"Saya lihat sebuah pola, tapi tak yakin apakah ini sekadar kebetulan atau memang disengaja. Dan aku tak yakin manakah yang lebih menakutkan di antara dua kemungkinan itu," kata Steve sambil memandang data telemetri Fatih yang terus-menerus diperbarui secara langsung, lalu menghubungkannya dengan seluruh lap dari sesi-sesi sebelumnya.
"Maksudmu apa?" tanya Ricky saat John, Burak, Lando, dan semua orang di tenda berbalik, mengarahkan perhatian ke Steve, berusaha mendengar apa yang akan dia katakan.
"Aku penasaran sejak latihan bebas ketiga. Meskipun kami tak memperlambat kartnya setelah penyesuaian seting, ketika ia mengikuti sesi latihan bebas kedua, perbaian pacenya tak sebanding dengan sesi pertama yang ia lakukan dengan seting netral. Meskipun ia terus memecahkan rekor sirkuit dengan setiap lap, selisih antar satu lap dan lap berikutnya semakin berkurang, dan total perbaian waktu per sesi turun dari tiga sepuluh ke hanya dua sepuluh setiap sesi setelahnya.
Awalnya, kukira ia sedang mengenaskan seting, dan karena ia tetap memecahkan rekor sirkuit dengan setiap lap, aku tak memikirkannya lebih jauh. Tapi setelah latihan bebas ketiga, kudapati pola-polaa yang menunjukkan ini bisa menjadi kebetulan yang sangat bagus atau memang keputusan sadar yang diambilnya."
Setelah mengatakan itu, ia menatap orang-orang di ruangan untuk memberi mereka waktu meneliti, sekaligus mendengar apakah ada yang ingin berkata sesuatu atau sebaiknya ia melanjutkan.
"Apa sebenarnya maksudmu?" tanya John dengan penasaran ke arah jawaban Steve.
Ia tersenyum mendengar pertanyaannya, lalu langsung mengklik-klik komputer beberapa kali, membelokkan layar ke Ricky sambil berkata, "Dia sengaja memedulkan diri dan membatasi selisih waktu antar lap hanya beberapa ratus sepdet agar seluruh hari ini—setiap lap yang ia dorong — selalu memecahkan rekor sirkuit berturut-turut. Dan kalau aku benar, seharusnya ia juga akan menambah lebih dari dua sepuluh oleh akhir sesi ini."
Sepanjang mengucapkannya, sulit untuk mempercayainya, tetapi data tak bisa dibohongi. Di tengah percakapan itu, tepat waktu satu lap baru tercatat, dan itu lagi-lagi menjadi rekor baru sirkuit.
"Harddddd deh," kata Ricky sambil menoleh ke arah Fatih yang kini sudah berada di Tikungan Tiga pada lap ke-tiga puluh sembilan-nya. Ia tahu hanya ada dua lagi lap yang bisa ia lakukan di sesi ini, jadi ia tidak fokus pada Fatih, melainkan pada layar laptop yang menampilkan timer langsung dan telemetri lapnya.
Orang lain pun menoleh ke sana. Meskipun mereka sudah kesulitan membayangkan bagaimana Fatih mampu meletakkan lebih dari tiga puluh lap yang memecahkan rekor di sirkuit, mereka justru lebih kesulitan lagi dengan ide bahwa ia sengaja membatasi dirinya hanya untuk terus-menerus memecahkan rekor.
"Aku yakin ini sekadar kebetulan, kan?" seseorang di tenda berkata sambil mencari ada yang setuju agar ia tidak terlihat gila mengikuti logika semata.
"Satu kali, wajar. Dua kali, bisa terjadi. Tiga kali, belum mustahil. Tapi untuk lebih dari tiga puluh lap, jika ini bukan sengaja, maka aku rasa tak ada yang lain pun bisa," kata Ricky saat Fatih keluar dari tikungan terakhir dan masuk ke lurusan lurus. Sebelum ia bisa menambahkan sesuatu, data telemetri input throttlenya tercatat melakukan sedikit angkat, sedikit mengurangi kecepatannya hanya cukup untuk memecahkan rekor lagi dengan selisih kecil yang biasa, sambil memulai lap berikutnya yang tercatat kuning di mini sektor, menunjukkan ia saat ini lebih lambat di sektor-sektor awal dibandingkan rekor terbaiknya.
Semua orang tumpu ke layar, sadar bahwa ini adalah lap terakhirnya di sesi ini, dan bertanya-tanya apakah angkat itu adalah kesalahan atau apakah dia bisa memulihkan waktu itu kembali.
Dan tak mengecewakan. Ia berhasil memulihkan seluruh waktu yang hilang, bahkan berlari merah di sektor dua, sebelum kembali mengurangi kecepatan di sektor tiga untuk memecahkan rekor sirkuit. Ia menyelesaikan sesi latihan bebas keempatnya dengan masih lebih dari dua menit tersisa. Seolah-olah tepat waktu, laptop menampilkan total verbahan yang ia capai selama sesi tersebut: dua sepuluh dan sedikit.
"Itu berarti dia sudah menambah lebih dari satu detik sejak sesi pertama latihan bebas. Dari angkatan dan selisih waktu sektor yang berbeda setiap lap, sepertinya ia tidak benar-benar mencapai batas maksimal untuk mendorong kartnya," kata John setelah selesai menghitung verbahan sejak sesi pertama, di mana ia menambah lebih dari tiga sepuluh dari rekor awal, diikuti oleh tiga sesi berikutnya yang masing-masingnya menambahkan dua sepuluh dan sedikit, membawa total verbahan hingga hampir satu detik.
"Bagamana dia tahu waktu lap untuk menghitung kapan angkat? Kamu serius ingin berkata dia menghitungnya di kepalanya?" tanya Ricky sebelum menjawab pertanyaan termegah itu sebelum waktu.
"Aku tidak menganggapnya mustahil, karena kudengar kita semua ada di sana saat ia berhasil memperkirakan verbahan sirkuit dalam debrief pasca kualifikasi. Jika ia bisa melakukannya di kualifikasi basah yang kacau dalam seting kering, aku tidak menganggapnya mustahil untuk menghitungnya ketika ia berada pada seting dan posisi jalan terbaik,"
kata Steve dengan logis sebagaimana informasinya mengizinkan.
Setelah semua, berbeda dengan single-seater yang steering wheel-nya dilengkapi layar delta waktu lap, dalam karting tidak demikian. Jadi semua bukti mengarah kepada ia menghitungnya di kepalanya, tapi kemampuan membaca waktu yang diperlukan untuk itu hampir mustahil dilakukan oleh manusia karena selisih waktu yang selalu ia perbaiki antar lap, kadang-kadang bahkan angkat untuk tetap mempertahankannya, seringkali lebih cepat dari kedip mata.
"Dia sedang kembali. Jadi kalian bisa bertanya dan mendengar jawabannya langsung dari pelakunya," kata Burak sambil berdiri untuk pergi mengambil Fatih.
Sementara ia pergi mengambil Fatih, semua orang di tenda saling menatap canggung saat menunggu kembalinya, yang tak punya lama. Dua menit kemudian, ia kembali, meletakkan helmnya di atas meja, lalu mengambil handuk yang sudah disiapkan untuk mengelap keringat dan minum air. Baru setelah itu ia menyadari semua orang sedang menatapnya, membuatnya terdiam sejenak bertanya mengapa semua orang melakukannya.
"I’m seeing a pattern, but I’m not sure if it is just a coincidence or deliberate, and I don’t know which one would be less scary between the two possibilities," Steve said as he looked at Fatih’s telemetry that kept live updating as he correlated it with his previous laps from all of the previous sessions.
"What do you mean?" Ricky asked as John, Burak, Lando, and everyone in the tent turned, focusing on Steve, trying to hear what he was about to say.
"I was curious since the third free practice. Despite us not sandbagging his kart following his setup adjustments, when he went for the second free practice, his pace improvement didn’t match the first free practice that he had driven in a neutral setup. Although he continued his round of breaking the lap record with each lap, the difference between one lap and another was slightly reduced, and the total improved time over a session went down from three-tenths to only two-tenths every session following it.
Initially, I thought he was getting used to the setup, and since he continued breaking the lap record with each lap, I thought nothing of it. But after the third free practice, I started seeing patterns that indicated this was either a very good coincidence or a deliberate decision he was making." After saying that, he looked at the people in the room to give them time to digest, but also to hear if anyone had anything to say or if he should continue.
"What exactly do you mean by that?" John asked, curious about where he was going with this.
He smiled upon hearing the question, and he immediately clicked the computer a few times and turned it to Ricky as he said, "He is deliberately holding back and limiting the lap time to be only a few hundredths of a second between one after another, so that he can complete the entire day with all his push laps having broken the track record consecutively. And if I’m correct, he should also improve by a total of about two-tenths by the end of this session." Even as he said that, he found it difficult to believe, but the data didn’t lie, as even in the midst of their conversation, a new lap time was registered, and it too was a new lap record of the track.
"You’ve got to be kidding me," Ricky said, turning his head and seeing Fatih already on turn three on his thirty-ninth push lap of the day. Having shown that he only drove ten laps per session and returned to the pit lane no matter what happened, he knew he only had two more laps to go, so instead of focusing on Fatih, he looked at the laptop screen that showed the live timer and telemetry of his lap.
Everyone else also looked. Although they were already having a difficult time even comprehending Fatih having placed more than thirty record-setting laps on the track, they were having an even more difficult time with the idea of him deliberately limiting his laps so that he could just keep breaking the record.
"I’m sure it is a coincidence, right?" someone in the tent said, trying to find someone who would side with him so that he didn’t look like someone crazy for following logic.
"One time, fine. Two times, it can happen. Three times, it’s not entirely impossible. But for more than thirty laps, if that is not deliberate, then I don’t think anything else is," Ricky said just as Fatih came out of the final corner and entered the straight, before he added while looking at Steve, "Looks like you are wrong, as he is already three-tenths faster than the last lap."
But before he could say anything more, the telemetry data of Fatih’s throttle input registered a slight lift on the straight, reducing his speed just enough for him to break the lap record within his usual small margin as he started his next lap, which on the mini sectors registered yellow, showing he was currently slower on the first few mini sectors compared to his best time.
Everyone focused on the screen, knowing that this was his last lap of the session and wondering if his liftoff was a mistake or if he could regain that lap time.
And without disappointing, he had regained all of the lost time and even went purple in sector two before he once again reduced his speed in sector three to break the lap record, completing his fourth free practice session with still two minutes remaining on the clock. As if on time, the laptop showed the total improvement he had made during the session was two-tenths and slightly more.
"That is a full second that he has improved starting from the first free practice, and from his liftoff and sector times differing with each lap, it looks like he is not even on the limit of pushing the kart," John said when he was done calculating the improvement starting from the first session, where he had improved by more than three-tenths from the initial lap record, followed by the next three sessions all improving by two-tenths and a bit in each of them, bringing the total improvement to just about a second.
"How does he know the lap times in order to calculate where to lift? You don’t want to tell me that he is counting in his head, right?" Ricky asked before answering the already dumbest answer someone could have given ahead of time.
"I don’t think it is implausible, as I’m sure we were all there when he managed to approximate the track improvement in the post-qualifying session debrief. If he can do that in the chaotic wet qualifying while in a dry setup, I don’t think it is that impossible for him to count when he is on the best setup and track position possible," Steve said, coming up with the most logical answer based on the information available to him.
After all, unlike single-seaters, where the steering wheel’s screen showed the lap time deltas, which would allow a driver to do what Fatih did, karting didn’t have that. So all evidence pointed to him counting in his head, but the time comprehension needed to count that was almost impossible for humans to do, as the time difference that Fatih kept improving his laps and sometimes even lifting in order to keep at it was sometimes faster than the blink of an eye.
"He is returning, so you can ask and hear how he did it from the culprit," Burak said as he left to go and pick up Fatih.
While he went to get Fatih, all those in the tent looked at each other awkwardly as they waited for Fatih to return, which didn’t take long. Within two minutes, he returned, placing his helmet on the table as he took the towel prepared for him to rub his sweat and drink water. Only then did he realize that everyone was looking at him, causing him to pause as he wondered why they were doing that.
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