Page 65 of Tipping Point

Jay taps me on the shoulder and the world rushes in.

“Sorry.” He smirks when I startle.

I reach up to rub my neck, returning the smile. “What’s up?”

“They’ll line up soon.”

I nod and follow him through a throng of spectators towards a small golf cart. We’re filming the grassy banks and smaller stands today. Jasper de Vries’ face is everywhere in the sea of orange. Velocity banners and energy drinks abound. We’re filming his family in particular, who perch on the grassy bank overlooking the track. They brought a huge beach umbrella and a ton of sweet snacks for the kids, who are snacking away on stroopwafels and poffertjes. Jasper’s wife, also from the Netherlands, welcomes us warmly. Her name is Lotte, and she has a ton of freckles and a shy smile. They have two young boys, both dressed in their father’s colours, and her parents and his parents are present, all of them making a day of it.

Jay frames her to one side of the screen, her happy family in the background, playing and laughing, the grownups all full of nerves.

I give her a nod.

“We prefer to watch from here when he races in the Netherlands. It’s a tradition. He used to watch from here when he was a kid, with his parents.”

She explains how the pits make her nervous. The noise upsets the boys. She prefers watching from afar.

Her family graciously offers us refreshments and insists that they’ll be present when we film Jasper and Lotte at their house in two days’ time. The two families enjoy each other’s company and spend a lot of time together.

“At our house, of course.” Lotte laughs.

Jasper has a huge sports car collection that the two older gentlemen help maintain, what with him travelling so much.

“Someone needs to look after the cars.” His father winks at the camera.

It’s great footage.

We film them as the race kicks off and then we hit the golf cart again to make our way over to the fan zone, but a massive wail goes up all around us.

It startles both me and Jay who crane our necks towards the track.

There’s been an accident. At the bend right before the one where the de Vries family staked their claim for the day.

I can’t help it, I tense up.

It’s the Vanderbilt colours, and Lachlan Reid braked too late in the corner, spun out, and hit the barrier. Debris peppers the track.

I give a sigh of relief when I see him standing next to the car, out already and removing his helmet.

But my relief is short-lived.

At impossible speeds, a Temporaush and a Peakstone car take the corner. The first driver swerves dangerously to avoid a large piece of body panel from Lachlan’s car, the driver behind him following suit. The slipstream from their cars sweeps up the panel and whips it, spinning into the air, where a second later Finn collides with it. It flits in under his car and doesn’t come out the back. Sparks fly up into the air as his car gives a dangerous wobble and then spins out, twirling violently and relentlessly until it crashes into the barrier, more panel work exploding into the air. Flames envelop the back of the car.

I can’t breathe. I take a tentative step forward, my whole body shaking, wanting to do something, not knowing what. I feel my whole body go numb from shock.

Fans scream in fear and a trackside safety crew vaults the fence with fire extinguishers already pluming out clouds of white powder that billow in the slipstream of another car that passes by, slow now that the message has reached all the drivers.

Finn jumps out of the car and steps away from the flames as the safety crew converges and puts out the flames.

My throat aches as I make an animalistic sound at the sight of him.

He’s fine.

Jay swivels when he hears me and takes in my face, makes to turn towards me, but I wave him off. His camera is pointed at the crash site below, still filming.

He turns back but keeps me in his sight from the corner of his eyes.

A warm hand closes around my upper arm. I turn to find Lotte concerned at my side. She must have heard me and come over.

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