[hr] [center] [h1][b] Hakone Izakaya Bar 2100 Hours [/b] [/h1] [/center] With conversation flowing all around, the night continued on, pilots chatting to one another, sponsors, and the atmosphere certainly one that felt like it was corporate meets a party. No doubt, the minders for each team would begin to start wrapping things up shortly, and they'd be finishing for the night. After all, jet lag could be cured with some concoctions, as could blood alcohol level, but a late night was already getting later by the minute, and there was qualifying to get into tomorrow. Some teams had advertising gigs to get into during the day (or already had), but one thing was clear. One of the most slick, scenic street circuits was coming up tomorrow night, and experiencing it for the new pilots would be one hell of a vision. [hr] [center] [h1][b] Round 3 of Formula Anti-Gravity Racing Saturday April 1st, 2094 Qualifying Day Japanese AGP Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan 1800 JST [/b] [/h1] [/center] [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/3831953004_c85ed8b801_b.jpg[/img] [color=gold][center][h2][i][b](April) Fool's Gold[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] [center][h2][i][b]Amy Stirling[/b][/i][/h2][/center] [b]Soundtrack: [url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-WnjGdz_i0 ]Bicep- Vale[/url] [/b] The rain had somehow, stopped. The grey clouds had lifted for a brief part of the dusk with the sky at a pink, deep, dark navy, as per forecast, but that made the neon, LED and holographic jungle of Japan's biggest city, one of the major metropolises of the world in that weird and wonderful, still no less dramatic. For anyone else, it was a total, complete sensory overload, but for the pilots, it was a sideshow to the most of the time three-lane highway that defined the majority of the circuit, a historic legacy given the skyways of glass and flying AVs that now filled the sky of the city. A circuit that was relatively long for a street circuit, yet indulged in some incredible highways of Tokyo, and saw most of the major sights. From on board with Amy, you could take it in from a ship's point of view from her first person camera on her helmet- not quite as fast as Cape Town given a lot of the straights were broken up, but still, ridiculously close in with barriers and skyscrapers all near. The tarmac of the Shuto had been replaced in parts by MAG tracking, giving a secondary benefit to ships that benefitted from great energy systems. This meant the hairpins were very much on the limit of each ship, requiring really good high-speed cornering skills, more than craft handling and where the stability element of this track came in. However, from stop start sections with big turns, as well as the layout of the circuit's MAG traps meant that energy systems were definitively the most important factor, reflected in the laps being put down. And she went through each corner with that in mind, the forces wanting to tear her apart, yet her suit, modified physiology and anti-gravity core doing the work to keep her on track. The ship whined, almost as if it was reacting to that very drive, pulled through her very psyche itself into the way it twitched through Turn 1, at the world-famous Shibuya Crossing. The circuit was a long one, with the start on the iconic Shibuya Scramble Crossing, surrounded by towering, dizzying amounts of light and holographic displays, probably the tightest section of the circuit in terms of turns. From there, the circuit headed to Route 246, into a hard right-left section that then headed onto Route 3 and the Takagicho Shuto highway, an elevated expressway that flanked skyscrapers, seamlessly narrowing into a hard junction that went onto Highway C1 at the Suntory Tower, flying past the Tokyo Tower and down to the Tokyo Bay all on elevated expressways, about two to three storeys above the main roadway below. Which in itself, revealed just how insanely visual this track was- if it wasn't the neon, it was the sheer views themselves, exposing a megalopolis when it opened up on that section towards the harbour itself, the sea all visible in the moonlight and neon. An exceptionally long right-hander that was a 270 degree turn, with limited MAG tracking sent ships up onto the Rainbow Bridge over the Tokyo Harbour, ships through here almost "drifting" from the right drone shot, given just how fast they were and almost no brakes were required, the G-Forces here like being subject to a simulator given it lasted about five seconds of continuous lateral right turning. Over the bridge, and joining another junction with a long 90 degree right hander, past a corner most knew as "Robot Corner" for the gigantic GUNDAM-styled robot that was once there, and now actually worked on the harbourside in the docks, brought the ship through another tunnel, and a long straight with a curve. After bursting through that, a sharp long right hand hairpin took them back into a long tunnel complex on Highway C2, snaking under Shinbamba in a tunnel section that echoed with the roar of the ship's engines, before joining Route 2 via a near inverted banking onto the elevated expressway again at Gotanda, flanking more and more skyscrapers as well as a park, before turning off via a ridiculously tight hairpin using extensive mag tracking and an almost half-pipe like banking to drop down onto a smaller road, Route 305, weaving through urban streets at ground level before winding back to Shibuya, with a tight 90 left, right and right hander finishing the lap. Overtaking was strange- you couldn't really pull past on the junctions given it went about two ships wide, if that, but energy systems could spit you out of them even faster, and you could roll on past, where the lanes gave a bit more room. Almost all of the circuit, including the tunnels, overpasses and tight Shibuya section became an overtaking zone, and it made for incredibly aesthetic racing to watch, because it was always a fight during raceday, but during qualifying, more of a test of a pilot's resilience to make the most out of each corner and slow-down. Amy was on pole again, but not by much, as she realised she'd only just, and barely gone past Kais. "Top lap, Amy! You always pull it out of the bag, tonight is no exception, top job, top job!" The response from her Welsh engineer, Keira Adams, called into her ear, as she breathed out, exhaling, winding the ship down, finding her exit route after Corner 3, pulling down into the pit. Even she was a bit lost for words. "Holy crap. That was something..." Amy smiled, as she felt the ship was definitely on tenterhooks on some of the MAG strips, but well, it had held on. With the ship pulled into the Silver Apex garage, she popped the canopy and clambered out, a big grin on her face as she put her hand into the air, hearing comms from Keira on her end. "Yeah, you did well there, Ames. Shame about Jamie. Could have done better if he hadn't have binned it on Corner 2. But we move." Keira called into the comms, disappointed, yet not really focussed on that at all. She had to recover her own self for now. "We do indeed. Kais is gonna be hunting us tomorrow. But I'll outplay him." She grinned under the visor, the response not very private, but well, a shot fired back. And on that note, she took her helmet off, clambering down the steps of the ship, her crew coming in and cheering, an actual bit of success after Jamie had performed absolutely poorly. He'd done nothing right on that lap, and Amy was not at all happy with him. Sure, it made her look even more incredible, that was always fun, but the team was going to suffer again. And it was another day of pulling a rabbit out of a hat when it came to an ELS fight. The fact the grid was fragmented between teams helped her, given they might not help each other as much, but even so, Amy knew that Kais would be a fierce competitor, and given how much ELS was needed to get a lap right here, meant a ton of micro-management. That meant racers that were typically just fast on circuits like these were managing a lot more, and not knowing how to manage that system would be a disadvantage, outside of just the craft's general characteristics itself. Nora as a result hadn't performed perhaps as well as some might expect someone who was used to the underground to perform- same with Bea, who while having a fast ship, didn't have the energy system to back up her ship's capability. As for Nordic Call, having Astrid in 4th was pure insanity- she had pulled an exceptional lap out, and whilst she may have joked around, her ELS system had been tuned by the team exceptionally well, whilst her team-mate had flagged and not made the most. Al-Saqr's new upgrades had clearly hit their marks, and whilst sub-par in ELS to some other frontrunners, made up for it in everything else, as well as Kais just managing to attack his lap and Layla doing the same. [hider=Qualifying Results for Tokyo] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qF6cn-eA0G0sumgf79TvEnPjOHyQP-vZSFV6LNrn_OY/edit?usp=sharing [/hider] [hr] [color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Post Qualifying Interviews[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] After the qualifying session, the pilots were back again at the Delta Hyper booth within the paddock after various interviews and catch-ups with their teams, Rory back in presence, full body rather than just a head in the distance. The British commentator kept his mic set, catching each of the pilots as they came in. -- [b] [@Sylvan] "Nora, a shame about not making podium today, but it seems you're still getting to grips with the Formula AG energy system after making the switch from the Interior Circuit. How does Tokyo stack up as a street circuit for a former underground racer?" -- [@Enzayne] "Han, you seem to be impressing the pundits and spectators, pushing that Zygon craft higher than perhaps some are saying it should have been from the data says. Yourself and Cassie are stacked together in 7th and 8th. Do you think you can keep the pace up in the race?" -- [@LadyAmber] "Paul, maybe this isn't Valkyrie's circuit given your ship characteristics, but a good effort nonetheless. How do you feel about the surprise from Astrid coming in 4th today, and her thoughts on competing with Valkyrie in Tokyo?" --- [@Starlance] "A qualifying to forget Bea, it looks like the ship has the speed but the energy system just wasn't there for you and Ava. Do you feel you can pull more out of it in the race, and do you think you and Ava will work together to climb up the grid?" --- [@MrSkimobile] "Wow, what a lap that was, Kais! You and Layla must be on top of the world- you both seem to be in a position to put some pressure on Amy?"[/b] [hr] One by one, the other pilots trickled in, of course, starting with Amy. "Yeah, that was a special lap for me. Really, really had to push, through the tunnel section it felt like I was really on the edge of what we could do, but I always had it. Super happy with that!" Harrison seemed to shrug, happy yet wanting a lot more. "Yeah, not sure about the qualy, just the ELS trigger there didn't get it right and Kais was on fire with his deployment, so kudos to him. We'll make it up tomorrow and keep them on their toes!" Astrid was bouncing. As you'd expect, given a team that so far had underperformed drastically was now launching back at the rest of the grid. "Amazing! Just amazing! 4th is really good, and that lap felt so easy to weave. The craft is so easy to launch out of the corners and the team must have gotten my setup perfect, I think I set a purple sector at Sector 2? I love that bit so much, so yeah, let's keep going tomorrow!" Layla too, seemed upbeat, cheerier than Cape Town, albeit annoyed that Astrid had beaten her. A team that was normally not so great, had turned up with their fancy ELS and absolutely gone to town with Astrid's setup to get points. "Yeah, just cannot believe the lap that Astrid put down. But, we'll get her back tomorrow. ELS or not, I'll be coming and Kais just set a great marker too!" Dorian was a little annoyed, but Japan wasn't their strong suit either. Handling was more their game, so here, they had to make do. "Yeah, it's a bit annoying, but we'll try tomorrow and make it up on track. The ELS is tricky to master and our system is good, so we'll roll the dice tomorrow and get some points." Cassie was certainly smiling again. "Oh we are definitely keeping our places tomorrow, me and Han have got that locked in! The ship's really fun, and everyone seems to be really going toe to toe. Anything can happen so stick about!" Ava was a little more pensive, albeit honest, knowing that even with her extensive ELS knowledge, Nordic Call, Valkyrie, and Zygon had certainly pulled it back with their systems here. "Not much more I could have done, in the race I can reel them in, but on pure pace, we just don't have the same ELS and stability some other teams do. We'll be back though, Bea is next to me on the grid and we'll work together." Max seemed a little annoyed, similar to Ava, pensive. "So uh yeah, we aren't where we want, but kudos to Ulrich. Knew his ELS knowledge would come in handy! As for me, I'll make it up, and fight back to points. Japan is such a good circuit to get in the groove, I love it here and honestly, I wanna make it one to remember!" And Kofi was a little similar, disapointed to not have more, but then again, the upgrades just hadn't hit this weekend. It was a salvage operation, and even he had not much to add. "It is what it is, we have more to be competitive, but we'll try and fight in the backmarkers and set some respectable times. We'll do what we can." And Henry? Well, the talk was a little different. "Yeah, not amazing really. The team back at home are doing well, there are a lot of rumours at the moment, but that isn't holding us back and we're still working on getting ourselves up the grid, and that will happen."