Grand Prix Wizard

CHAPTER FIVE: HERE'S HEDWIG

There was a bright burst of electricity, and she woke up. Almost immediately, as she did every time she was awakened, she began to sense what was around her. She could feel the smooth, cold concrete of the floor through her rubber tires. She could distinguish the hydrogen, oxygen, helium and trace gasses in the air. In fact, the air this morning was heavy with carbon monoxide, which meant they had been running a generator, and carbon dioxide, which meant they had been testing engines.

She turned her attention to scanning her discs and digital storage units. It was important to make sure her files were uncorrupted and unchanged since yesterday before she put up the firewall and interfaced with the mainframe. It was unlikely, but always possible, that a virus might have somehow either been loaded into her files with a delayed timing restart. It was a bigger concern that a Trojan of some sort might have found its way onto the mainframe overnight, but she would not allow any new information to be introduced into her systems until both Dr. Huffman and she had scanned them.

She brought her optical sensors online and found Huffman, standing off to the side behind the backup unit on the table. She took a reading. He was exactly 1.678 meters tall and a chubby 11.786 stone. No change since yesterday's data. She took a quick retina scan. It was indeed Dr. Huffman. He was working his wand in the direction of the mainframe, no doubt completing his examination of that unit. Then she noticed that he was drawing out memories from his mind and placing them in the pensieve; ahh, he must have had a brainstorm overnight and was updating the system.

She watched as he pulled one long gray thread back out of the pensieve, and with a wave, sent it floating into the mainframe interface.

"Good morning, Doctor," she said, now that less of her attention was required on her own chips, sensors, and security issues.

"Good morning, Hedwig. I hope you slept well. Have you found any glitches in your circuits this morning?" Huffman didn't bother to turn and look at the car sitting on the factory floor behind him. He already knew it was dark green, had four large tires on four brightly polished wheels, sat low to the ground, and had a single opening into the cockpit where young Jimmy Potter would soon be sitting. That wasn't important. What mattered was whether or not the artificial intelligence interface was working properly.

"Everything is exactly as we left it when we shut down yesterday, Dr. Huffman."

Huffman withdrew one last thread from the glowing bowl, and deposited it in the mainframe interface. "Excellent, Hedwig. I have one new routine dealing with engine startup that I want to download. Jimmy will be along fairly soon. This morning, we want to start the engine and other systems, and make sure everything is working. We want to scan for any bad connections or system leaks. In particular, I want you to feel around for any loose nuts, bolts, rivets of any kind, make sure all the safety wire was installed, and just make sure nothing can fall off.

Huffman picked up a headset from the table and put it on. Smiling, he thought, "Hedwig, are you picking me up?"

"Yes, Doctor." Huffman took off that headset, tried a second with the same result, and then put Jimmy Potter's helmet on his own head. "Everything working here, too, Hedwig?" He got the reply he wanted, but frowned a little. "Hedwig, I think you need to sharpen up cortical connection ZX5FM164, please." He tested again, and pronounced the helmet ready for the day's session. He was grinning like a Cheshire cat, knowing that his control unit was almost certainly the best in racing.

"As soon as we are certain it's safe, you and Jimmy will head out for your first shakedown laps. Are you excited?"

"Yes, Doctor. As you might imagine, I am fairly tired of being limited to the things I can sense in the shop. Will you be pre-loading the Silverstone profile, or do you want us to sense our way around the course this morning?"

"I believe we'll just take it easy this morning, Hedwig. I'll ask Jimmy to drive you fairly slowly and make sure nothing shakes loose. Maybe ten or fifteen laps. Both of you should feel your way around the circuit and communicate back and forth with one another. Let Jimmy guide you in what he thinks he will want at various places.

"Then we'll come back in and download everything, tighten up the nuts and bolts, trace down any leaks, make sure you can sense the suspension components and the tire contact patch. I don't want to lose any real testing time to some mechanical glitch. We are starting late compared to many other teams, and really can't afford to lose testing time."

"I will not be able to give you any true mechanical feedback unless we run a few hard laps, Doctor," Hedwig reminded.

"Of course, dear. Not to worry. The next set of laps will be run closer to the baseline. Again, we'll be looking for the same kinds of problems. Connections that come loose, leaks, and so on. Your sensors should all be functioning one hundred percent in that set of laps, and I'll ask Jimmy to give you about ninety percent for another ten or fifteen laps. That should get the first fuel load down to near empty, and you can sense for pickup and fuel pressure problems near the end of the run."

Hedwig, the artificial intelligence in the Phantom 01 Formula One car, was being configured by the Chief Engineer, Dr. Jay Huffman. Like many in his profession, Huffman was a complete nerd who was never happier than when tinkering with his computers. Ironically, it really didn't matter to him what the end result should be. His life was completely involved with the process of getting to the end result, and he could actually care less about either auto racing or winning. So long as Hedwig performed as he had planned, he would be perfectly content, living in his own little world with no friends, no family and no outside life to enjoy.

For the past four weeks, the Phantom Racing Team personnel under the direction of Team Manager Arthur Weasley and Chief Designer Tony Dowe had been building the car around the cockpit, fuel tanks and engine that formed its backbone. Working closely with Jimmy Potter, who would drive Hedwig in Grand Prix races, they had made numerous adjustments to make sure Jimmy and his teammate would be comfortable in the design. While the engine had been run many times on a dyno, today would be the first time it was started while mounted in the car and controlled by Hedwig.

With the first race of the 2026 Grand Prix season only two months away, the team had a tremendous amount of work still to do. If they found mechanical problems today, it would only compound their situation. They hoped to put in about 100 laps of Silverstone today, spend two days making any required adjustments, and then get in two more full days of running at their home circuit. Mark Alanetti, the second driver, would then arrive and be fitted to his own car.

After another full week of Silverstone testing, during which they hoped to get in at least some wet weather running, the team would decamp to Spain for the pre-season tests at Barcelona. Phantom Racing had also booked a private testing week at the Jerez Circuit, and a three-day set at Valencia. Even with all that time, they would be at least two full test sessions behind most of the competition. Most of the factory-backed teams, Ferrari, McLaren, BMW, Renault and Honda, would have gotten their first laps in by January 15.

"Dr. Huffman, I have completed that scan of nuts, bolts, safety wire and connections which you asked me to perform." Hedwig did not sound anything like an artificial intelligence. There was nothing tinny or exceptionally formal about her voice or her manner of speech. Indeed, she sounded more like a young woman than a machine. "Currently, there are no loose connections of any kind. However, I have determined that wiring harness connection 322XYS is resting against a portion of the chassis, and is likely to shake loose soon after startup. Please have Troy or Franz recheck that area of the harness."

"Thank you, Hedwig! That's perfect. Brilliant work." Huffman was now wearing the headpiece again, which connected his mind directly into the mainframe and the artificial intelligence system managing the car. While those interfacing with Hedwig did not exactly "hear" spoken words, her connections allowed them to interpret the electrical impulses she sent as sound. In the same way, they could access her optical and tactile sensors if needed, but they tried to avoid these connections as much as possible because they were disorienting to humans.

At that moment, the mechanical staff arrived, with Jimmy Potter in tow. "So Doc, what's up?" asked Jimmy. He found it impossible to avoid using certain obscure Muggle references when dealing with his friends and crew. He doubted any of them had ever seen a Muggle cartoon in which a character said, "What's up, Doc?" but couldn't resist the private joke with himself.

"Good morning Arthur, Troy, Franz. I trust you all had good evenings and have also fed young Mr. Potter this morning?"

"Yes, Jay, good morning! It's a lovely morning indeed," said Arthur Weasley. "Have you not set foot outside this building to see it?" Arthur knew it had been months since Huffman had been outside, and suspected the man would be surprised to find that it was a brisk winter day.

"No time, no time for that...

"Troy, Franz, Hedwig says that part of the wiring harness at 322XYS might rub against the chassis or be subject to vibration when we start the engine. Take a look at that for me boys, if you would. And Arthur, please take charge of getting your grandson ready. Much to do today; much to do!" A chronic little man, Huffman bustled about as though the entire operation depended on him; of course, he overlooked the fact that Weasley was the team manager, and actually outranked him.

Arthur started helping James get dressed for his first shakedown in the car. Although fire was no longer the great fear of racing drivers it had been until 2020, when fuels were changed dramatically, drivers still dressed in fire retardant clothing. By 2025, the main emphasis was on lightweight body armor designed to protect from penetrating injuries in a crash, and as always, on head protection. Car construction had improved so much that there had not been a racing fatality from crash or fire since 2013, and the various protection systems now performed so well that it was rare when a driver had to miss a race due to injury.

Once Jimmy was wearing his equipment, the wiring harness had been adjusted, and the car disconnected from the mainframe, the crew pushed it outside. Jimmy stepped onto the seat, and then slid his legs down under the dashboard. He was a little tall as Grand Prix drivers go. He wiggled around in the seat until he was comfortable, and checked to make sure the pedal locations were still where he had set them on the last visit to the shop. Comfort and ease of operation are vital when driving a racing machine near the traction limit.

Jimmy had visited the shop several more times since the contract signing, and had interfaced with Hedwig on three more occasions. It seemed to him that they had been able to communicate clearly. He had experimented with instructing her to make adjustments, and the computer simulations indicated they had been performed seamlessly.

"All we're gonna do is start 'er up and make sure everything works," said Franz Weiss, who was the lead mechanic on the engine systems. "Give 'er a turn, Jimmy, but keep the revs down for now."

Jimmy reached up to the dash and flicked on two switches. The first started the fuel management system, which broke water down into hydrogen and oxygen, and pumped it to the injectors that Hedwig controlled. The second took the electrical system live. "Everything is nominal, Jimmy," said Hedwig in his head, communicating with him through electrodes inside his helmet. Jimmy pushed up and held a third rocker switch, and the engine sprang to life behind his back.

Watching the revolutions-per-minute indicator on the dash and listening to brief reports from Hedwig, Jimmy rocked his right foot forward and back on the throttle. The engine in the Phantom was a Voltage V10. The Voltage Motor Company, from the Middle East, had become a force in the automotive and motorcycle markets ever since the change from petroleum based fuels to alternative energy sources had been mandated by international law. The area might have once been oil rich, but manufacturers there had invested the profits wisely in technology that no longer required petroleum.

This particular Voltage V10 burned hydrogen gas, at least according to publicly released information. The press releases said the car carried 100 liters of water, which was broken down by a process similar to electrolysis into hydrogen and oxygen. These were burned in the engine, recombining into water. Supposedly, this combustion provided the power to move the pistons, rotate a crankshaft, and drive the car; in reality, a magical system designed by Hermione Weasley used the motion provided by the pistons to grasp matter at a sub-elemental level and pull the car along. The physics were similar to those used by wizards in operating port keys and the Knight Bus; however the car and driver remained visible at all times.

Under the rules, this magical/Muggle system was neither cheating nor illegal. It was an alternative power source based on water as described in the rules. However, it was not thought to be economically nor politically prudent to reveal how it actually worked to Muggles.

"Any leaks, Hedwig?" Arthur was asking. He was now the third person connected to artificial intelligence by a headset.

"I don't sense anything, Mr. Weasley. Jimmy, please use more RPM for a few minutes. Dr. Huffman, I believe we have a small circulation problem just behind the main bulkhead. If you will connect Mr. Dowe, I will show him what I see and make a suggestion how he might redesign the part."

"Will that interfere with our test plan today, Hedwig?"

"No, it's minor. It will be a fuel efficiency problem over a race distance, but it will not affect our testing. Jimmy, please add more RPMs now."

After about fifteen minutes of running the engine RPMs up and down and pressure testing various systems, Hedwig reported that everything seemed to be solidly connected, and that nothing was in danger of shaking loose or dropping liquid on the tires. Jimmy shut down the engine. The staff downloaded the various computer files that had monitored and recorded all the system functions.

"Any comfort problems, James?" asked his grandfather. He was busy making notes on a clipboard as the mechanics took various temperature readings manually, and compared them to the computer readouts.

"Nope, Papa. It feels very nice in here. Solid, but no lumps or bad pressure points. I can move my feet just the way I want. The brake travel is perfect. The throttle may still be a little short...I kinda feel like I want to push it through the bulkhead!"

"That won't bend on him, will it?" Arthur directed the question at Troy Rodgers, the lead chassis mechanic.

"No sir, but we'll give it one more turn. He won't want his ankle to stiffen up after fifty laps! A little more pedal travel, he'll be comfortable, he will." Rodger grinned at his fellow mechanic as he lifted off a piece of the front bodywork. "Got that special pedal spanner there, Franz?" The others in the room looked at one another. Weiss looked at Rodgers. "Think we lost that one in Monaco last year, eh? The lad may just have to keep it the way it is!" As they realized the mechanics were pulling their legs, the other team members broke up. Then it was time to get to work.

"James, what I would like you to do is just run ten or fifteen laps at more or less a break in pace," Arthur said. "Dr. Huffman and I just want to make sure everything is put together correctly, and that nothing is going to fall off. If you can get your lap times down to around one minute twenty seconds or so by the end of this run, that will be plenty quick enough for starters. Make sure you and Hedwig are on the same circuits, my boy."

"Just go straight out the back gate and turn left onto Chapel," Huffman said. "Warm her up a bit through Stowe and Club, and then make sure you and Hedwig get her set properly for Abbey, Priory and Woodcote. Now listen! There is absolutely no sense in worrying about getting set up for Copse yet. We have no intention of trying to get you into the sixteen's today!"

In the early Twenty-first Century, the lap record at Silverstone was around one minute seventeen seconds. The various sanctioning bodies that controlled auto racing felt that was plenty quick enough, so over the years, many rules had been made and modified to make it more difficult to go faster. By 2026, it would take a lap at about one minute fifteen seconds flat to qualify on pole position for a Formula One race at the track.

Jimmy's approach to shaking down a car had not changed much since he started in the sport. He intended to tackle the circuit one corner at a time, trying to find the best line and ultimate traction limits through that turn. He had raced at Silverstone many times in the minor leagues, but expected the track to seem different at higher speeds and with aerodynamics that practically sucked the car down onto the ground.

After establishing the line through each corner, he would work on combinations of turns where some compromise might be necessary to minimize time through that track segment. Finally, when he and the crew were satisfied with the safety and performance of the car for that day, he would run a few laps trying to put all the corners together into a good lap time. During that phase of the test, he would try to establish his driving rhythm.

Race driving is different from driving on the street in many ways, but one of the most important is the establishment of rhythm. Driving on a closed course means the driver will see the same turns as many times as there are laps. He will repeat the actions of braking, turning, shifting gears, and pushing on the throttle over and over, trying to find the exact right braking point, turn-in point and exit point to get the greatest possible speed through the turn, and to maximize exit speed.

Racing is never as much about speed as it is about time. The object is to spend the least possible time on the lap, and it is often possible to do that without having the fastest car on the straights. For example, a car that can reach 300 kilometers per hour within 100 meters of exiting a corner might spend less time on the next straight than a car that can reach 320 kph, but takes the entire straight to reach that speed.

It used to be thought that the ideal gearing for a car would cause it to constantly accelerate along a straight. However, in practice, it became apparent that it was much more important to gear a car to reach its top speed as quickly as possible.

It also is important to carry the speed off the straight and into each turn as long as possible. Race drivers used to be taught to do their braking in a straight line, trying to reduce speed to the maximum that could be safely carried through a turn. Then the driver was supposed to keep "even throttle" through the corner, and apply throttle at the exit point. Engineers and computers proved that wasn't the quick way, however.

Modern drivers "trail" the brakes into a turn, and ease the throttle back to full as they exit. What that means is that they hold off braking much later; they then apply the brakes very hard and gradually release the pressure. The idea is that as the car slows down, the maximum side loading it can take before losing traction increases. This is known as the "circle of traction", and it means the car can go faster at the start and exit of the turn than in the middle.

Instead of keeping "even throttle" through the turn, the driver wants to find a point where he can reapply the throttle before the car is going straight again. The sooner the driver can apply the throttle, and the more throttle he can apply, the sooner the car will reach maximum speed on the straight. The sooner the car reaches maximum speed, then the more distance it will cover at maximum speed. The longer it runs at maximum speed, the less time it spends on the lap.

All of these actions...braking, releasing the brake, applying the throttle, shifting gears to maximize acceleration...become a rhythm to the driver. Once a rhythm is established for a track, then the driver can begin to work on cutting off tenths of seconds from his lap time by changing his braking and acceleration points. If he starts braking later, he carries more speed in; if he picks up the throttle sooner, he accelerates more quickly and reaches top speed earlier. But if he brakes too late or accelerates too soon, the tires may lose their grip...and the car spins off the track surface.

It is difficult to describe the mixed emotions of a race driver. Only those who have experienced trying to drive a car to the ultimate edge can really understand. The senses become more acute. The heart beats faster. He sees things more sharply. He hears small sounds. All of this contributes to the driver's ability to feel and control the car, and Jimmy was especially sensitive when taking the first laps in a new machine.

For one thing, he was placing his safety in the hands of his grandfather, Franz Weiss and Troy Rodgers. Jimmy simply had to trust that nothing important would fall off the car and cause a crash. It was expected that things would go wrong in testing, but nothing catastrophic. Although racing had become much safer over the years, there was never a guarantee with a new car. Jimmy had confidence in his crew; he relied on Hedwig to warn him if anything was near the failure point.

Turning left out of the skip pad behind the factory led immediately into the Maggots-Becketts complex. Once everything was sorted, this group of turns would be taken at nearly top speed (flat out, the racers say), but for today, the object was to make sure the car was safe, and diagnose mechanical issues.

After Becketts comes the Hanger Straight and Stowe. Jimmy quickly ran the car up through the gears, checking in with Hedwig to see if she detected any problems. Her only concern was the need for some break-in time on the gears. To make sure the brakes were working completely, Jimmy gave the car another blast down Vale and stood hard on the pedal into the first part of Club Corner, so named because the headquarters of the British Race Drivers Association is nearby.

From there, Jimmy was able to execute a series of acceleration and braking tests through Abbey, Bridge, Priory, Luffield and Woodcote. The last of these, Woodcote, is the most important corner on the circuit. It leads onto the pit straight, but more important, in a modern Grand Prix car, the next corner, Copse, can be taken flat out. Thus, it is possible to go all the way from Woodcote to Becketts without lifting, and if the car was really perfect, through Becketts without braking. In other words, nearly two-thirds of the lap could be taken at nearly top speed in a well-sorted machine.

After five laps during which Jimmy tried a number of things to warm up the systems and allow Hedwig to check them, he ran two laps off at about seventy-five percent effort. During these laps, he made some effort to learn the line through Abby, Bridge and Priory, but took all the other corners more judiciously. As he had suspected, the increased downforce provided by Formula One aerodynamics changed the line some from the one he had used in an underpowered Formula Ford. As soon as he felt he had that combination down, he brought the car in behind the gravel trap at Becketts and stopped on the skid pad.

Dr. Huffman immediately plugged his computer into Hedwig's system and began to download data. In the meantime, Hedwig was telling Jimmy through the helmet sensors where he could improve the line he was trying to learn.

"Bridge is daunting, Jimmy," she was saying to him. "As you drop down the dip under the bridge, the apex is blind. Trust me that you can carry on another hundred meters before brakes and turn-in. Also, don't be afraid of the curbs at Abbey...we are built to withstand that stress. You are perfect through Priory, and I think we can do Luffield next time."

"Hedwig, can you give me countdowns when I approach a turn?"

"Sure, Jimmy. What are you looking for? Oh, wait half a second...Dr. Huffman is asking me for something."

"OK, that's done. Where would you like a countdown, Jimmy?

Jimmy marveled at the ability of the artificial intelligence to interact with the crew and him. "As you noted, Bridge is difficult. It's completely different from the Formula Ford, because it was flat out in that car. Please count me down to the brake and turn-in point. And please remember to allow for my reaction time!"

"Of course," she replied. "As we work together, I am building a data base of your reaction times and skills. The more time we spend together, the more I will be able to fine tune this to your physiology, and help you." Allowing for a reaction time in a racing car if vital as the driver approaches the razor edge of traction. No matter how quickly the senses gather information and transmit it, there will be a slight lag between the thought "brake now!" and execution of the movement. The greatest drivers are those who can minimize reaction time because they can get closer to the limits.

"We didn't find anything loose at all, Jimmy," said Arthur Weasley through his headset.

"Excellent!" added Huffman, grinning from ear to ear. "Not even a minor leak. Hedwig, you did an exceptional job of pre-checking this morning." Of course, he didn't mention the fact that Rodgers and Weiss had done an excellent job of installing all the parts; to Huffman, all that mattered was the artificial intelligence.

Jimmy could almost feel her blushing. "Thank you, Doctor," she replied politely. Then she acknowledged the mechanics, although she shut down Huffman's headset so he did not hear her. "Jimmy is also extremely easy to read," she said, coming quickly back on for Huffman. "He is a natural at this, and his baseline is already well established." Jimmy supposed this meant she could read a number of physical indications and interpret what he was feeling, as well as understand his thoughts. Since interfacing with the artificial intelligence had been his main concern in making the jump up to Formula One, he immediately was more relaxed in the car.

"Too bad I can't hook you up to my girlfriend, Hedwig!" Jimmy said as he thought about how difficult it sometimes was to get Linda to understand him. "We're going to be good together, aren't we Hedwig?" Jimmy thought.

"Yes, Jimmy. We are." He felt her confidence, more than heard her answer.

"All right then, James. As we discussed before, let's try to get in fifteen or twenty laps at about ninety percent," Huffman said. "See if you can learn the best lines from Stowe through Luffield, but please...do not attempt Woodcote, Copse or Becketts yet. If anything is going to break, let's have it let go at closer to 180 kph than 320! Whenever you're ready, Arthur."

"Yes sir," Jimmy replied, and his grandfather gave him the signal to re-fire the engine. Now, Jimmy had a great deal more confidence in the car and in Hedwig. As they clicked off the laps, she coached him through Bridge, and also Club where he had some trouble with throttle pickup in the decreasing radius turn. After ten laps, Jimmy felt confident he had the best line for the current car setup through the series of corners, and spent another five laps putting the sequence together in a rhythm.

Hedwig was constantly collecting data. Through her sensors, she could feel the tire grip, the "g" forces and side loading, the amount of downforce being generated, the balance points, and the suspension working to keep the tires flat against the road. She made the adjustments she could now, and stored the suggestions she would give to the crew after the test.

With fifteen laps completed, Jimmy decided "fast" wasn't "fast enough" and put some of his newly learned knowledge to the test, picking up the pace. Basically, this meant learning a decently fast line through Woodcote and seeing how close to flat he could get in Copse. What he really wanted to do was lay down a baseline for Hedwig to compare the high downforce settings in the section they had just learned to the low downforce settings they would need to be quick.

With each lap, Jimmy concentrated more on trying to get a better exit speed from Woodcote onto the pit straight. He was still lifting in Copse, however, and touching the brakes for Becketts, not wanting to trust a new car through the fastest and most stressful corners. As he completed a fifth lap, he heard his grandfather ask him to pit in two, meaning one more fast lap and then pull off.

Feeling really good about the way the car felt and the information Hedwig was giving him, Jimmy took an aggressive line through Woodcote and barely breathed the engine in Copse. Just as he started to curve to the left at Chapel, Hedwig suddenly was warning him of a low pressure in the right rear tire. Before he could do anything, however, he felt the right rear collapse, and the rear of the car snapped out from behind him.

He felt and saw all of it in slow motion. Time seemed to stand still. He heard his tires screech on asphalt, heard and felt the air rush by in the silence with the engine off, heard the gravel rattle against the chassis and bodywork.

"Wheel broke, Jimmy," she told him, as he tried to turn into the lurid slide. Now he felt the tire fold under the suspension and tilt the car up. Hedwig locked the brakes for him and shut down the engine. Just as he thought air would surely get under the car and flip him, he was amazed to see Hedwig fold the front wing back along the side, and the rear wing forward, forcing the side of the car back down. The car slid across the grass through the middle of Becketts, then across the road, and finally stopped in the gravel trap at the exit of the corner.

"Jimmy! I told you to bring it in on the NEXT lap!" Arthur exclaimed in his ear, laughing like a maniac.