Roadster Kickflip

The pad at night, the C-ramp with its red LED edges and white lamps, the floodlights, the row of five with the Semi in the middle: the stunt show of 15 October rebuilt from the stream, one day later. Your left thumb is the stick, your right thumb the thrusters. Floor it from a standstill and the rear nozzles fire you to sixty in under a second. Hold to lift off over the row, drag to roll a full kickflip (it plays in slow motion), let go and hold again to burn before the wheels hit. Four kickers on the open pad throw you nine metres up at full speed with no thumb at all. Climb the C-ramp and brake at the top and the car hangs upside down on fan suction until you drop it twenty metres onto the apron. Two minutes on the clock, eleven stunts on the list and every one you land buys ten more seconds; a crash tumbles you, the announcer has a word, and you are back on the line with your score heading for the leaderboard. Real gravity, real thrust-to-weight, your own head in the driver’s seat.