The Codename Alice GT1 is a specialised racing unit, based on a carbon chassis with carbon body panels and weighing in at 1101kg. Our 6.4TT V10 PowerElemental engine has been detuned to deliver 605hp over a generous powerband, through our patented Torque Three racing gearbox, to the rear wheels.
If you were selected for the opportunity to purchase one of the limited Codename Alice homologation units, your car will now have been dispatched.
(Abandoned Rogue concept at the back. This is the second time in a row thatâs happened.)
Wall of text warning
When I pull into the ATT Raceway parking lot, Paua Torxdottir is already there. She looks confident, leaning agaist a teal first-gen Howler Rogue R12, and starts laughing when I look at my watch.
âYouâre not late. I just like being first.â
That much is true. In case youâve been living under a rock - Pauaâs motorsport awards could cover a living room wall, and at twenty years of age, sheâs just getting started.
If youâre still not convinced - and I shouldnât need to do this - Paua is the daughter of the legendary Torq Sidvusson. She seems to have inherited both his piercing green eyes and the ability to fly fire-breathing monsters around a racetrack at unbelievable speeds.
Thank you for seeing me.
âItâs a pleasure.â
Youâre probably short on time these days, with the Global GT almost underway. Are you ready?
âMore than. I canât wait. Driving in testing is great, but driving in competition is glorious. Thatâs when Iâm most alive.â
Has there been a lot of testing?
âDay and night. Itâs been really hectic, getting the new car ready. But Codename Alice is done. The scrutineering is over, everything is locked in. I slept ten hours tonight, almost feels like too much.â
/âŚ/
"Always been a Howler household for you?"
âLots of them growing up, of course. Vudus, the Godiva. But there was other stuff, too. I always loved the 2000 GT. RX-7. Iâm mostly attached to the older cars. When I was too little to be allowed in the garage, I would sneak and prod at them. Those ones have stuck.â
(She pats the R12.)
Your favourite?
âYes. It used to be fatherâs, but I wanted it since I was learning to walk. He was silly enough to say I could have it if I beat him at go-karts a couple of years ago. He claims he doesnât regret it, but I know heâs looking for another one. Sometimes I catch him admiring it in the garage when they come over.â
Can we use it for the photo op?
âYou donât want to use Codename Alice?â
The face I make is clearly amusing.
Can we? I didnât even think to ask. Itâs been so closely guarded.
âScrutineering is done. Itâs going to be under a lot of cameras from here on out. Press release is going out tonight.â
Yes. Yes, please. Can we go now?
Paua doesnât seem to mind having lost my attention. The Codename Alice GT1 is Howler Automotiveâs bid into the 1996 GGT Champtionship. Aside from spy photos so fuzzy they might as well be of Nessie, nobody seems to know anything. There are rumors. Itâs supposed to be pretty fast. My credentials are thoroughly checked when we enter the pit area, she is clearly just coming home.
It looks menacing. Low to the ground. Riddled with vents and covered in greebles. Well, Iâm sure theyâre good for something if theyâre here. There is a big bulge on the front bonnet.
So itâs true?
âThat itâs powered by a djinn? Yes. No, not really, itâs just a very special engine.â
At the front?
"We were testing the Rogue and the Firebrand. Rogue was winning, but both had their upsides. Prototyping division was here, helping us do the aero, and said, âwell, letâs combine themâ. It was a joke at first.
They have computer models of both cars. Some wizards put the geometry together, just to see what happens in simulation.
Next thing I know, we have two cars, brand new off the production line, being torn to pieces. The Firebrand chassis was shortened, but kept the track. Rogue body and engine on the front. It was like a frankensteinâs monster, nobody really expected it to work - we had been getting great times out of the Rogue.
And then I took it out and it just demolished everything. With every tweak, sector times were disappearing - like down a rabbitâs hole. Thatâs how it got the name.
I mean, somebody proposed that since it was the puppy of a Firebrand and a Rogue, it should be called Firebrogue. After all, it does go like its pants are on fire."
How fast?
âAmazing. Itâs still based on the frankenstein monster, but everythingâs been made bespoke. Iâve never driven anything like it. The whole thing is one big wing. Rear end especially. We canât get it to be slippery so itâs been harnessed for downforce. That big shelf at the front? Aero. Big wings at the back, aero, of course. Wheel wells, aero. Undertray, aero. Wing mirrors, you guessed it. Aero. If you took it up to 200km/h on a dirt track, Iâm pretty sure it would sink. But on tarmac, it turns so hard you have to mind your eyeballs. It did the ATT in 1:50.99 yesterday.â
Can I print that?
âNot a secret any more. I donât even know all the secrets. The amount of work that has gone into designing, building, maintaining this⌠Itâs incredible. Thereâs thousands of man-hours in the smallest details. The team is amazing. Every single person around me. Nobody ever comes to do interviews with them or take pictures, but they put in more work than I do. (Laughs)â
Sounds like a good job.
âI mean, I donât always get what I want. If something feels strange in testing, but is effective, then we work with it. Just what you do. For example, this thing is surprisingly soft at slow speeds, but then you give it some welly, and it hunkers down, and goes. Faster this way. Thatâs more important.â
Are you going to win?
âOf course weâre aiming high. Thatâs the point. But itâs going to be really hard. There are so many fast teams this year and anything can happen on track. I think weâre competitive. Time will tell. It should be a great show for the audience either way.â
When we set out for our photo-op, I hear the car for the first time.
Itâs surprisingly quiet. I expected it to scream, but it doesnât. Itâs guttural. Tectonic. It rattles my bones in their sockets. I have to be given a ride to the shoot location, because the race car only has one seat. It leaves us in the dust in the first corner.
I doubt I would have the skills to handle this beast. Thankfully Paua does. Iâm happy just witnessing them.
For now we have to live with the bug (good for the affected cars, they will still accelerate beyond takeoff speeds) and hope that the flying cars are at least punished in 2-3 corners during the season (good for all the others).
