First Stage - Act 9

Battle to the Limit (限界バトル!, Genkai batoru!) is the ninth Act of Initial D: First Stage.

The episode is the first half of Takumi Fujiwara's battle with Takeshi Nakazato.

Synopsis
The race is underway with Takumi behind the wheel of the Eight-Six. His competition, Takeshi, drives the Three-Two with undeniable skill - but he can’t seem to pull away from Takumi!

Plot
Takeshi still in shock facing someone younger than him while Takumi himself is shocked in seeing what a GT-R looks like. Both opponents introduce each other before the race proceeds. Yuichi asks Bunta if he told Takumi in advance to take the corners with heavy understeer while on full throttle plus concerns with Takumi being in panic if the car handled differently. Bunta didn't tell him but due to Takumi not being a cerebral driver instead driving with his instincts would be enough for him to figure it out as the car trains it's driver. The countdown begins and the Rotary Brothers decide to follow them to see what Takumi and his car's capabilities are. The R32 leads the race and with the FC3S joining the race as both cars drive by. Takumi notices Nakazato is slowing down on purpose. Nakazato believes he can lose him in the straightaways if he wanted to but sees no fun in pulling ahead and wants a real challenge in this battle. Keisuke sees Nakazato holding back on the Trueno and Ryosuke sees if his overconfidence will get the best of him at the close end. The first corner comes up and all 3 cars come in cleanly. Nakazato sees how close Takumi is getting on his bumper but he is letting him. Ryosuke is thrilled to see Takumi's driving skill up close noticing his 4 wheel drift as a work of art and notices he is barely using any countersteer while going full throttle. Ryosuke himself couldn't even have that same level of precision on what Takumi has. That thrills Ryosuke and Keisuke says Takumi has to make his move soon if he were to win. Nakazato has the adrenaline pumping in his veins and no longer needs to hold back. Takumi feels the adjustments Bunta made. He realizes why he handed the car late since he was making the adjustments. The settings Bunta made gave Takumi advantage for him to enter corners as fast as he wants without losing any countersteer. Takumi drifted with great precision shocking the spectators. Ryosuke never saw someone drift solidly and Keisuke is shocked and thinks that Takumi's driving skill is maniacal since that requires maintaining speed to perform a drift like that. Akina SpeedStars heard Takumi is giving the R32 a run for it's money. Itsuki is thrilled he is also racing Ryosuke Takahashi but Iketani corrects Itsuki that Ryosuke isn't racing officially but observing the battle up close. Iketani sees Takumi at a disadvantage but believes he can pull through. Keisuke sees the R32 widening the gap while Ryosuke states Takeshi while has a big mouth he's got the skills to back it up judging by the way he distributes the load and eases the understeer in the corners. Keisuke curiously asks which side he's on. If the Eight-Six were to lose to the GT-R then their chance of redemption is done. Ryosuke points out that the real battle hasn't even started as there are mostly straightaways on the first stretch of the race leaving the Eight-Six at a disadvantage since it's not fast enough and the declines are going to get harder in the latter which would later give the advantage to the Eight-Six. Nakazato demonstrates his skill on the turn by slamming the brakes enabling the front tyres to bear the load preventing the understeer from pushing too hard. And coming out of a corner, accelerating on low gear is a breeze for him as R32s specialize on both road and track. Kenji curiously asked Iketani if Takumi was the fastest on his home course, how well would he performed if he raced outside of Akina. Iketani thought the same thing but for now they need to focus on Takumi's victory and Itsuki emphatically agrees. Takumi uses the gutters on the next few corners and Keisuke could barely keep with the speed on his precision which made him realise how he lost to him when he did that move on him. He notices Ryosuke became silent and agreed to do the same in order to concentrate how the battle will turn out after riding with him for years. Ryosuke drives intensely maintaining his focus in which Keisuke would never expect from him. Takumi regains distance from Nakazato and he couldn't comprehend how it can be possible. Nakazato is amazed how fast he recovered after taking a huge lead advantage and underestimated the capabilities of what the Eight-Six has demonstrated and is almost at an equal level with his GT-R. Takeshi no longer has to hold back on his speed anymore as the real thrills of the race has started for him. Keisuke sees Takumi at a disadvantage in maneuvering through hairpin turns against the R32 which often loses speed after exiting. He too sees Nakazato at a disadvantage in driving downhill in a heavier car and would require so much concentration. Takumi gets closer and closer and Keisuke saw he did a 4 wheel drift it at a staggering speed of over more than 100 kmph which made him close to grazing the guardrails. He realized it's no longer moves that got to do with the car's capabilities but it's driver. He realized he's no ordinary racer but if he were to do a serious mistake, it would cause him to have an accident. The difference in power was figured out for him. The lightweight of the Eight-Six has would leave him slower in acceleration but would recover ground in the corners as he experience during his 2nd race. Nakazato can't seem to shake him off his tail which puts him under pressure. Keisuke saw how clearly Nakazato clears the guardrails by 20-30cm while Takumi is closer to the guardrails by 1-2cm at most. Keisuke became curious of his secret of controlling it at such level of precision. Nakazato tried using the ABS hard but the front tyres couldn't bear the load making the race harder for him. With the five consecutive hairpins approaching, Ryosuke predicts he will pass Nakazato using the exact move (gutter run) he used to defeat Keisuke. Keisuke sees how both cars putting up a fierce fight with both drivers going beyond their limits and wonders which of the two will win. All 3 soon approach the 5 consecutive hairpins.

Airdates

 * Fuji TV: June 27, 1998

Characters

 * 1) Takumi Fujiwara
 * 2) Bunta Fujiwara
 * 3) Kenji
 * 4) Koichiro Iketani
 * 5) Itsuki Takeuchi
 * 6) Takeshi Nakazato
 * 7) Ryosuke Takahashi
 * 8) Keisuke Takahashi
 * 9) Yuichi Tachibana

Cars

 * 1) Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT-APEX (AE86)
 * 2) Nissan 180SX Type II (RPS13)
 * 3) Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec II (BNR32)
 * 4) Mazda SAVANNA RX-7 ∞ III (FC3S)
 * 5) Mazda efini RX-7 Type R (FD3S)

Music

 * 1) around the world - m.o.v.e
 * 2) Running In The 90's - Max Coveri
 * 3) Back On The Rocks - Mega NRG Man
 * 4) Burning Up For You - Sara
 * 5) Rage Your Dream - m.o.v.e

Quotes

 * "That guy... has got a screw lose! If he makes one slip-up, he's roadkill for sure!" - Keisuke Takahashi