‘In addition, you’ve uncovered a serious difference of opinion over the choice of venue for the race, rooted – we think – in bad blood between the RAF, the Sochi bid, and the president of Russia?’
Further nods.
‘And the president of Russia – himself – got involved in the internal politics of the sport's governing body … removing the then-president of the RAF, not only from the presidency but from the board as well?’
Pokrovsky nodded.
‘Good God, Anatoly, no wonder you flagged these findings up as “strange”.’
FORTY
Straker returned to his small HQ in the Brandeis offices. Walking across to the whiteboard and standing directly in front of the heading ZHAR-PTITSA AUTODROM, he wrote “Moscow 100” underneath. Beneath that he wrote a list: Yegor Baryshnikov – Ousted, Feodor Olyshenko Ex-President RAF – Ousted (Dead), Deputy Vladimir Kosygin – Deselected and Menashe Rosenthal – Businessman (Dead). He turned to face McMahon.
‘How weird is this?’
A knock was heard on the door jamb.
Andy Backhouse, the race engineer, was standing there with a laptop in the crook of his arm. ‘I think you need to see this.’
He shut the door behind him.
In response, McMahon said: ‘What have you found?’
‘We’ve now managed to download and analyze the telemetry from Remy's car – directly before the crash.’
The three of them gathered round the computer screen.
‘I’ve pulled together all the key data measured and recorded on the car.’
‘As it happened?’ asked McMahon.
‘In real time, yes.’
‘And?’
‘I’m not sure, and wouldn’t be certain – or able to prove anything – without examining the wreckage. However, you remember we noticed the anomaly of Sabatino's steering into that corner – that she had started to turn the wheel and then it looked like it had suddenly become heavy?’
The other two nodded.
‘Right, well take a look at this,’ said Backhouse and pressed Play on the laptop.
The screen showed a forward-facing view from an on-board camera mounted above Sabatino's helmet; it also showed the top of her steering wheel and her hands. They could see the back of Bary-shnikov's car directly in front of her. The impending left-hander of Turn Eleven was in the distance at the top of the picture. The two cars were running at full throttle along the Hermitage Straight. As a blur, the surface of the track flashed by underneath, disappearing out of shot through the bottom of the screen.
‘Now watch this,’ said Backhouse. ‘Remy is about to duck out of Baryshnikov's slipstream, across to the right. There! As you see, the car responds perfectly – performing everything needed to make that move. Remy only needed to make tiny movements with the wheel.’
Straker watched the footage as Backhouse let it run on. ‘Okay.’
‘Now we see Baryshnikov start to move over the left of the track, as he sets himself up for the left-hand corner. This, though, is where it gets strange.’ Backhouse pressed a key on the computer. The image froze. He tapped another key. Blocks of numbers, graphs and columns of data scrolled down, overlaying the stilled video image.
‘I’ve managed to sync the car's telemetry with the video timeline,’ he explained. ‘Here,’ he said pointing at one small graph, ‘we have the hydraulic pressure for the car's entire system. Here, in this block of numbers,’ pointing to another column of figures, ‘we have the output from a torque sensor on the steering column.’
‘Is that the metering valve thing you mentioned yesterday?’ Straker asked.
‘No, that's over here. The torque data is different; it comes from a sensor which measures the amount of twisting force being applied when the driver turns the steering wheel.’
‘Okay.’
‘And, here,’ said Backhouse pointing at three groups of numbers in turn, ‘we have data on other hydraulic valves in different parts of the car – the steering, the differential and the brakes.’
‘Sorry,’ said McMahon, ‘what's that middle one you said?’
Backhouse said: ‘Don’t worry, I’ll explain as we go.’
McMahon nodded.
‘The key thing,’ said Backhouse, ‘is that we’re looking to measure four very different – and completely unrelated – states of the car, yes? The “twist” of the steering wheel and then the three sets of hydraulics relating to the steering, differential and brakes.’
Straker nodded.
‘Now,’ said Backhouse, ‘watch this.’
Backhouse tapped a key followed by the space bar.
The picture moved again but this time in slow motion. They saw that all the numbers, data and graphs overlaying the image started changing.
‘As you can see, these metrics are all moving in real time, measuring their specific states of the car?’
McMahon nodded.
