Simply the Best

Simply the Best is heard at the go-cart venue Formula 1 West, where it accompanies the racers taking their positions and helps turn the event into a noisy spectacle. Its placement links the song to Rachel’s abrupt change from unease to exhilaration on the track.

Use at the Race

After the racers have been fitted with helmets and ill-fitting grey overalls, loudspeakers blare Simply the Best as the cars line up. The music joins the roar of the engines, intensifying the din before the race begins. In the midst of this deliberately heightened atmosphere, Rachel initially feels the absurdity of the activities she has been made to endure.

Relation to Rachel’s Change

Once the race starts, Rachel’s uncertainty and fear dissolve as she presses the accelerator. She passes Cliff Weybourne and the other racers in her heat, takes the lead, and experiences the speed as a feeling of flight and temporary invulnerability. The song’s placement at the start of the race therefore accompanies a scene whose mood shifts from comic spectacle to Rachel’s exhilaration and triumph.