History Literature / HoverCarRacer

[[quoteright:229:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hover_car_racer.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:229:Strap on your seatbelts and hold on tight because the pace of reading just went supersonic!]]

[[caption-width-right:229:"Strap on your seatbelts and hold on tight because the pace of reading just went supersonic!"]]

* TheQuietOne: The Bug only talks to Jason and their adopted mother, and then only in a whisper.

[[caption-width-right:229:Strap on your seatbelts and hold on tight because the pace of reading just went supersonic!]]

[[caption-width-right:229:The pace of reading just went supersonic!]]

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Based on the lengths of the race courses in ''Hover Car Racer'', Tasmania in that book is less than a quarter of the scale it is in real life (which would also explain how the entire island being bought by the International Race School would be plausible in any way).

* FailedFutureForecast: In-universe example in ''Hover Car Racer''. After the Italian Run a newspaper prepares two versions of the front page but prints the wrong one, leading to Jason reading a story with the headline "The Death of Jason Chaser".

* StrawMisogynist: In ''Hover Car Racer'' Ariel Piper, arguably the school's best racer, has to confront a whole world of them. One actively propositions her, telling her it's the only way for a girl to get ahead in the hover car game - later, with help from Jason he unknowingly races her and she beats him as payback. Later, Principal [=LeClerq=] actively sabotages her in championship races simply because she's a girl.

* TheVoiceless: The Bug in ''Hover Car Racer''. He only talks directly to Jason and his mother (not his father though), and even the readers don't hear him. Except at one particularly dramatic moment.

* HoneyTrap: No sex is involved, but Jason's rivals, Xavier Xonora and Barnaby Becker, persuade a beautiful girl named Dido to pose as one of Jason's fans so he'll go on dates with her and tell her about his strategies and weaknesses, after which she reports back to Xavier and Barnaby.

* BringingRunningShoesToACarChase: Barnaby Becker rams into Jason, causing both of their hover cars to crash 500 meters from the Finish Line. Jason is in a position where he can't easily get out of the cockpit, so he removes the steering wheel, gives it to the Bug, and has him run the rest of the way, since according to the rules of this race, the first car to get the steering wheel across the Line wins. When the Bug has almost made it, Barnaby gets his car working again and races after him. [[spoiler:The Bug dives across the Line, holding the steering wheel in his outstretched hands, and wins by less than a foot.]]

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: ''Hover Car Racer'' opens with "A few years from now..."
* UnnecessaryRoughness: Fabian and Trouveau crowd Jason on the course, trying to make him crash.

* WritersCannotDoMath: Syracuse tells Jason that out of over 2,000 races at the School, only 10 have been won by people who skipped their last pit stop, meaning a success rate of 0.005%. It should be 0.5%.

* HatesBeingTouched: The Bug only lets two people in the world touch him: Jason and his mom. He won't even let his dad touch him.

* WrenchWench: Sally [=McDuff=], Jason's mechanic, learned about hover cars from her eight older brothers. She first built her own rocket when she was fourteen.

* CrowdChants: The audience chants "We love the Bug!" after [[spoiler:Jason passes out during a 9G turn, and the Bug leans forward to pilot the car to the finish]].

* BringingRunningShoesToACarChase: Barnaby Becker rams into Jason, causing both of their hover cars to crash 500 meters from the finish line. Jason is in a position where he can't easily get out of the cockpit, so he removes the steering wheel, gives it to the But, and has him run the rest of the way, since according to the rules of this race, the first car to get the steering wheel across the line wins. When Bug has almost made it, Barnaby gets his car working again and races after him. [[spoiler:The Bug wins by less than a foot.]]

* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Ariel Piper is the first female racer ever to be accepted into the Race School, which was male-only until recently, and she's ostracized by most of the boys.

* BringingRunningShoesToACarChase: Barnaby Becker rams into Jason, causing both of their hover cars to crash 500 meters from the finish line. Jason is in a position where he can't easily get out of the cockpit, so he has the Bug run the rest of the way, since this race follows "driver across the line" rather than "car across the line" rules. When Bug has almost made it, Barnaby gets his car working again and races after him. [[spoiler:The Bug wins by less than a foot.]]

* DownToTheLastPlay: Jason wins or loses several races by just a few millimeters.

The invention of hover technology has transformed society, and one of the world's most popular sports is racing hover cars modified from traditional race cars. Fourteen-year-old Jason Chaser is an amateur racer who has been accepted into the International Race School along with his twelve-year-old adoptive brother, the Bug, an autistic savant who acts as his navigator. Race School is a brutally competitive environment, but Jason is determined to graduate and become a professional racer.

''Hover Car Racer'' is a 2004 Australian science fiction novel by Matthew Reilly, originally released as a free serial online.