Your craft, the XP-31 "Red Dot," has eight radial thrusters mounted every 45 degrees and fed from a common fuel tank. The maneuvering thrusters have been disabled by Darth Vader's henchmen, so you can't turn. The radial thrusters burn in pulses, with fuel remaining shown as pulses. You fire a thruster by the corresponding keyboard arrow key in the direction you want to go. On your navscreen, your current velocity vector and the delta-v vector from your last burn are displayed.
If you bounce off the track wall, the official scorer docks you a quarter of a lap. Your race ends when you hit the wall with no fuel. Winner has the most laps.
If you skipped over the tuneup page and you'd like to know what that triangle thing is,
here's the scoop.