Page 85 of Tipping Point
“Don’t worry, Mr Petrov, this is all basic. I won’t elaborate on the microstructure implementation. This information really is readily available to anyone who owns a pair of binoculars and spends any amount of time watching birds of prey.”
He gives a polite sigh and steps out of the shot.
Jay grins at him.
“You see, the key is in how the structure needs to change to adapt to different types of flight,” McKenna continues, tracing elegant curves on a design with her finger.
“The shape changes between soaring and high-speed dives and allowing the spoiler shape to change while driving gives optimal airflow versus application. If you can control airflow, you can reduce turbulence and provide maneuverability. We can literally dictate down force.”
She ends with a cheery grin and takes in our faces. We’re riveted for sure. She’s explaining it as plainly as possible, but some of it is going completely over our heads.
“It minimises drag. So more stability in corners.”
We all nod, impressed.
It’s hard not to be.
She wears a lab coat over jeans and a t-shirt, her black hair tied into a glossy ponytail, with see-through framed glasses that make her baby blue eyes seem even bigger. She looks like a teenager, and it’s refreshing. So far, this sport has a lot of men, and seeing McKenna in her element is not only entertaining, but also educational and engaging.
Casey gave her winged eyeliner and a red lip that really brings out her classic beauty. Casey never hesitates when she does makeup, seeming to make it up as she goes along, and always seems to produce an end result where people look more like themselves than before. It’s a genuine talent, and I tell her often.
We pack up and make our way to the racetrack. The two cars are parked at an angle to make sure they show their good side for the camera.
Next to them, on a stand pegged into the ground, is an actual falcon, wearing a little leather hood. Its head swivels this way and that as it listens to us setting up.
Alexei is here and dressed, ready to test run the designs.
His eyes follow McKenna as she launches into the design for the upcoming season, and he steps aside to let her point out the rear wing shape.
Then she dons a large leather glove and scoops up the falcon, removing its hood. It’s a peregrine falcon, and it ruffles its crest feathers to shake them out and then sits contentedly while it watches us.
It’s apparent McKenna has a huge passion for birds of prey.
“My mom has a rehabilitation centre out in the countryside. She takes in all birds of prey who were hit by cars or raised in captivity.”
Rafa Navarro joins us soon after and we spend a delightful two hours trying to get a slow motion shot of the cars passing the flight of the peregrine on the forefront. McKenna places him on his stand and then whistles him over to her glove every time the cars pass.
There’s a reason I hate working with animals, but we end up getting the shot, and Alexei and Rafa cheer over comms. They made quite a couple of turns around the circuit.
The mechanics scurry over to interrogate the drivers and then pass all the info over to the engineers via handheld radios. A data analyst is downloading info from the cars to analyze later.
The team is so excited about the new car design we can’t help but get swept up in it along with them.
We capture Anatoly and McKenna off to one side, oblivious to the lenses. It’s obvious they have great respect for one another.
I sigh.
If this new design is as revolutionary as they think, the next season they will be dogged by other teams trying to infiltrate them to steal or replicate their designs. And if they can’t, well, there’s always money. Anatoly had stumbled onto McKenna by accident. Other teams could offer her ten times more money to work for them.
I watch her launch the falcon into the air and we’re all watching it peacefully as it climbs lazily and hovers out over the vast empty air above the track.
I’m curious to see how her career will unfold over the next few years.
The sun starts setting, and I promised the crew a round of drinks at the hotel bar, so I make my way over to thank everyone who allowed us to film them and to wish them well in the upcoming season.
With a sharp whistle, McKenna calls the falcon to her, and it lands on her glove with a flurry of wings, sharp claws digging into the protective leather.
She hands it a piece of raw meat that it gulps down in seconds.