Day of Race 1: Post-Race
Part 1: Claire meets Johnson at the finish line.
Keyed up on adrenaline and shock, Claire stops the car quickly shortly after the finish line. Engine still running, she excitedly lifts herself up out of the LCm79/80 and looks back at the Komi, pulling up to a stop close by. She turns back forward, looks at the spectators, and whoops in excitement. She claps her hands once and shoots a fist up in the air. She sees the driver of the Komi has now exited the car, and she pivots towards him. Mouth agape and with eyes wide with elated bewilderment, she yells over to the driver with genuine excitement. “Hell of a fucking race huh!??” Before he actually has a chance to make any kind of response, Claire turns away from him, back towards the spectators. “Oh my god…” she says to audibly says to herself, putting both hands on her face, then running them back through her hair, then exhaustedly dropping them to her hips, before finally turning back towards the Komi pilot again.
“Good run!” he says. “You really out performed me in those last two corners.” He looked back at the Komi and all the other cars started to park in one after the other. The crowd was roaring from the good show that they made.
He walks up to the woman and her car to congratulate and meet her. But is more interested on who she is and what kind of things she had done to the car itself.
“I am Johnson by the way!” as he reached out his hand for a handshake. “You did really well! I’m wondering what your car is? I had never seen it before.”
“Claire!” she yells at Johnson, taking his hand and shaking it up and down far too quickly. “Or Gray!” she blurts out quickly, “some local racers called me Gray from the hair but I don’t know if the name is sticking or whatever…” She trails off at the end, running out of breath and releasing Johnson’s hand. The excitement has really gotten the better of her. She’s damn near panting she’s so short of breath. Hands on her hips again, she leans around Johnson and looks at the other two cars that completed the close top four. “What was that last thing you said??” She asks genuinely, still yelling and still catching her breath.
Johnson asks her about the car again. She responds with a beaming smile, and as cutely and as high ptiched as she can, yells out “Oh, It’s a kit car!” As she sees more of the other drivers emerging from their cars, she says quickly, “It’s loud here; come by in the paddock later and you can check it out!” She begins to walk past Johnson and towards some of the other drivers, but stops and takes a couple of backward steps before passing the Komi. “Look at this fucking thing though. Ooof! You better let me check this out later too!” She turns, again too quickly for Johnson to provide a real response, and takes off in a light jog, hoping to share her elation and excitement with some of the other drivers before the moment passes.
“Maybe putting the undercover package in was a bad idea.” Johnson thought to himself. He looked at the red car more closely. “A Kit Car? This is a kit car?!” He looked inside the cabin and then around the front to check out the badges and plates. “LCm79/80.”
Part 2: Amaya and Walker meet an ecstatic Claire.
The Vinette pulled up and parked with the following vehicles after the race. She opened the door and climbed out of the black Vinette, stretched her body and relaxed. “I finished 16th!” she sighed and shrugged with a smile. “These people from around the world are the real deal. This will be fun!” as she looked around. She looked at the Yuro Glaze and smiled. “Ara ara… You’re really good Pepe!” she said to herself. “I will have a lot of fun with you.” Amaya turned to her Vinette. “Well hopefully that will come soon for you my Darling.”
Walker walked up to Amaya. “You good?” he asked her.
“Could be better, could be worse.” she said with a smile. “But I had fun, these people are the real deal.” as she walked and slid her finger across the Vinette.
“Ah look here is the race 1 winner.” as Walker pointed at Gray. Amaya looked up and smiled.
“Yeah she did good with her old LCm79/80. I wonder what engine package she put in when she assembled it!”
Gray who was still emotional from her win arrived where Amaya and Walker stood.
“Congratulations on your victory!” as Amaya smiled and went to hug the woman.
Claire responds with an indecipherable excited sound, and goes in for the hug and squeezes tightly. She’s still short of breath, and is noticeably sweaty. She seems to be radiating endorphins. Still in the hug, she starts, “Thank you thank you thank you. OH! I can NOT believe that just happened!” Hopped up and over-excited, Claire’s mannerisms seem more appropriate for an excited child than a woman of her age. She steps back from the hug and faces Walker. “Hey. WOO! Right!??” She can tell from his expression that she’s not formed a real sentence. She breaths in deeply, and, more calmly, addresses them both. “I’m Claire,” then waving her head and whipping her ponytail with sass, “Or Grey. Ha. Get it?” She continues, quickly, trying to make sure that neither of them can actually answer that question. “And you two are?”
“I am Night Rain!” as Amaya smiled at her, understanding her excitement. “But otherwise I am Amaya. This is here is my lackie, Walker!” as she pointed to the man.
“I am not your lackie woman.” Walker said to Amaya.
“I’m impressed with your 79/80!” Amaya told Gray. "Did you build it yourself?
With the roar of the spectators beginning to calm down, Claire is more talkative with Amaya and Walker than she was with Johnson earlier.
“Sort of!” she explains, “I bought it decades ago, the body and chassis already assembled, but in need of a new motor. So you could say I bought it already built. But once I got the engine, I started thinking about everything that might have gone wrong with the car in the 20 or so years of sitting. Boring stuff like bushings, bearings, and lines, but it all adds up to a ton of work! Then once I got it running, more tweaks… better brakes, racing seats, the list goes on!”
She smiles, pushes her loose bangs back and looks up and away from Amaya and Johnson, She cheekily jokes, “It’s not built or bought; more like, bought alread built, then built more… with things I bought!”
Amaya smiles at Gray and congratulates her again.
“Well your building got you the first race.”
Amaya looked at her Vinette.
“Maybe a little more tinkering with mine will give me a better chance to compete with the lot of you.”
“Congratulations again.” As Walker extends his hand for a handshake. “You’re one hell of a driver.”
She thanked them graciously, then noticed that a few of the cars are leaving the finish line to head back to paddock. She curiously eyed the flashy Kuma, then looked back at her own car, just sitting, idling in the middle of the road, door wide open. She hurriedly invited both Amaya and Walker to come by her section of the paddock some time to check out the car and hang out, before jogging away to move her car out of the way.
As Claire moved on, Amaya and Walker were looking over the Vinette.
“I don’t think my darling has enough to compete with this crowd.”
“Well you may have been in the last half of the race, you did drove your heart out to get a decent time.” As Walker scratched the back of his head. “This is still the first event so you still may have a chance to go against him.”
“Ara ara… you’re right.” she said as she slid her fingers on the Vinette.
“But my inner self wants me to win them all.”
“What driver doesn’t?” Walker exalted with a smile. Just then Amaya’s phone rang with a text message.
“Your crate package has arrived at the specific address.” Amaya then smiled a large grin.
“Ara ara… ara ara ara…”
“What is it this time?” Walker said with concern. “When you ara ara like that, then that means something is up.”
“Things may just heat up sooner than we thought.” Amaya smiled with a posed look.
“What is it?” Walker asked.
“My Victoria came in!” She teased. “Want to see?” she smugged. Walker thought for a moment and then turned bright red.
“I’ll be going to the restroom.” as he rushed off.
“Ara ara… I’m only kidding.” As she looked at her phone again. “Now to pick that up…” she looked up to see one of the contenders driving a Marksman JSB Sabre Ute. “Hmm… I wonder…”
Part 3: Johnson and Claire meet again.
Late afternoon, day of the first race. An excited Claire has been easily convinced by some VIP spectators to share some drinks with her as she shows off the car. A younger Claire would have kept her cards close to her chest, but Claire now is too caught up in the attention she is receiving to hold back. She’s showing off the car and telling a story or two of her street racing past, when she spots Johnson nearby, also eyeing the car. “I thought you might show up!” she says loudly towards Johnson, and stares at him with a smile until he looks away from the car and makes eye contact with her. She points to the wheelie cooler one of the spectators has rolled up to the spot. Still staring at him, she asks, simply, “Beer?”
Johnson smiled and waved his hand no thanks. “Appreciated but no thanks! I don’t drink.” Johnson said. “Just really interested in your story and what your car is.” As he looked back at the LCm79-80.
“You said it is a kit car, can you tell me what that means?”
"Of course! So back when these first came out, there were factory-produced models sold as Turbóls or Lucara-Ciambellas, but they decided they would make just enough of them for FIA homologation, then sold the rights to a number of kit car companies. The kits work like the Shelby Cobra or Lotus 7 replicas you see around; the company sold you the chassis, the body panels, interior, some of the running gear, nearly all of what you want or need to put it together, then it’s your job to do the assembly and get it titled. I bought this one cheap in the early 90s from someone who had already finished it, but decided not to repair it after blowing the engine. Then my dumb ass let it sit for damn near 20 years before I finally did something with it, so by then I ended up having to rebuild a lot of it anyways!”
She leans over and gives the car a fake hug around the side glass and the windshield, and says cutely “But here it is now, a spectacular, charming wedge of home-built speed.” She steps away from the car and swigs from her beer as she turns to face Johnson,“And me? I…” a small burp interrupts her. “ha, sorry! I’m a life-long car nut. I was big into the street racing scene in the early 80s! It was almost all drag racing back then, used muscle cars were the word of the day. I was real fast. Fell out of the scene as I got more involved in my career and lost the desire to risk getting arrested or hurt. Now I’m retired, I got no kids, I got no husband anymore. What I do got, is a shit load of spare time, a really fast car, and plenty of talent behind the wheel.” She strikes a small pose, as if she’s the subject of a Cosmopolitan interview and her last quote was the photo caption.
“I see!” He said while getting a look over the car. “Well whatever you did to it gave me a run for my money!” as he tried to laugh. “Quite interesting how people will take their time to push these machines to the limit.”
He then looked back at the EFI Komi, still feeling the rush it gave him during the race.
Claire stood beside him, also looking at the Komi. “It’s a beautiful car you’ve got. Scary fast too. I know they’re fast cars as-is, but surely you’ve had some work done to it?”
Johnson looks over the Komi. “It is definitely nice.” He said. “Its fast and capable and what surprises me is that when I push it, it somehow makes me feel more confident.” He scratches his head. “Sometimes it surprises me. A really good setup and it can go.”
Johnson however was starting to feel conflicted over the Komi. Knowing that it wasn’t his to begin with. It was his first time in a high performance vehicle compared to his assigned Susei AMC cruiser. Just then his phone began to ring from a text message. He briefly looks over the ID to see it was Brenda.
“Can you excuse me for one moment.”
He steps toward the Komi and reads the message.
We need you at HQ ASAP!"
“Damn!” he said to himself. He turns back to Claire. “My girl is requesting for me, she don’t sound too happy.” As he trked to laugh out with frustration. “But its good to meet you and congratulations on your win.” He reaches out to shake Claire’s hand. “I am Johnson by the way.”
Claire shakes his hand; unlike the first time, its calm and collected. She suspects nothing unusual of Johnson, and associates his serious nature with competitive spirit rather than ulterior motives. “Pleasure meeting you. See you around.”
He then hops in the Komi and leaves the area. He took a longer route so hopefully noone will notice him going to police headquarters.
Part 4: Claire meets the Hornet
Just before dusk. Claire is still in her paddock area, still partying and showing off. She seems unabashedly smug, and it seems as though she’s maybe had a few too many. Micha indirectly approaches for a look at the car, but Claire calls out to her before she gets very close.
“You’re Hornet!” She says loudly, slightly slurred and with a sassy head shake. She continues, naively, “With the Kuma! Some people told me you’re the Hornet. You’re very fast you know. Come over here!” She points to a wheelie cooler that one of the spectators had brought, and offers her a beer. “We’ve been doing a little celebrating!” She then quietly asks one of the spectators, “the night events are optional right? If so pass me another”
Micha took a bottle of beer and walks over to Claire. She laughed, enjoying the atmosphere. “Looks are definitely deceptive here, I did not expect a woman of your age to the one to look out for.” Micha takes a swig of the bottle, then looks at the bottle with a puzzled look on her face. “If this is what is available we can go till tomorrow!”
“Sooo,” Claire starts playfully, then pauses, then, in only a slightly more serious tone, “if you’re the Hornet, then your car is quite on theme!” Turning to make eye contact, she continues; “and together, you two are so, so fast.” She holds out her bottle towards Micha, gesturing to clink the bottles together in a cheers. “I’m Claire. Some people call me Gray. You’re fast enough to call me whatever the hell you want. And you are?”
Micha giggled to the compliment to herself and her car. “I’m Micha!” She answered. “And as fast as I am now, I still got work to do. Catching up to both you and your car, Claire” She looked over to the LCm79/80, still amazed at its performance and the driver in control of it.
“Oh, this old thing?” Claire smirks to herself, then says, “And the car’s old too!” She takes a moment to laugh her own joke.
The dad jokes are strong with this one. I guess they come with age.
Claire moves towards the car, then paces in slow laps around the LCm79/80 while she talks about it.
“So this is an LCm79/80. A kit car replica of a lightweight, tube-frame group 4 racecar. They came in a bunch of variants since they were pretty much made to order and shipped unassembled; this one is a steel body with the ultra-wide fenders. I bought this one already completed but with a blown engine in the early 90s. It sat for probably 20 years not moving further than driveway to garage, before I finally gave it a serious overhaul when i decided to get back into street racing. Replaced all the stuff that wears out with age; bushings, lines, etc. Got a stonking motor for it, a Turból 05fm5d, and pushed it to 596hp with just a few tweaks. Kept the ECU too, so I could keep the ABS and the electronic LSD from the donor car. Hence the silly gauge pod!”
She points through the open window at the gauges. The entire cluster is out of a modern Turból, and it juts up out of the dash with many of its plastic fasteners and wiring exposed. “Look at that! Hilarious right?” She grabs another beer and takes a swig before the pacing resumes. “It’s capabilities are no joke though. It’s the fastest thing i’ve ever driven. With the longer final drive it has now, it’s theoretically capable of more than 195 mph, but I haven’t come close to that yet!”
Micha followed Claire around the LCm79/80, taking sips of (the rather unimpressive to her) beer as she followed. Looking at it and hearing Claire’s explanation on the build, there was a lot of differences on tuning philosophy between Micha’s own RCX and this. From how everything was done for the purpose of speed with an interior cobbled together, and a new engine. Her own car had seem to go the other way at times, with it having the stock interior intact and an older engine swapped in (with more tuning potential). Yet, they were fairly competitive in speed still.
“It may look a bit crude close up, but it certainly is quite the machine with quite the heart. Matches my RCX’s power and looks to be lighter even…” She noted. “And all wrapped in a body like this. As someone who loves having a car that shows what I’m all about this… this definitely shows what you’re about here.”
Micha took her focus from the car to Claire. “You said it was sitting around for 20 years and decided to get back to race… Are you from here?”
“Born and raised. Warm climate, beaches, a thriving downtown, with mountains and open road out west. Paradise as far as I’m concerned!” She turns to look at the city and makes a satisfied sigh, and continues. “I was big in the racing scene in the early 80s. Not of lot money getting thrown around back then. Nothing exotic like this car, we were just kids with the fastest things we could afford. Mostly just beat-up muscle cars, a few little imports here and there. I was one of the fastest drivers around back then. Totally different scene now so I’m frankly ecstatic to return with such a splash!” Claire turns back and takes a seat on the cooler. “So Micha, what’s your story? Have you been around here long?”
Micha nodded, then looked up at the sky. “I haven’t been here too long. Four months thereabouts, getting settled in still. Moved here from Germany for… reasons.” She laughed. “Let’s just say I got famous - maybe too infamous- there, so I left. For somewhere fresh, more open. More free. The weather is much nicer here too!”
Looking towards where her own car was parked, Micha continued. “I drove an older Kuma RC back over there. Built it from basically stock to nearly what I have now - the RCX is much less scary to be honest!” She pulled up a picture of it from her phone:
“It was fun… hope to have as much fun here too.” Micha smiled. Claire was tempted to inquire further about Micha’s history in Germany, but held back. She wasn’t sure what she meant exactly, but didn’t want to run the risk of poking her nose where it doesn’t belong. She stoked her curiosity about the RCX instead. “The RCX, did that come here with you? What have you done to it beyond the sweet hornet graphics?” Claire playfully flaps her hands, "bzz bzz bzz"ing her way towards it, not-so-subtley going for a closer look. Her bzzing becomes less enigmatic after she spills some of her beer in the process.
“This one, I bought it here actually. Apart from the visual, it has an older block from a previous generation, stroked up with a big turbo. With just a straight pipe from there. And an aero kit shipped over from Japan to fit the wide tires to handle the power - making about 600 horsepowers so it needs it” Micha started. “New, stiffer suspension… I left the interior mostly intact to be honest. A lot more convertible than my old car!” She giggled, opening the door to show the rather stock looking interior. Everything was cleaned up rather nicely, not quite a showcar but close, though the thin layer of dust and road grime from driving and racing definitely showed its use.
“Its real grippy, no clue how fast it can top out yet but should be able to do 300 kilometers… uhm, 180 miles per hour easily. More, if it didn’t have the wing, maybe 200?” Micha rested her arm on the large carbon rear wing.
Claire paused for a moment. “Of all of the other cars here, this might just be my favorite. What a weapon, and damn stylish one at that.”
She took a good look a Micha, lightly leaning against the Kuma, and backlit by the last bit of red-orange sunlight the day had to offer. “God, she is stylish,” Claire thought to herself. “Her car is brazen but functional fashion statement, and she fucking pulls it off.” Claire eases into a daydream, wondering if she ever looked that cool with her car when she was young. Claire found Micha a mysterious character, exuding an effortlessly confident cool that made her hard not to like. Claire felt endeared, maybe even a little jealous, but definitely hoping she’d made a new friend in the new scene.
“Thank you!” Micha smiled. “I had fully intended to make a statement, that plan is working out.” She laughed, then took another sip out of the bottle, before downing the rest of it. “I never expected to meet someone like yourself in a race, but America is showing its full of surprises.”
Micha honestly found herself respecting and admiring Claire a lot. Here was a woman well older than her, enjoying the lifestyle she thought she most likely have to give up eventually. And not to mention, as sharp as ever behind the wheel.
“Perhaps you could show me some good routes around here sometime? It would be nice to learn some things about this place from someone like yourself.”
“Definitely.” Claire agrees with a satisfied smirk, then throws her head back, polishing off the last of her now-lukewarm beer.
Thanks to @Vena.Sera423, @Lazar, and @Xepy for this massive RP.
Editor's Note
I was working on a pair of RPs at the same time, but ended up being the one to post them both, so they were combined into a massive single post. I apologize for the slightly repetitive nature of the descriptions of Claire’s car, as she describes in in varying detail to no less than 4 characters across the post.
