Chapter 1 – The Dream in the Garage
The sound of engines was always louder in his head than anywhere else. Seventeen-year-old Ethan Cross sat on the cracked stool in his father's garage, staring at the poster tacked to the wall—an image of a sleek GT1 car screaming down Le Mans' Mulsanne Straight. He'd memorized every curve of that machine, every decal on its body, every driver's name written across the windshield.
Ethan wanted nothing else in life but to sit in that seat, to feel the harness bite his shoulders, to hear the growl of a GT1 car underneath him. But right now, all he had was an old kart engine he'd been rebuilding for months, his hands blackened with grease, and a notebook full of sketches and lap times.
"GT1?" his best friend Mason laughed the other day. "That's a whole other universe, man. Those guys are million-dollar drivers. You think they're looking for some kid from a backstreet garage?"
Ethan didn't answer him. Not then, not now. He couldn't explain it. It wasn't about money, fame, or being on TV. It was about that fire inside him—the one that burned every time he watched a race replay, the one that whispered he belonged on the track.
That night, Ethan opened his laptop, scrolling through race schedules, tryouts, and local feeder series. One link caught his eye: "Regional GT Academy Trials – Open to Amateurs, Ages 16–20." His heart hammered. This was it. His chance.
He knew his kart wasn't ready, and he had no sponsor, but none of that mattered. He wrote the date down in bold letters across the first page of his notebook:
June 12th – The Beginning.
Ethan closed the book, looked at the poster one more time, and whispered, "I'm coming for you."
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Do you want me to keep the next chapter about Ethan actually getting to the trials, or build more of his backstory first (family, struggles, friendships)?