Shitbox Rally 2023 - Stage 14 (FINISHED!)

Team Not-so Slow
Chapter 0, Part 0- The Start… We all start somewhere.


After an hiatus on the forum (I lacked motivation to play Automation), I’ve came back. Gonna rewrite some of my character lore for this, because some of it may not be accurate and/or properly done

Characters

Matthew “Matt” Smith (22M)
Isabella “Izzy” Jackson (24F)

Character Desc (Both, Appearance)

Matt: 5’10 tall figure with a healthy fit build and a healthy gym-like phisique, tidy short brown hair, some sun tan, but not too much. An avid vehicle enjoyer. He has a fairly kind attitude when people are respectful to him back, Not really hot-headed.

Izzy: 5’6 short figure with red hair (ginger), pale and skinny with neck length hair that’s sometimes tied up. She is Matt’s girlfriend. She’s also kind, and willing to help when the time comes.

The RP


Feburary 28th 2023, 1:34PM

Matt throws a Marlboro into the ash bin and goes to Izzy, showing a flyer for another Shitbox Rally event. “You interested?”, he said.

Izzy then replies in a tone of boredom, and says “They’re probably still pissed off at me, But didn’t know you smoked.” She walks outside.

Matt goes and follows her direction and tries to get her attention, he does after some time, and gets her sat down on a chair and then he says
“You haven’t did this last time when we went to Sweden to race, Just don’t do anything dumb and they might be cool, I still love you.”

Izzy then agrees and after that, both of them go onto used car sites and look for a suitable candidate of an automobile.

March 1st 2023, 3:30PM, Day of car shopping.

The two go to the first dealership they can find in town, and start looking for some pile of shit car they’re selling for a low price, because they want to get rid of it to make up for some inventory space, Matt asks the salesman for the cheapest thing they have on the lot.

Salesman: If you follow me to the back, i’m pretty sure we have something that fits your criteria.
Matt: Sure thing

As they get to the back of the dealership, they see a car waiting, an 1999 Schnell L30 1.9 SE Executive, it’s got some aftermarket 18 inch wheels, and a aftermarket exhaust tip, along with an aftermarket spoiler. German engineering may let us down again, but only time can tell.

It was clear some young person owned this car, Other than the fact it can’t be upgraded to AWD because of the torsion beam rear suspension, Unlike the previous XL53 from last year, the new SR car is a hatchback! (Liftback)

The purchase!



Izzy: This might prove that SUVs are a waste of time, just fold down the rear seats and you might get a ton of space back there.

Matt: You might be onto something,

Izzy: Thank me later!

As they buy the car and drive home, they start planning on what to get to make it ready for Shitbox Rally.

TO BE CONTINUED (I will try get my SR entry in a shitbox ready form soon)

5 Likes

Rules have been updated to close a loophole regarding ignition timing.

Please leave it at 0 and run Low-Quality Unleaded.

Yes, I’m aware that it alters reliability in both directions, but it’s one more thing we have to check while logging vehicles in, to make sure your fuel octane matches the fuel octane we’re expecting.


Rules have been updated again permitting the ability to remove catalytic converters from engines.

This will result in a comment on tech inspection, however.

3 Likes
Les Ambassadeurs

THE AMBASSADORS


-- Meet the Team --

I made some pictures in an app called Hero Forge, you may find these pictures below.


Landon Sabourne

Details

Gender: Male

Age: 47 (Earth Age: 47)

Appearance: 6’ 6” (200 cm) , 210 pounds with a well toned, swimmer physique, with the general appearance of a bipedal red fox. Rare purple eye color, possibly a side effect of genetic engineering and the signature orange fur color.

Species: Red Fox

Ethnicity: Velkaristani

Special skills: Skilled marksman, experienced investigator, extremely loyal and brave soldier, good sense of humor and worryingly charismatic, also has first aid training and has significant experience with military and security tactics.

Military/Law Enforcement rank: Supreme General, Velkaristan Armed Forces.

Landon Sabourne, joined the team “at the orders” of the Velkaristan High Council, to assist Karl Von Heislingburg, who happens to be a close friend, to find the chalice to retrieve the chalice to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands, both sides share the same goal; find it, recover it and keep it safe.

For the primary vehicle, Sabourne was unsure of what to bring, so he left Karl to make that decision. But, much to his annoyance, Landon’s older brother, Andrew, wanted his two identical twin sons to get out of the house and spend some time with their uncle and as such, they will pilot a camper shell equipped IVERA Executive as the secondary support vehicle along side a third female team member who is in a relationship with the older of the two brothers.

In the end, Sabourne knows he’s in for a rough ride, and he can only hope all hell doesn’t break loose.


Karl von Heislingberg

Details

Gender: Male

Age: 24 (Earth age: 26)

Appearance: 6’ 5” (196 cm), 205 lbs, complemented by a fit athletic build, but a little more slender and less heavy compared to most Caracalians. General appearance of a bipedal caracal with normal pale green eyes, and reddish gold pelt.

Species: Caracalian (Caracal)

Special Skills: Great hunter / survival expert. Exceptional situational awareness, lightning fast reflexes and well balanced. Basically all the traits of any wild cat species.

Military/Law Enforcement rank: Civilian

The heir to the Heislingberg fortune, Karl often finds himself a target of scrutiny from his 7 siblings, who do little to respect his archeological skills and prowess, despite none of them knowing about how difficult archeology is. For the past 2 years, Karl had been plunged into several adventures, and was nearly killed on some of them, all due to his family’s ignorance of how dangerous archeology can be.

However, things seemed to calm down over the past 6 months, but Karl remained worried that he would be sent on another adventure soon.

His fear was confirmed after his mother and father discovered a journal that used to belong to his grandfather in law, who was hunting for a mythical cup, known to him as the Sacred Chalice of Nehmenweld. The cup, made of solid gold, is rumored to possess supernatural properties that can heal any ailment or sickness no matter the severity, be used to increase effectiveness of any weapon, firearm or otherwise, be used as a weapon of mass destruction or even be used to enact a curse on the enemy. As a result, the Von Heislingburgs have decided they must retrieve it before anyone else, so that it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands and jeopardize the lives of millions. So, Karl being the most experienced in archeology, is sent to the planet Decarro (and the nation of Velkaristan) along with a very special 1970 Mayland Ambassador, where his friend, Supreme General Landon Sabourne is waiting for him.


Aryton Sabourne

Details

Gender: Male

Age: 23 (Earth Age: 23)

Appearance: 6’ 2” (188cm), 190 lbs, very fit, muscular and sturdy appearance, with the general appearance of a bipedal red fox, sporting green eyes, and a warm orange pelt.

Species: Red Fox

Ethnicity: Velkaristani

Special skills: Proficient in hand to hand combat, a decent driver, calm in most high pressure situations.

Military/Law Enforcement rank: None (Waiting to be accepted into the Police Academy)

Aryton is the older of the two nephews Landon is bringing along, about 5 minutes older than his twin brother Amell, and unlike his brother, he feels that living a laid back lifestyle is the way to go. However, when it comes time to be serious, Aryton is surprisingly knowledgeable and skilled in the field. He remains composed in many situations, but will often avoid danger. He is usually a mature adult, but may sometimes give into… certain interests, more often than he should.

His purpose for being here is that he had no choice, but since he is very willing to help, doesn’t mind it that much. He enjoys being helpful and finds it empowering to provide an extra pair of hands should they be needed. But, he wants no part in the escapade involving the chalice, because he believes that it is, quote: “Dangerous fuckery that will get [him] killed.” But, he is still willing to provide backup should they need it because “Sabournes never leave a man behind.”


Denali Bassett

Summary

Gender: Female

Age: 21

Appearance: 5’ 9” (176 cm), 133 lbs, slender athletic physique, general appearance of a red fox. Blue eyes, and the signature orange fur color, that pretty much every red fox has.

Species: Red Fox

Ethnicity: Velkaristani

Special skills:

Military/Law Enforcement rank: Civilian

The only female of the group, and Aryton’s better half, Denali is not a person to mess with. She may look unimposing but with her father being in the armed forces as a member of the Special Commando Unit can handle herself in a fight pretty well. That said, she does not have the greatest judgment in many situations and often underestimates others, especially General Sabourne who doesn’t take shit from anyone. Also, her relationship with Aryton seems to annoy the general quite a lot, and she is unable to fully understand why, but it has something to do with night time.

Regardless, Aryton had convinced her to join him on this journey as a way to spend time together away from home, and experience new things all the while learning more about each other. However, plans are unlikely to go the expected way because of the pretty major side mission the general has forced them to be a part of. So, Bassett, much to the annoyance of General Sabourne, is going to be a part of the team no matter what happens, to be by their side because at the end of the day they are a team.


Amell Sabourne

Summary

Gender: Male

Age: 23

Appearance: 6’ 2” (189 cm), 185 lbs, almost identical physical appearance as his brother, same muscle build, nearly identical level of fitness, but less heavily set and slightly weaker. Like his brother, he has green eyes and a slightly lighter shade of orange fur, but for the most part, Amell is exactly identical to his twin brother. Again, he has the same general appearance of a bipedal red fox like his uncle, and twin brother.

Species: Red Fox

Ethnicity: Velkaristani

Special skills: Expert mechanic. Doesn’t matter the car, Amell will always fix it.

Military/Law Enforcement rank: Corporal (Military Mechanic)

The team’s mechanic, and owner of the support car, a 1986 IVERA Executive, fitted with a toppola style camper shell, Amell is the most willing to be a part of the team, and because of where the rally is going, he is more than excited for the challenge that awaits him. The IVERA will either be driven by him, Aryton, or Denali throughout the challenge depending on whoever got the most sleep.

With the IVERA being his car, Amell is willing to share it with his two teammates provided they don’t try to use it for something other than sleeping. While Aryton did promise he wouldn’t even think about it, Amell is skeptical and is hesitant to trust his brother because it has happened before. Even so, they are teammates and brothers and they must learn to get along or they’ll end up in trouble.


H-Forge Depictions (80% - 85% accurate, or close enough)


General Sabourne


This image depicts Landon dressed in his civilian clothing as the app I’m using doesn’t have anything remotely close to replicate a military uniform. The machine gun demonstrates that he has got military grade firepower, while the backpack shows that he’s someone who makes sure to be prepared.


Amell Sabourne and Aryton Sabourne


Amell (left) and Aryton (right) are shown standing almost back to back, Amell is clutching a wrench to signify that he’s a mechanic, while Aryton stands in the background judging him to denote they are brothers. The very similar appearances also show that they are twins.


Denali Basset

Denali is holding her personal sidearm, a Colt M1911, taking up a slightly combative pose, keeping her weapon close but not aiming it. Goes to show that she does know her way around a weapon and is more than ready to fight, despite being an amateur.


Unfortunately, due to limitations with Hero Forge, and because I suck at drawing and don’t have the money to commission any artists, You’ll have to use your imagination to see what Karl looks like. Think of a bipedal caracal and then apply the description I gave him, and then you might have a rough idea of what he looks like.


(the cars are coming up shortly, standby)

6 Likes

The Cars


The 1971 Mayland Ambassador and The 1986 IVERA Executive LXT



In charge of the competing car, Karl decided to bring his 1970 Mayland Ambassador, a car that has been sitting in his garage barely driven for the past two months. It is effectively the most luxurious car next to a full on Bentley or Rolls Royce, a true land yacht. 6.8L of big block V8, leather lined interior and so many gadgets you don’t know where to start. So why did it fail? Well, the Ambassador was the first ever attempt at a true full size luxury sedan Mayland did, and boy did it have a presence. However, it’s large size made it difficult to drive on narrow city streets, its big V8 drank fuel like there was no tomorrow and it weighed nearly two tons and so not very many people bought it, mostly it was the super rich titans of industry and probably a few world leaders (Looking at you Josip Broz Tito) who invested in an Ambassador. The Ambie’s model years were from 1970 to 1974, and its production run ran from February 1969, to October 1973, with only about 6500 units ever being produced. While the Ambassador did fail, it spawned the much more successful Meteor (See LHC for that) which was based from the Ambassador albeit with a much better and sleeker design.



This example has around 75k miles, has a minor coolant leak from an improperly installed o-ring, some curb rash around the wheels, light damage around the interior, with some tears and holes around the seams of the seats, cracked wood veneer, a damaged but still working rear dome light, heavily faded rear parcel shelf, and less faded upper dashboard, lightly worn leather and some minor electrical issues.

Hence why it makes the perfect vehicle to run in this challenge.



The next car, the 1986 IVERA Executive, is a more common automobile, but it’s a little weirder, it was made from 1986 to 1992, available only as a liftback and offered with several engines, the LXT being the top of the range model with Hydropneumatic suspension and a 5 liter V8. This example belongs to Amell the mechanic, and is the support vehicle for the challenge. It has around a hundred thousand miles racked up, the interior is a lot more hard wearing than the Ambassador but it still has some damage, including slightly worn leather around the interior with some torn seams around the edges of the seats but nothing severe. Unlike a Bentley Turbo R, the hydraulic suspension is not part of the brake system, but Amell sorted out any leaks it may have had several months before this challenge.

The other thing of note is the Toppola style camper shell that is mated to the car via the rear hatch, (which has been removed and stowed in a safe place back home) and secured to the specifically designed roof rack.

Both cars will function as sleeping arrangements for the team as well.


More Pictures




11 Likes

now thats what I call a sleeper car

2 Likes

Team Sinesian Rejects


The Team

Tolok-Javon 'TJ' Hyrteyn

Male North Idene, 24
5’10" (178cm), 159lbs (72kg). Pretty lanky build, brown eyes, spiky red hair, fur occaisionally striped with red.
Past employment: Taxi driver
Self-proclaimed mechanic and moderately skilled driver. He’s worked on cars his entire life, especially on the manky sort, with his family’s connections to the owner of a junkyard. Bit of a coward in some situations, but somewhat likeable nonetheless.

Alauran Caere

Male South Idene, 24
5’7" (170cm), 165lbs (75kg). Pretty strong for his (compared to other participants) short size, somewhat athletic build. Very dark grey fur without externally defining features, though with blue eyes and brown hair. He does however have thinner fur and skin, leading to an increased tolerance for heat, at the expense of a reduced tolerance for the cold, and being susceptible to cuts.
Past employment: Cartographer
Alauran briefly had a stint as a cartographer for a couple of years. Not because he liked maps, but more because he loved getting on the road and seeing places. Because of his experience creating maps and navigating, he will serve as one of the navigators. Additionally, he received first aid training at some point.

Ianis Solani

Male North Idene, 30
6’2" (188cm), 194lbs (88kg). Tallest of the team, and strongest. Grey fur, striped with a darker shade on his back. Brown eyes, blond hair. Quite fit, being ex-military.
Past employment: Military medevac driver
Ianis served for the military as a medical evacuation transport driver. Due to this, he’s no stranger to driving extremely fast and forgoing other’s safety to reach the destination quicker. Skilled driver because of this, if not extremely socially abrasive. Never tell him to slow down.

Jas Kan'aan

Male South Idene, 22
5’10" (178cm), 154lbs (70kg). White fur with darker stripes all across the body. Brown eyes, blond hair. Weakest of all the four, though he’s pretty precise when it comes to motoric functions.
Past employment: None
Jas really doesn’t have a role, only tagging along for the funsies. Therefore, since he never got a driving license, he will be reading the map notes that Alauran made, though there’s no guarrantee he’ll do that well either. But you know, this rally wouldn’t be complete without almost crashing in to other participants driving the wrong way!


The heck is an Idene?

Idene are, to put it simply, humans with the head replaced with animal heads. Call me uncreative and a furry, but I’m not a biologist willing to create a whole new species. Oopsie daisy.
Idene have two regional subspecies; North and South.

North Idene are characterised to resemble wolves and the like. They’re usually a bit bigger and heavier. They have longer ears and a longer muzzle. They usually are some shade of grey, rarely being red. Most have splotched colours on the fur, but some have inherited stripe patterns. (TJ and Ianis)

South Idene are characterised to more resemble big cats. Smaller and a little lighter, with the opposite of the northern variety. Triangular ears, short muzzle. Usually in some shade of black or white with stripes of some kind. Some south Idene, like Alauran, have thinner fur and skin, which increases their tolerance for heat.

Science doesn’t exactly know how they evolved, or were made, or can get on earth seemingly by choosing their breakfast, but they exist.


The vehicles

1983 Ilaris Itan Ute


The world-famous, one-and-only Team Sinesian Rejects failure-at-pink camper.

Its existence, and how well it is doing at existing

This 1983 Ilaris Itan was sourced from an Ilaris dealership. Unfortunately for it, the vehicle’s engine was hydrolocked after trying to reach a customer whose car was stuck across a river, and thus it was being sold out front for less than scrap value, since apparently the people at the dealership wanted it to continue existing after making memories in the car. Now most people working trade jobs wouldn’t care that it barely runs, but it didn’t, so we were the first to look at it and bought it right then and there for about 200 dollars. Barely any rust, just dirty and no running engine.

We tried to remove the Ilaris Service writing on the side by Jas’s brilliant idea to paint it hot pink (taking note of previous editions of Shitbox Rally). Unfortunately, he forgot that buckets of hot pink metallic paint with flake in them are expensive as all hell, and we couldn’t justify buying more of them, and thusly ran out of paint halfway through.

Now the bread and butter of the build was swapping the dead 2.6L V6 which would have made about 120 horsepower with an engine that actually ran. TJ suggested we take a peek at the junkyard, and sure enough, we found a 2010 ACR Alakis hatchback which had the entire rear end caved in. Fortunately, the engine was completely mint, and after agreeing on a couple hundred bucks for the engine, we began work fitting the 2.2L engine and modifying the engine mounts accordingly.

This new engine made 165 horsepower, noticeable improvement from the 120 of the V6. We could have looked around the junkyard for the higher-trim V8 engine, but that wouldn’t have been as much fun. Who doesn’t want to swap a completely different engine in to their shitbox ute?

Jas refuses to admit he painted the strangely phallic-shaped object on the fender. We all know he did though.

Bit of history: the Ilaris Itan is a series of coupe utility (ute) vehicles. They’re pretty basic, though this particular model was configured with a premium interior, for some reason, while retaining the poverty-spec V6 engine. Either way, they’re known for being used and abused by tradesmen across the globe, being pretty okay for their price bracket.

Ilaris Imbe Sport S 1.3


We like to refer to it as the ‘frankencar’, though that’s not the most creative thing, so we called it the ‘redhead’.

Why does it exist? What did I do to you? Why must you torture my eyes?

This…car-shaped object is two Ilaris Imbe Sport-S’s welded back together. The white car, according to the owner of the yard, had a headon collision with some large animal and then subsequently skidded off the road, sideswiped a tree, then rolled over. Now the second, red car was T-boned, and the side was caved in. Fortunately, the 100-horsepower 1.3L four-banger still ran, though we’re pretty sure it’s 80 horsepower now.

Excuse us for this, but we welded the two together, and cut out the shitty bits. We also harvested a fiberglass hood from another car, though no other parts were used from it. Since the Imbe was originally a rally car, it’s made entirely from aluminium, with steel reinforcements throughout, to make it as light as possible. Same goes for the engine, which made it have a history of engine troubles. It is still moderately reliable, the government giving it a 70.6 reliability rating. Now, you might be asking “you welded aluminium together?” and we say “yes, yes we did.” We did reinforce the welds with rivets, but this car only exists because we had money left over, and otherwise we’d have to carry around the four of us in a ute that has two seats. Not practical at all, and I’m sure we’d need spinal surgery by the end of it.

Furthermore, we added a rollcage to make sure we didn’t end up on a NBC Dateline: Consumer Alert edition by the time we inevitably rolled over, though we don’t have racing harnesses, since if we do roll over we’re going to be fucked either way, considering this car doesn’t even weigh a thousand kilos.

We also added a frunk. Because why not?

Now, the Ilaris Imbe was originally a rally car at heart. Unfortunately, they actually had to…produce consumer versions. Therefore, for lack of a better term, they engineered it backwards, removing all the rally bits and the extreme optimisations, but retaining most of the core rally heart. This made for a car that weighed just under 1900lbs (860kg) stock, and was pretty fast. Produced from 1990 to 2000, it sold pretty well, and pioneered aluminium bodies. There were four ‘sporty’ trim levels, the Imbe Sport, Sport-S (this one), GT and GT-Sport. Additionally, there was a limited production PowerStar GT-Sport model. All, except for the PowerStar GT-Sport, were front-wheel-drive, unusual for a sports car. It was well-received though, being exceptionally fun to drive, and didn’t hurt the pocket that much either.


Why is there a gash in the windshield of the Itan?

We...were going to take a team picture, but Jas insisted we needed the engine hoist on the Itan for it to be complete. So we told him to load it on himself. The rest was history.
8 Likes

question. Where would the characters get changed into different clothes?

2 Likes

I mean, unless someone is deeply uncomfortable with seeing someone partially unclothed I don’t think everyone requires their own changing room

1 Like

eheheheh, well Johnny is a failed romantic who is just girl obsessed, and his teammates are both women soooooo…guess hes getting changed in the car

1 Like

that is a problem for you to solve

some just do it wherever there is space

in their RVs, in the car, in a tent, behind a bush, whatever fits the theme of your team and what they have at their disposal

1 Like

behind a bush sounds the funniest, which brings me to my next question. Bathroom arrangements, is it just outhouses?

2 Likes

Refine the shit in to biofuel to avoid refueling

1 Like

for a crate engine and a german I5, your mad

1 Like

once again not officially supplied

if you have facilities, you can use them

if not, get creative

1 Like

time to get the shovel

1 Like

Can you send a support vehicle along? So that carries your spare parts? Is that being treated with the same issues as the rally car?

1 Like

Yeah, I’m planning to bring a giant tow truck as mine

1 Like

Another question: Jacias species has some quite extensive lore, and one of thier abilities is to teleport items so long as they know where they are and where they are going to. I understand this is quite overpowered, so would Jacia be told not to use that power?

1 Like

Gran has a similar ability…She wants and it generally appears… :rofl:

1 Like

mf can spawn themselves some bitches

1 Like