Choo Choo it’s the Redneck Express.
6 Likes
Team V6 Vandals
The Team:
Luke Light
Age: 18
Interests: Running Storm Automotive, tinkering with computers and robotics, repairing some of the damage age has done to him.
Personal Vehicles: 2004 Storm Surge (1,289,792.8 miles, Hybrid, XR-3, Company Car)
While he may be an android, time has not been kind to him. After suffering a major hydraulic pump failure in a junk run, and running another junkyard bash on two-of-three pumps, he’s developed a rather annoying fluid leak. Requiring an oil top-up twice a day, Luke isn’t particularly impressed, but he’s signed on for another challenge anyway. He’s the primary driver, though has admitted to the rest of the team that he can’t quite handle all of it this time.
Amy Storm
Age: 54
Interests: Fast cars, racing on tracks, and junkyard bashes.
Personal Cars: 1976 Ishu Myriad, bought from Luke after One Last Hurrah, 1985 Sinistra Sunbolt.
Racing driver, mechanic, crew chief, and the team’s unofficial “Lady of the Heavy Right Foot.” Not afraid to get rough with the car or other teams, though respects good fair races. Also bears a lot of the responsibility for blowing up the engine in the One Last Hurrah junkyard car bash, though she’ll argue that because Luke was behind the wheel when the engine let go, he’s the one who killed it, and that her rev-tapping the aging V6 didn’t cause squat.
Jake Storm
Age: 30
Personal Cars: 1996 Storm Knight GS-E, with Manual Gearbox (and half-blown clutch)
After spending much time deflecting why he couldn’t drive stick, he finally bought his first stickshift car, and to ensure he drove it, he sold off his Storm Galaxy hybrid. As bad as he is with a manual gearbox, he’s a technological wizard when it comes to engines. He still gets a lot of flak from the rest of the team for murdering their Minerva’s gearbox during the 24-hour Clunker Race, but he’s doing much better now.
Cody Acorne
Age: 34
Interests: Street racing, high-speed driving, back-country roads, and FWD shitboxes.
Personal Cars: 1979 Sinistra Traville LC-2600
The team’s parts-guy and general purpose mechanic. He’s also the guy who found the car they’ll be driving through this event, and told the others that it exceeded his expectations for what they needed. This, of course, made everyone a little nervous.
The Car:
This is a 1987 Sinistra Swift, specifically the Sweepback 5-door hatchback. Sinistra Motors, after realizing that the Traville and the Swift were both compacts, decided one of them needed to become a midsize. The Traville was the first car, so it stayed a compact, which meant the Swift grew up.
Even more specifically, this particular Swift Sweepback is gifted with the Performance Package, including the HPO 3.9 V6, a vicious V6 packing 200+ horses, just because the SPD (Sinistra Performance Division) felt it was needed.
Team V6 Vandals picked this one up in Dark Royalty Blue, and they plan on giving everyone a good run, even if their 80’s wedge-box can’t quite live up to its name anymore.
7 Likes
I remember a variant of this car taking second place in CSR74. Fingers crossed that this earlier version does well in this challenge as well.
1 Like
Sorry, but I think this NEEDS to be expanded on
???
Is the trim year allowed to be higher than the model year? eg: 1960’s car with a 2015 trim year and a 1990’s engine swap with a 2015 variant year, meaning the car has been modified to race using up to date parts on an older base.
Edit: Are there any limits on the amount of lips and wings, quality points or drivetrain swaps? Also do we need to send the standard trim variant of the car as well as the Meatball prepared car?
1 Like
Team ThunderStruck
Oh hey, Look Who’s back.
The name, again, comes from the car. But firstly the team.
The Team
Lyra Sunshard: She has an online following as a YouTube-Turned-Twitch Streamer, and this is an excuse to go back into racing, this time being livestreamed the entire time. She’s 21.
Charlotte Mathews: Childhood friend of Lyra, and steady accompaniment on these challenges. They’re going to try and push this more than last time.
The Car
As the team name suggests, this is something, well, Thunderous.
A, uh, Caliban Thunder does the trick quite well if you ask me.
It’s fun, fast, and cheap. What else could you ask for?
14 Likes
Drag Queens
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Vihtori Vaaratie - Partial outlaw, due to his hobby of tuning mopeds to go over the 45 km/h limit. He has driven a lawnmower for the past 20 years, which makes him a pretty skillful driver.
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Elias Suomalainen - Very skillful driver as well, but he has never driven a car. Elias has been unemployed for his whole life due to his criminal record, it includes such things as trying to pull over police with a DIY police bulldozer.
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Jukka Orpo - Ex police officer. He got fired, because he once got pulled over by a shady bulldozer and he thought that the driver of the dozer was a actual police officer. Also Elias and Vihtori don’t like him, because he doesn’t drink alcohol.
- This team was formed when all three current members of this team invested their money on bitconnect and so lost 90% of their savings. To get back this lost money they decided to join this 2018 Meatball run, even though it was unclear if there was even a prize for the winner.
LSV Mark
A rally car modified for road use.
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@stm316 - I don’t think you want to know more…
@Mythrin - Yes, engine swaps, any trim year, anything goes in that way. Hmm, lips and spoilers, didn’t think of that… coming back to that later… And I only need the final trim of the car.
I was hoping that this would NOT become like the clunker challenge when I changed the rules about 1000 times, but this is still only my second challenge and it’s obvious that I don’t think about everything…
I am thinking about a rule change to make it more realistic. Like @Dragawn was talking about earlier, I felt that it would be more realistic and I think fun too, if it didn’t mean that the game was over for people running out of money for hotels. It’s not reason enough to give up when I think about it. It would then force the team to sleep in their car, which would not restore the fatigue nearly as much as a good nights sleep would. Also, running out of money for food could mean that they simply could not eat, reducing driveability (because of hunger making it harder to concentrate), raising the risk of an accident (and at zero driveability, game over).
How about that rule change? I am positive myself, but since @Mr.Computah, @LS-Vehicles @Madrias and @Fayeding_Spray already seems to have their cars done, I feel like I have to ask them first for their opinions.
Also…aero? How much does it affect the cars performance to load it with an unrealistic amount of lips and wings? I can’t think of any car IRL having more than one lip up front and two wings/spoilers in the back (like the Ford Sierra XR4i) so the question is if more of them should be allowed if it has any effect on performance…
6 Likes
I havent even send the car yet so I dont mind
Okay cool 
, I think the purchase price may need to be fiddled with as the price goes up with trim year.
On the other hand, you get so many more chances to build a good car when using a newer trim year so I think that it’s more fair to leave it like this… Didn’t really want it to turn up like the clunker challenge when 2000s sports cars completely dominated the field because of this.
2 Likes
As you’ve described in the rule change idea, it really wouldn’t affect my strategy any.
As far as a flat ‘game over’, It looks like the only way that could happen is if either the car breaks down or gets into a major accident with no cash left to fix it, or if the team gets a ticket with no cash left to pay for it.
Having sleep deprivation and hunger affect driving, and thereby increase the odds of an accident, but not be a direct ‘game over’ just because “Well, we’re 300km from the finish line, but we can’t buy dinner. Guess we’re done for,” I feel that makes more sense.
Either way, I picked my car carefully based around maybe going fast enough to not worry, and yet being low-budget enough that maybe I could finish without losing all of my cash.
In other words, I have no problems with a light modification to the rules, especially one that makes completing the challenge potentially easier, as this one does.
2 Likes
The Team
Elizabeth Harcourt-Entwhistle (widowed) – “Gran”
Age – Never ask a lady her age dear
Likes – Family, classical music and old things
Driving experience – over 60 years
George Harcourt-Entwhistle IV – “Mopey”
Age - 17
Likes – Staring at his mobile phone, girls and moping
Driving experience – Pontins Go-kart champion 3 summers in a row (2012-2014), proper cars – Several months
Dave something-or-other – “Spanners”
Age – 28
Driving experience – Anything the army put him into/on to as well as a lot of things he shouldn’t have been anywhere near!
Likes - Mechanical things, lots of hot tea, bodging stuff to make it work again.
The Car
After moderate success in the One Last Hurrah race with an FM HiWay estate (we came 2nd and only lost because we took a wrong turning in town!!) the team decided to go for another HiWay.
The 1999 FM HiWay 2.4 Exec
Gran, Mopey and Spanners are stood in front of the FM HiWay
Gran: So how much change will we have David?
Spanners: About 3 grand Mrs E.
Gran: Do you think that would be enough for spares?
Mopey: Actually Gran, we could rebuild it for less, couldn’t we Spanners?
Spanners: Well, ONE of us could while you, I mean the OTHER, could pass ratchets, sockets and tea. LOTS of tea…strong tea!
Gran: Splendid. What spares are we taking?
Spanners: 2 spare tyres, ECU module, coil pack, spark plugs and a fuel can. I’ve also thrown in that set of snow chains, some radweld, oil and a 5 gallon drum for water.
Gran: Those retched freeze dried kibble packs?
Spanners: Of course!
Gran: Oh dear. And the car?
Spanners: Well it’s done a lot of miles but it’s been regularly maintained so I am not anticipating any issues.
Gran: Very good. So, do you have any plans on fighting this time?
Spanners: Well I didn’t get into a fight last time…and the time before that was because of those assholes…
Gran: DAVID!!! Language
Spanners: Sorry Mrs E. No fighting this time…I hope.
Gran: And plans of committing larceny?
Spanners: Huh?
Mopey: Are you going to nick anything?
Spanners: Oh, no. No plans to steal anything…but…then again, I never had any plans previously…before the race anyway!
9 Likes
Yes exactly, that was my thoughts too, or running out of gasoline.
1 Like
To clarify, are you disallowing all types of tubular headers, or just racing tubular headers?
Oh, crap! I was talking about race tubular but was very tired when writing the text so I forgot to mention that, I’ll change it immediately and hope that I won’t upset anyone with that… Damn, there is always SOMETHING that goes wrong…
1 Like
Makes about 3 horsepower difference on my car, which I don’t feel is worth really arguing over.
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Team New Life
Kyle Schurz: 34, General Manager of one of his cousin Hank’s gas station/car washes. Life has been an improvement for him lately, having lost a lot of stress in his life by quitting his former job and going to work for his cousin. He is much happier, and has even gotten himself a serious girlfriend.
Hank Schurz: 37, Kyle’s cousin, and the franchise owner of two gas station/touchless car washes. His business is still the only thing going well in his life. He has recently gone through an acrimonious divorce, though his prudence in getting a prenuptial agreement saved his business from getting “parted out”. He is looking to do this run as an escape from his newfound isolation, and has his favorite cousin with him.
Ted “Fuzz” MacGregor: 26, avid trash-car run enthusiast. Recently moved from Washington state to take a better career opportunity as a sheriff’s deputy in Tolland County, Connecticut. Met the Schurz cousins through mutual friends, and talked (and bought) his way onto the team.
The Car
Amazingly, the cousins managed to find yet another Steel Moss colored car. This time, it’s in the form of a 1983 Ardent Chancellor DL wagon.
The odometer shows 231k+ kilometers on it. The radio was replaced at some point with a cheap auto-store special tape deck, and it’s rather hit and miss as to whether or not it works. Hank had to replace the throttle body when he bought it, as it had a tendency to randomly stick either closed or at WOT, and the original (completely worn out) ignition tumbler has been removed, bypassed, and replaced with a hidden push-button ignition system. Both front seats have covers on them now, masking the significant tearing in the original veloured fabric. But otherwise the boys seem confident in the car…
11 Likes
Team Mountain Pass vs the Meatball Rally!!!
Other races we’ve done:
The Team
Pierre Mountbatten, 55, is an Australian journalist who founded Mountain Pass, a magazine dedicated to cars that loved hitting the twisty “B” roads over bloated V-max queens and hyper expensive exotics. Pierre is looking forward to doing an illegal street race in Sweden and he’s also looking forward to taking in the sights of the beautiful Swedish countryside.
Andrew Morgan, 43, joined Mountain Pass just as Touge in Japan was gaining traction with Western audiences and became their patron saint in the Mountain Pass offices. Andrew is looking forward to the competition and taking in the sights of all those lovely Swedish ladies!
The Car
Purchased for $7911 off of a local Car Trader website, this 1985 Swedish spec Zealot Entice is stock standard and unmolested. Featuring a 70Kw 1.6L SOHC motor and 4 speed automatic, the Zealot is looking to favour stealth and reliability over pure speed. Hopefully the team won’t lose too badly but at least they’ll be comfortable doing it!
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I am not 100% dedicated yet, but I am considering it. Apart from the visual mods the car was already finished.
Team Supreme Cream
(Team Two Mothertrucking Idiots was unavailable due to being in America)
Drivers:
Ulrich Reichenbacher
Former Helicopter Pilot with mechanical training. Responsible for the car. Used to be a hoon, now occasionally competes in slalom races (the german equivalent of Autocross) using a highly modified 1990 Barricada Solara Turbo.
Private Weapon of choice: Bonham Chaucer 2.0T Estate, 1999 Erin Scarlet Lex (Mk.III)
Klaus Kammler
Descendant of famous Architect and SS General Hans Kammler, Klaus Kammler means business just as his forefather, but not in quite such an evil way. He is in fact a former Kart racer turned Junior rallye driver turned insurance inspector. As a result he is a master at non-stop long distance driving and quite adept at handling a car on rough terrain. At least he used to 12 years ago. Basic mechanical skills.
Private Weapon of choice: Impakt SW200D, 2.0L Straight Six Diesel, 165hp, 8-speed Automatic transmission, split folding rear seats, 60mpg.
Car: 
A 1988 AMCC Gauntlet Quadtech, which somehow lived its first life as a Taxicab in Germany. How this canadian 3.0L Straight Six ended up in this situation is not clear. What is clear is that the engine once produced 165hp, mated to a 4-speed automatic transmission and simple FWD system. What is also clear is that the car has been meticulously maintained over its 542,466km life and just recently had its timing belt and brakes renewed. As a result the Team had to pay $10,328 for the car, some of which was returned by removing and selling off unnecessary bits and the A/C compressor, since most of these didn’t work anyway (Is this allowed? lol).
Driver’s impressions:
Ulrich
- Rust free, understressed engine, full service history, incredible straight line stability due to the heavy straight six over the front axle
Klaus
- It’s not particularly pretty, not particularly fast, fairly terrible handling thanks mostly to cheap tires and surprisingly inefficient for a relatively modern 24V engine with Multiport Injection. But it should be reliable.
Starting budget: $15,000
Car: - $9,635
Pre Race Balance: $5,365
12 Likes