Team Savage
Luke floored the Savage with grim determination at the line, leaving a surprising length of burnout stripes behind as the huge V8 struggled to put power to the ground. Mark grabbed the “Oh Shit” bar mounted to the dashboard, yelling at Luke but failing to be heard over the screaming V8. While other teams had complained about changing their comfortable seats for these Archanian bucket seats, Luke and Mark had agreed. After all, they were blessed by the King himself, and it was an act of good faith. Heck, they’d even had no problems removing the higher-quality radio before showing up to the event.
But it seemed that act of good faith existed mostly to allow Luke to get away with doing a burnout the entire length of the palace courtyard.
With the top down, Mark could see the two helicopters above, while Luke focused on squeezing their large barge through the twisty, turny road stage. They blew through the checkpoint at the end, and were rewarded with knowing they were in the top-ten.
Which only meant that during the Volcano Climb, Luke spared nothing with his brutal FWD muscle car, weaving and winding up the sharp rocks, clinging to grip with their military-surplus tires. He weaved the car expertly around a few more razor-sharp rocks, before bringing the rumbling beast through checkpoint #2.
“Told you it’d do fine, Mark. We’re in the top 10 again.” Luke said.
“I wish you’d drive like a normal rally driver. Instead, you drive like a madman.” Mark responded.
“A rally driver wouldn’t bring a front-wheel-drive to an offroad race. A madman would.”
As they headed down the volcano, Mark recognized the next stage as a trail-rally course. “Shit, Luke. That’s an actual rally stage, and it breaks rally cars. Thankfully, I’ve run on it once, so I can guide you through it.” Mark said.
“Then be my Co-Driver. Guide us to victory.” Luke said.
Luke went down the caldera with surprising speed and grace, and on top of that, they managed to not just make it back down the hill in one piece, but also managed to keep their top 10 spot. The big V8 seemed to be impressing Luke, and even Mark was warming up to the FWD rally car.
So, naturally, when they got to the Oasis Rally, Mark warned Luke, “This thing’s bumpier than any back-road you’ve driven on. Be prepared.” Luke nodded, though still threw their car into the corners with reckless abandon, and surprising precision, while Mark yelled instructions to Luke.
“Left 2, don’t cut!” Mark yelled, and Luke wrenched the wheel, applied a bit of parking brake, then pinned the gas pedal to the firewall, seeing the remains of several car parts where others had cut the corner. A shredded tire, several smashed bits of glass, a broken headlight bucket. “Right hairpin, straight over crest, hazard left, left 4 opens, don’t cut.” Mark said, having gotten out his old notes on the Oasis Trail Rally stage.
They flew through the checkpoint (literally) as Mark said, “Right 4, opens, over crest, don’t cut, over jump, to finish.” The Savage landed heavily, but the team was still surprised to find they made the top ten.
“Not bad for a front-wheel-drive.” Luke said, grinning at Mark. Even Mark seemed to relax a bit. The interior of the Savage was covered in road debris and gravel and dirt and rocks, mostly because they were giving a further show of good faith, as the seats had been ‘blessed’ so that no contestants would die in this. So, they were running with the top down.