Ended up making edits to my post to mostly avoid the implication the race was going to begin straight to Archana straight away.
2016
SOMEWHERE IN FRUINIA
TEAM HILLBILLY ROLLERS: PRE-RACE
Still being a quite new-ish car with relatively few kilometers on the odometer, getting the Saarland InterCity to the starting line had not been much of a struggle, even if there had been more comfortable trips in the history of the automobile. Our, ehm…friends? actually arrived quite early and watched some of the participants rolling in.
MARIE: What do you guys think about our chances?
ANDREAS: Chances? We arrived here with a goddamned Saarland InterCity! What chances?
JANNE: Well, this is hardly Paris-Dakar, right? I see that most of the contestants has the same approach as we have anyway. Lots of small city runabouts overloaded with crap.
M: Their cars are overloaded with crap, our car IS crap, that is the difference.
A: I would rather have had that Bricksley to be honest, that somehow reminds me of a real car and not a fucking tent on wheels!
M: Speaking about the Bricksley, why are the people surrounding it such weirdos?
A: You’re really not in the position where you could accuse someone for being a weirdo. Look yourself in the mirro…
PUNCH!
J: Well, some people see contests like this as a chance to be role playing very hard I guess. Probably they dress up like werewolves and what not…
M: You mean like in some bizarre kind of porn?
J: Not really that, think more of it like some kind of LARP or something…
M: What genre of porn is LARP? Never heard that name before… What is it a short for?
A: Just shut up the two of you. It seems like the werewolf weirdo from the Bricksley is approaching us. I wonder what he…or she…or it…wants? Or rather, I think that I know, he think that the two of you sounds like a pack of fighting chihuahuas and wants you to keep quiet, I can almost bet on that.
@Madrias
(Also, sorry for subpar RP but doing good writeups and RPing in a language I suck at just felt too hard after a week with much work and no sleep, but I felt that I had to write something at least, we’ll see if I can do it better next time, I hope it was good enough to answer anyway)
4 Likes
Part V: The Challenge. Still in pre-race, Asking for parts. Not a good situation to be in.
-Team Slow
(With Dialogue)
The Schnell kicked out and the aging engine mounts cracked badly resulting in a slight drop of the engine from the car, the torque converter broke and the car stalls a lot, too much for an auto box
Matt: Bets you want to reach out to someone to get a part for this car?
John: Sure. Isnt that what we’re here for.
Matt: Alright i’ll reach out to one of em to see if they got the parts, starting with Hillbilly rollers, known as 23, then if they dont have the torque converter for a car, then go to the guys with a Sinis- He gets cut off by John
John: It’s a Bricksley. Remember that, then again. I dont know if anyones got spare torque converters.
Jess: For one, why does this car have such a shit gearbox, and the engine’s falling out
John: Oh no, it’s the woman with a V12 luxury car that costs so damn much to maintain.
Matt: Shut it, the mounts are fucked on this thing, and so is the car. It’s a 1200cc only thing, and on a budget.
After he realises his ownership of the same car but with a more powerful engine, he looks at the issue.
John: It’s the engine mounts deteriorating overtime. It’s cracked to such a point now.
As the song Dragostea din tei (YouTube Link) plays on the radio in the car because the radio is broken and it won’t switch off unless the whole car’s off, John takes a look underneath the car. (banger music imo). Also the casette which happens to be playing in the car, and the deck would not shut off
Matt: Anyone got engine mounts?
John: I don’t think anyone’s running an identical chassis.
Matt: Probably good to give it a try. Who knows, maybe they could have a mount for your engine.
As the OEM Airbag steering wheel is still installed, just without an airbag for weight reduction, bro! He removes the battery’s terminals and keeps them away from eachother to avoid damages to the car
Soon after the verses, Ma-i-a hi
Ma-i-a hu get cut off by the electricity being turned off. Then he gets to work on shaving more weight from the car at the check in, Matt notices moonshine being traded around and asks Team Shift happens for some moonshine, and trades the beers for some delicious moonshine, John goes and pets Spots, the leopard with the personality of an house-cat. And a nice looking cat too.
To Be Continued.
@Madrias Tagging you for a trade request for a crate of beer for some moonshine. And asking for a spare torque converter. And engine mounts.
@Knugcab I’m also tagging you for an question if you have any torque converters in stock at your team. In some need of torque converters, also engine mounts if you got any. 
3 Likes
Team Shift Happens
Team Information and Story Start
Malavera walked up to Team Hillbilly Rollers with his partial fuel can of moonshine, trying to hide a smile as he’d heard a good part of their conversation on the way over. By that time, he’d stuffed the broken leash into one of his many pockets, freeing up his right hand in the process.
“Hello!” he said, trying to keep his natural growl out of his voice for a moment, though gave up halfway through his next sentence. “I bring a gift from Team Shift Happens. Turns out, one of our team filled this gas can up with moonshine, and, well, we’re offering some in trade for either food or beer.”
Inside, Malavera was kicking his own tail for not being social before, as he knew his two heads and his lupine shape were definitely unusual, though as an exile of his kind, he had his reasons for not being particularly friendly in his past.
Meanwhile, as Rukari got Spots under control, courtesy of John from Team Slow managing to keep him still long enough for Rukari to run up and clip the leash to Spots’ collar, he heard Matt asking about the moonshine as well, in trade for some beers.
Rukari waved over Matt to the Bricksley, glad to see he had a water jug with him. He opened one of the fuel cans and poured enough of his high-proof moonshine into the water jug to fill it, then set the case of beer in the back seat of the Bricksley for safe keeping, at least for now.
“You wouldn’t happen to have a torque converter, would you?” Matt asked.
“Neyi (No), we have shift-stick,” Rukari said, pointing to the trusty four-speed in the Bricksley and the clutch pedal. “Have extra clutch in spares, will be needed, though.”
“Then, any chance you guys have some spare engine mounts?”
Rukari thought about it for a moment, looked around in the limited spares they had, and shook his head. “Neyi, we not have spare mounts.” He then looked up at the roof rack and gave an almost sinister feline smile. “Do know how to… What is word? Good with igni ahd stahl (fire and steel).” Rukari motioned to the welding cart on the roof, an object that looked like it would definitely take two people to remove safely. “Can make solid mount for engine.”
OOC:
@Knugcab You did well enough that I could respond to it. I leave what your team chooses to trade entirely up to you. And yes, Malavera is supposed to be a bit socially awkward because, well, he’s spent a lot of his life on his own, so him reaching out to your team is well outside of his comfort zone.
@interior Yeah, figured Rukari was the best one (as Kaylie and Kayden are still trying to get beer from the Australians and Malavera’s dealing with another team) to both wrangle up Spots at last and also offer his skills with trying to fix your car. Stick-shift means no torque converters, but we do have a welding cart on our roof rack and Rukari does know how to weld. Can’t say they’d be pretty looking, but the engine wouldn’t fall out once he’s done with those mounts. Though, solid mounts will transfer all the vibration of the engine into the chassis, so it wouldn’t improve the comfort of the car.
2 Likes
The team was looking with eyeballs large as saucers at the strange looking…thing in front of them.
JANNE: Sure as hell we will need some moonshine, right?
ANDREAS: (whispering) and what if it’s a trap and he is trying to poison us?
JANNE: Well, at least Marie will survive drinking any liquid so if the two of us will die, at least one of the Hillbilly Rollers will be around in the future, right?
ANDREAS: Sure
MARIE: Yeah, we are going to get that moonshine, no matter what. And I think that I know what we could trade it for…
ANDREAS: Yes, we have some reindeer jerky, very dry and salty though so some beer bottles might come in handy too, we might as well send them too, it’s not like we don’t have enough for ourselves. Karjala, real finnish quality (laughing). On the other hand, that jerky is food that will survive the apocalypse, and a northern scandinavian speciality so it is kind of exclusive, nothing that you would get at a low price in Fruinia. How about that trade?
(leaving open for an answer)
Meanwhile, someone from team Slow came to ask for some parts, engaging the master mechanic from Team Hillbilly Rollers in the discussion…
JANNE: A TORQUE CONVERTER? Who the heck carries a spare torque converter and who will change it in what’s more or less a parking lot.
(the laughter is spreading all over the place)
MOTOR MOUNTS? Well, absolutely not any stock ones, but it seems like you have a guy with a welder around your car now and I think that I have a solution.
Janne is digging through the bottom of his toolbox.
Well, if he can weld up some brackets, I guess this is some highly universal parts! I knew that it would pay off not to clean up the toolbox. Here is some “slightly” worn rubber mounts from a 1969 IP Icarus diesel, so if he can fab the metal to fit them I guess this will dampen the vibrations a little bit. Haha, hodge-podge job but those rubber mounts can be made to fit about everything I guess.
3 Likes
Team Shift Happens
Team Information and Story Start
Malavera smiled as Team Hillbilly Rollers offered some reindeer jerky and beer in trade for the high-proof moonshine. “I think that sounds like a fair trade,” he said. As he helped look for a suitable container to transfer the alcohol to, he heard something from over by their car. Looking over his right shoulder, he saw Rukari getting the welding cart down from the roof rack. “Yes, because that didn’t look suspicious, you idiot,” Malavera grumbled.
After finding a couple of large empty water bottles and filling them, and also reluctantly filling up an empty windshield washer fluid jug, Malavera closed up the now-empty fuel can. “Be careful with that stuff, it’s almost 190-proof,” Malavera said, before heading back over toward the Bricksley to stow the empty can, the beer, and the reindeer jerky.
With the supplies safely tucked away, Malavera looked over at Rukari, who was over by Team Slow’s car, then sighed and grabbed some tools to go help out. Rummaging around in the toolbox and in the trunk, as well as the glovebox, he came up with some leftover 1/8-inch steel plate and a pair of aviation shears, then headed over to Rukari and the rest of Team Slow.
Rukari looked up from reading the directions Kaylie had duct-taped to the gas bottles as he noticed Malavera approaching. “You help?” Rukari asked.
“Yes, I’ll help. I’ll cut out some bracket pieces, you weld them together. One of their team is coming back with some rubber mounts to adapt, so we have a bit of work to do,” Malavera said.
“You cut metal with those?” Rukari asked, motioning to the aviation shears. “Not likely. Made to cut thin sheet, not thick sheet.”
“I’ll manage,” Malavera said.
OOC:
@interior - Figured I’d get two team members over there to help you out. Malavera can cut some spare sheet metal into bracket pieces, Rukari can weld them into shape using oxy-acetylene, the rubber mounts you were given will be adapted to fit.
@Knugcab - I figured a little flavor text for the team’s moonshine distribution was okay. Seeing as it’s written into your team’s lore that Marie can drink almost anything, I figured Janne and Andreas would have large water bottles (Approximately 1 liter each, maybe a liter-and-a-half, was my thought) while Marie would use an empty washer fluid bottle (giving her a bit more moonshine than the other two as a result) because she could.
How strong are the members of Team Shift Happens?
Malavera is actually strong enough to cut eighth-inch sheet metal with aviation snips. Keep in mind, Malavera comes from a world with much higher gravity, and while he doesn’t look like he’s bigger than most people on Earth, he is stronger.
Of course, he’s going to ruin those aviation snips by cutting that steel plate.
As for the math, 350 pounds multiplied by 3.5 ends up being 1,225 pounds. On his homeworld, Malavera can still climb rock walls and do chin ups, and even though he hasn’t been back there in a very long time, he has kept his strength up.
As for the next strongest person on the team? Rukari, Kayden, and Kaylie are all equals in one way or another.
Rukari and Kayden are both naturally strong, though Rukari is a little stronger. Then again, Rukari is basically special forces, while Kayden has never actually seen combat. Rukari’s bones are ridiculously tough, so much so that his people routinely fire weapons that throw 1-kilogram projectiles as rifle-type weapons.
Kayden’s advantage, though, is how fast he heals, which is the real reason he’s the one responsible for getting Rukari back into the car if they find snow and he’s gone rolling around in it. Kayden’s the one who can heal from a broken bone overnight, and back to full strength in a week. None of the others can manage that.
Kaylie’s left arm is terrifying. To put it in perspective, Kaylie, left handed, would have less trouble cutting the sheet metal than Malavera. She just can’t use the full effort of that mechanical left arm because she doesn’t weigh enough. Also, while she favors a mean right hook and a fist clenched around wrenches for weight, if she throws a left-handed punch, she can dent thick steel plate. Her grip strength in her left hand is enough to fold that piece of steel that Malavera has into the shape of a paper airplane.
3 Likes
As a result of the trade, team Hillbilly Rollers have decided to be nice to Team Slow and Team Shift happens. No mooning and no loud honking with the dixie horn, and will give assistance if needed. @Madrias @interior
3 Likes
Team Ecowareness (4)
Oil and Nature do not mix!
by Laura Insigne
While we cannot wait for the actual event to start, we decided to take a quick trip to the outskirts of Marena, the starting city.
While testing our photo equipment and drone, we came across this nasty scene at the fuel refinery just outside Marena. And no, this does not seem to be an incident of some sort, everyone there was going about their regular business! Judging from the extent of tree decay, this seems to be going on for quite a while!
As you may recall, this refinery has been part of several controversies in the past; it is located just within the Fruinian border, but operated by a Hetvesian/Dalluhan Polyfuel subsidiary. Most of these controversies have been ‘resolved’ by mutual fingerpointing between all involved parties until no accountability was left.
To prevent further damages to the local ecosystem and the health of the citizens of Marena, we call upon the three involved governments to finally wake up and take action - such wanton disregard of the environment cannot continue unabated!
CommentDonate to our rally fund!f T I M
4 Likes
Any news? 15d past deadline and nothing.
Any sort of update would be nice
3 Likes
Void has been silent lately about it
No shit that’s why I’m asking
apologies, been trying to think up ways to open the race that weren’t just “herr herr race open” and that were actually fun to participate in. also suffering massive creative block (both w/ writing and automation) that hopefully seems to be leaving.
also fallen ill once more, as well as multiple family members and friends catching COVID over the last two months or so.
i understand that this is very similar to what happened with I3RL, however i promised that that wouldn’t happen again for this challenge. Going to release a project i’ve been sitting on for a while first, and then try and get the start to the challenge out.
once again, i apologise for any inconveniences this may have caused, and i should hopefully officially start the challenge by next week.
apologies, Void.
8 Likes
One good advice, take it as a suggestion from someone that failed something similar. Don’t overthink things too much in such a RP-heavy challenge. Leave some of the story-building to the contestants since, as you can already see, many of them have good skills in that. That would ease the strain on you somewhat.
5 Likes
TEAM HILLBILLY ROLLERS
YET SOME MORE PROLOGUE JUNK, OR SOMETHING
While Janne was trying to fix the hopeless cause with the Schnell, Andreas decided to walk around to see what kind of competition he could expect.
ANDREAS (By CB): (quietly) Well, I have been checking the other teams out…
MARIE: (By CB): (Uncivilised loudness) YOU NEED TO SPEAK LOUDER IN THIS DAMN THING, I CAN’T HEAR A SINGLE WORD OF YOUR GODDAMNED BLABBERING! (OOC info, can probably be heard from far away, if someone wants to do something with that information)
A: WELL TURN UP THE GODDAMNED VOLUME THEN YOUR DRAIN BAMAGED IDIOT!
(waiting silently)
So, can you hear me now?
M: Uhm, yes, but I swear I didn’t touch anything (or just a little knob but still). So, what can we expect when it comes to competition?
A: A Tomodachi that seems kind of seriously built, I would honestly fear that one. They were small but kind of capable. A Hinata that seems to be about as much as a mess as our Saarland. May or may not be a threat. Some retarded leftist green-party voting idiots came here with a Mara Zorya, I bet we will give them a hard time in one way or another if they come close. I know a trick or two… I would at least not fear #15 since that is some french junk that got rejected from the junkyard so I am surprised if it will even start. A late 70s Abraham that I would fear about as much as a Stiga Villa riding lawnmower that has thrown a rod. Some crapmobile that looks like a boat out of Mad Max, either it is pure crap, or the surprise that will blow our doors off. A white Hermes that I would have had rather than our crappy cereal box. Some flat black rape van… An Aim Sparrow that looks slightly more serious than our POS, maybe that should be feared too. Some finns arrived with an old postal van that seems to be some half-serious build. A Seneca City Turbo… and then those LARPers in the Bricksley and the hodge-podged together Schnell, but hey, both teams seems to be nice people so let’s not terrorize them, OK?
M: Well, maybe there is some cars worse than the Saarland then. Ehm…let’s not terrorize? I guess it is too late.
A: What do you mean?
M: Janne already went there.
Janne is walking towards the broken Schnell where they are trying to fab new motor mount hardware to fit the worn out 1969 IP Icarus diesel rubber mounts.
J: So, guys, how are you doing?
@Madrias @interior
(Also @AndiD , my rant is completely IC and not OOC so I hope you aren’t offended by the hard words, Andreas have seen the kind of people that he genuinely hates and revenge is already spinning in his head. I can change if you dislike it too much, but just so you know, it is absolutely nothing personal against you, it is rather Hillbilly Rollers against Eco Awareness)
4 Likes
(No worries, you caught the vibe perfectly that I want to send with my team. They are probably sitting huddled together too busy discussing Laura’s next blogpost instead of paying attention to their immediate environment…)
4 Likes
Team Shift Happens
Team Information and Story Start
When Janne from Team Hillbilly Rollers wandered over, before he’d even spoken, Rukari said, “Vuri ada ahd nevuri marin,” without even looking to see who was there.
Malavera shook his head and sighed. “That’s one of his traditional greetings. It means, roughly, ‘Strong wind and calm water.’ Rukari’s people have a strong sailing culture, from what he’s said to me.”
After Janne asked how they were doing, Malavera chuckled. “We’re doing okay, at least,” Malavera said, the now-very-dull aviation snips still in his hand, with a pile of 1/8 inch steel plate pieces sitting nearby. “Going to need to get a new set of these, though. I ruined them.”
“I told this zaruki those not meant to cut thick sheet, he cut thick sheet anyway,” Rukari said, still paying attention to the pieces of steel he was welding together with the oxyacetylene torch.
Malavera looked to Janne and gave a light shrug. “English is, well, definitely not his first language,” he said, handing Rukari another piece of the sheet-metal engine-mount puzzle.
“Still know more than you,” Rukari grumbled. “Can speak Valraad, Therys, Gand, Old Gand, Cruka, Sirpens, ahd Anglass.”
Malavera stared at Rukari, slightly stunned that the Valraadi knew seven languages. “Shit. I guessed that he knew eight,” Malavera said.
“My xelthila, my mother in this tongue, she taught me that knowing what others say when they think you not understand their words, that is important. Were I to become Vilzahir, I would have needed that. As one of the Vyrzadoburi, it was still a useful talent,” Rukari replied.
Malavera smiled. “He’s the son of the Valraadi Empress. He became essentially special forces,” Rukari explained to Janne. “Vyrzadoburi translates out to ‘Violent walkers of death.’ I’ve never asked about his history in battle, but it’s probably impressive.”
Rukari set the welding torch down for a moment, looked Janne in the eyes for a brief moment, the dark orange in his eyes briefly reflecting the sunlight with an otherworldly cat-like glow, just before he said, “I have seen battle, yes. 247 successful missions.”
(Note, Rukari’s way of saying numbers is different, he would say each number in sequence, so “two-four-seven” instead of "two hundred forty seven.)
“What counted as successful, then?” Malavera asked.
“I was not seen, not heard, the target either captured or dead,” Rukari said, before finishing the welds on the engine mount. “You need put in rubber,” Rukari then said, looking to Malavera.
Malavera nodded. “Guess I’m probably the only one here who can,” he said.
Rukari put out the torch and put it back in the holder on the welding cart, rummaged in his pockets for an old, well-worn wood-and-brass pipe and his pipe tobacco, packed the pipe and lit it using the same sparker he used to light the torch earlier. After exhaling a long breath of smoke, Rukari gave a grimace and shrugged off his leather jacket, revealing the dark gray shirt underneath, his shining brass tags, and a bit more of his dark gray fur with black stripes. “Not know how you handle this heat,” Rukari grumbled. “Snow better.”
“He’s from a very cold climate,” Malavera explained. He then turned to Rukari. “Go smoke that somewhere else, the fumes are making me light headed.”
Rukari merely glared at Malavera and blew smoke in his general direction instead. Malavera scowled, scooped up the motor mounts, grabbed the rubber bushings to put inside them, and moved upwind of Rukari’s tobacco smoke.
Kaylie wandered over, leaving Kayden near the Australians as she saw the group standing around near the welding cart. “So, what’s going on?” she asked, stepping so that the sunlight stopped reflecting off of her chrome left arm into Janne’s face. “Sorry,” she said.
Malavera nodded toward Janne, then said to Kaylie, “He’s from the team with the checkered-up Saarland. We’ve got some reindeer jerky and some beers from them in the back of the Bricksley. Rukari welded up these brackets, and I’m trying,” Malavera paused for a brief moment as he popped the rubber engine mount bushing into place, “to put the bushings into them.”
Kaylie nodded, then headed over to the car, returning with three bottles of beer. She handed one to Rukari and one to Malavera, before rummaging in her pockets for a bottle opener.
Rukari stuck the claw of his right thumb under the rim of the cap and popped it off before taking a long drink from the bottle.
Malavera, meanwhile, just twisted off the non-twist-off cap and, like Rukari, let the cap fall to the ground. He took a sip, smiled, and said to Janne, “This is good beer.”
Kaylie scowled as she couldn’t find her bottle opener, extended the titanium claws on her mechanical left hand, and twisted the bottle with her right, cutting through the glass until she was able to pop the cap of the bottle free, complete with the rim of the glass bottle still inside it. “Damned show-offs,” Kaylie grumbled, taking a swig of the beer and tossing her cap to the ground as well.
OOC: @Knugcab Yeah, I know, you said ‘cans’ and I had them opening bottles, but, to be fair, none of them would have done well with cans. It wrote better this way.
Edit: @AndiD if you want to have your team notice the littering of bottle caps, one of which has glass still in it, feel free.
@interior Figured it made sense that Rukari and Malavera would be quick about making brackets. Rukari is, after all, good with a welding torch, and Malavera definitely ruined a set of aviation snips cutting good thick metal to make some brackets.
I can change to bottles as well, does not matter for the story from my point of view.
1 Like
Understandable. I just really wanted to have them removing bottle caps with pretty much no effort. It’s just one more little thing that makes them unusual.
(Dialogue-less again, more or less an car update.)
Team Slow
Still part 5, Not more going on right now.
With the bodged together hatchback mechanically fixed besides the torque converter. That can wait anyway until a fatal transmission failure, the mounts from an Icarus thanks to Team Hillbilly Rollers, to avoid the engine thinking it can fly, other than the failed attempt at obtaining a torque converter. Nobody had them.
John started to stare down at the Zorya team, one of which was looking at their phone.
The rest of the team was busy minding their own business. Eventually looking at auto reviews on a phone, waiting until the race is open.
1 Like
1 week after the race beginning…
As Martha emerged from her tent after a long, cold night of restless, damp sleep she was practically blinded by the bright sunlight glancing off the slick tarmac and puddles of water. She stretched, and went over to the car, Bugsy, who was also covered in rainwater. Unlocking the boot, she grabbed a can of store-brand baked beans and lit the small camping stove she had brought out from the tent. Pouring the beans into a pot with, she set them down to cook whilst she started to bring her stuff out of the tent and place it back on the car’s roof rack. It had been raining heavily for the past week, forcing the teams to seek shelter in their tents or cars.
Around half an hour later Mikel emerged from the tent, squinting in the harsh sunlight that had been absent. Martha of course, being British, was used to this. He sat in the tent opening, eating the beans Martha had made from a cold, stainless steel bowl. He chewed, thoughtfully, observing the other teams beginning to emerge from their tents or shelters. He wondered if the race would commence today. He presumed so. Previous FAR races had started in much worse conditions than some slightly damp roads. He ate thoughtfully as Martha started to disassemble the tent, complaining that he wasn’t helping at all whilst she struggled to pack the “damn bloody canvas wanker” back into it’s bag. He was instead watching Team Milkvan curiously. During the past week he hadn’t seen them leave their van at all, let alone put up a tent or anything of the sort. He presumed that there were beds or sleeping bags in the back of the van, however there always seemed to be movement inside, no matter the time.
Nonetheless, when Martha hit him round the head with a tent pole to get his attention, he paid no mind to Team Milkvan’s activities, including them hauling the receptionist into the back of the van, and a faint gunshot sounding shortly after. Instead he helped Martha pack the tent and get the car moving. It was around noon when a loudspeaker asked all teams to report to a carpark nearby where the camp ground was for their briefing. With a clutter and roar the mighty 1.2 litre 4 cylinder engine of Bugsy came to life, and along with Team Shift Happens and Team Ecowareness Mikel and Martha set off. The little convoy travelled quickly over the wet, slippery roads of Marena. With Martha behind the wheel, Bugsy roared ahead of the Mara and the Bricksly, with over 100 horsepower he could far outstrip both cars. However, the slippy, scrabbly nature of the car paired with high profile chunky tires led to quite an uncontrollable couple of minutes. However, both Bugsy and the Bricksly arrived mostly in one piece, with the Mara arriving a minute later due to having to stop and pick up some things that they had found on the side of the road.
“Come on Martha, it’ll be fun!” said Mikel, nudging her from her book. “Don’t you think we should get to know these people?”
Martha gave a sort of grunt in response, and continued to read. Mikel sighed and closed the door of the City, walking over to where Team Ecowareness were telling Team Shift Happens all about the dangerous effects that oil could have to the Fruinian landscape. Kaylie appeared to be relatively interested, and was writing down notes whilst listening. The rest seemed bored. Mikel walked up to them and introduced himself, only to be flattened by Spots who appeared to have taken a liking to Mikel. Probably the beans, he told himself, hoping that Spots wasn’t just seeing which part of him would be best to eat first. As he stood up, he heard Bugsy’s engine start up, and turned to see a line of cars behind it, waiting impatiently for it to move. As the other teams filed into the parking lot he took notice of a large white stage sat on one side of the car park. As he was about to tell the other teams the loudspeaker sounded again, and this time a man came out onto the stage, speaking into a microphone.
“Hello and welcome to the 36th annual Fruinia to Archana Rally! (the first was held in 1974) As you may see we have a relatively small turnout this time, but with all the tensions between countries at the moment that is to be expected. But, as we’ve always said, why should that stop us? Well, ladies, gentlemen and extraterrestrials, it shan’t! Take your place on the starting line and wait for my signal- remember, it’s just you out there, so try not to break down. Alright… 3, 2, 1… Go!”
And with that they were off. The drone of engines was deafening, as the weird and wonderful assortment of cars roared away. At first it was smooth sailing, with all the teams travelling in a convoy to get out of Marena. The roads were potholed and rough, the smell of burning oil and petrol filled the air, but by god was it exciting.
It was when the teams started to seperate when things went wrong. Martha and Mikel’s (referred to as M&M by most of the other teams) route was intended to take the scenic route though Fruinia, passing through all of the most beautiful places in the country. However, they had counted on most of the roads being dirt or tarmac, but due to the heavy rainfall most were just mud. Bugsy groaned and protested, wheels spinning hopelessly in the sticky, waterlogged mud. Eventually however, Turbolag made it out of the trail, and back on the main road to Vontro (a small village with very rich history that Martha wanted to visit.)
(yes, this means that the race is now open. Apologies for any delay.)
4 Likes