Once More (Unto the Breach) [FINAL RESULTS]

[VicVictory]

Alright… I think I’ve got the basic rules set up. With that, I will open up for submissions. I’ll throw out my car/team intro here so those of you who haven’t participated before can see how one might write the backstory.

I’m still considering the ramifications of roof racks, I haven’t made a decision one way or another on that.

Team Greasy Lightning

The team -
Rick - A software engineer who just celebrated his 30th birthday. He has been on two of these journeys before, though was not able to attend the last time his teammates went due to work. He is the financial force behind the group.
Jen - Personal trainer, fitness instructor, and wife of Rick. She’s the kind who eats mountains for breakfast (figuratively… there’s a little too much dirt and rocks to actually do it). Coffee is life. And to her, these runs are super fun, despite her brother. This will be her fourth time around.
“Fuzz” - Jen’s “little” 26 year old brother Ted, a young officer on the local police force. Energetic to the point of stupidity sometimes, with his past it was pure irony that he ended up in his current profession. Also has a history of eating disgusting things, like a vegemite-granola bar sandwich. This will also be his fourth time around.

The Car
Jen wasn’t ready to give up Teal Terror, The Great Glitterstorm after the One Last Hurrah tour. In fact, she kept it around to drive to work now and then, and take to “classic” (HA!) car shows. Thusly, the folks from Greasy Lightning once again had to look for a ride.

This time around they decided to hit up an insurance auction to see if they could snag a runner. After being outbid on a dozen cars, they finally landed one.

It wasn’t pretty, but it wasn’t too bad either. A cushy 1984 Keystone Senator M37 that had seen better days. It had a dent in the left-rear door and quarter panel, a shattered tail light, and a flat tire. Obviously a sideswipe accident, but it didn’t look fatal (despite what the insurance company’s pocketbook said).

Sure enough, as advertised and expected by the damage description, it did run and drive, though it turns out the tire wasn’t the only thing bad back there. They had to replace the control arms on that corner, and both rear shocks. For legality, they also swapped out the tail light, but left the rest of the body damage. The fuel filler cap (more or less) opened and closed, and they didn’t care that the door wouldn’t open, since they still had 3 good ones.

Oh, and the interior. Yikes. Well, a used driver’s seat was obtained that only has slightly ripped leather and functional power controls, and doesn’t smell like a whale threw it up. The carpeting has been thoroughly bleached to kill whatever was growing on it, and the sunroof has been caulked shut.

But hey, they got it from the auction for only $250. Not bad for an executive sports sedan with only 229,000 miles, right?

[Elizipeazie]

Are teams allowed to sell cars (which are not the same as the car entered by the seller’s team) to different teams?

[Fayeding_Spray]

Team 49

Team 49 are two friends with a shared interest in really obscure and quirky cars. They don’t really know what it is they are doing, but a many mile long “race” in a shitty car seemed like a lot of fun.

They are:

Juno Marks - 24 - A recently Graduated University Student in Chemical Engineering, Juno has found himself with some spare time before he starts work at a new job in the coming year. He’s into driving, doing the odd track-day in his Module Corp UR-92.

Lucina Valentine - 24 - Recently Completed Training as a Mechanic, Lucina is ready to explore some strange Adventures with her good friend Juno. She’s into Driving, but not so much racing, driving her own Silver-York Sovereign.

Team 49's Car

The Car they decided on took a while. Careful deliberation and trawling of international car sales sites, and then it came to them, suddenly, and within their budget. The Ultimate in Quirky cars, a 1996 Strig Mirae Sport Package.

The Mirae Sport Package was exactly the same internally as the regular Mirae, but it looked faster, which is all that mattered. The Mirae hasn’t shown up yet, still in transit from France, and probably not legal to drive, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it’s a risk they’re willing to take.

Juno is Confident, Lucina isn’t. They’re probably going to pack a spare Turbo… or two.

[BannedByAndroid]

Team “Buy Skyrim”

$500 can buy a lot of fancy things. Like a new smartphone. Or some designer bags. Or maybe exactly 8 copies of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim when it was launched with some money to spare. But honestly, that money could actually get you a car too. If you don’t mind the issues, of course.

In the 1910s you can actually use that $500 on a fancy brand new car. But thanks to inflation, the actual value of $500 is getting worse, meaning that buying things with that much money have gone a bit…too hard. Yes, you still can buy your smartphones or designer bags if you want, but if you really need that desperate for a car, what will you get in 2019 is some beater with mileage comparable to taxis and really need that much care for it to even make it work.

I mean, not everyone is wiling to do it, but what if you could do this once in your lifetime? Could it be anything you could expect, or it could actually change your life? It’s your fate, you decide.

bxDroid, 2019, written this for no reason

The Team

Vincent “Vinny” Holbert - A 22-year old, San Antonio-born college student studying Finance and Business Administration in Harvard Business School. He’s the son of famous real estate tycoon Joseph Holbert, and also a part-time singer/songwriter. Also a big fan of Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls series. He’s quiet, calm, confident and artsy, and also a genius in financial matters. Currently he owns a 2018 Ursula F3 300T (because rich parents) and also a 1996 Mazda Miata turbo as his weekend driver.

Naomi Orwell - 2 years younger than his boyfriend, she’s currently studying Computer Engineering in MIT. Born in the Big Apple with an interest in engineering and computers, she knows Vincent when she was in high school, and eventually became together each other. Like Vincent, she’s also a big fan of The Elder Scrolls series, and she is a cheerful, fun-loving person but with a pessimistic mind. She currently don’t own any vehicles despite knowing how to drive.

Nathan “Big Nate” W. Prescott - He’s a 45-year old ex-Iraqi War veteran, and also Naomi’s uncle. He was originally part of the Navy Seals until an ambush in 2006 led him badly wounded and he subsequently left the force. After that he returned to his birthplace at Salt Lake City and opened a pawn shop there. He the became rich after the pawn shop became successful. Despite being a mad alcoholic, he’s a kind, friendly and humourous person, and he was the favorite uncle of Naomi. Unlike her strict parents tho, he’s open-minded and supportive of their relationship, and of course, he’s also a fan of The Elder Scrolls series like his niece and her boyfriend too. Currently he owns a 1998 Ursula F5 300T, which was just bought this year.

The Vehicle

For some reason, the Hessenburg F1800E Kombi from 2000 is just, really, looks like a normal German compact wagon. But wait. No. What they said is a fun-day toy, not some random boring shitbox!

Actually, rather than the 120 hp TV301 4-pot on the original model, the car had instead is a tuned version of the turbocharged TV303 1.8, which was used on the 2004-2006 F1800Ti. So that means, with 195 hp, it’s much more powerful than the standard, giving it a massive boost compared to the original. But wait, it’s tuned. To 210 hp, which is enough to match a 2-liter TV308 on the F2000GTi.

And it’s $480 on purchase plus 303,211 miles recorded in the odo, it does mean one thing: It’s a bit of a lemon. The radio is broken, the seats are crappy, the air conditioner doesn’t seem to work quite well, and the worst of all, the suspension is broken, meaning that it’s handling will be worse than the real kind. But despite the car being on New York in its whole life, the car barely had any rust for some reason. Maybe because the steel panels were treated.

Luckily, Nathan, who just got a 1998 Ursula F5 300T to replace his trusty 2000 Hessenburg F2000T estate, has this covered. He fixed the car’s suspension, brakes and A/C unit, replaced the cassette radio with a more modern CD head unit, replaced the seats, changed the wheels to much better-looking ones, and of course, took the F2000T’s LSD and installed on the car. It’s certainly much, much workable, but only the trip would tell anything would work or not.

So, the team was named like that due to one reason: they are just big fans of Bethesda’s famous fantasy RPG series. Neither of them are knowledgeable of the event, and it was only happened because Vincent lost a bet with his friend. Yeah. Quite a story, somehow. But with them willing to take action, will anything interesting could happen? Maybe Todd Howard would come out from nowhere?

[kobacrashi]

Tier 3 Autosport
Team slogan: "Tier 3, champions by design"

So basically… some people on some small af island in the Indian Ocean wanted to explore the rest of the world, and are using this race to do so. But what better way to do this, than with the finest wagon produced on island… in 1989… The Reduit GSR 20 (pictured here next to the loading area at the Chantier Naval de l’ocean Indien, Port Louis)

The Car

Featuring Reduit’s signature hydropneumatic suspension, this car has declined in value over the years for fairly obvious reasons… namely the fact it’s a quite complicated car built by people who can’t understand what it is really…
However, this car may be an absolute bargain, since all of this overshadows the engine Reduit borrowed to put in it; being the same 2 litre inline 4 engine found in the Lancia Delta. [insert reliability joke here]
Oh, and one last thing about the car… it’s wider at the back than the front… because that’s obviously (not) a good idea.

The Team

Just like the car, the team itself has few positive credentials… namely the fact they all met at their local fried chicken eatery [name redacted for copyright reasons], which was where some absolute genius decided to put a flyer advertising the race…
On the topic of “they”… It’s probably time to introduce them

Seewoosagur Jean-Jacques Ringadoo
Seewoosagur, just like the other 2 team members, is 23 years old. Born in Rivière du Rempart, he sells watermelons on the beach by day, and sunglasses of dubious quality by night. This makes him the team’s key negotiator when bartering for food in the Kyrgyz mountains, following the inevitable catastrophic failure of the car’s heating.

Dayendranath Jean-Pravind Bissoondoyal
Also 23, Dayendranath was born in the coast town of Mahebourg (yeah, that place with that good Chinese restaurant near the airport). Somewhat more respectable than Seewoosagur, he works on his father’s fishing boat. The boat is red, lovely stuff…

Vincent Jean-Roger Bérenger
Vincent is rather more astute than the other 2 drivers, being a travel writer since leaving university with a degree in Creative Writing 2 years ago. Having this talent, Vincent is hoping to document and publish an account of the journey to help fund further adventures for the newly formed trio; getting to the finish line only increases the word count more

More pictures

[Elizipeazie]

RK Series Racing; Prologue

writer’s note: this is also meant as the introduction of the team and car; TLDR at bottom of this post

---

about two weeks before the race; somewhere in the suburbs of Flint, Michigan

The three team members are walking to the address given in the online ad and can already see the car “they” intend to buy.

Tonsom: “Really? THIS is what we are going in?”
Redwood: [energetic] “Yass!”
Tonsom: [face of skepticism]; “Well at least it supposedly passed Inspection a few weeks ago.”

They walk up to the nearest door and ring the doorbell
DING DONG

Some middle-aged woman opens the door

Woman: [confused] “Hello?”
Tonsom: [pushing Connor up front] “You do the talks!”
awkward pause
Connor: “Greetings, Miss… [sneaky look at doorbell sign] Dinklestein. An online advertisement for an Anhultz Dione led to your address. Is the vehicle still for sale?”
Ms. Dinklestein: “Err…” [turns earound into the hallway] “HAAAAAAAANS!!! DREI SELTSAME LEUTE WOLLEN DEIN AUTO KAUFEN!!!” (Hans! Three weird people wanna buy your car!)
Hans: “Ja M-M-Mutter! Ich k-k-k-komme!” (Yeah M-M-Mom! I’m c-c-c-coming!)

Ms. Dinklestein heads back into her house. Soon after, a young man in his early 20s shows up in the doorframe.

Hans: “So… you are i-interested in this here A-A… Anhultz?”
Tonsom: [half-aloud] “Interested would be an overstatement…”
Redwood: “YYUPP!”

Hans pulls out a set of four keys.

Hans: “L-L-Lemme s-show you a-a… around.”

Hans fiddles around with the set of keys and opens the driver’s door. Then he proceeds to pop the hood and then walks over to the front passenger door to open it using a seperate key. Redwood is eager to get a drive and immediately claims the driver’s seat. Tonsom is not impressed by the car at all and Connor goes to lift the hood for a look at the engine and chassis numbers.

Connor: [out of nowhere] “Anhultz Dione C. Built in sometime in February of 1985. Bonnet, Both bumpers and presumably the driver or passenger door lock have been replaced at least once by non-OEM parts. Same is to be applied to the rear window, as it does not feature the defroster, which comes as standard on any trim level except the “B”.”

Hans: “I-Impressive… B-But the Hood is f-f-from the higher “D” T-Trim… Made of a-a-aluminium.”

Connor double-checks this statement and finds an Anhultz Manufacturer Stamp under a sill on the hood.

Connor: “I Stand corrected then. The Bonnet indeed is an OEM part.”
Tonsom: “Wait… how did you not get that?”
Connor: “If you expected me to be perfect, then you need to lower your expectations.”
Tonsom: “Fuck you and your smartassery!”
Hans: “Err… can we get back to the car.”

Tonsom takes seat in the passenger seat. Meanwhile Connor does some further inspection on the engine.

Tonsom: “Wait… what is THIS??” [points at gear-stick]
Redwood: “A shifter knob?”
Tonsom: [mildly annoyed] “Yeah… but what’s up with this 1 2 3 4 5 R bullshit?”
Redwood: [confused] “Ever heard of a manual gearbox?”
Tonsom: “Fuck… did i tell you that i’ve been driving automatics for like 35 years?”
Redwood: “You’ll get the hang of it.”

another our of conversation and car-inspecting ensues, until they finally head off for a test drive.
It is revealed that the dampers have seem much better days, the brakes don’t have much pad thickness left either, the tyres lack grip due to being bald to the point of “just about legal” and the engine is experiencing severe power loss.

Other issues include:

• Interior lighting broken (dash light works)
• Casette Deck broken
• Heater is weaker than anticipated
• Gearbox has difficulties getting into Reverse
• the car needing FOUR seperate keys (driver door; passenger door; ignition; trunk)
• squeaking from the engine bay from a cold start; goes away once warmed up (presumably a belt of some sort)
• only gauges working are speedo (shows 4MPH faster than actual speed); and fuel tank (reading highly dependant on driving situation; most accurate on flat, straight roads)
• only window roller working is rear left one

they head back to the seller

Hans: “S-So?”
Redwood: “Fact is, we’ll take it.”
Tonsom: [interrupting] “Oh god oh Fuck…”
Redwood: “Fact is as well that we definitly WON’T pay 890$ for that thing.”
Connor: “If we repair the critical damages ourselves and deduct their costs from the original price, the net price of the car equals to about 410$.”
Hans: “I-I’ll get that s-s-squeak fixed and t-take 450$.”
Redwood: “Deal.”

a day later, they pick up the car with now actually working engine and set to work fixing the critical bits. (sealing the intake hose with quite a bit of FlexTape, new brake pads and dampers, plus making shure the car is in good condistion mechanically). If time is sufficient they’ll fix the rest in this order: Heater; Gauges; Gearbox; Interior Lights; Casette Deck; Window Rollers; whatever else they might discover)

---

TLDR

Team

Captain Frank Tonsom. Team Leader
56 year old policeman on paid vacation. Generally a grumpy guy. Incapable of driving a manual gearbox.
Does not have any actual interest or hobby (yet). Hates Connor because of him being pretty much perfect in nearly every way possible.

Connor
Not exactly human… (see GAR2 thread for more info on that one). Very calm and attentive nature. Intelligence far above average. Only use when fixing cars is a talking instruction manual. Has difficulties interacting with others on a casual basis (i.e. small talk). Has no real opinion of the other two.
Right arm potentially not useable due to damage after an attack.

Tim Redwood
The reason they race in the first place. 19 year old kiddo wants some fun . Highly energetic and joyful. Doesn’t want anyone to be hurt during this. Interested in cars and sports. Good with toold but a complete dumbfuck when doing stuff himself. Admires Connor for intelligence and capablity to stay calm under stress.
Persuasive power allows him to (mostly) prevent Tonsom from going haywire on Connor (again).

Car

1985 Anhultz Dione C

• 143520 miles

• 116hp 2.0L straight-5 (98hp if intake leak cannot be sealed)

• quite a few minor issues…

• Interior lighting broken (dash light works)

• Casette Deck broken

• Heater is weaker than anticipated

• Gearbox has difficulties getting into Reverse

• the car needing FOUR seperate keys (driver door; passenger door; ignition; trunk)

• squeaking from the engine bay from a cold start; goes away once warmed up (presumably a belt of some sort)

• only gauges working are speedo (shows 4MPH faster than actual speed); and fuel tank (reading highly dependant on driving situation; most accurate on flat, straight roads)

• only window roller working is rear left one

• brake pads worn

• intake piping leaking (loss of boost)

• tyres currently barely legal in terms of tread depth

• Otherwise good

Why they are racing

Redwood actually enjoyed the trip last year in bolivia and wanted to redo it sometime. And now is the day.
Tonsom fell victim to Redwood’s persuasion.
Connor is geographically locked to the vague vicinity of Tonsom and thus has to participate as well.

[VicVictory]

@Elizipeazie

Are teams allowed to sell cars (which are not the same as the car entered by the seller’s team) to different teams?

If you’re asking if you can design a car for someone else to use for their team… ABSOLUTELY YES!

[Madrias]

Of course, this event is going to happen when my desktop is unable to run. I don’t want to miss out, but I can’t access Automation to grab a car and rename it to fit in with the requirements.

I’d hate to miss out, but the only way I can see getting into this run is to ask favors, and, well, I suppose I should swallow my stubborn pride and ask them already. @VicVictory, if it’s okay with you, and the car file still works, can you please grab the 1989 Sinistra Traville GS/HO from here while I come up with a new team?

Yes, I am willing to go into a role-playing challenge armed only with a smartphone. I’ll start on team creation if I get the green light on the favor, otherwise, I’ll sit back and enjoy a good read while cursing at my suddenly unreliable desktop.

[BannedByAndroid]

Well, he does have his own group to join the competition, so I don’t think he will accept your request (Or maybe not, but it depends on himself). A much better way is to talk with other users in the Discord server and talk to them for info. If they agree then you could give the user the car files.

[VicVictory]

If it will open in this version. We’ll see. Been a heck of a day for me already, and this weekend is packed with family stuff… er… drama… er… stuff… so won’t know likely for a couple days if it does

[Elizipeazie]

this is me trying to be helpful.

the Sinistra Traville does open without problems on the current openbeta build
proceeds to immediately delete the car again

[missionsystem]

In this challenge, will the cars drive at highway speed or as fast as possible?

[Kubboz]

Team Eyelashes

Allow me to introduce you to Artur and Krzysztof Kaczmarek, the two brothers from Sosnowiec, Poland. Artur and Krzysztof are in quite a predicament. You see. They were at their cousin’s wedding, right. Copious amounts of alcohol were involved. Now, it’s not very clear what happened that night. Neither of them remember much, right. They woke up on this parking lot in this small town, inside a car that lay on its side. Now, it wasn’t rolled. It was just tipped.

Pictures of the car

This was Krzysztof’s FFSO Mitaz 1.2. Now, believe it or not, most of the modifications you see were done before that wedding. See, Krzysztof is a tasteful tuner. That front bumper makes it look like a Lambo. Now, there were some new things. The eyelashes for an instance.

The two crawled out of the car. More things became apparent. First off. The signs were in English. Not Polish. Not only that, the roadsigns were not the Euro style signs, they were American. How exactly they and their ended up in the U.S. might end up being a mystery even they won’t solve.

More importantly, the car was apparently in the middle of some work being done on it. The exhaust was disassembled, and there was a turbocharger in the engine bay, with all the assembly and piping half-done.

The front wheels were different too. The center disc of the stock rims were now welded to wider barrels. Artur looked down and noticed his hand were covered in grease.

“Kurwa. Krzychu, did I do all that?” He pointed at the considerably modified car. Then the memories came flashing. Right. They agreed to this road trip thing yesterday. Apparently. And apparently, based on a remark that “this PoS is too weak to survive on American roads”, Artur decided to do something about it. Right. The turbo was there to help the 1.2 engine (anemic, despite having 50% more capacity than the car’s real life counterpart) develop some power. That was despite the fact that the engine’s bottom end was not exactly built to handle forced induction. Gotta go fast I guess.

The front wheels were widened to improve traction and grip. They’d do the rear ones too, but they did not have funds to buy more than one pair of tires. The suspension was dropped, with help of shorter spring from another car entirely. The brakes. Well, they did manage to get a nice pair of vented discs from another car and put them on the Mitaz’ front axle, with some creative DIY. The rear axle had to stay stock, with pretty miserable drum brakes. But hey, Artur did put some race shoes in.

The Mitaz’ rear bench was mysteriously gone. In fact, the rear doors were for some reason welded to the body. The vast collection of USB sticks (each containing a different genre of music, for the aftermarket radio head unit) was also gone. (Artur recalls saying something about ‘weight reduction’). Krzysztof did however find one stick that survived the mysterious disappearance. It was filled to the brim with disco polo music.

Seeing how they promised to show up to the trip, Artur finished the work on the mechanical modifications to the Mitaz, and wasting no time for any sort of inspections, loaded her up with some spares and some camping gear in case the car went kablam.

But hey. it’s just one trip, right? What’s the worst that can happen? Krzysztof and Artur have both gone for multiple trips across Poland, a trip across the US cannot be that different. Of course, Poland wasn’t the size of the U.S… But a single country can not be that big, can it now?

[yangx2]

Team Wang Lao Ji

What’s the best drink in the world? That’s right!

The Team

The team consists of 3 former international students who attended [REDACTED] university the year before, all best friends which were unified by their love of Wang Lao Ji, and want to banter around before journeying into the real world.

Li Jun “Harry” Liu - Loud, boisterous, Harry is quite the character. At 23 years old, Harry has travelled a good portion of the world already. However, most of it has been done with the luxuries of hotels, technology and the likes. More importantly, he is the best driver out of the three. Harry has had his experiences driving his friend’s supercars through the crowded streets of Beijing like the rich fob he is and will push 200 km/h whenever he has the chance to. Being filthy rich, he also funds most of the trip. His music collection mostly consists of mumble rap.

Li Jie “Jackie” Huang - 22 years old, quiet, timid, the brain of the team, which is in stark contrast to Harry’s character making for some rather eventful banter. He studies on Friday nights, prefers texting people over talking in person, and still pays in cash as opposed to WeChat. Jackie knows how to drive and is very safe compared to Harry. He is also the most experienced cook out of the three, providing the very best of Sichuan cuisine to the other two. He mostly listens to anime OST, which prompts Harry to turn it off by any means necessary.

Liu Wei “Anderson” Wu - 21 years old and from the Guangdong region. Wu knows the most about outdoor living and has stayed in America the longest. He is the go-to person for surviving out in the wilderness and enjoys blogging about it whenever he can. Driving-wise, Anderson is the middle ground between the two. He doesn’t give a shit what music is on, but mostly listens to mandopop.

The Whip

The vehicle of choice would be one of 200 produced - the largely unsuccessful Guangzhou-based HAC YY7037; a subsidary of Honghu which was formerly the provider of fleet vehicles for the Beijing International Airport. The bulletproof 3.7 litre “diesel” engine made around 180 horsepower, with lots more torque to spare. Strangely, the YY series came with most of its offroad parts in handy, as if it were a former fire truck before taking on its new job as an airport vehicle. This example had nearly 220 000 kilometres on it, and its blemishes were large and obvious. Extensive rust plagues the untreated body panels. The ABS module has failed. All the seats are torn. A gear is missing from its 5 speed transmission, and an exhaust leak is evident, making the YY7037 rather loud and obnoxious. Anderson, who organized the trip for the three decided to pick one up at an auction for just shy of 3500 RMB, or roughly 485 American dollars. The beacon lights and original paint are kept to preserve its airport persona, while a large “Wang Lao Ji” sticker was placed on the driver’s side to commemorate the team’s new buy. It provides the team a fun offroad-type toy which can tackle most terrain as long as it doesn’t get eaten alive by oxygen and moisture.

[SyberRacer]

Team Stokes

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The Team

Team Stokes consists of two Edwin Stokes employees.

Elizabeth “Liz” Schneider - 34 year old mother of two. The navigator of the team and keen traveller. She will insist they stop at all POIs along the way to satisfy her tourist-y mindset. Curious and the more reserved member of the team, she will be the one to take her time and stick to speed limits the majority of the time. Edwin Stokes Chilled Division employee of 13 years.

Rebekah “Bex” Cooper - 24 year old punk. The main driver of the team. She has tattoos covering most of her body, with several piercings in her ears and on her face. She enjoys motorsport and lives by Colin McRae’s famous phrase: “If in doubt, flat out.” This is also how she will be driving, with a #Ain’tCare attitude. She’s loud, brash and boisterous. Edwin Stokes rookie of 3 years.

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The Weapon of Choice

3 weeks before race day.
Outskirts of Carlisle, Cumbria, UK.

Rebekah: [excited] “Come on Liz! It’s going to be fun!”
Elizabeth: [sighs] “Why do I ever agree to anything you suggest, Bex?”

A bright red Ford Fiesta ST pulls into the Edwin Stokes Carlisle depot. Once parked, the two occupants step out. One, a young, punkish teen with colourful hair, several piercings and a mountain of tattoos. The other, a stark contrast to her partner, well presented and somewhat smartly dressed.

The two women head towards the back of the depot, where the truck servicing stations are usually located, hunting for a vehicle the young punk had purchased.

Finally, the two stumbled across the building they were looking for. Lifting up the garage door, the two peer inside to see what awaits them.

In the far corner sat a 2005 Voltan-Heavy-Industries Hiway-Trekker 445L, in the Stokes white and red. The green part of the livery and logos had been removed. Either the vinyl livery had been peeled away manually, or the glue had evaporated over time and the stickers had fallen off of their own accord.

Either way, the pair had found their vehicle of choice.

Liz: [shocked and angry] “Are you fucking kinding me, Bex!? A bloody truck!?”
Bex: [grinning like a kid at Christmas] “Fuck yeah! This is it! 2005 VHI Hiway-Trekker 445L! 8.1L of turbo-diesely goodness!”
Liz: [facepalms] “For god’s sake…”
Bex: “It’s going to be blast and you know it!”

The young punk then starts walking around the truck, inspecting the condition it’s in. It looks to be in decent nick after sitting for over 10 years, with no visible rust, paint chips or dents. Well, the red paint was slightly fading, but its still had most of its colour left.

Tilting the cab forward, Rebekah inspected the engine, checking it over for oil and fuel leaks.

Bex: [still grinning] “This thing’s perfect! Even the engine’s in good condition. Should still have all 445hp and 1206Nm, then.”

Liz sighs and folds her arms

Finding the keys, Rebekah climbs into the cab and turns the ignition. The engine roars to life at the first turn of the key. The punk gives it a rev, a small amount of black smoke puffs out of the exhaust, identified to be a much richer mixture from a cold start.

After a few more revs, the black smoke cleared, showing no signs of any engine damage, oil in turbo, etc… However, the engine did sound slightly louder than usual, suggesting a small exhaust leak somewhere.

Shutting off the ignition, Rebekah climbed down out of the cab. At this point she notices a few parts lying on a rack in the back and some spare tyres leaning against the wall of the garage.

Liz: “Don’t do it, Bex!”
Bex: [evil grin] “You know you can’t stop me!”
Liz: [defeated sigh] “You’re right…”

The garage door rolls shut and Rebekah gets to work.

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The Fruit of Their Labour

A few hours later, the garage door rolls open and the truck rolls out.

The parts Rebekah had found were not performance enhancing, but aesthetic parts. A few spotlights for the bumper and roof, as well as a bullbar for the front bumper.

On the rear of the cab, the two spare wheels had been mounted; out of the way, but accesible when needed.

With the truck on its way to the starting location for the start date, Team Stokes were ready for the adventure to begin…

[Elizipeazie]

are entrants allowed to VISUALLY alter their car after submitting?

since i tried to enter as quickly as possible to secure a spot…

EDIT:
also, can team encounters be Roleplayed before race start/ meetup?

plus:
can we at least get a country/ region on the globe to hint at the location of the race?

aand: (sorry for the flood of questions…)
are participant’s stickers applied in any for to the cars for RP?

[findRED19]

Well, with that curve ball entry [semi truck], I’m definitely going with my odder entry for this.

And you can expect to see the Pit Stop U.S. crew again!

[VicVictory]

@Elizipeazie

(bunch of questions)

1 - yes
2 - yes
3 - yes. Starts on the United States west coast, state of Washington. Entrants will not know the end point until the start of the event.
4 - … wut?

@DukeOFhazards

In this challenge, will the cars drive at highway speed or as fast as possible?

Aggressiveness factor 1-2 cars will try to drive at or just below the speed limit. 4-6 will chance to go faster (traffic is always a possibility to slow people down). There is no way that any entrant will attempt to drive at top speed. Between traffic and road design, it is not safe to do so… not to mention that would attract a LOT of law enforcement attention (which, in this country, can get you shot under the “right” circumstances…)

Edit: I have also decided that roof racks will be allowed. They will expand your cargo space by 20%, but you will get a 10% fuel economy penalty, a 3 point drivability penalty, and automatically apply 3 points of wear to the suspension/tire system

[Madrias]

As many of you might know, I have a bit of a thing for writing sci-fi stories. Never published, mind you, but I find it quite enjoyable to do. By @VicVictory 's good graces, I’m in, despite the fact that the most powerful computer I have is a 600mhz Pentium III. I’m posting from my phone, but don’t think that means I’ll give anything less than my best efforts.

The characters in this story are loosely based on three I’ve been writing about for the past few weeks. They are from a different world entirely, and are essentially tiger-men. If you know Skyrim, think tiger Khajiit.

---

Team Tiger Trouble

Team members:

Kayden - The Big Guy. Twin brother of Kaylie, gifted with an unusually large form. Stands 7ft, 8in tall, is built like a tank. He’s normally a starship pilot, but due to circumstances beyond the scope of this character profile, he’s here on Earth.

Kaylie - The Mechanic. Twin sister of Kayden, and brilliant with most things mechanical. Stands 6ft, 5in tall, and is lean and mean. She fixes starships, so how hard can one little Earth car be to repair?

Jaden - The Techie. Older brother of Kayden and Kaylie by five years. Stands 6ft, 7in tall, and shares a similar build to his sister. He likes technology, and Earth technology is an interesting puzzle to him. Sometimes called “Jade” by his siblings.

Things common to all of them: They are all white tigers, with blue eyes.

---

The Car

A 1989 Sinistra Traville GS/HO, in Crimson Sky red, with the 5.2L Sidewinder 60-degree V8.

Lore information can be found here.

Found for the low price of $472.97 in a small town in Nevada, this particular Traville has 325,676 miles on the clock, and a few little problems.

---

Warning - If you thought this was long before, it’s about to get longer. This is the Story Introduction part of the intro.

---

The three of them had been in town for about a week. Long enough to catch the rumors of some ritual of driving across the country, in cars purchased for less than 500 Dollars.

The old man opened his door, a little annoyed at the visitors knocking at 5 in the morning. Annoyance turned into fear when he saw what exactly was on his doorstep, and realized that the pounding on the door may have, in fact, been a light knock for this guy. He stared up at the face of a tiger, only this tiger walked on two legs and had human hands, or, at least, if hands covered in white-and-striped fur with barely hidden razor sharp claws could be considered human.

“I’m here about the car.” Kayden said, trying to keep the growl out of his voice as much as he could.

“I spoke earlier with someone, she called herself Nova, she said she was sending her agent to collect the car, and that payment had already been sent. I checked my bank, and I’ve been paid, but I thought Nova would-”

Kayden smiled, and the man flinched. With a practiced flick of his right wrist, Kayden flipped open the screen on his computer, then said, “Nova, show yourself.” A faint glow settled above the screen, a holographic projection of another tiger’s head.

Just then, Kaylie and Jaden arrived. “Kayden, you’re taking too long. Hurry up before my stripes turn gray.” Kaylie yelled.

After the keys were handed over, Kayden took the driver’s seat, sliding it all the way back, and sat down. “You do know what you’re doing, right?” Jaden asked, with a wicked grin on his face.

“Jade, I fly starships for our military. I think I can handle one little human transport.” Kayden shot back.

With some help from Kayden’s AI, Nova, the huge tiger-man was able to figure out how to start the car, and after a bit of fiddling around, he found out exactly what the two pedals did. He dropped the Traville in reverse, then stepped on the long, skinny pedal, hard.

5.2 liters of American made, overhead-cam V8 sounded a battle-cry as the Traville shot backwards, the gearbox whining loudly in reverse gear as the three tigers were slammed out of their seats. Kayden mashed the brake pedal with the same intensity he used on the gas, and the three of them slammed just as violently back into their seats.

“The pedals are pressure sensitive. Oh, and there is a primitive restraint system, located over your shoulder.” Nova said, in her usual sarcastic tone. While the three Tigrilans quickly pulled the seat-belts on, Nova added in, “I suppose it would also be in our best interests to inform you that the steering system of this land-craft requires multiple rotations to operate. These humans don’t have the physical strength required for a more direct steering method.”

---

Back at their impromptu home base, Kaylie looked over the car. “I don’t like that mysterious ticking noise the engine makes.” She said, while Kayden and Jaden were busy cleaning out the interior and preparing the car for a long journey.

“We don’t really have time to fix it.” Jade said, before packing the boxes of spare parts into the trunk, and some food and drinks into the coolers behind the driver’s seat. “We really don’t want to be late to arrive.”

Kayden shrugged, currently sitting in front of a computer equipped with a full simulation rig, racing around a digital race track. They’d all taken a few turns at it, after Kayden’s near-disaster on retrieving the car. “As long as it runs, I’m happy. This is just to keep the three of us distracted until someone can send us a ship to get off of this world.” Kayden mentioned.

“Well, I’d like to see where we end up. What little we were told gave us a rough idea of where we’re starting, so let’s get there early.” Kaylie added, before the three of them headed up to Washington State to find a nearby hotel and wait for the start.

---

Yeah, I think I can handle this alright. Might ruin a cheap stylus or two before the end, but I think I can keep up with the phone. Good luck to everyone, we’re all going to need it.

[VicVictory]

Did a round of processing. There are 8 processed entries (I don’t include myself, I don’t count against the limit of 25) and another 4 pending processing.

That means that there are 13 more slots, assuming all 4 pending submissions clear. For the pending submissions, either you submitted in the last 2 hours, or I’m waiting to hear back from you on something (I’ll process you all at the same time)