Stage 11:
Gasstop to Lastgas
Temp. @ Mid-day: 39°C (Hottest stage)
Night-time Low: 27°C
Weather: What has been a drizzle in the morning becomes a torrential downpour for most of the day and well into the evening. Near-absolute humidity and very little wind add to the strain due to the high temperatures.
Camp Challenge: “Agh! Fuck! Snakes!” (Do NOT have a roof rack.)
As we leave the little pit-stop village, our road becomes somewhat more obvious. What was called the “Jungle Highway” on the map also included this lovely little stretch through the Jilbuur Rainforest.
We’re pretty much stuck doing 30 MPH / 50 km/h through here because while there IS a road, it’s almost as well-maintained as the Stage 8 dirt stage, except that it actually is ‘paved’. If you can consider a road that is more pothole than asphalt in area ‘paved’, that is… At times, the road seems barely wide enough to drive two cars on, and at other times, we’re snaking around trees, courtesy of a “road planner” who tried to avoid damaging the jungle he had to put a road through.
If those reasons weren’t enough to make you slow down, however, some of the wildlife probably would. While it was raining, some people heard a heavy thump on the roof and then usually “discovered” the tree snake as it tried to escape from the comparably cold and wet metal “tree” it landed on. Others saw jaguars stalking the forest, but they were jaguars the size of small lions. Worth a crash in this?
After 250 miles of rainforest driving, with an end-cap of 2.5 miles of slightly-less-shitty gravel road at either end for a total distance of 255 miles, we roll into the equally small village of “Lastgas.”
Like the counterpart on the other side, Lastgas is the “last gas stop” before heading through the rainforest. Another 1500-or-so pop-up village performing basic services for travelers, offering food, fuel, and a campground (the outskirts of town, wherever we can find space) to rest up in. For the same reasons as Gasstop, they have a small freight line that is used to deliver fuel tankers, which does technically connect to Gasstop through the rainforest as well… On an equally “well-maintained” bit of rail.
Next Stage Expected Conditions:
Road Speed: high
Road Condition: good
Traffic: low
Police: very Low
Results Here: SR2023 Stage 11 - Google Drive
Team Shift Happens
HD-GV Carry All - No Roof Rack
HD-GV Home Unit - No Roof Rack
It’s a relatively slow drive with both of the giant trucks, especially with Kasiya still hauling double trailers. Thankfully, the vehicles designed to drive through a war zone could handle “a few” potholes. Even the couple of full-blown “road craters” didn’t slow either one down.
VS Mobil Generator AB
Robert - No roof rack
Regina/Rainer/Ramona - No roof racks here, either.
Other than having a couple of really good scares when they encountered some rough track, it was a relatively uneventful train ride.
Team M.A.D.
Walkenhorst UtilXL - No Roof Rack
Sakura Citrine - No Roof Rack
It was slow going, but soon the two cars were out of the rainforest and away from the local wildlife. At least, for making a documentary, the animals made for good footage.
Team Sinesian Rejects
Ilaris Imbe Sport - No Roof Rack
Everyone thought it’d be the ping-o-matic under the hood that’d give up in this hellish heat. Instead, it was crashing through a full-blown road crater that crumpled the front suspension up like a beer can. Unfucking the suspension took a long time, made to feel even longer when they realized they were being watched by some rather large jaguars.
Team Not-So-Slow
Schnell L30 - No Roof Rack
The beat-to-hell luxury car manages to make another long stage look easy.
The Ambassadors
IVERA Executive - No Roof Rack
Mayland Ambassador - No Roof Rack
It’s another long, slow drive for both halves of the team. The trip is made a little more nerve wracking courtesy of the large jaguars roaming around.
The Knockouts
1325 Facelift - No Roof Rack
Kate breezes through this stage, deftly avoiding holes in the road like she (usually) dodges cops. Octavia, on the other hand, discovered her new “passenger” in camp, a heavy-bodied snake resting up in the roof rack and cargo.
Team Mravolinski-Chitco
Saguaro T-REE - No Roof Rack
Kontir Cunningham - No Roof Rack
It’s slow progress today. On the plus side, at least you don’t have to worry too much about the local wildlife.
Team HETS
Franklin HiWay - No Roof Rack
FM VanGo - No Roof Rack
It’s safe to say the old ladies are enjoying the scenic jungle tour.
Team Flaming Gallahs
Priscilla II - No Roof Rack
Slow but steady wins the race. Or at least, doesn’t wreck the bus.
Team Friendship! 
Bazard E-Series - No Roof Rack
At least the “giant cats” weren’t as scary for the sentient cars, right up until it was pointed out that some of them were big enough to shove around Freddie.
Team Hillbilly Rollers
IP Rugger - No Roof Rack
Sanju Wolverine - No Roof Rack
Sure, it’s called a serpentine belt, but a live serpent makes a poor belt replacement. A snake got caught between a belt and a pulley, broke the belt, got wrapped up in the pulley, and spun around, making both a disastrous mess under the hood of the Rugger, and breaking the cooling fan.
Team Sane Insanity
KKR S2 - No Roof Rack
Roadmaster Voyage - No Roof Rack
It’s relatively trouble free today, other than a big snake landing right smack in the middle of the Roadmaster’s windshield. Attempting to use the windshield wipers to remove the snake worked… But at the cost of burning out the fuse.
Faolan Industries
Aether 52H - No Roof Rack
Aether 11/2 - No Roof Rack
Things were going well until a small leak was noticed in the Aether 11/2’s suspension. Remembering what happened the last time when the suspension completely failed, the decision was made to patch it as much as they could. Turns out, a fairly good fix could be made in nearly 3 hours.
Team Taciturn
Mara Irena - No Roof Rack
The aliens got to look at some wildlife from the safety of their relatively trouble-free Mara, as well as some rather pleasant scenery.
Team ReUnity
The second to arrive in camp, the Ursula had some… Unwanted baggage. Wrestling several live tree snakes out of the roof rack was not fun.
Team Spy Kids
Reekayns B210 - No Roof Rack
Mocabey Pioneer - No Roof Rack
The Reekayns was doing well until it hit a pothole, then bounced off of a tree, and finally ended up with a very large cat laying on the hood to get some sleep. The Mocabey had less issues and made it to camp first, getting to watch the fun as people with roof racks turned up with snakes onboard.
Team J3
Tiharris Summer - No Roof Rack
Rhien Willow - No Roof Rack
Changing tires on the Tiharris would have been a routine situation if the jaguars hadn’t decided your tires looked like the perfect thing to play with. It took a surprisingly long time to find where the big cats took the spare tire.
Team Aeromad
Torrento Providence II - No Roof Rack
The Torrento hits a road crater and pit-maneuvers the Juggernaut into the tree line. After a long while of maneuvering back and forth to get back onto the road, they make it to camp, where the process of removing snakes from the Juggernaut’s cargo area begins.
@Tzuyu_main & @FallingComet
Team Black Rabbit Disavowed
Dauer 836RS - No Roof Rack
It’s a trouble free trip into camp for these two vehicles… The trouble starts when you park up. On the bed of the Seikatsu is one big snake.
Sheriff Scott’s Posse
Warren Warlock - No Roof Rack
Bowie Bearcat - No Roof Rack
A road-crater jolts the Warlock hard enough to shut down the engine, damage the front and rear suspension, and bend a steering tie-rod. Luckily, they crashed close enough to camp to just drag the car with the other car into camp and fix it there.
Team “486”
A whole lot of angry snakes accompanied the two Kaufmanns into camp. Sure, you got fourth place… But you may have taken first place for the amount of snakes dragged in.
Team Magdelena
A flat tire on the Baumhauer turned into an ordeal when the decision was made, mid tire change, to extract the unwanted passengers from your vehicle. It didn’t really help, as when they rejoined with the Hinode in camp… Both vehicles had snakes to remove.
Team Machinas Con Passione
Blue Wonder - No Roof Rack
Faenza Spirito - No Roof Rack
It’s hard to change tires on the Blue Wonder in this heat. Especially considering one team member’s openly admitted dislike of cats. Several large jaguars prowled around while the tires were changed… On the bright side, at least it wasn’t snakes.
Cunning Stunts
VHT Supermobile - No Roof Rack
Contra UTE - No Roof Rack
The heat causes the Contra to overheat. Thankfully, the great hissing steam dragon under the hood keeps all the cats away.
Team Till D End
JMX Linx - No Roof Rack
Avantii Trailduster - No Roof Rack
A trouble-free run in both vehicles, with only the minor downside of collecting a snake on the Trailduster’s hood, where it rested there, enjoying the warmth for most of the trip.
Basedworks
Apparently the snakes really liked the edgy team, because they had snakes everywhere in their cargo. This was made worse by finding out that someone left a window open in the camper, and now there were a fair few snakes in the sleeping area.
Team Gunship
Open cockpit seemed like such a great idea until you found out that driving a car while live snakes fall on you isn’t an easy task. Sure, at first, it was as simple as scooping up the slithering serpent and hurling it overboard. Then it practically started raining snakes. By the time you made it to camp, there were a lot of snakes in the car, on the car, and falling out of the car.
4 Dicks in a Truck
Centurion 9000 - No Roof Rack
The four dicks in a truck at least agree, “Dicks in a Truck” is better than “Snakes on a Plane,” and they’d rather have “snakes on a plane” than “Snakes in our Truck.”