Chapter 225: Prodigy, Miss Cardinal.
The family reached the location called Throttle Land. Just when he was wondering why this place felt familiar, he found his friend, Elvin Rao walking over with swagger. He chuckled and said, "I was so surprised when you reserved the place for a day. You could have called me directly, I was wondering how did we gain such popularity."
Leo realized that this place was newly built and it was on the place which they shared together as a business venture. The young man said, "So, dies that mean we can save the money on this?"
Lily peeked out from behind him and looking at Elvin Rao she narrowed her gaze and asked, "Where is Aunty Cherry?"
Elvin replied with a smile, "She had something to attend at work, so she would be coming later."
Leo and Snow raised their eyes and the young man chuckled, "Did you think I would let her go that easily?"
Lily replied, "Well, you surely have outdone yourself. Now if you are done flexing how green of a flag you are, Uncle Rao, can we go inside, I want to try my Kart."
Elvin Rao was beaten so bad that his soul had been bruised by Lily. He sighed and said, "Yes, Your Highness, in we go."
Kyle and another guard carried the Kart in their hands and followed behind the two. Lily was leading and Leo watched from the back with a smile on his face. Snow replied, "You have spoiled her rotten."
Leo chuckled and replied, "Only a spoilt and sharp tongued child can deal with a punk like Rao. He would always be goofy unless he is in a pinch."
Snow shook her head and replied, "You underestimate him a lot."
Leo shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Well, he is getting fired at by Lily for a reason, forget it, lets go."
They all came inside, and selected Karts. Symphony was a young teenager, so she could also drive a Kart calmly, the track was new and smooth. Leo inspected it all before hand and then he helped Lily dress up. Elvin, and Snow also dressed up in racing suits. Symphony had a suit for herself as well.
Clara had also come along but she refrained from joining the fray. She was happy to see her daughter have fun. Although Symphony felt very shy but she was smiling non-stop. The young man took a deep breath and then they all sat down in their seats. Leo said, "We all take a lap around the track, and get the feeling of it. Okay?"
The rest of the people nodded and the engines began to purr before they moved out one after the other. Lily and Symphony were driving smaller engine Karts and their speed was limited. This was a trial run for them so slow was smooth and smooth was fast.
Lily drove confidently from the get go. Her first lap was slower because Leo had only given her the ability to reach upto twenty kilometer per hour. After a lap, she gained proficiency as she began to memorize the turns and the curves.
Anastasia was watching from the side and she was surprised to see this. She didn't expect that her grand daughter was capable of doing such a thing. Leo caught up to Symphony who was still hesitating and he said, "Symphony, stop thinking and start feeling. You are on the same speed as Lily but you are slow, do you know why? Because you doubt yourself. I have told you that I will get you a Kart as well, so stop thinking about what you would do if you damaged it. Just drive, and have fun or do you want me to punish your mom for something?"
Symphony was wearing a big helmet and she shook her head like a rattle, and then she pressed the accelerator and whooshed away. Leo drove around with Snow, while Elvin's taunts of racing him were ignored.
Snow and Leo competed for one more lap and the young lady found that Leo was really letting her win, and when she glared at him, she was beaten to the front line. Snow did three laps before she stopped and Leo came to a stop to check Lily's time. He found that she was improving with every lap.
So, he walked over to the side and waved her hand at the end of the straight. Lily braked and Leo led her to the side. Lily asked, "Baba, what happened?"
Leo inspected the tires and then he used a spanner to loosen the valve on the side, as he said, "The Kart can now move faster, so you would need to be a little careful. Also, I notice that you lean your body inside when you are gliding through the curves. However, that affects your balance when you are exiting the curves. Try to stay still for now, when you are old enough we can try with the body weight transfer."
Lily nodded and then she put on her helmet once again before she took off again to scale the track. This time she was moving faster, and her execution of braking and accelerating was better as well. Leo watched it from the side, and then he thought for a bit before he said, "Elvin, we should add motion capture cameras around the track, without a blind spot."
Elvin nodded and replied, "Will get it done by tomorrow."
Leo scratched his thoughts and said, "Need to get her an intercom for her as well."
Elvin rolled his eyes and asked, "Dude, are you training her to be a real racer?"
Leo shrugged and replied, "Why not? She wants to learn and I won't mind teaching her everything that I know. Also, you probably don't see it, but look at the lap timings before you come to say that I am being too serious."
Elvin and the rest looked at the score board and they were shocked. Lily had improved an average of two seconds on every lap. Leo said, "The priority for her is to get the optimal understanding of various tracks and achieve the best time that she could. I will not give her too much speed but I want her to be a competent driver. If she goes out in the traffic after getting older, she should be able to handle herself."
The people understood his idea, and the system pinged, 'Ping: Host, the research team of your company has found the compound suitable for more durable and long lasting battery packs. The patent will be granted and delivered to your office in two days.'
Leo nodded faintly when he noticed something else. Symphony had been doing the lap in record time, but all her laps were done in the same time. The margin of time difference between every lap was just a few milliseconds.
The young man looked at Clara and said, "Miss Rouge, your daughter, seems to be a prodigy."
Clara was surprised, and Leo said, "I will show you."
He waited for Symphony to finish her laps, and then waved her to stop on the side. Similarly, Lily to tired and came to stand on the side as well. She took off her helmet and walked over to her father. The young man located the regulator on the Kart Symphony was driving and then he tuned it to max. He said, "Symphony, it will go very fast now, be careful and try your best. I have made a bet with your mom. She says that you can definitely handle this. I told her that if she wins then I will give her a day off."
Symphony didn't realize that she has been tricked but she nodded and then she pressed the accelerator and left. Lily asked, "You really bet with Aunty Clara?"
Leo shook his head with a smile and said, "I just wanted to spur that girl for some action. Now she would do her best."
As he predicted, after two laps Symphony got in the zone and her speed improved. She clocked the best lap of the day after Leo. This was seriously and achievement. Lily cheered when Symphony parked on the side and rushed up to her. Leo smiled and said, "Miss Rouge, take tomorrow off. I promised Symphony that if she did good, you can have a day off."
Clara was hesitant but Snow said, "It's okay, Clara, you deserve it."
The lady finally nodded and Anastasia said, "Leo, if Symphony really wants to focus on growing as a racer, we can send her to the Stag Nation. I know some of the people there in the Karting scene."
Leo shook his head and replied, "Ma, Symphony is too young to stay away from home. She feels more motivated when her family is around her. I am thinking of asking the Wagoner Group to start a drivers academy in Clover Nation, or better, Angkor City. This way she would stay home, and the players in the country will get more exposure."
Lily listened to him and giggled as she said, "Baba, you just want to make more money."
Everyone erupted in laughter.