[center] [h1][b] Round 16 of Formula AG Saturday 21st October, 2094 Practice Ballycastle Complex, Muller Cay, nr Australia Great Barrier Reef AGP 1100 AEST [/b] [/h1] [/center] [color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Hydraulic[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] The feeling of being harnessed in. Above, a burning sunshine, canopy open, arms out, harness clicked. Below, 30 meters of elevation dip and spiral. Formula AG was not as vicious as UFC, constant as hockey, team-based as football, flair based like basketball, stats based like baseball. It felt like a fuse of all of them. A body pushed to a limit, analysis, but more than everything, courage when it mattered. A machine could pilot any ship faster than any of them. But when a neural link came into play, it didn't feel like being fast, it felt like being between the blinks of an eye. The subtle, gentle breathe out. The screen back at the pit box. A render of Jen's brain, far more than any normal brain scan, if a machine could tell you the overall mood, passive feeling, anything, this would be it. One of a gladiator. [hr] [b]Soundtrack: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKBtPvP0BCc]M83 - Water Deep[/url] [/b] The circuit was a relentless one. With a corner going left at the short straight, the track dived into a massive funnel that dived straight into ocean. A massive open straight was flanked by ballistic-grade reinforced glass on either side as a tunnel that sat in amongst the initial research area of the coral regrowth, the long back straight bumpy with broken sight lines that led into a fiendishly hard hairpin, the K-Bend, named as such due to some random engineer that had proposed it stayed away from the enormous lump of coral beyond it that almost seemed to make a living blob of organic mass. The sunshine was strong enough to create sunbursts into the track, but no vison system they had adjusted to it perfectly, beyond the LED-like lighting that illuminated the walls and the reference point to the floor. Uniquely, given it was a tube, it meant that overtakes could be literally taken inverted through MAG tracking that was placed in straights encouraging absolutely rogue behaviour, and as such, Great Barrier Reef was probably the easiest track to overtake and snatch positions on. While normally that would benefit ELS, the bumps and surface being incredibly rough, along with the type of hairpin made low speed stability key. The hairpin was tight and went left, testing stability and control in each ship, a massive bank that was enough to rival Argentina or any other circuit, spiralling down and then back up towards another right hand hairpin after a long straight, a more open, gentler affair than the last, but still, winding out. Another long, left turn wound the track back around and surfaced at the back of the Cay, before turning again and diving under a small section of water, and like that, spitting back towards the start straight on the opposite side of where all the magical science happened that had started the regrowth of the coral. Simple, fast, winding, almost like a motocross track, but given most of it was about 20 meters below sea level, and the ability to snap a shot of an AG racing ship at full tilt with a shoal of fish in the background beyond glass (without AI or photoshop), made it rather extraordinary. But for the pilot that had set all purple sectors, it was another demonstration that Jenny Lowry was proving she was no fluke. "P1, Jen, mega lap, all attack through there." "Woo!" She was being hunted by Nora, the local favourite. And Beatrix Ward. Amy was not close at all. But tomorrow would change all of that. [hider=Qualifying Results for Great Barrier Reef:] https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qF6cn-eA0G0sumgf79TvEnPjOHyQP-vZSFV6LNrn_OY/edit?usp=sharing [/hider] [hr] [color=gold][center][h2][i][b]Interviews[/b][/i][/h2][/center][/color] The interviews took place within an underwater dome, with fish and coral visible outside, at a stewards viewing point onto the circuit itself, moored slightly offshore from the spit of sand itself. "Bellatrix, we heard that Nordic Call brought upgrades, and it looks like you've delivered. How are you feeling coming in and instantly making an impact with points?" "Beatrix, a solid P3 effort, and while stability may not be Carrera's strong suit, do you think you can hang onto another podium?" "Kais, not the result we'd be hoping for, but it seems like Al-Saqr are looking forward to the speedier circuits of the grid. Are you looking to limit damage at Muller Cay?" "Paul, it looks like you were breathing down the neck of Cassie Neves's time on that qualifying run? It seems like you're so tight knit, how have you found your laps here today?"