Stage 1, Episode 5
Short summary
The battle between Keisuke and Takumi continues as they get closer to the 5 hairpin curves. At the second hairpin, Keisuke slows down and moves to the outside while Takumi heads for it at high speeds, passing Keisuke on the inside. There is a weird noise right before Takumi begins to turn, and everyone is surprised to see him turning so easily on the inside since he is turning beyond the Hachi Roku's tires' grip speed. Near the finish line, Takumi is now ahead, and Keisuke is too far behind to close the gap; Takumi wins the race. When Keisuke and Ryosuke went to look at where Keisuke was passed, Keisuke mentioned the weird noise he heard. Ryosuke sees how Takumi was able to turn like that and explains that he had dropped his inner tires into the gutter to withstand the centrifugal force. The next day during Takumi and Mogi's date to the beach, Takumi recalls the battle from the night before and realized that he had actually felt excited as he closed in on Keisuke's FD. Later that night, Ryosuke's FD and Takeshi's 32 are seen driving on Mt. Akina.
Longer summary
The battle between Keisuke and Takumi continues with Keisuke in the lead and Takumi close behind. Takumi needs to overtake Keisuke somehow and plans on doing it in the 5 hairpin curves ahead.
At the first hairpin, a corner reports back to Ryosuke at the peak that the Hachi Roku is performing perfect braking drifts, but Keisuke's turn-in is slower. There is no gap between the cars now. For the second hairpin, Keisuke moves to the outside and slows down for it while Takumi heads for it at high speeds, passing Keisuke on the inside. Did his breaks go out? Why isn't Takumi slowing down for it?
Right before turning into the hairpin, Keisuke hears a weird noise from the Hachi Roku, and everyone watches, surprised, as it turns easily from the inside. The person reporting back from the corner can't explain how the Hachi Roku was able to do turn like that since it was turning beyond its tires' grip speed. Takeshi, on the other hand, saw what Takumi did and gets into his 32, claiming that he will be the one to defeat Akina's Hachi Roku.
Near the finish line, Takumi is now in the lead, and Keisuke is too far behind to close the gap. The race is over, and Takumi is the winner!
Later, Ryosuke and Keisuke take a look at where Keisuke was passed. Keisuke recalls hearing a weird sound, and Ryosuke immediately sees how Takumi turned the way he did. He used the gutter by dropping his inner tires in to withstand the centrifugal force, something so simple but could not be done at the spur of the moment. Ryosuke finally finds a target that excites him and plans on getting revenge with his FC.
The next day, Bunta gets Yuichi to give him a ride. Yuichi says he heard that Takumi was really great, but Bunta denies it saying he's not that good. He doesn't even like driving since he's had to do it since middle school to help out their tofu shop.
Meanwhile, Takumi is taking Mogi to the beach in his Hachi Roku as he promised. At the beach, Mogi comments that Takumi drives well because she didn't get car sick. When she mentioned his driving, he thinks back to the race from the night before. He actually felt excited as he charged in on Keisuke's FD even though he never thought of driving as fun.
At the gas station, Iketani, Itsuki, and Kenji can't stop talking about the battle, and Iketani agrees to let Itsuki join the SpeedStars if he can get Takumi to. Itsuki then tells them of his plans to buy a Hachi Roku to be like Takumi.
Later at night, and Ryosuke's FC and Takeshi's 32 are seen driving on Mt. Akina...
