International Gran Turismo Rally - The Grand Tour 79 [FINAL RANKING]

[karhgath]

Stage 3 - Tannenstein to Zeilwies

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Prologue

by Giorgio Diola and Jacques Dupal

Tannenstein, April 13th 1979 - 7:30 AM

Treacherous mountains ahead

JD: It is with clear skies that we begin another day of this journey across the continent in the dreamiest GTs around. The Gasmean leg of the journey is behind us, but the contestants needs to tackle a new, more complex problem.

GD: Indeed they do. This will not be a piece of cake. It is only April, so this means the peaks still have snow. While the roads are normally in good conditions, the issue here is the weather is rarely stable up above. It’s treacherous territory at this time of the year, and the clear skies can quickly leave its place to fog, winds and even snow or icy rain. We are not taking any chance here, everyone will follow the main road anyway as there are not many shortcuts up there. Some part of the roads are very tight, and thus everyone will leave in a staggered manner, one after the other.

JD: Everyone should be very careful today, things can change in an instant up there, we hopefully will not see many accidents. There are four major mountain passes in this leg of the journey, which will tax motors everyone’s car a lot. The rest is mostly valleys, and a large part of it will follow natural rivers topography, but everyone should stay very vigilant as there won’t be many straights there, and traffic can be dangerous in some parts.

GD: It looks like the Mons Deimos owner is ready for any unexpected situations and has fully stocked her car. I think a few others did a well. Some seemed more confident than other. The Proletariat crew seemed cheerful today.

JD: Well, I would not say cheerful, I’d say slightly scary instead. His build and accent are somewhat intimidating.

GD: I am sure Darius is a gentle teddy bear inside, Jacques. You are such a piscialletto.

JD: mumbles something

GD: I think the lack of sleep is getting to you partner! On this jovial note, let’s get behind the wheel for a bit of excitement.

JD: mumbles to himself again

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Stage 3 - Results

Stats Breakdown for Stage 3
10% Drivability
30% Sportiness
60% Offroad

How to read:

• Each teams are ranked in order according to their total score based on the stats breakdown posted above, including Exhibition entries.
• Then, we have 18 competitiors (+3 exhibitions), so in increment from 0 to 8 they are assigned points in order, excluding exhibition entries.
• The breakdown penalties are then applied. For reliability, this is a random 20-100 roll done against engine and then car reliability. Yes, we will see a lot of breakdowns for this event. Penalty is -1 for each reliability roll. Later rounds will have a -2 penalty for wrong fuel octane.

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Epilogue

by Giorgio Diola and Jacques Dupal

Zeilwies, April 13th 1979 - 8:30 PM

Well deserved day off after a stressful day

Everyone made it through alive. A dark way to start an article, but it was a day that warranted such a lede. A ton of breakdown across the board, with teams being stranded without a motor and working transmission at some point, was par of the harshness of the day. The weather did not cooperate. Much of the valleys had high wind and icy roads while it was not foggy or snowy, which made many teams move at snail pace. Even with hard all-season tires, it was hard for many teams that were expecting a bit more clement weather. We were as well, but the Régal Absynthe V12 survived to tell the tale. We had a catastrophic brake failure in a very scary part of the ascension but were able to stop safely. Many teams had such tales today.

But the mountain did not make any victims. All teams made it to Zeilwies, with some in better shape than others. Looking at the stage results, it looks inverted, with the Dusquene surprisingly making it first through the gauntlet. We expected a luxury boat, as did many competitors, but this thing is a offroader in disguise. Silverstone did extremely well, which was surprising from the look of the DS5. Good handling and tuning saved the team but they were plagued with a serie of breakdowns and all hope of amassing a lot of points from this leg of the journey were gone in a puff of smoke, literally.

While only finishing 4th, team Haniyasushin amassed the second most point in a near perfect day - their rally spec GT really shined here. We were also surprised to finally see Proletariat take some points, but engine issues marred their day.

Zephorus was the big surprise here - we expected them to be down the score sheet with Cisaslpina, but surprisingly this track beast can handle the ice and snow! Who expected that? This prestigious GT is really starting to show what it is capable of.

All other leaders had bad days. Cisalpina finished in the middle of the pack, not expecting such a weather shift. They still were able to hold 1st place overall. They also made it in one piece without any breakdown, as did the Tiburon, Brooklands and Tristella. Mara finished near the bottom, and seeing such a botched day from them really highlights the fragility of their car. Proletariat built a better offroader for sure, using tank components can help there, but this is only one event in 7 and only the Archanian journey will bring them again to much tamer offroad paths, so nothing is lost for Mara yet.

It is the girl with the slightly banged up engine in the Deimos that had the harshest day. We had a lot of expectation from her, but I think it is the car that was a big letdown today, it had simply no traction on the cold icy road. She was literally shaking when she got out of the Mons.

The ZKF did worse tho. They decided to not bring extra fuel, but their 92 RON leaded tuned engine ended up knocking all day, which cause so many issues for them. Their engine survived tho.

Arion and Pfeil also had a bad day as well, with series of costly breakdowns, losing precious points they would have gotten as they placed very nicely today.

The best news of the day however is that they all got a day of tomorrow! So they can make their repairs and rest. We know they’ll need em, as we do. I am sure the vodka will pass around the Proletariat table for a well deserved celebration. They’d rather be at the beach, but at least they can enjoy their successes.

We’ll be back in two days, good night.

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Current Standing

OOC: as final ranking is starting to get very large and busy, I am trying this summary format. Yay/Nay?

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Aesthetics Poll

The Aesthetics vote counts for a total of 8 points, please vote for the best looking entries, you will have until Stage 4 to vote.

International Gran Turismo Rally - Aesthetics Poll

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Topics #6

• How banged up is your car at this point? Will it survive the rest of the competition?
• Are you ready for a long day and overnight drive to Calides? We hear the view will be grandiose.

[cake_ape]

I like the condensed summary format, but add the overall ranking # perhaps to the left of the car name.

[cake_ape]

Journal entry Tour Stage 3

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Gosh, what a day! Needless to say, the third stage did not go well. The Deimos is a fantastic car on open road and highways, but it is certainly not built for high-mountains and the poor conditions for today. It was a struggle to even keep on the road at times. Good thing I'm familiar with the Hetvesian mountains, otherwise it might've ended poorly today. The scenery is still gorgeous, but it is much more enjoyable from the back seat of the family wagon than behind the wheel of the Deimos. I had a small mishap too with a timing belt loosening. Luckily it was a relatively easy fix. There was at least some good with the bad: the car broke down on top of a gorgeous mountain pass, so I got to enjoy the view a bit longer than everyone else!

When I checked in at the hotel in Zeilwies the concierge handed me a note that was waiting for me. It was from my dad! He saw the brown car on the news, and immediately knew what was happening. He says that he is furious and coming to get me! He knows that there is a rest day in Zeilwies and he’s on his way. There is no way out now. I will have to confront him again. I will not give up, no matter what he says!

After today the car needs a little love, so tomorrow I’ll get on doing some repairs. But first, I’ll get some photos developed from the last two days!

F.

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In Gasmea before another construction detour.

Where I broke down in the Hetvesian mountains.

[HighOctaneLove]

Hetvescian Mountains cause Trouble for the Grand Tour!

Workers Voice, Hetvesia

14th April, 1979

Except

WVH: Well, well, well… 4th place; you must be chuffed! Any highlights you’d like to share?

DV: I cannot lie, it felt good for us to be passing the Maran team for once! laughs We would have stayed to pull them free (OOC: I interpreted the body fail as a slide into a ditch, hahaha, @AndiD feel free to retcon if you don’t like it, hahaha!!!) but some locals had a tractor and were already helping out, so we left them a bottle of Paprika schnapps and moved on. The roads proved less treacherous than we’d been worried about pats Panache bonnet plus the old girl doesn’t stress out the driven wheels too much anyway laughs

WVH: Paprika schnapps… Sounds kinda gross, in my opinion. Talking about acquired tastes; how’s the Panache holding up? Will you reach the finish line in one piece?

DV: laughs This Panache is built strong like the armoured car it’s powerplant is from. I have no doubt at all that we’ll make it home in the Panache under our own power… As for the Paprika schnapps, when we party hard tomorrow I’ll be sure to let you have a taste! laughs This drink is an Archanan national icon! laughs heartily

WVH: Awesome, I forgot you’d invited us for drinks, you’re clearly a man of your word then. Will you be able to do the 24 hour segment after partying all day?

DV: Have no fear, comrade, I know how to party hard in moderation! laughs I’m looking to make friends and new memories, not wipe out old ones! laughs Besides, I expect to have many of my fellow racers join me throughout the day; there’ll be much sights to see and many partying to do with it all being highlighted by the tastes of many national brews! laughs heartily As we say in Archana: Party choose you! laughs, drives off to official Grand Tour car park

WVH: That’s it folks, our part of the tour is done, don’t forget to buy your copy of Fruinian Workers Choice for the next installment if The Grand Tour, the people’s perspective!

[AndiD]

On the rest day, Rodin Gumprov, Mara’s chief engineer and lead driver for the rally, was sitting in one of the hot outdoor spa baths in Friedhain am Meer, enjoying the steaming water relaxing his aching muscles - which was urgently needed for the upcoming longest stage of the rally. He also couldn’t help but notice the slight smell of sulphur of the nearby (mostly) dormant supervolcano which made the natural spa baths in Friedhain possible.

He leafed through a copy of the Worker’s Voice Hetvesia that he had brought with him and read through the interview with his Archanan compatriot Vulpe with embarassment. Of course they had to mention the small mishap when a patch of snow had caught him out on a long corner and his attempts to regain control had only led to them getting wedged underneath some rocks in a small (but deep enough) ditch on the side of the road. While a local with a tractor happened to pass by a short while after and managed pull them out, the damage was done - to the car, physicially, and to their position on the timesheet.

To top it off, on the road out of Greifingen, they were stopped by a Hetvesian mountain highway patrol car. “Papers, please”, a strict officer said. “And your right braking and reversing lights are smashed. You cannot drive like this on Hetvesian roads.” Before Rodin could answer and to his surprise, Jakub replied sternly: “In Archana, we never stop or go backwards.” These were the first words Jakub had uttered on the day - even during and after the mishap in the ditch - and they handed the officer their papers. The officer studied them for a few seconds and handed them back to Jakub, his face having become quite pale. “Please, drive on, sir.”

For the next kilometers up the winding mountain roads, Rodin actually wished the GTC had the Irena sedan’s standard live axle suspension instead of the double wishbones at the rear that had been approved for the GTC special project. Back in the day, he had successfully played the ‘comfort and drivability’ card with those in charge of funding the GTC project - who would incidentally also be the ones getting access to the GTC special in the first place. The Irena’s original suspension had to be a compromise since the Irena’s delivery van (currently a runaway success in Fruinia just like its predecessor) and pickup versions (currently in the late development stage) needed additional load and offroad capabilities for their service in rural Archana, and the latter capabilities would have been very handy today.

“Guess the machine has become more of a true GT than I realized”, concluded Rodin as he slid out of the corner once again, the independent and quite hard-sprung rear wheels struggling for grip on the puddles of snow and ice. The lack of grunt, however, carrying the car upwards once grip was established, reminded him that he still had less than half the cylinders (and horsepower) under the hood that some of the competitors had. He sighed. “These Hetvesian mountains are definitely something else compared to our hills. Have to take note in case the Hetvesian market will ever open up to us.”

He decided to hand the wheel over to his companion at the next opportunity. Jakub’s apparent experience driving the Irena V8 Interceptor might come in handy when managing understeer on the corner entry and oversteer on the exit. During the brief stop he also had to see what he could do to salvage the broken rear light and what else had been damaged during their trip to the ditch and a few additional contacts with Hetvesian rocks or crash barriers on the side of the road.

Rodin put the paper away and thought about the next stage. While the car’s overall sturdy engineering had kept it in reasonable shape over the past days, he was aware that the next chance of getting spare parts would only be after the rest day, since Maras are not on sale at all in Gasmea and Hetvesia. Besides, they’d need functional lights for the overnight run down to Calides. He made a mental note to send a telegram to the Mara dealer in Calides with the numbers of the spare parts that he’d need. Luckily, the GTC’s unique rear suspension seemed okay, and the damaged outer light unit and at least some panels were interchangeable with the ones used in the basic Irena sedan. While Fruinian traffic cops were rumored to be less strict about such minor issues than Hetvesian ones, he didn’t want to tempt fate (or rely on Jakub’s papers) again…

[cake_ape]

Journal entry Rest day

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After a restless night - I was worried about my dad arriving here today - I had a good breakfast and went straight to work on the Deimos. The engine needed some tuning because of the loose belt yesterday. It seems to run smooth again. Everything else seems to be in perfect condition still. Even the tires are holding up all right, despite the abuse of the past few days.

So my dad did arrive today. He rolled into town in the late afternoon, and found me still working on the car.He was visibly angry still and demanded the keys. I refused. He didn’t want to make a scene on the street, so we agreed to sit down and talk over a cup of coffee. We had a long talk and the coffee turned into dinner, then a late-night glass of wine. He was really angry, but as I explained the my plan and the situation I know the business is in, he slowly calmed down. It took all of my persuasion skills, but in the end he agreed that this might indeed be a good business idea. He is still mad that I took the car and went behind his back, but the business man in him does see this Rally as an opportunity. Reluctantly, he agreed that I… we rather… should continue. Because that was his condition: we will do this together from now on. It will be uncomfortable at first, but I am glad that I will have company for the remainder of the race, and it’ll make the long stages much easier now that we can switch driving duties. And dad is a good driver, so we will hopefully continue to do well. On top of that, he is a bit of a showman, so I am sure that he’ll embrace all the media attention too!

So with a relieved heart, I will go to bed so that I’m well rested for the next (longest) stage of the Rally. Dad said that mom and the family will cheer us on as we pass through Porto Castelfranco.

F.

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The car outside the hotel. Zeilwies is such a great little town!

[karhgath]

Stage 4 - Zeilwies to Calides

OOC: Had a bit of a writer’s block after delivering results for BRS2 and ARM5, and some real life issues to deal with. We should be back on track now!

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Prologue

by Giorgio Diola and Jacques Dupal

Zeilwies, April 15th 1979 - 10:00 AM

Overnight extravaganza

JD: And we are back after a small hiatus. Everyone had a well deserved day off yesterday, and all cars should be in tip top shape. Are you excited for today G-man?

GD: Of course! Today were are going down the mountains of Hetvesia to Fruinia. Mama mia! The Fruinian coast will be a wonderful backdrop for this competition, and quite a scenic endeavour. This is the first and only overnight stage, as teams should arrive early tomorrow morning in Calides before preparing for a sprint to Archana.

JD: This overnight stage is the longest stretch of the competition, and while teams might have to switch drivers, it is not a particularly difficult road. Fruinian roads are pristine, and there should not be many construction work along the way. A clear path to Calides.

GD: One team that is excited to cross into Fruinia are the current leaders, Cisalpina. Their car is very good shape, having weathered the mountains and previous stages without too many issues. We can expect a lot of crowds gathering along the way, hoping to see the beautiful Cisalpina Presto 72 pass through their town. While the route will not take them through Marena, I am sure many will travel south for a chance to see them and cheer them.

JD: Many other Fruinian teams are also in good positions, so it is a great day for some Fruinian’s pride.

GD: Indeed. They might not have a lot of time along the way, but I do hope they take the time to enjoy the local cuisine in Calides. Their anchovies are renowned all over the continent.

JD: Yesterday there was a bit of an incident with the Mons Deimos lady, Francesca. It seems her participation was not expected by what seems to be her father. There was a long argument reported, but it seems all is well now and she got herself a co-driver and partner, finally. Just in time for the long drive.

GD: I have met her father earlier and let me tell you, he’s a proud Fruinian, through and through! He was already talking to the local newspapers and turning this to his advantage.

JD: It is now time to depart for another leg of the journey, it is beautiful outside and we hope it stays that way until tomorrow. Let the race begin!

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Stage 4 - Results

Stats Breakdown for Stage 4
90% Drivability
10% Sportiness
0% Offroad

How to read:

• Each teams are ranked in order according to their total score based on the stats breakdown posted above, including Exhibition entries.
• Then, we have 18 competitiors (+3 exhibitions), so in increment from 0 to 8 they are assigned points in order, excluding exhibition entries.
• The breakdown penalties are then applied. For reliability, this is a random 20-100 roll done against engine and then car reliability. Yes, we will see a lot of breakdowns for this event. Penalty is -1 for each reliability roll. Later rounds will have a -2 penalty for wrong fuel octane.

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Epilogue

by Giorgio Diola and Jacques Dupal

Calides, April 16th 1979 - 1:00 PM

A long drive, a long night and a long afternoon of festivities

The sun is at its zenith now, the people of Calides are in very festive mood, and everyone gathered around the city centre to meet, chat and eat with all the teams. They are greeted as brothers and sisters. Even the Mara and Proletariat teams are a bit submerged by this warm welcome and we can see Vodka passing alongside Prosecco.

Compared to the last round in the mountains, this has been a relatively quiet overnight drive. Mara again finished first, but did breakdown multiple times along the way - something seems wrong with their car. Their mechanic is again nowhere to be found, and when other teams proposed to help and look under the bonnet they were met with heavy resistance.

Despite their good performance, Mara is not able to avoid costly breakdowns and while they keep a very surprising 4th place, I am sure they feel they should be performing better overall. Despite all the clunkiness, it seems a joy to drive. What could make this car drive so good like that?

It was a long drive and long drive means breakdowns - half the teams had both engine and car issues, and only a few teams like Silverstone, Tiburon and Proletariat went through unscathed. ZKF, as they did in the last round, suffered from their fuel selection.

With all the breakdown, LACAM ended up the team with the best score of the stage. This car is as beautiful as their drivers and it seems so smooth and comfortable on the scenic coastal road. That was also enough to gain 2 positions in the rankings and steal first place from Cisalpina. Silverstone did very well as well, slightly edging Cisalpina for 2nd place. While disappointed with 3rd place overall, Cisalpina is still in a very good position now. Zephorus, however, did lose a lot of ground today - the smooth open roads were not kind to their drivers.

With the half-way point passed, we can now see how much each teams are investing in servicing and maintaining their cars. Tiburon, Proletariat and Haniyasushin all seems to have simple and cheap maintenance to perform, despite the few breakdowns they got.

However, for teams Zephorus and HRV, the complexity of their car seems to make it very hard to do simple maintenance on them. The Arion and Deimos seems to be better, but not by much, their repairs looked quite costly. We will see how all of this will translate in the final judging.

The tail of the competition did not change at all - they are pretty consistent, but Dusquesne are slowly moving ahead of the pack and getting a good safe distance, taking another step toward a Top 10 finish. Despite being at the bottom, there is hope for Proletariat as they are slowly distancing the two last places - hopefully, we’ll soon move on their turf and hopefully it will help them.

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Current Standing

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Aesthetics Poll

The Aesthetics vote is now CLOSED. Thanks for all those that took the time to put in their ratings. Results will be posted at the end of the stages in the judging round.

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Topics #7

• How did you react to the huge crowds and tifosi along the way?
• Tomorrow is the first sprint of the competitiion and we’ll be going through Archana’s border. Are you a bit stressed? Did you ever travel there?

[Riley]

Wooosh and biggest loser of the round

Ah well, I’m sure we’ll make it up somewhere again.

[BannedByAndroid]

At least you’re not the loser of the whole race. which is me lol

[SenseiB12]

The Transitstar Pan-Gasmea is continuing to do far better than I thought it would. It’s not exactly specced for offroad driving, but hopefully, my solid rear axle and mushy steering and transmission will give an advantage as we get further and further from beautiful Gasmea.

Onward, to prove what we’ve always known: Gasmean cars are the best at everything! Manual transmissions are for people who can’t afford to have their transmissions shifted for them! All the manufacturers making complicated drive axles that bend in the middle are just wasting their time!

[AndiD]

On Their Party's Secret Service

After the much needed rest day with ample time for personal and car maintenance, Rodin Gumprov was surprised to find someone else than Jakub sitting in the passenger seat in the Irena GTC when he entered the car shortly after dawn and before the start of the day’s stage. The man wore non-descript clothing and even vaguely resembled Jakub but it was clearly not him. He was also wearing sunglasses despite the early hour and an overcast sky.

“Jakub will join us… later”, the man stated calm but matter-of-factly, before Rodin could say a word. He spoke in their mother tongue which provided some initial comfort to Rodin.

“But he has the timing cards…”, Rodin protested but the stranger waved the cards at him. “I also have the licence to drive.”

Thoroughly bewildered, Rodin started the car and guided it to the starting line as if on autopilot. “Davay!”, the strange person said to him as Rodin almost missed the starting cue from the rally official in Zeilwies, still trying to get to grips with the unexpected situation. Luckily, noone - not even the meticulous Hetvesians - checked the identity of those in the cars at the start (and why should they)? It took Rodin a while to get even into the most basic driving rhythm. Luckily, the Zeilwies streets were quite deserted at this time in the morning, and they quickly left the town behind.

During the day, Rodin discovered that his new passenger spoke even less than Jakub, but that was alright for him. Suddenly, they had just passed Gernau, a rattling noise from the back of the car made itself known. “Hopefully not the rear suspension”, Rodin offered, answering his guest’s unspoken question, and stopped at the side of the road.

“We have to hurry. Have an appointment”, his strange passenger said.

Rodin didn’t reply and got out to see what was up. Not the suspension, but the exhaust was the culprit, having become detached from its fixtures on one side. He wasn’t happy just applying a quick fix for the still quite long journey ahead, and he couldn’t replace the exhaust easily in Calides either. While the entire front section of their car - except the engine of course - was still basically identical to the sedan (or the van, for that matter), the rear including the exhaust were unique to the GTC. Some welding would probably do the trick, however, once in Calides, and with just a few days to go in the rally, this shouldn’t matter too much. After a couple of minutes, they were back on the road.

“Now just the drive is not enough. We need to race. Make up time”, Rodin’s co-driver for the day stated.

Rodin nodded and thought, “At least we have a view to a drive!”, as the Hetvesian coastline became visible in the distance.

Once they came close to the Hetvesian/Fruinian border, his new (and still nameless) co-driver directed Rodin to stop at a small gravel patch, next to a dirt road that went into the woods. “Stop here.”

“What?”, Rodin asked incredulous. “We are driving in a rally here! On the clock!”

“Jakub will be here. Wait”, his unexpected companion for the day repeated.

“We can’t just stop here. Others from the rally will see us and wonder what’s up.”

“Think of something.”

Rodin exited the car, slammed the driver door and opened the hood. As if on cue, he could see the distinct Mons that had started after him, approach and slow down. Rodin shouted, “It’s just an engine problem! We can fix it!” and waved them off. After a short hesitation, the Mons gained speed again.

And indeed, after a few minutes of waiting, his actual co-driver appeared out of the Hetvesian woods, out of breath, and not in the most orderly overall condition. A medium-sized backpack and a duffel bag - both of which Rodin had never seen before - were slung over each of Jakub’s shoulders.

“Get in! Get in!”, the (so far) taciturn man shouted suddently. “And get going!”

Jakub threw the duffel bag to the man. “From Hetvesia with love!”, Jakub shouted back, almost hysterically.

Rodin quickly closed the hood and got back behind the wheel. With a big sigh, Jakub fell into the passenger seat, carefully placing the backpack into the footwell.

Rodin wasn’t sure what to say, and Jakub said. “Don’t ask. And let me rest for a moment.”

Rodin took a look at his watch, it was shortly after noon. “Ok, then take the rest you need. But you have to only drive twice at least. Once today, and once it becomes another day.” Jakub nodded and then immediately dozed off. Rodin was left shaking his head at this distinctly weird morning. He would have to wake Jakub again shortly once they reached the border to Fruinia in order to present his magic papers to the customs officers.

Bonus points if you can find all bad James Bond movie title puns in the text.

[HighOctaneLove]

Victory for Archana, Fruinia Rejoices!

Fruinian Workers Choice

April 16th, 1979

Excerpt

FWC: Beaten by Mara again, indeed you’ve come dead last this leg, are you competing or just along for the ride?

DV: Oh we’re competing, we’re doing our best, but the crowds make for some scary moments! I do not wish to inflame old injuries by mowing down a small crowd of Fruinians after all. Besides, I’d rather come last and arrive fashionably late, handing out the Paprika schnapps, than arrive first all sweaty and flustered! laughs

FWC: So was it mechanical failure that held you back? Surely you have the handle of that Proletariat by now?

DV: The Pananche has performed flawlessly this stage, with no difficulties recorded at all, but the old girl’s just a tad slow, that’s all. But she’s still 100% a lady and that’s all that matters to me! laughs

FWC: Looking forward to the sprint stage tomorrow? Plus Archana, our Motherland, any thoughts?

DV: sigh Ladies don’t run, they just glide quickly, so tomorrow will be another wooden spoon for me! laughs Plus I cannot wait to be home, because I need to procure more Paprika schnapps! laughs It will be nice to be able to get decent Archanan cuisine without having to pay through the nose for it.

FWC: OK, thankyou for the interview and best of luck for tomorrow; it looks like you’ll need it!

DV: Thanks, I’ll do my best and hopefully the timestamp staff won’t have to wait too long for me! laughs heartily

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OOC: A Quantum of Solace from the racing action, hahaha

@AndiD

On Their Party’s Secret Service

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

@AndiD

the drive is not enough

The World Is Not Enough

@AndiD

a view to a drive

A View To A Kill

@AndiD

“From Hetvesia with love!”

From Russia With Love

@AndiD

you have to only drive twice

You Only Live Twice

@AndiD

becomes another day

Die Another Day

@AndiD

licence to drive

Lisence to Kill

@AndiD

let me rest for a moment

This might be a reference to Quantum of Solace?

[cake_ape]

Journal entry Stage 4

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Oh, I'm so tired! This was a long day... so only a short entry today. This was the first day that I had a co-driver - my dad. Despite the friction earlier, we had a great time! During the long drive he told opened up and told me about his business. He told me how he started out and what he hoped it would all become. He also told me about the struggles he has to keep it afloat. The problems are even worse than he has let on at home. I am not sure if this Grand Tour will be able to save the business, but at least he gets away from the stress. He seems to be enjoying the ride!

Today we had a few mishaps. Luckily the first one happened just as we rolled into Porto Castelfranco, so serendipidously we could just roll into the family garage and get the car fixed. I worked on it together with my dad - he finally allowed me to touch one of his cars (voluntarily, that is). It was a blown gasket. It was good to see the family too. Mom made us lunch, then we were on our way again. A little later there was another issue with a fuse. I don’t know what is up with the Mons, but the fuses keep blowing. I suspect that it’s my dad’s “custom” wiring, but I won’t raise that issue, just yet.

Well, it was a really long day, and I am glad that I got to share it with my dad. It certainly makes the drive easier. But now it is sleep time! Tomorrow will be a fun day, and I hope that my dad lets me drive the sprint! I think I am now actually the better driver, having learned a thing or two from the pros along the way.

F.

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The car in our famlily garage.

[karhgath]

Stage 5 - Calides to Lenagrad

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Prologue

by Giorgio Diola and Jacques Dupal

Calides, April 17th 1979 - 8:00 AM

A sprint a day keeps the doctor away

GD: How about my cousin last night, wasn’t she…

JD: Oh we’re on! Good morning Calides. After an afternoon and evening of festivities, we hope not everyone is hangover today.

GD: Like us. My cousins joined us last night…

JD: Maybe we should get back on topic here. Today we’ll be heading to…

GD: Why? Nobody listens to us, they just care about the cars here.

JD: Still we should remain professional. Today we’ll be heading to Archa…

GD: Oh speaking of Archana, the Proletariat guys last night…

JD: signs crew to cut GD’s mic So yeah today’ll we will be crossing to Archana in the first sprint of the competition. This is an important step as we leave Fruinia. We should see the sportier GTs doing very well today, and a chance for some teams to get some very important points to the competition.

GD: flails arms around and seems to be cursing

JD: This has been a long journey for many teams, some tensions seems to have cropped up here and there. We’ve seen the Mara team exchanging strong words yesterday, not sure what this was about, but it was one of the rare time we saw Jakub hang around. As for the Mons Deimos, Francesca’s father, Flavio, really took the spotlight on him and she was a little ticked off when she figured out he was referring to the car was saying “my baby”.

GD: calming himself

JD: You are good? signs ok to his crew

GD: Yeah yeah. Had a bit too much last night. So yeah, some tensions but some pressure as well. Nobody expects the Archanan teams to do well today as they are not exactly sporty, but also lots of pressure on the top Fruinian teams with LACAM and Silverstone at the top of the list. We’ll see if that V12 will help Silverstone stay up there, but LACAM might have some trouble today. It’s all down to not breaking down, the cars haven’t been taxed much in the last few days.

JD: Zephorous is one to watch in my books. With their track day result, I expect they will do very well in a sprint event. So, let’s not keep making vain predictions all day, let the cars speak. It’s sprint day!

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Stage 5 - Results

Stats Breakdown for Stage 5
20% Drivability
80% Sportiness
0% Offroad

How to read:

• Each teams are ranked in order according to their total score based on the stats breakdown posted above, including Exhibition entries.
• Then, we have 18 competitiors (+3 exhibitions), so in increment from 0 to 8 they are assigned points in order, excluding exhibition entries.
• The breakdown penalties are then applied. For reliability, this is a random 20-100 roll done against engine and then car reliability. Yes, we will see a lot of breakdowns for this event. Penalty is -1 for each reliability roll. Later rounds will have a -2 penalty for wrong fuel octane.
  
  

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Epilogue

by Giorgio Diola and Jacques Dupal

Lenagrad, April 17th 1979 - 4:00 PM

GT at the Gates

Now that everyone is through the Archanan’s border, we can all relax a little and bathe in this completely new culture. Contrary to the warmth of Fruinia, we’re stepping into a wildly different world. Vodka is flowing, but there is an eeriness to all this.

This ended up being quite an uneventful day, with very little breakdown today.

Tristella came out the gate really fast. This first position really helps them stay firmly in the top 5. HRV came from behind for a second place here, but this was not surprising considering their track day.

The bittersweet moment was Zephorus, coming in 3rd but with two costly breakdown along the way. These 2 lost points could come back and haunt them later as they are not able to climb higher than 7 place. This means that Cisalpina takes the command of this competition now. They have a truly well honed machine for sure.

Mons and Tiburon did well also and aren’t far behind, but Tiburon had their first mechanical issues for this important sprint, trailing Zephorous.

Mara and Silverstone were a bit disapointing today, but it was enough for both to stay in the top 3 - TIED in fact. This will be a nailbitter. As predicted, the LACAM GT did not fare well in a sprint. Biggest disapointment was Duquesne however, with their last place - it looked like a brick today - yes it can handle well, but only because it is so slow. The Arion did incredibly well and gain a well earned 2 places.

TransitStar had high hope of staying near the top, but had a disastrous day. They are still hanging in the top 10 tho. The gap between the 10th and 11th position seems insurmountable now, but it will lead to some hard battles inside the top 10 for the last 3 stages.

Now the last 2 stages remains, and the final flats drag special stage. It’s gonna be warm and damp tomorrow, with some showers while crossing the Archanan’s wilderness. We’re gonna go slightly offroad and we’ll be on dirt trails for a long part of the day, before joining on the highway to Mara and Krongrad. Some low mountain passes as well, but should be much less technical than Hetvesia.

Let’s enjoy the evening until then. Заморить червячка.

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Current Standing

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Aesthetics Poll

The Aesthetics vote is now CLOSED. Thanks for all those that took the time to put in their ratings. Results will be posted at the end of the stages in the judging round.

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Topics #8

• Did you end up having a good meal in Lenagrad? How did it compared to Calides?
• Are you ready for some smooth offroading today, especially with chances of rain?

[AndiD]

Worker's Truth

18.04.1979

Team Mara with a glorious return to the Motherland

WT: Welcome back to the Motherland, Team Mara… or rather, just one half of it. How do you feel after the rather short stage from Calides to the border?

RG: A bit exhausted after a very focused drive to get the last bit out of the car… but also relieved that we could return to the homeland in an excellent position in the overall standings! And, most importantly, the car ran like clockwork!

WT: Tied for second place with just two stages and a special stage to go - would you have expected that?

RG: After the initial exhibition, I had my serious doubts, I must admit - but over time we could demonstrate that effectiveness does not need big displacements or fancy exteriors. That said, it’ll be also nice to sit in something else than car front seats something with a proper cushion for example in the near future.

WT: What’s the state of the car after the drive across most of the rest of the world?

RG: Surprisingly good. We had a few issues of course, but those could all be resolved with a few hours of work and welding in the main Mara dealer in Calides. Some spare parts came right off their shelf, what do you say about that?

WT: Speaking of the state of the car - I heard there were some ‘alterations to its looks’ overnight in Calides?

RG: Yes, it looks like someone got the idea overnight to ‘decorate’ our parked car with some checked taxi stickers, just like those on the regular Irena sedan taxis. Of course we were quite surprised - and cross - when we got to our car in the morning.

A common sight in front of the Lenagrad train station

WT: I see you kept the stickers on for the journey instead of tearing them off - why?

A surprising sight in front of a Calides hotel

RG: By definition, a taxi is a car that moves passengers reliably from A to B… and that’s essentially what our car has achieved. Besides, as you know, Irenas are actually used as taxi here in Lenagrad and in a couple of other cities - so why not advertise that? Every time, you now enter an Irena taxi, you enter a car with competitive pedigree that has kept up with the best the world has to offer. My Co-driver wanted to investigate and interrogate, of course, but I said, live and let drive. He was understandably disappointed. The only thing we had to do was remove the sticker over the fuel cap.

WT: Tomorrow’s stage passes close by your brand’s namesake lake, city and factories. Anything special planned?

RG: I am sure no Mara worker would want to miss the proud moment of us passing by on the way to another good finish. The area with our test tracks is also directly next to the highway by the lake - I wish I would have asked the organisers to include a lap on it on tomorrow’s route. Would be interesting how many of the other cars would still have all their shiny trim bits attached afterwards!

WT: Thank you, Rodin, and all the best!

Edit: Feel free to take responsibility for the prank

[SenseiB12]

Wow, my fortunes turned around quick! Which, I expected to happen at some point, but still. This was not the best stage for my slush machine.

[TheYugo45GV]

(I know I was instabinned but I thought why not be a part passively) A Bar, suburban area, North of Lenagrad. Matthew P. Weston and John Wesley laugh to each other over the fact they put taxi stickers on the Mara Irena and how they had managed to “borrow” an IVERA 122 to follow the race as it went east. (One of Mara’s drivers noticed a small brown colored sedan following them as they were driving down the twisting roads of the Hetvesian Alps towards the Frunian border).

[cake_ape]

Journal entry Stage 5

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This was the second day on the road with my dad. He insisted on doing most of the driving. I still don't think he fully trusts my driving skills. I for one, do not trust his! He tends to overdrive the car, especially when he thinks that he has to go fast. This was the sprint stage, so he wanted to show off the car and go fast. But in the end, I think it only backfired! We were definitely not as fast as I know the car is capable of going. We lost time, because he is just not fast. Too jerky and no finesse in the corners. I hope to convince him tonight that I should do most of the driving again.He shoudl stick to fixing the car when it breaks down!

And he IS a great mechanic! Yesterday we had two break-downs, and he fixed both quickly. And whatever else he did back in the home garage paid off: we had no break-downs at all today! It was one of those rare days when nothing went wrong with the car. I am very grateful for that, because we can ill-afford to lose any more time.

Archana and Lenagrad have been great so far! I have never crossed the border and only know the stories people tell of this country. I was a bit weary coming here, but the people are very friendly and the food is great. The architecture sure is different - more brutal, more grey than at home, but somehow it fits. And the brown colour of the Mons fits much better in the Archanan car-landscape than back home! Haha…

Tomorrow we enter the great basin and the organizers predict a lot of detours and rain. From past experience the Deimos does well on dirt roads and detours, but the rain might be an issue. Especially if dad insists on driving. Maybe I’ll leave him Lenagrad. Perhaps he will want to join the Mara team. He seems to be bonding well with them over a bottle of Vodka right now. Before I left the table, I heard them yelling back and forth about paint jobs, stickers, and liveries.

F.

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In front of our hotel in Lenagrad. The mix of modern concrete and glass buildings with the old street signs is an interesting but jarring juxtaposition of styles.

[HighOctaneLove]

Power trumps Heart in Round 5 of The Grand Tour

Worker's Truth

18th April, 1979

Excerpt

With the majority of the stage 5 route closed off to traffic, the borgeoise automobiles of Fruinia and Gasmea revealed their power disparity over the hard working Archanan teams. The Maran team was able to place 12th, turn to page 3 for their interview, and the comrades at Proletariat placed 19th. But have no fear, dear readers, as the Archanan countryside is still a dangerous place for any would be invader. Archana will rise again to claim round six!

WT: So, you placed 19th, anything to report?

DV: Well, we kinda partied too hard in Calides last night, so today’s drive was met with a less than 100% enthusiasm level. Then, when it was our turn to go, the carburettor flooded and we wasted valuable time dealing with jets, chokes and “Paprika Skull”! laughs

WT: Were you pleased to arrive in Lenagrad, “fashionably late”, or were you hoping things would go better?

DV: Lenagrad loves me. Perhaps a little too much at times! laughs So I was glad we didn’t fail to finish today, but it would be nice if my Pananche had some fire in her belly when it mattered! laughs

WT: Interesting… So, how does Lenagrad compare to Calides?

DV: Lenagrad is … LENAGRAD IS 100% A WORKERS PARADISE AND I WOULD NEVER LIVE IN DECADENT FRUINIA, EVER! … and that is all I have to say about that topic. laughs heartily

WT: Tomorrow shapes up to be a traditional Archanan road trip. Are you prepared for the roads and the rain?

DV: Hell yeah! laughs I chose the Pananche because she’s been tuned with Archanan requirements as part of the design brief. I think you’ll see our fortunes change next stage, we may even capture first place! laughs heartily But for now, we party with lenagrad and all Archana. Care to join us?

WT: Absolutely! Bye everyone, don’t forget to cheer on Team Mara or Team Proletariat at every opportunity; Archana Forever!

[karhgath]

Stage 6 and 7 - Lenagrad to Krongrad to Basara

ooc: terribly sorry about the long wait. This challenge will conclude this week.

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Prologue

by Giorgio Diola and Jacques Dupal

Lenagrad, April 18th 1979 - 7:00 AM

Before the storm

JD: This is Jacques and what a wonderful morning it is today. Well, a wonderfully cloudy and stormy morning. What does this means for the competition G-man?

GD: Well, for starters, make sure you bring your umbrella, there will be rain. However, the big news is that there are heavy thunderstorm warning overnight and tomorrow, with tornado and flash flood warnings. Since we can only stay so long in Archana with our visas, we’ll have to do two stages in one today before the storm - trip to Krongrad and right away the sprint to Basara. This is highly unusual, but organizers had no choices in the matter. This is a bummber for the two Archanan’s team that only had last night to celebrate in their homeland.

JD: Indeed, I feel bad for them, but with Mara in good position, they could come back home in only a few days with some recognition at the very least.

GD: It is hard to predict how these two stages back to back will unfold, but Stage 6 is a long stretch of Archanan’s outback, with dirt roads and dusts. Now with the strom approaching, the could mean mud and landslide tho, so everyone needs to be careful to not get stuck. However, it is mostly flat-ish, with some climbs early, and the road is no the most technical one. Then on to a sprint to Basara for Stage 7.

JD: I think more drivable cars with good offroad would perform well today, but then again this one is up for grab, I think everyone could perform very well here.

GD: Since we are a bit rushed to start the day as this is a double header, let’s go to the starting line and get them loose!

JD: Good luck everyone and be careful.

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Stage 6 - Results

Stats Breakdown for Stage 6
30% Drivability
20% Sportiness
50% Offroad

Stage 7 - Results

Stats Breakdown for Stage 7
30% Drivability
60% Sportiness
10% Offroad

How to read:

• Each teams are ranked in order according to their total score based on the stats breakdown posted above, including Exhibition entries.
• Then, we have 18 competitiors (+3 exhibitions), so in increment from 0 to 8 they are assigned points in order, excluding exhibition entries.
• The breakdown penalties are then applied. For reliability, this is a random 20-100 roll done against engine and then car reliability. Yes, we will see a lot of breakdowns for this event. Penalty is -1 for each reliability roll. Later rounds will have a -2 penalty for wrong fuel octane.
  
  

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Epilogue

by Giorgio Diola and Jacques Dupal

Basara, April 18th 1979 - 9:00 PM

So long, and thanks for all that mud

The stormy front is behind us now, but we’re not safe from the weather yet. Winds have picked up here in Basara, and the clouds are moving past quickly.

That was a challengingly long day for many teams. Momentum between the two events was hard to keep for many, exposing a Jekyll and Hyde truth about many cars - it is hard to have a all around good car. Still, some teams survived with brio this hardship.

Starting with Cisalpina. What can we say about them? With only the salt flat drags remaining, they hold firmly the first position of this competition. They finished strong with nearly 11 points in the last two events. This is a well oiled machine, a beauty and a crowd favorite. it is also resilient, with only 3 breakdown across all of the competition.

With over 10 points in the last two rounds, the surprising (can we still call it that at this point?) Mara GT breezed through Archana and emerged in Basara in second place. It also created a comfortable buffer between it and 3rd place. However, it is not expected to do very well in the drags, so hopefully this is enough to clinch top 3. Kudos to them. Except for stage 4 weird mechanical issues (rumour is that it could have been something else), they were very tough as well. Archana tough.

Then the competition is very very close for 3rd place. We have 3 good cars that are very very close to each other, but are also very very different. The very luxurious LACAM entry barely holding 3rd place, the flashy but flimsy Silverstone in 4th, and the very race-y Zephorus in 5th. Only the Zephorus has a realistic chance to climb ahead of those three in the final drags, considering it’s performance for track day. It is one to watch for sure. It actually didn’t do too bad on the dirt surprisingly, it just seems a bit hard to drive. The Silverstone was plagued with three dual breakdown stages along the way, in this case it’s reliability relegated to fourth place - we expected much more from it.

Then we have to talk about Tristella. They could have put on semi-slicks and would probably not have fare worse or better. They were constantly stuck in mud, slipping left and right and lacking traction in Archana, but then finished first in the sprint to Basara and found all the traction it needed. Still enough to make it in 6th place, very close to Zephorus. A few more offroad tuning and preparation would probably have helped the team immensely.

TransitStar had an opposite day compared to Tristella, struggling in the sprint but doing pretty well on the rough. Still, the Tiburon was able to stay ahead of it slightly, but like Tristella, a more rounded tuning could have helped it even more. It did have a small engine leak in the crucial sprint, but still finished first in terms of overall breakdown total (2), ahead of Cisalpina (3).

You thought the Tiburon and Tristella had bipolar tuning? Well, we need to talk about the Mons entry. Now that the Daughter and Father team is reunited, we had high hopes for them. Francesca struggled in the mountains, but this time… they struggled equally in the outback. The car is really not well tuned for any offroading or even softroading. Like not at all. It is even worst than that, it had real trouble getting good performance on the sprint. This really did put the brakes to the aspiration of that rookie driver and her brown colored car. She at least gained a lot of respect and admiration from her competitors.

Stuck with the TransitStar and Mons in a cluster is the HRV. We never were really impressed with it. It has great performance, proved it in the track day and the last sprint, but that is not enough to succeed. It is expected to do well on the drags tho, so maybe it can win back a few positions, but it did not impress anyone.

That concludes the top 10. Congratulation to all the rest of the cars, such a competition is really hard and they showed great workmanship and professionalism, even if they did not make it higher.

Right now, we are only waiting for the storm to subside and hopefully, tomorrow we can watch the cars rip across the salt flats, then get a good wash and have the final judging bestowed upon then.

Until then, good night. It has been a long day.

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Standing after Round 6

Standing after Round 7

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Aesthetics Poll

The Aesthetics vote is now CLOSED. Thanks for all those that took the time to put in their ratings. Results will be posted at the end of the stages in the judging round.

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Topics

Due to the lack of interest, I will forgo Topics for the last rounds.