was marvelling at how long the straight was. In the opening practice session, the two teammates practiced giving each other a tow to set faster lap times. As the clock wound down to zero, Sunset's time was good enough for third, but on the next go around, she gave Zipp a tow, which was enough to see her in third and Sunset down to 4th.

Then came practice number two and she was fifth fastest, while Zipp was third. Both riders were pretty pleased with their performances and were gathering decent data. When qualifying arrived, Sunset was in sixth place with five minutes remaining, but Zipp Storm was right on her tail in 7th. Just then, yellow flags flew after Dynamo lost the front end of his bike at Turn 12. As the clock ticked down, Zipp nudged ahead in 6th, while Sunset had her latest lap time deleted for exceeding track limits. In the end, she wound up in seventh place, heading the third row.

The next morning, she and Zipp woke up and jogged to the race track. Along the way, the girl casually spoke, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention. In August, when we're at Silverstone, it's going to be a big weekend. That weekend marks our sport's 75th anniversary, so all teams are going to come out with special retro liveries."

Sunset puffed, "I'll talk to Rarity and ask her to look up retro liveries. She's our resident fashionista. So, you excited for today's race?"

Zipp grinned, "You bet! Hey! Tell you what, whoever finishes behind the other, buys dinner for the team. Deal?"

They shook on it, "Deal!"

The time ticked by like a blur, they did their media duties, warm up session, final adjustments to their setups. Finally, Sunset, Zipp and the other riders completed their final sighting lap before the start of the race. As always, Sunset eyed the lights carefully and got ready. When they went out, she gunned it straight away.

Sunset got a great launch and slotted into fifth place, while Zipp didn't get a good launch and dropped to 7th. Sunset began hounding Dynamo, while Zipp was attacking Velocity for the entire opening lap. Dynamo then lunged down the inside of Bullet, but went wide. Sunset sensed an opportunity and snuck down the inside, but Dynamo managed to muscle his way past again. Meanwhile, Zipp Storm eventually overtook Velocity and settled behind Sunset.

However, as the race dragged on, the Top 4 were already stretching away from her. Zipp's and her Aprilia bikes were clearly not as quick as the Top 4 Ducatis. As a result, the duo just settled on duelling each other and waiting for someone ahead to do something stupid.

Sadly, it never came, and Sunset ended the race in fifth place, ahead of Zipp Storm on her debut. They congratulated Slick Shifter for his win, with Bullet, Apex and Dynamo completing the Top 4.

When they rode back into their garages, they were pretty happy with their double points haul. Of course, as promised, Zipp Storm treated everyone in the team to some classic Italian pizzas. Sunset took a bite and her eyes nearly rolled out of her skull, "Oh my gosh! This is sooo Good! Miles better that the pizzas we get back home in Canterlot! So where are we off to, next?"

Slipstream scrolled through his phone, "We got nearly a month until the next race at Assen, in Netherlands. Originally we were supposed to head to Kazakhstan for its debut, but the country's been experiencing heavy floods. I dunno about you, but I'm gonna go and relax for a few days."