Stage 7:
Sundale to Moonshadow Village
Temperature at mid-day: 16°C
Night-time Low: 6°C
Weather Conditions: Just in time for sunrise, a mild drizzle covers camp, which lasts well into the afternoon, when it subsides. Winds are calm, with occasional gusts of unremarkable strength.
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Camp Challenge: 0-62 MPH / 0-100 km/h time.
Today’s journey takes us out to Highway Route 4, traveling primarily west instead of north. Like yesterday, the road is mostly flat with a few minor hills in it, though the speed limit is at least a little better thanks to us not having to contend with National Park traffic. With permission to do 75 MPH / 120 km/h, only the occasional car in sight for traffic, and two slow-moving trucks hauling livestock, everyone’s able to make good time here.
After leaving the highway, we head onto a small forest road that takes us to Moonshadow Village. This quiet, sleepy little forest town barely makes it to 9,000 people, and it’s clear that living here means having little fear of heights, as while the town is small in footprint, there’s a lot of vertical space used, and a LOT of little “sky bridges” spanning between various buildings.
We’re told to park up in a little clearing next to the small railway station, and to leave space so the trucks can get to the station to retrieve the mail.
Next Stage Expected Conditions:
Road Speed: very low
Road Condition: very poor
Traffic: low
Police: moderate
Results Here: SR2023 Stage 7 - Google Drive
Team Shift Happens
With Jayde driving the Carry All, and Malavera taking the wheel for the Home Unit, things started off rather rough, with most of the crew barely rested from the previous stage. This was made even more clear when, about two hours into the drive, Malavera drifted off the side of the road, taking out two quarter-mile markers and tearing up a lot of dirt as the giant truck bounded off-road at 70 miles per hour. By the time the Home Unit came to a halt, and with it, the Carry All, a big decision had to be made: “Do we try finding another alert driver, or do we sleep first?”
The result? Once the truck had been dragged back up onto the road, the two halves of the team found places in the cab and in the Home Unit’s living area to get a few much-needed hours of sleep.
The cops knocking on the door of the Carry All didn’t help Kasiya’s mood as he had to explain that, yes, they were getting some sleep after one of their drivers had an off-road excursion.
When they finally arrived in camp, it was, perhaps, a bit more clear that something had gone wrong, as the front bumper of the Home Unit had some rock dents, the whole vehicle was covered in dirt, and Malavera was quite visibly upset as he’d never screwed up that badly before.
VS Mobil Generator AB
It’s a smooth rail cruise down the line, courtesy of being in the plains at this point. With no mishaps and no signals at danger, it’s a good run.
Team M.A.D.
The Citrine ends up stopped by cops. What was just going to be a warning turned into a speeding ticket after the officer decided he didn’t like the attitude coming from the driver.
Meanwhile, the Walkenhorst continues on just fine.
Team Sinesian Rejects
Ianis gets another speeding ticket for his collection, while the Trio of Trouble manage to keep their badly-pinging Imbe on the road and somehow up to highway speed.
Team Not-So-Slow
Today seems to be everyone’s bad day for getting tickets. Apparently, after the previous day’s speeding extravaganza, they’ve decided to put a stop to it today, as the Schnell pulls over a few miles ahead of the Citrine and the Imbe and the driver pays off a fine.
The Ambassadors
Other than the Mayland crew getting a warning for excessive speed, it’s a relatively normal cruise.
The Knockouts
Octavia finds herself going through a difficult challenge: Changing tires when her body isn’t really meant to do that. After accidentally popping a hole in her spare, she figured out how to put a patch on it, then fill it up with air.
Team Mravolinski-Chitco
The Saguaro ends up with two flat tires today, 20 miles apart from each other. While the tire changes are relatively easy, changing the driver’s side tires on the side of the highway is a little nerve-wracking.
Team HETS
How many old ladies does it take to change four flat tires? Two to stand aside and gossip while the young’uns do all the hard work.
Team Flaming Gallahs
A smooth cruise for the Party Bus today, as no issues happen. No flat tires, no broken equipment, no police stops.
Team Friendship! 
Nothing goes wrong today for the two cars driving a bus.
Team Hillbilly Rollers
We’re not entirely sure what happened here to cause another burned out clutch in the IP Rugger. Andreas blames it on a sub-standard replacement part, something cheap instead of a proper IP service part. Janne swears it was in an IP OEM part box. Then the culprit is revealed: Marie knocked a bunch of boxes on the floor before the challenge started, and several of those boxes burst open, so she just put everything back. Apparently, a Chinese clutch made its way into an Official IP Replacement Parts box…
Team Sane Insanity
The KKR ends up on the side of the road with a serious rough-running issue. Turns out a coil pack died and left the engine trying to run on two cylinders. It took two hours to find the spare parts in the back of the minivan.
Faolan Industries
It turns out that blending in is sometimes a good thing. The higher speed is harder to notice when you look like normal traffic, and so the cops don’t pay you any attention.
Team Taciturn
The two aliens did take the time, after their last look through the owner’s manual, to perform basic maintenance. Granted, they’ve never done an oil change before, so it turned into a two-and-a-half hour ordeal, but better safe than sorry.
Team ReUnity
Nothing really interesting happens today on this trip, so it’s an opportunity for the team to chat and listen to music.
Team Spy Kids
The Reekayns had bad luck today with finding the few available potholes on this road. Each tire met a pothole and popped, resulting in four lengthy pit stops to change tires out.
Meanwhile, the Mocabey disappears into the distance.
Team J3
When the Rhien broke down again with a bad clutch, Jacia tried her luck at fixing it. Her first attempt swapped the “repaired” clutch for a used clutch. Her second attempt actually worked. Putting the car back together, however, still took a long time.
Team Aeromad
Well, it’s a good thing you had spares of just about everything. A road-side engine swap for the Torrento wasn’t exactly fun, although it was a good bonding moment for the team.
@Tzuyu_main & @FallingComet
Team Black Rabbit Disavowed
The driver of the Seikatsu got a mild warning that they needed to be more aware of how wide their vehicle was, but otherwise, it was a smooth run today.
Sheriff Scott’s Posse
The Bowie Bearcat gets a warning, the Warren Warlock gets a ticket. Apparently, honking at your teammates doesn’t go over well with the cops.
Team “486”
Camp Challenge Winner: Kaufmann Viera Custom - 3.5 seconds 0-60
No breakdowns, just screaming sirens behind you for several hours.
Team Magdelena
Between both halves of the team getting a warning for excessive speed, and then the Baumhauer developing a very serious misfire, it was a slow day for the team.
Team Machinas Con Passione
The driver of the Faenza didn’t see the spike strip while fleeing from the cops. After the car rolled to a stop, they became the first team to experience the full brutality of a pursuit, as the Faenza’s driver decided to run for it. Lessons learned? One, the Nehmenweld Highway Patrol aren’t messing around. Two, being pounced on and pinned to the ground by an 11-foot-tall werewolf in body armor fucking hurts. Three, it’s even worse being tossed into the back of the police wagon after you’ve been covered in bruises courtesy of the Dyre being trained as a “police dog” and then getting picked up by the officers.
Cunning Stunts
The driver of the Contra UTE gets a polite warning from the police to leave the “flamboyant driving” off of the highways. Apparently, they don’t appreciate drifting here in Nehmenweld.
Team Till D End
It’s a good clean run for Team Till D End today. No breakdowns, no police stops.
Basedworks
Both drivers get a warning. It would have been a ticket for the MCMOTD, had the cop involved in that particular traffic stop not gotten a call to aid in stopping a speeding shit-nugget that just so happened to belong to Team Machinas Con Passione.
Team Gunship
A curious police officer pulled you over to ask about your car. Most notably, the fact that you have no roof. It’s not illegal, but the officer was interested in the roll-cage with cargo on top.
4 Dicks in a Truck
Somehow, you’ve managed to slip under the radar in the giant rig with an even more giant trailer on the ass of it, escaping with no tickets and no breakdowns today.