If Wolverhampton Wanderers bear comparison to a finely tuned sports car racing towards the finish it is worth remembering it was not necessarily that way off the grid.
For all the undeniable talent signed last summer there were initial questions over squad harmony. Team-bonding sessions helped find answers.
‘We went go-karting,’ captain Conor Coady tells Sportsmail. ‘I was rubbish. Danny Batth was quite quick. The foreign boys were driving like Miss Daisy – not used to the English roads!’
It is fair to say the new recruits acclimatised rapidly on the pitch, at least.