Ah, good old Bennypira. The best band to ever exist.
3 Likes
I mean, they were famous with their advert jingle for Dr. Dangoths.
3 Likes
PART 4 - MIDNIGHT - 4 AM
It is obvious now that Thomas Nilfert more or less have to wrestle the large, heavy Globus around the rather crowded track, it is really not an optimal choice of car, if seen only from that standpoint. Another beast that seems to be a struggle around the track is the ARVA. The VerBanka now needs refuelling. The Mara, on the other hand, has just been in for one and leaves pits in a smokeshow.
The Cutter drifts through a corner in a spectacular way that probably costs it some time though. The DAW is plowing through another corner, only to almost lose control by sudden liftoff oversteer instead. The WAZ barely avoids hitting it. That in turn blocks any possibilities for the Cago to pass for a while. The Qua starts to sputter due to lack of fuel and has to go in for refuelling. The Brunelle does a slight push on the Torrento that doesn’t seem to do much damage to any of the cars. But then in turn the Vortex hits the Brunelle. It sends some debris flying, and the Brunelle looks rather sad, but it seems like it can continue racing anyway. Mat in the VerBanka takes it easy through that cloud of dust.
The Cago has been driving rather fast for a while but that means taking higher risks, and now it hits the Torrento rather hard. The Cago has to do a pitstop to beat a little bit on the bent up front fenders that are now rubbing the wheels. We have seen this before it feels like - the Bricksley doing some guardrail scraping. Almost as a replay, the ARVA does an identical maneuver just after it. The Phoenix goes in for refuelling. The driver of the Ishii seems to overestimate the grip, doing a wide drift through a corner.
The Torrento does some rail scraping without too much visible damage. The Cutter has to brake not to hit it. The DAW on the other hand barely avoids it after plowing straight in a corner. The Cago has a kind of hard time to pass the DAW. We get a report that one of the front strut top bearings on the Qua is shot, which leads to a pitstop for changing it. The Brunelle comes into a rather nasty counterskid that Romain Frémont has a hard time sorting out. The Mishuto then hits the WAZ, sending it spinning. The VerBanka then taps the Cago lightly.
The Qua tries to avoid a skidding Mishuto that once again uses the handbrake to counteract understeer. However, the result is hitting the VerBanka instead. That encounter does not cause too much drama, though. More drama is caused by the DAW hitting the much larger Bricksley. Somehow, the Bricksely has taken a bit to much earlier from all the crashing, and now stands with a bent frame and is out of the race. The exocage of the DAW seems to have been working well, though. Still, the DAW is taken in for a checkup as well as a fuel stop, but it seems to be OK and we hear the team cheering about “I can’t believe how good Patrik Lindvall is at welding!”. To add some insult to the injury, the Torrento sideswipes the now stationary Bricksley before it has started rolling back to the pits, sending some body panels from the Torrento flying. The Vortex goes in for refuelling. Unfortunately, while going in for refuelling, the team observes that the engine is pissing coolant, which is tracked to being one of the core plugs in the engine that has a rust hole in it. They manage to patch it up with some JB-weld but doing that “properly” + some troubles bleeding the cooling system leads to a rather long pitstop. The Brunelle slides slightly through a corner.
The Cutter exits the pits with a wild skid after a fuel stop. The Mishuto has to brake not to hit it. The DAW gives the Globus a little tap, which doesn’t seem to affect the cars at all. The Torrento manages to slow down in time to not hit the DAW. Shortly after that, it goes in to refuel.The Vortex spins its tyres slightly after leaving the pits for the core plug repair. The Mara takes a corner a bit wide, so does the ARVA following it. For some unknown reason the Sedlak seems to be drifting towards the Globus which ends with a skid for the Sedlak, though without hitting any car or object. The Ishii has to slow down to not hit it.
The Cutter loses the grip in a corner and spins around. The Mishuto swipes the rail slightly.The Qua gives the DAW a slight tap, but without any major damage to the cars. Somehow the DAW still spins around, stalls and has a hard time getting started again. The Torrento has to swerve to not hit the stationary DAW, as well as the WAZ and Cago. The ARVA comes next, but that attempt results in a spinout.
Some guardrail scraping by the Cutter means that the rear bumper is now hanging on only one bolt, so a visit in the pits later, it is removed altogether. The Torrento swerves to avoid debris on the track from the Cutter. The WAZ spins around after taking a corner too fast. That means the Mara coming behind it has to slow down. The ARVA swipes the rail so badly that a door gets torn off, hanging on only one bolt and there is some arguing in the pits about how to best get it back. The next car to hit the rail, front first, is the Brunelle, and with the engine bay now the size to fit a moped engine, they give up this race. Suspiciously enough, the Sedlak once again drifts towards the Globus, and spins out.
With 8 hours left of the race, the standings are as follows:
-
Team off the books - Flint - Lap # 1063 @oldmanbuick (0)
-
The rot - Ishii - Lap # 1042 @Chaedder (+1)
-
The Interceptors - Mara - Lap # 1041 @AndiD (-1)
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The Rhinos - Globus - Lap #1012 @Happyhungryhippo (+1)
-
Team PhirmEggPlant - Mishuto - Lap # 1011 @PhirmEggplant (-1)
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Seinäjoki speed freaks - Sedlak - Lap #1006 @Nicxv (0)
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Три Полоски Racing Team - WAZ - Lap #998 @0rangeghost (0)
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Team Bowling - DAW - Lap #989 @Djadania (0)
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Team Chitco - VerBanka - Lap #977 @MrdjaNikolen (+1)
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Team Vortex - Vortex - Lap # 963 @George (-1)
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Team Marian’s Dream - Phoenix - Lap #953 @Tailgate_sniffer (+1)
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Team Vet Inte - Cago - Lap #943 @06DPA (+1)
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Bugs in the Code - Torrento - Lap #918 @Fayeding_spray & @Leone(+1)
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Team Left for dead - Cutter - Lap # 902 @stm316 (+3)
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HeltR SkeltR & Marcel - Brunelle - Lap #895 (DNF) @Dildoplocus (0)
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Team Trafikjournalen - ARVA - Lap #880 @Knugcab (-2)
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Y.E.A.R. - Qua - Lap #875 @Angelustyle (+2)
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The Highway Hooligans - Bricksley - Lap #837 (DNF) @Madrias (-2)
-
A wing and a prayer - Astral - Lap # 736 (DNF) @Rambow (-8)
8 Likes
Team Highway Hooligans
Race, Midnight to 4 AM
Trevor takes over at the midnight driver change, taking two shakedown laps to figure out how much of a rolling wreck he’d “inherited” from Cody’s spirited driving. Deciding the car was “good enough,” he puts the hammer down and lets their turbocharged I5 sing, tires squealing around every corner like a 1970’s cop chase movie.
About an hour in, Trevor’s decision to push the car harder leaves him riding the guardrail around one corner, and the ARVA does the same behind him, both cars managing to carry a little more speed through that corner than usual at the expense of the paint and the bodywork.
The engine roars as Trevor tries to make up some ground, tires squealing as the battered old heavyweight meant for hauling people around town instead has to haul ass around the track.
However, all good things must come to an end. When the DAW shunts itself into the left rear quarter panel of the Bricksley, Trevor knows the car’s already run the last lap it’ll do today. The sound of the driveshaft rubbing on the chassis tunnel is more than enough to let him know, even as the car rolls to a stop, that the frame is bent.
“Hey, jackass! Thanks for using my car as your brake. Assholes!” Trevor yells into the radio as the DAW retreats, exo-cage still intact. (@Djadania for the mention.)
As Trevor tries to get the poor I5 started again to limp the mortally wounded Bricksley into the pits, he gets sideswiped by the Torrento.
“For fuck’s sake, it’s not like our car is stealth-fucking-black!” (@Fayeding_Spray & @Leone )
Eventually, the tow truck hauls the bananaed Bricksley into the pit lane, and Jake, Cody, and a reluctant-but-sleepy Scott try to diagnose how to fix it.
Trevor calmly explains, “About the only way we’re going to be able to fix it would be to request Kasiya to come here and bend it back. The DAW torpedoed us, frame’s bent, we’re done.”
Scott growls and rummages through the toolbox, starting first by slinging wrenches at the DAW as it passes by the pit lane, trying to shatter the windshield to knock it out of the race, before grabbing the big sledgehammer and resting it on his shoulder as he walks over to the rest of their team.
“Which one of you drives next?” Scott demands, claws out and leaving scratches in the wooden handle of the hammer.
“Whoa, whoa whoa, hold up there, Scott,” Jake says, jogging over to defuse the situation as much as he can. “I’m sure that was just an accident.”
“Right… Because welding a cage around the car is an accident…” Scott growls.
“Dude, come on, you’re going to get us thrown out of the track,” Jake pleads. “First the wrenches, and now this…”
Scott whirls around and grabs Jake’s shoulder, then walks the two back over to the Bricksley. “Right. So what have I gotten to do, then? You brought me out here to race and yet the car is done, long before my time to shine. You brought me here because I had the most experience driving one of these in anger. So let me drive IN ANGER, damn it, because this car is not done yet!”
“Frame’s bent, Scott, and we can’t straighten it,” Trevor replies.
“I swear by the Half-Dead Sun, it’s drivable,” Scott retorts, looking at the damage for himself. When he sees the driveshaft, however, is touching the frame rail, his anger reignites.
“I’m going to kill them.”
“No, you’re going to stay right here and calm down,” Cody says. “Last time a Hooligan lost their temper like that, they got hard time in an Oregon jail. We don’t need to try dealing with getting you out of a Swedish jail.”
Scott growls, then slams the sledgehammer down on the roof of the Bricksley, caving in the section where the rear seats would go.
“FUCK!”
“Sorry to have wasted the trip, man,” Trevor says. “I thought we had it.”
And so ends the Highway Hooligans’ run.
Team interactions will still be available… But we’re definitely not racing anymore.
4 Likes
And as usual…strategy change plans and such, deadline monday 5 PM CET.
2 Likes
Romain Frémont manages to get the Brunelle back to the pits. Robert welcomes him with a punch in the face :
“- What the hell did you do !!?? My beauty ! You wrecked it ! I’m gonna wreck you 'cause now we fucking can’t finish that race for fuck’s sake ! Come here. Come here you little shit !!”
Romain runs through the pits, making things from everyone’s pit fall on the ground to slow down Robert, and manages to lose him.
Robert, out of his mind, grabs the first heavy tool that he finds : a spare part from the DAW’s external rollcage. He power walks back to the Brunelle and starts knocking hard on the front frame’s interior, trying to bend it back to a better shape. It does one thing : a hole in the radiator. He yells mean things to the car and for the attention of Romain.
While everyone around is looking at his madness, wondering how to calm him, Robert gets a strap and starts tying a knot around the Brunelle’s front frame. He goes to the guardrail across from the pit lane and ties the other end of the strap there. People start worrying as it will obstruct any pit stop from the remaining competitors.
Robert gets in the Brunelle, struggles starting it, eventually making it happen, and begins manoeuvring to be sideways, facing the guardrail. He revs the engine to the top, releases the clutch, and the car burns out it reverse, progressively stretching the strap, until it gets to its full capacity. The guardail bends in a loud metal bang, but Robert keeps accelerating. To the surprise of everyone watching, the guardrail holds on, but what breaks is the front frame of the Brunelle, releasing the tension from the strap, and sending the car slamming its rear end into the pit building.
As the cloud of smoke dissipates, and in the silence of a stalled engine, people gathering around look in the cockpit and find Robert, collapsed on the steering wheel, crying all his frustration out. He definitely could use a drink…
Seeing that her father has no other bruise than his usual mental ones, Mary sneaks back out of the situation, hoping not to cross his father’s path for the next hours. She finds Rémi with his cellphone in his hand :
“- I just had Romain on the phone, is your dad okay ?”
“- Yeah… I mean, he’s sad and made a pretty mess in the pit, but he’ll be ok… We should let him alone for a moment, it’s not a good idea for us to go and see him, it will just gets him on his nerves again. I hope someone will be kind enough to bring him some alcohol, only this will work…”
“- Okay… Well he’ll definitely have what he wants, at least tonight ! I have to bring a first aid kit to Romain, he’s on the other side of the track, watching the show, wanna come with me ?”
“- Yes, let’s do this ! Thank you Rémi for being so kind.”
“- Haha don’t worry, I just wish I wasn’t such a non-social person, there seem to be nice people racing with us, some look weird but… Don’t we all, kind of ?”
To be continued at the post-race…
Quickly mentioning kind of everyone (sorry for the mess, I still hope it slows you down 
), and @Djadania thanks for the spare part, if you’re looking for it, it’s somewhere around HeltR SkeltR & Marcel pit…
PS : the “tool” used to bend the frame, where it came from, and what bends and breaks in the end, all this has been randomly chosen from a quick list I made (4 kinds of tool, the 19 teams, and twice a choice between the front frame, the strap and the guardail). In the end I really like what the dice gave me^^
6 Likes
Nothing to lose, all to win. Use the gas pedal to its fullest potential. Aggression is key.
3 Likes
Team Off-the-Books, midnight to 2 am
At midnight, Sam Prescott pulled back into the pits for a driver change, looking exhausted but joyous after completing her 6th hour driving over a 12 hour stretch. She hopped out of the car and pulled off her helmet as Hank approached.
“So, am I going to have to talk you into it this time?”
Hank chuckled. “No, I think I got that out of my system!”
“Good. Now get going! I’m going to get a bite to eat and them will be off to wake up Hans and get some sleep myself.”
Hank hopped into the Flint and drove off. This time, he managed to not come inches away from a crash. But as he pulled out of the pits, he thought about the earlier incident.
“Good old Fred,” he thought to himself. “I hope he’s enjoying Florida.”
At about 1 am, Hans’s voice crackled over Hank’s radio.
“Hank, how are you doing out there? Sam told me you were a little stressed out earlier.”
It had been smooth sailing for Hank for the past hour. Of course, there was still plenty of chaos on the track to go around, but every time he managed to stay out of trouble while cars went crashing around the track, he actually got more confident.”
“Yeah…that was not my proudest moment. But I’m good. It’s just that this isn’t exactly my classic car club out here.”
Hans chuckled. “That’s for sure.”
“I mean,” Hank continued, “some of these people out here are real maniacs. Have you seen that Finnish kid? And that German guy? Lots of yelling to go around.”
“You know,” said Hans, “I think I know that German guy you’re talking about. And I actually think I know him.”
“You do?”
“Yes…what was his name…Tom! We used to race together on Group A. Turbo Tom! That’s what everybody called him.”
“Was he called Turbo Tom because he was fast?”
Hans chuckled. “Well, no, it was a bit of irony. He and I were often duking it out near the back of the pack. That damn Contender was good on the straights, but you basically had to stop it to round a corner. We traded some paint and some trash talk back then. Don’t worry about him. His bark is worse than his bite, if you ask me.”
“If you say so. But I think he’s out here on the track now.”
“Is he? Well, unless he goes back into the pits, I guess I’ll be getting a chance to race against him soon. I’ll sub in for you at 2 am, Hank.”
Collaboration with @Happyhungryhippo to be continued…
3 Likes
Part 8: A mess and it isn´t even caused by Thomas or Chanty!
*including TOTB by @oldmanbuick, Highway Hooligans by @Madrias and HRSR&M by @Dildoplocus, mentioning Team Bowling by @Djadania and Speed Freaks by @nicxv *
While Chantal and Jan were asleep, with her firmly cuddling against him, Thomas was fighting against the Globus out on the track.
“HOW ARE COPS SUPPOSED TO CATCH ANYONE WITH THIS? Ah I forgot, in the USA its just straight lines anyway…”
But no matter how hard he tried, the Mara was not to get, but at least Thomas noticed that he closed up on the Mishuto which left some time in incidents.
In one of the incidents that started to increase, the Hooligans were out of the race.
Thomas: "Eeeeh, Hooligans, you might need some beer after the race - feel free to get that. I`ll go straight to bed after Chantal takes over, but will be back for the finish.
Scott: “I prefer the Chili Wodka that my teammates told me about.”
Thomas: “MAYBE I managed to smuggle some of it to Sweden…”
Cody: “The fuck Thomas, YOU TELL US THAT NOW? NOW? You visited us already AND DIDNT BRING IT WITH YOU?”
Thomas: “I wanted to save it for special moments, when it is needed the most, and looking at your car I was right about that.”
Cody: “Yeah, geezer, fuck you too.”
Thomas: “I don´t have a free hand right now, even if it´s an automatic, sorry to disappoint you, you dickhead.”
Scott: “Whatever you do with your hands out there, don´t forget to wash them before giving me the bottle!”
Soon after, the DAW`s exocage banged with the Globus, but the heavy police cruiser was more or less unimpressed by the light opponent.
Thomas: “Ugh, good to see that driver behind bars, whoever invented this has to be locked up anyway!”
Scott: “Nah, he doesn’t need to be behind bars - he needs a padded cell.”
Half an hour later, there was more of a threat - the Sedlak with a furious Mikko Harjanne at the wheel has now the perfect opportunity for revenge, as Thomas accellerated too hard out of a corner and has to deal with an one-tire-fire at the exit. Mikko aimed directly at the rear quarter and the wheel, propably an attempt to bend the rear axle of the Globus.
“TURBO-TOM, WATCH OUT! SEDLAK FROM BEHIND”
Thomas noticed the Sedlak, and braked hard, Mikko tried to avoid the guardrail, which he did, but spun out - at least without hitting anyone.
Thomas: “Thanks, but who was that? I wasn´t called Turbo-Tom in a while…”
Hans: “You´re not senile, think about it…”
Thomas: “What, you are THAT Hans Gustavson? Straightaway Hans? From Group A?"
Hans: “Hey, that nickname was only because that old Contender couldn’t corner! Kind of like that boat you’re driving!”
Thomas: “My boat!? What do you call that thing you’re driving?”
Hans: "A winner! And too bad you’ve always been better at defense than at driving consistently, because last I checked, my team had more than a few laps on you. Now speed up, or I lap you once again.”
Thomas: “Forget about it!”
But, not only is the Flint superior in handling, Hans Gustavson is also the slightly better driver, although Thomas managed to make a quite good impression in this event.
Hans: “Haha, I hope you are better at the wrench than at the steering wheel, otherwise I feel sorry for your customers.”
Thomas: “Ooooh, wait for it, after the race I will show you how good I am at wrenches!”
Hans: “Is that a threat, or what?”
Thomas: “Oh, that´s your coward interpretation of it. From my side, it´s just a promise…”
Hans: “I am looking foward to it, let´s see if you can drink as good as back then.”
Thomas: “You bet.”
Hans: “I hoped that you were going to say this. Maybe a duel between us that you can finally win.”
And, bad for Mikko, after the failed attempt, Thomas now had the rear mirror (the side mirrors were gone but there was still the interior mirror left) always in check.
At almost 4AM, Chantal woke up from a nightmare, and wanted to have a smoke and check the pit lane for what´s up. She came just in time to withness a real mess. Robert punches Romain, and Chantal hid immediately behind a tire stack, since the violence gave her flashbacks from being bullyed and beaten up at school. Robert chasing Romain with an iron rod made it much worse, since that reminded her of running away but being, with her very chubby figure, being too slow to escape.
Romain even used one tire of the stack to throw it in the way of Robert, who fell over it. Chanty already thought of being killed with that rod, but… Robert didn´t care for her at all, since he focussed on Romain. Instead, the sight of a very scared Chantal made Robert put his behaiviour in question, and he returned to his Brunelle, letting the anger out on the car in a desperate attempt to make it run again - but without success, instead, he slammed it into the pit wall.
Chanty, having recovered from the flashbacks, now stepped to the wreck that barely missed her, being everything but pleased about being put into stress by Robert.
Chantal: “DAMN, WHATEVER WASN´T BROKEN ON THIS CAR BEFORE YOU GOT IN IT, IS DEFINITELY NOW”
But Robert… was just crying behind the wheel, and since Chanty is an empath, her mood cooled down, and … she felt sorry for him.
Chantal: “Eh, I mean,… don´t you have insurance?..”
Robert: “NO INSURANCE PAYS ON A RACE TRACK! AND WORST OF ALL, THIS CAR IS IRREPLACEABLE!”
Chantal, sometimes not the brightest in interacting with others, started asking dumb questions instead letting Robert in peace…
Chantal: “But, why do you use it for such a race then?”
Jan: “Says the girl that cried for months because she trashed her first car in the 24h…”
Chantal: “Oh, what are you doing here?”
Jan: “I heard a loud bang, you were not in bed, and I guessed that you had something to do with it…”
Chantal: “YOU ARE MEAN!”
Robert: “WOULD YOU PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE NOW? FUCK, I NEED WHISKY!”
Chantal: “I mean, that´s easy to fix, we got enough of that, and I guess my father will throw some party anyway…”
Out on the track, Thomas managed to pass the Mishuto, finally, but at the same time also the Sedlak, which made another ramming attempt, and Thomas reacted by first dodging to the left, so Mikko adjusted the course of his czech missile… just to find out that Thomas made, after the minimal turn to the left, already a hard right and a full stop, so that Mikko spun out once again in order to avoid the guardrail, and stepped into the Thomas trap once again.
Hans: “Damn, you fooled me already in Group A with that. Passing you was so hard as if you had training wheels attatched to your car.”
Thomas: “I hope that finnish brat didn´t look too close at it, I would hate it if he learns something from me.”
Hans: “Seems he already learned trashing the car from you, this thing looks quite sad…”
Thomas: “Nah, that was caused by my daughter.”
Hans: “Paternity test is wasted money then.”
Thomas: "Because she is such a beauty and looks as good as me?
Hans: Well, Thomas, to express it in your words: This is your interpretation…
6 Likes
Y.E.A.R.
Last Episode (“Messy Sailing for a Messy María; Radio Problems Plague the Team”)
Race Episode 4:"Ángel's Mind Reading Retaliates, another Radio Incident occurs, and some Somber News from María are given"
Midnight.
Just as Midnight arrives, Ángel Yukobaiyaroslavl gets in his seat, feeling even more nervous than usual. No wonder why he is so nervous, after all, Mikko is driving out there. So Ángel attempts to communicate with him to try and apologize for the Radio Incident earlier.
Ángel:“Y.E.A.R. to Speed Freaks, Y.E.A.R. to Speed Freaks, Ángel speaking. Sorry for the incident earlier in the radio, I seriously don’t know what happens with our radio. But we’ll attempt it not to happen again. Sorry for the incident, hope you…”
Mikko:“SHUT THE FUCK UP ! SILLY RUSSIAN I SWEAR I’M GONNA…!”
Ángel turns off the radio in that instant, and changes back to his team channel.
Kanna:“Whoever you pissed, you pissed off quite badly.”
Ángel:“I’m not starting yet, as soon as Mikko passes this wall, I’m going.”
Catherine:“Good luck milksweet ! If it is for you that we DNF, Imma cry all night…”
Ángel:“That won’t happen.”
The Sedlak passes the Pit Wall, and Ángel gives Mikko a last message before setting off.
Ángel:“OK, Mikko. If it ain’t us taking you down, it’ll be your own rage towards us. Imma not say anything else… Hope you understand what I mean with this, and if not, well, it’s on you.”
And before Mikko can answer, Ángel switches back to Y.E.A.R’s Channel, and sets off as aggressively as always. For as much as Mikko looked far more professional than his more Eastern Counterpart, Ángel was simply better at staying out of trouble… That would show on Y.E.A.R.'s next stint.
Not much later…
Ángel’s driving was… Superb. He was very uncautions and unruly, but still he wasn’t all aggression and actually had the skill to handle the tricky handling of the Qua, even drifting it at corners perhaps. Sure, a fuel stop has slowed his pace a bit, but he’s doing fine till now.
But then…
Ángel:“Uhm… G-Girls… I feel an awkward vibration… I’m going to the pits for a moment.”
Catherine:“Don’t worry, Milksweet, we’ll get that fixed !”
María:“You better do…”
Said María, coming out of her own misery in the bathroom. Her night wasn’t turning any smoother though. You could see María starting to become quite pale…
Catherine:“Why is that ? No pressure on us, Miss Business !”
María:“Because… Uhm… I don’t know if telling you or not…”
Catherine:“You know anything you tell me will keep a secret if you want…same for the rest of us. But you’ll have to drag me somewhere where nobody can see us.”
Behind the garages, María finally gets the chance to… Release herself from all the stress.
Catherine:“So, what is it ?”
María:“My bosses threatened me. They don’t want me anymore. If I loose my job I’ll loose everything I have ! Everything I’ve worked so hard for in my 5 years !”
Catherine:“…Oh…”
María:“I think you can see why am I so stressed. It’s not only my Lactose Intolerance annoying me all day, it’s my current situation with the job…”
Catherine:“Calm down María… You’ve got us on your side.”
María:“But… What I’m going to do after I loose my job if I do ? Getting a similar job for lesser pay in Hokkaido is… Difficult, if not impossible. Even more difficult with my history.”
Catherine:“Well… You can always have a next chance. If you get fired, I’ll give you my apartment in Kitakyushu. It’s not like I use it anymore, I live with Ángel now.”
As María and Catherine had this mini-soap opera, Kanna and Ángel were fixing the car… Kanna attempted her best, but eventually she gave control to Ángel over the repairs… Teams were astonished to see THE DRIVER himself fixing his own car as he was on the track. However, just as that happens, Ángel suffers his usual problem…
The bane of his existence.
The thing that gave him so much pain all across this year’s Shitbox Rally… And what catapulted him to protagonism.
MIND READING ATTACKS !
It’s super effective !
Cody:“Awww, shit, not again…”
The guy covers his head, and yells of pain as he falls to the floor on the pit box, as he accidentally reads Cody’s mind. Lucky for them both, he doesn’t find anything relevant, but he stays there for almost 5 minutes, before he weakly gets back on his feat and continues working… As he does, he thinks… “Interestingly, I haven’t had this sort of incidents since a while ago… Hm… Maybe the defectiveness is being more merciful than usual”.
In a matter of minutes, they get the Qua going again, still in last place… But that wouldn’t last for long, as just a few minutes after that…
Kanna:“We are officially ahead of the Astral, which has DNFd.”
Ángel:“Good. I guess. I feel bad for Danver though.”
And after that, the game was on. Ángel tries to avoid the Mishuto, but hits the VerBanka. He once again has to do talking on the radio…
Ángel:“My bad, my bad. Didn’t meant to, sorry, I was trying to avoid these guys in the Mishuto. Still I think your car suffered less than ours, ours is a piece of paper in a world of bricks.”
That phrase wouldn’t stand for long however, as not much later, Kanna gave Ángel some interesting news on the Radio…
Kanna:“The Hooligans in the Bricksley are OUT !”
Ángel:“Awwww, man… And I who wanted a lot to race with them. Oh, well, that’s what happens when you race María.”
Kanna:“Who knows ? Karma may have gotten them back.”
Ángel:“Hehe, yeah… Also, Kanna, keep in mind, you drive next ! You sure you can stay OK after that all-nighter ?”
Kanna:“I can, Ángel, I can…”
Ángel:“Good !”
Ángel later gave a tap to the DAW, but it was overall an uneventful hit. He once again gets to talk with them…
Ángel:“Look, I’m really sorry, again. Didn’t meant to hit you guys. With that exocage, I’m sure you don’t mind at all though.”
Before 3:30 AM, Catherine and María come back. And tell Kanna about María’s current job situation. In response to that, Kanna decides to tell Ángel, in order for them to increase caution. However, the Radio plays up once more, again with the Speed Freaks… And Mikko gets to hear all of that.
Kanna:“Kanna, to Ángel.”
Ángel:“Go on.”
Kanna:“We uh… We got some news. María apparently can loose her job if we DNF.”
Ángel:“DNF for what ? Any reason ?”
Kanna:“Yeah, any reason. She’s been nervous all night because of that.”
Ángel:“Her bosses are mad at her… But we won’t allow it ! You can hear me big sister ? We won’t allow any unfair thing happen to you ! Sure, you have done us a lot too, but, we don’t want you to pass thru this so badly.”
María:“Awwwww, thanks…”
Ángel:“Anyway… Kanna, you drive next.”
Akseli:“Uhhhh, guys, you’re on our channel again…”
Ángel:“Oh ! S-Sorry again, Akseli… Hey, Kanna, solve that !”
Kanna:“Will do. Hang on.”
Mikko:“Akseli, you moron ! You’re disallowing me to spy on their…”
His voice would cut once Y.E.A.R. corrected their communication issues for the second time that night. But it wouldn’t matter. He now knew María’s Secret.
And as Kanna heard that, she got her hand covering her mouth… Now the secret was open… And Mikko had the advantage over them now… Worse still, Kanna, the team’s second worst driver was driving next, and after her, the WORST driver, Hou.
María once again, cried… What is that Finnish Brat gonna do next ?
Seeing how the Sedlak slided all the way to the Globus on the corners, it did seem that the future on her life was bleak…
Current Status of… The Car !
- One Strut Top went bust, but it was fixed.
- Instrumentation and Radio now showing signs of failure…
- Front Bumper hanging, Mirrors gone, Tail Lights working intermittently.
Repairs/Modifications/Inspection: Replacement of Strut Top. Radio Problems can still be fixed quite easily, but not permanently, so whenever they happen, they are fixed. Duck taped bumper. Minor Electrical Fixes.
Current Status of… The Team !
Ryoga: Sleeping peacefully.
Catherine: Happy to have her boyfriend back. She’s extraordinarily hungry (no seriously, she will eat anything), and tired though, wanting to head over and sleep too.
María: So nervous, so sick, but wanting to head over to sleep…
Ángel: Happy, but tired. So much so, that his Mechanical Skill dropped by 1 on the entirety of the next stint.
Kanna: Happy, but extraordinarily tired. Skill drops to 1. At the same time, aware of the need for caution. So caution increases by 1.
Hou: Sleeping blissfully.
Collabed with @nicxv , and mentioning @Rambow , @PhirmEggplant @Madrias , @Djadania and @MrdjaNikolen . Most characters open for some RP, so just ask.
4 Likes
stop pinging me, i already know that you d’n’d dice-rolled me out of the session, you dont gotta remind me every week.
Will do.
1 Like
Team Chitco
Part 2
On the track
Mat and Pedro will put all their might for these four hours and hope that race will be going as well as it did so far.
Mat will have tad bit easier job due to solid time spent refueling the car and checking some stuff, so Michaelina doesn’t get bored away.
AND
It’s not like he really needed to rest in the first 30 minutes of his stint.
This will come in handy however, as following 30 minutes were marked by some cars deciding to bonk into each other. Being as fresh as possible in this stage of race, Mat avoids being included in this group. Windshield is all dusty, however.
Second part of his stint resulted in incorrectly judged braking distance, no doubt contributed by dustiness applied tad bit more than 30 minutes ago
Radio chatter:
“Sorry about that, had some dust on the windshield from earlier…”
But as much as it was thin, bumper on Cago was effective in sorting this out.
Pedro also had close encounter with someone, but it wasn’t his fault
Pedro thought to respond, but recalled how Mat’s lapse of judgement at the end of his stint resulted in brush with Cago.
Also how this guy drove for more than said Mat at this point, so he waved it away.
Mentioned in this part:
Team Vet Inte - @06DPA
YEAR - @Angelustyle
In the pits, there is a BANG!
We will start with where it genuinely started regarding this part
- Bricksley is out of the race.
- Oh…shall we celebrate or not?
- Nope, we are chatting with Jake from that team in TND and…they are good bunch.
Chicota decided to think about it before asking important question
- Do they seem like kind of people that might enjoy a beer or two?
- Probably. Wouldn’t hurt to ask.
So that’s exactly what Chicota decided to do, hauling few crates for starters.
This is at about time when Scott hopelessly tried to convince the others car can still drive…and before he himself took a peek under the car.
Chicota was about to announce his intentions, without delving too much into what they might be saying at that point, when Scott decided to show both his strength and extent of anger.
Needless to say, this was very convincing reason for Chicota to not press the matter further.
Raufoss heard rather violent and very loud noise, which prompted him to get his rifle out.
Probably an overkill, seeing that it’s Barrett M82 that we are talking about, but it is rifle he has.
Needless to say, Chicota conveniently returned in timely manner, informing him that “shot” Raufoss heard isn’t something that requires Barrett to solve.
Here is what was misinterpreted as shot:
Justified, as someone very strong, very angry and equipped with big sledgehammer is likely going to cause massive bang when directing said sledgehammer towards some steel…all of these criteria Scott met at that point.
In the pits, tears and beer hit the floor
Romain Fremont has experienced very troubling situation of being chased by two people from two teams after their Brunelle got DNFed and chase has started.
Besides Robert to whom crashed Brunelle originally belonged, he would be also chased by Chicota to whom beer he crashed on floor belonged. He crashed few beer bottles after tipping few beer crates over to stop (or at least slow down) Robert.
Romain did managed to make sufficient distance between himself and chasing party, in any case enough for both to lose (Chicota) or redirect (Robert) the temper.
Some time later:
- I think this might contribute off your expertise, Sora…
- Why?
- I…really don’t think that guy had worn a seatbelt when reversing into the building.
- He wasn’t going THAT fast.
- And you aren’t really doing much anyway. Also Chicota might also go to apologise to dude he attempted to chase because of few beer bottles.
- I now have less beer to drink. And it’s a waste of beer.
- And he tried to use it to avoid receiving absolute beatdown by that black guy. He was likely just as angry as that panther-like guy.
Andrea had recollected the memories
- Scott. Needed some time to remember his name. Will get you your beer if it means that much to you…also, they are out of race so you shall check if some beer might help the nerves.
Suddenly Chicota was more than happy to accompany Sora on the way towards those pits, with some “medicine” of his own.
- Ok, we are here and he is crying and…where tf is rest of his team?
- We can wait until he calms down
- Really?
- He doesn’t seem to be hurt, but might be intimidated by your height, so I’m staying here with you
- Makes sense.
Chicota would seem to be having only about 80ish kg based on his thin build, but in fact having entire 100kg. While he doesn’t seem intimidating otherwise, he is 2m tall, hence Sora’s commentary.
Mentioned:
Highway Hooligans - @Madrias (In the pits, there is a BANG!)
HeltR SkeltR & Marcel - @Dildoplocus (In the pits, tears and beer hit the floor)
Team Chitco at 4am
Edward and Pedro are preparing to swap seats in VerBanka.
Pedro’s children are sleeping
Mat is in our pits
Raufoss is sleeping as well. Don’t worry, he put his gun away in vast meantime
Chicota and Sora are in pits of HeltR SkeltR & Marcel team, along with Chanty and Jan from Team Rhinos. Chicota will see if his beer can help Robert and Sora was sent to see if he isn’t physically hurt.
Andrea and Pi are not aware of above paragraph and are arguing with Michaelina about Daniloski and VerBanka brands
Mentioned:
Hippos - @Happyhungryhippo (except Thomas, who is on the track)
HeltR SkeltR & Marcel - Dildoplocus
5 Likes
TEAM TRAFIKJOURNALEN - MIDNIGHT TO 4 AM
“For fuck’s sake”, Filip Andersson said. “Hansen can’t drive!”
“I am kind of impressed how someone that drives so slow can drive so bad”, Erik Carlén answered, commenting on Hansen’s driving, trying to wrestle the Archanan beast through the track.
“Damn”, Hansen thought behind the wheel. “I REALLY have my hands full controlling this POS. WTF was I thinking when buying this piece of shit?”
“What the fuck were you thinking when buying this piece of shit?”, the radio suddenly buzzed.
“Hey!”, Hansen answered. “Thanks for pouring salt into my wounds!”
It was after all calm for a while. Hansen tried to follow the Bricksley, and…followed it. With a bang into the guardrail. Oh well. Other than that, calm. Until he saw the battle of the dwarves or something. The Qua tapping the exocage of the DAW. The DAW spinning around. Just waiting for the Torrento, the WAZ or the Cago to take the brunt of the impact, which never happened. The DAW being stalled on the track and…
“Oh shit!!!”
The DAW still being stationary meant that a rather fast maneuvre of swerving to avoid it had to be done. Which of course ended well. Or maybe less so, with the ARVA spinning around.
“What the fuck is he doing?”
The question was even more relevant a bit later. Suddenly in a corner, the rear door of the ARVA swung open, going into the guardrail which almost tore the door off. Rolling into the pits with the door attached to only one bolt, Andersson and Carlén sighed deeply.
“How come the car looks like it has been ran over by a monster truck despite you driving, like, 22 km/h?”, Andersson asked.
“How are we supposed to fix this?”, Carlén continued.
Inspecting the car, it was pretty clear that the rear door was shot to say the least. Somehow the latch must have failed in the corner, meaning some really hard contact between the door and guardrail. How that managed to break the hinges loose, well, let that remain a mystery, but there was nothing more to do than to remove the door completely. However, Hansen was still positive about a repair being possible.
“What kind of a weird idea do you have now?”, Andersson sighed, while Hansen went over to the Hooligans and their wrecked Bricksley.
“Oh well, seems like there is some drama surrounding the Brunelle now too”, Carlén said while waiting.
But anyway. With the ARVA now having a gaping hole where there once had been a door, there was a problem that needed to be solved. Having a “bright” idea as usual, Hansen saw the stranded Bricksley over at the Hooligans space in the pits. Taking a battery powered hacksaw with him, he went to the Hooligans and looked at the now banana shaped Bricksley.
“Ehm…excuse me. I guess this thing won’t be driving again, right?”
Jake looks over at Hansen, then shrugs. “Nope. We even talked with the officials about “just drivin’ it until it breaks completely,” but they said “No” to that.”
“Some bullshit about health and safety,” Trevor grumbles. “If you need sheet metal, there’s the roof, the trunk lid, and most of our hood available.”
Hansen laughed. “So…you knew what I wanted. I guess you saw the ARVA losing its door then.”
Scott nods. “We’ve got nothin’ else to do but sit and watch the race, and get shit-faced drunk.”
“Well”, Hansen answered. “It’s not really a hypercar that needs sidescoops like this”, he said, pointing at the remains of the Bricksley hood and laughing. “Ehhh, what the heck, I could as well cut the roof then I guess. A rather large flat panel after all. Well…it WAS flat at least”, he continued and looked at the large dent in the roof…
He started cutting out a large part of the roof, almost making the whole county of Värmland deaf trying to go through the sheetmetal with his hacksaw. When finally getting a patch large enough, he looked over at the sledgehammer Scott had used to make the dent in the roof to start with.
“Eh, that BFH is a bit more…respectable…than ours. We could sure need it for some sheetmetal forming I guess. Do you mind coming by to try to help us out of this misery?”, Hansen asked.
“Sure. I put a mighty dent in the roof out of frustration,” Scott admits, grabbing the heavy sledgehammer and resting it on a furry shoulder, “but I might as well help keep a team in who hasn’t been causing chaos. You lead, I’ll follow.”
Hansen was dragging the roof from the Bricksley towards their place in the pits where the now doorless ARVA was resting, with Carlén and Andersson doing some kind of cross between facepalming and sighing.
“Now, you two pessimists will get a demonstration of how easy things can be solved!”, Hansen said, laying the piece of metal that once was a Bricksley roof on the ground, jumping on it to somehow straighten out the worst dents. He got some self tapping screws, and attached the sheetmetal piece to the rear fender and to the front passenger door in a couple of places with those.
"OK, Scott, now give it some thwacks to get it in a somewhat closer shape, so we can continue… Just watch the beautiful diarrhea brown metallic, we don’t want any scratches in that beautiful paintjob, right?"
Scott laughs, getting the hammer into position and beating the panel into a shape that more closely resembled the hole they were trying to cover.
“Diarrhea brown metallic with a piss-yellow door replacement…”
Scott thinks for a moment, then motions to Cody. “Hey, Cody, get our hood ornament off the hood and bolt it onto theirs!”
Cody sets down his bottle of beer and unscrews the 3D printed toilet hood ornament from the Bricksley’s twin-scooped hood, then races over to the ARVA. “Fitting. Shit brown, piss yellow, and a toilet on the hood,” Cody says, holding up the hood ornament for the team to see while Scott attempts to mash the roof panel into the right position for Hansen to screw it into place.
“Yeah. I guess it is more worthy of a toilet now than the ARVA bear hood ornament that was stolen like usual anyway”, Hansen said. “Just attach it there with whatever you want. Hot glue, six inch nails, nylon rope…” He continued to fasten the panel. “Self tapping screws, every serious mechanics best friend”, he laughed. Scott kept doing some banging, Hansen kept bombing it with self tapping screws, and finally it was in place.
“Good as new, and much lighter too so I guess it will cut down our lap times with ten seconds, right?”
“We could cut them down by twenty if someone else than you was driving”, a tired Andersson answered.
Cody grins and pulls out a tube of five minute epoxy. “Between this shit and a screw, it’s never coming off again.” He quickly adheres the plastic toilet hood ornament to the hood, fastening it down with one of the screws that previously held it to the Bricksley’s hood.
After the panel had been fitted, Scott gives a light grin. “You guys go give 'em all the Royal Flush. You need any more spare sheet metal, we’ve got plenty of car left. Might even be able to swap in some parts if you need 'em,” he says with the same fanged grin.
“And now for the most important thing, the window!”, Hansen said, taking a roll of aluminium tape to cover the hole where the side window once was. “Look! Mirror tint, fitting for the luxury limo it is, right?”
“Wow. I can’t wait to drive this thing for the next eight hours”, a cynical Andersson answered.
“If he complains too much, I’ll show you how to cut that window film so it buzzes and hums at low speed,” Cody quips, giving the Trafikjournalen team a teasing grin.
“Shame it’s not turbocharged. A duck call in the blow-off valve is worth a good laugh,” Trevor adds.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Written in co-operation with @Madrias
1 Like
PART 5 - 4 AM - 8 AM
At the driver change, the Mara also gets its tank filled up. The Mishuto leaves the pits with spinning wheels after the drivers change. The Flint understeers heavily into a bend, and Hank Richmond tries to sort the situation by applying the handbrake, with a mildly put mediocre result, but at least not leading to any disaster even if it is very close to a crash with the Qua. Also, Rasmus barely avoids involving the Cago in a tangle there. The ARVA is now back from the pits with a full tank and a somewhat…original door replacement, but despite some rail banging it seems to hold together. The Phoenix has a kind of hard time passing the bouncing ARVA, and the DAW and Torrento coming after are also slightly slowed down.
The Mara gives the Cago a quite heavy hit, but with nothing but cosmetical damage in the end. D. Rose chooses to put the Mishuto into the rail instead of the spinning Cago. The Vortex has some trouble passing that mess. The next crash is between the Ishii and the Torrento. The Ishii looks tired to say the least, but can continue racing, while the Torrento has to do a pitstop to simply remove the crumpled potatochip of a fender that was bad enough after sideswiping the Bricksley, that now blocks the movement of the front wheel. The Cutter brakes to avoid getting into the crash. Hank Richmond in the Flint, who by the way recently is back from a fuel stop, notices the tangle a bit late, pulls the handbrake in panic, spins some rounds but avoids crashing into anything. The Qua enters the pits with a mysterious rattle from the back. It appears like the rear subframe mounts are toast, basically the subframe is close to coming loose, but the team decides to do all they can to try to weld them up, since a DNF would mean a disaster, they say. It seems like Rasmus in the Cago is not highly enthusiastic about having to wait for a slow moving Qua with its hazard lights on going into the pits, though. Once again, which seems suspicious, the Sedlak does an aggressive move towards the Globus, only ending up with the Sedlak banging the rail. Mikko for some reason looks rather upset when he is going in for refuelling soon after that. Fact is, he almost rammed the ARVA in what seems to be pure anger, which Filip Andersson managed to avoid, barely. But instead, the Phoenix hits the ARVA rather hard, but even if both cars looks sad, they can continue racing. The Torrento, now back from the pits, barely avoided getting into that tangle.
The Globus goes in to fill up the tank, so does the Mishuto. The Vortex comes fast through a corner, understeers, drivers pulls the handbrake to try to save it but spins around instead. The Cutter has to swerve to not hit the Vortex. Hank Richmond in the Flint takes it careful now to not get involved in this. The Qua returns with the subframe mounts welded, it seems like it does not handle 100% as good as before, but hopefully it will survive the race. The ARVA oversteers a bit more than what would have been optimal through the corners at the moment. The DAW does the opposite and plows a lot forwards. If John Arbuckle in the DAW looks excited that Eclipse in the Torrento tried to solve it by hitting the rear corner of the DAW, spinning it around? Absolutely not.
Richard Hammersbach gets a bit too exalted, takes a corner too fast with the Mara, spinning it around. The Mishuto tries to pass but finds no way through it. The next car to have some troubles there is the Cutter, drifting a bit too wide and getting into a counterskid when Lionel Winters is trying to straighten it up. Hank Richmond taking it a bit too easy at the same spot with the Flint instead results into some heavy understeer. Then the Cago hits the Globus. The Globus spins around while the Cago has to be taken into the pits to straighten out a control arm and also to get the tank filled up. Then the DAW hits the guardrail and it has to go into the pits to cut off some parts of the exocage that is now rubbing the front wheel.
It seems like the driver change to Jeremias Klackers haven’t done anything good because the Mara is still drifting a fair bit in the corners. Also, it seems like Chantal Nilfert that recently has taken the drivers seat of the Globus once again gets a bit too exalted since the powerslides are wide now to say the least. The WAZ goes in for refuelling. The Qua encounters some liftoff oversteer but Kanna Yukobaiyaroslavl manages to sort out the situation. Less sorted out is the Ishii that does a total spinout at the moment. At least the fuel situation is sorted out since it recently came back from refuelling. The Sedlak seems to surprise Jani Kyllonen by swinging out its tail after understeering slightly into a bend, but nothing worse than him being able to sort it out. That slows down the ARVA coming up behind a bit.
Chantal Nilfert in the Globus seems to keep driving with a kind of wild style that goes more sideways than straight ahead. The WAZ hits the rail so badly so it seems to have knocked loose some rods from the shifter linkage, leading to some of the gears now missing, which means a pitstop for that car. The Cutter then gives the ARVA a relatively heavy shunt, and honestly speaking, the ARVA more or less looks like if it has disintegrated into a cloud of rust now, meaning that our own team is out of the race. Meanwhile, the Cutter has a bent rim that needs a replacement in the pits. The Torrento goes in for refuelling. The Flint has to take it somewhat easy to pass the mess on the track at the moment.
Chantal is still driving the Globus like a maniac which is not really doing the lap times any favour, but looks spectacular. The WAZ tries to pass without any major luck. It seems like the temporary repair of the rear subframe has made the handling of the Qua a bit sketchy. Even sketchier is now the handling of the Ishii and after an inspection in the pits, it is pretty clear that they have to end racing here since the rust damaged front upper wishbone mount is almost starting to tear off from the car. The Vortex does some really serious rail banging and now looks rather crappy, but somehow still survives. Avoiding the bouncing Vortex causes some problems for Gustafsson in the Flint.
The Phoenix comes out from the pits with tyres spinning after a fuel stop. The Mishuto tries to pass it where it is a bit cramped, but the gap closes and it has to slow down. The Cago goes a bit wide through the bends. The Torrento does a rather wild spinout.
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Team off the books - Flint - Lap # 1323 @oldmanbuick (0)
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The Interceptors - Mara - Lap # 1300 @AndiD (+1)
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The Rhinos - Globus - Lap #1262 @Happyhungryhippo (+1)
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Team PhirmEggPlant - Mishuto - Lap # 1261@PhirmEggplant (+1)
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Seinäjoki speed freaks - Sedlak - Lap #1256 @Nicxv (+1)
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The rot - Ishii - Lap # 1234 (DNF) @Chaedder (-4)
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Три Полоски Racing Team - WAZ - Lap #1228 @0rangeghost (0)
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Team Chitco - VerBanka - Lap #1222 @MrdjaNikolen (+1)
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Team Vortex - Vortex - Lap # 1220 @George (+1)
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Team Bowling - DAW - Lap #1219 @Djadania (-2)
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Team Marian’s Dream - Phoenix - Lap #1188 @Tailgate_sniffer (0)
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Team Vet Inte - Cago - Lap #1151 @06DPA (0)
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Bugs in the Code - Torrento - Lap #1128 @Fayeding_spray & @Leone(0)
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Team Left for dead - Cutter - Lap # 1122 @stm316 (0)
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Y.E.A.R. - Qua - Lap #1073 @Angelustyle (+2)
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Team Trafikjournalen - ARVA - Lap #1048 (DNF) @Knugcab (0)
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HeltR SkeltR & Marcel - Brunelle - Lap #895 (DNF) @Dildoplocus (-2)
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The Highway Hooligans - Bricksley - Lap #837 (DNF) @Madrias (0)
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A wing and a prayer - Astral - Lap # 736 (DNF) - Rambow (0)
9 Likes
A bit late maybe, but if you have some ideas, strategy changes or similar for next round, I want them before monday 5 PM CET.
1 Like
Y.E.A.R.
Race Episode 5:"Hours from Victory, or "Hou"rs from Disaster ? The car starts to snap as Hou starts to learn"
Around 4 AM…
Ángel, rather nervous at that point, enters the pits for the driver change. In retrospect, he didn’t do as well as he would’ve wanted to. But nevertheless, he kept the car in one piece.
The question now was… Would Kanna hold up for the challenge ? She seemed rather drowsy, and almost about to fall asleep. But she’d try the best she could.
Ángel:“OK, Kanna. You got this.”
Well… They didn’t even begin before they were nearly done by the Flint in a corner…
Kanna:“What the heck was that ?”
Ángel:“I don’t know, but, it’s best if you stay out of trouble, you know ? Don’t fight with the guys of the Flint, they are leaders after all.”
Kanna:“Okey-dokey.”
María:“Please don’t wreck the car, Kanna…”
Kanna:“I sure won’t.”
After this, driving (or sailing) was smooth (?). But then, not even more than 1 hour into her drive…
Kanna:“Guys.”
Ángel:“Go on.”
Kanna:“Some really bad rattle is coming from… Somewhere.”
Ángel:“Come into the pits, and we’ll see what happened. I’m pretty sure I did something wrong in my drive.”
Catherine and María:“ÁNGEL !”
Ángel:“What ? It’s the only likely thing… Oh, and, Kanna, don’t worry about the Cago. I know he doesn’t seem pleased, but, C’mon now, this, while a demolition derby of sorts, it’s not for purposefully sabotaging the competition…”
As Kanna came into the pits, María suddenly noticed that she wasn’t the only one with a dire situation. Robert Marcel was crying as the Brunelle went out quite a while ago and his anger towards his team turned into tears once Chantal calmed him down. She thought he might be having a similar struggle than her. After all, while the Qua didn’t have any sentimental value in María (unlike the Brunelle with Robert), her job depended on the car. So she actually felt quite sympathetic. She could even join him later, but, right now, as her team performed repairs on the Subframe, she too was on a state of limbo.
At the same time, they saw how the Globus and the Sedlak got into yet another tangle. In that, Ángel had to ask…
Ángel:“Is he aware that Chanty is not there ? And if so, then why didn’t he attack me in the first place ? I swear to god, when I see him next time…”
Kanna:“Ángel, please, cool down. I know you’re stressed, but, c’mon, it can’t be that bad… Besides, you have better things to worry about…”
Ángel wasn’t stressed… he was more like… frustrated. He’d worked extra-hard to get the car ready for race day with a few weeks of anticipation (enough to ship the car), and he didn’t want his work to go to junk so easily. So he indeed focused on getting the car welded together. And after he did, the Yumes (nicknamed at times the “Yams”), returned on track.
This time, some other concern turned up almost instantly…
Kanna:“Handling is getting a bit awkward.”
Catherine:“Maybe Ángel didn’t do a good welding job.”
Ángel:“Hey, I was trying my best to do it quickly. But don’t push it too hard then, you know the handling was tricky before we even began, so if it is even more tricky, then slow the pace down a bit.”
María was still tense at 6 AM. Until finally she saw the Sedlak make the driver swap… And immediately told the others…
María:“If that brat decides to come here, we’ll start the biggest melee in the history of this event…”
Ángel:“Mari, calm yourself down too. We are all a bit frustrated. But hey, if we make it till the end, then we can celebrate, don’t you think ? You’d still keep your job, after all…”
María:“…yeah…”
Catherine:“Besides, I already have gifted her something else if we go wrong.”
Ángel:“…What… Ah, yes, your old apartment in Kitakyushu. I still remember when we were pen pals…”
Catherine:“Pen lovers.”
Ángel:“Yeah, ‘Pen lovers’, if you will…”
María:“Anyway… We gotta hope we last these last 6 hours.”
Ángel:“I see Chantal is also getting inside the Globus. Jani and Chantal are driving, that’s kinda the best thing for both Kanna and Hou.”
We’ll get to Hou in a moment. For now, Kanna shows some truly majestic driving, better than Ángel. Probably because the sun is rising now. In any case, Kanna manages to save some Lift-Off Oversteer, and is putting on her max effort.
…and just 30 minutes later…
Ángel:“The ARVA is out.”
Kanna:“The what ?”
Ángel:“ARVA. The-The, Theeee… Brown Car, the Brown Sedan. The Trafikjournalen Team, the #23 car, something.”
Kanna:“OK, got it.”
Ángel:“We are still dead last of those running, but we gotta remember…”
Kanna:“…to finish first, first we have to finish.”
Ángel:“Correct. Now keep driving and keep the car in good enough shape for when Hou drives…”
The Car’s Handling continued to worsen, something not good for Hou who was out there. Then they later heard the news about the Ishii, one of the front-running cars, going DNF. Probably these news sent chills down María’s Spine, now that one of the other 2 only other small sports cars was gone…
Now that we’ve mentioned Hou several times however, where was she…?
An hour or so earlier
Around 6:30 AM - Parking Lot of Holjesbanan
Hou gets taught
Ryoga wakes up at 6:15, and pokes Hou to make her wake up too…
Ryoga:“Hou… Wake up…”
Hou:“W-W-What H-Happened…?”
Ryoga:“You’re finally awake… Well, I wanted to try to teach you some… driving…”
Hou:“Ah, yes, I didn’t practice anywhere…”
Ryoga:“Well, you did with Ángel’s car, but, it didn’t go so well did it…”
Hou:“No… I could only get to Miyazaki before I gave up and had to drive back to Okinawa to give him the car back. Apparently I blew up 3rd in that thing.”
Ryoga:“Well… What if we practice in this car ? It’s not anything of ours, so, we don’t have to worry about damages, do we ?”
Hou:“No…”
Just as they exchanged words, and got ready, Pi (from Team Chitco) and Alexandra (from the Speed Freaks) along with Jan (from the Rhinos) and Cody (from the Hooligans), joined with them… So, let’s see how much of a disaster her driving lesson turned out in the parking lot.
It was some simple reversing, turning and going around the parking lot.
But once Hou got behind the wheel, Car-nage was guaranteed…
Jan:“Right, so, turn your wheel to the right…”
Hou:“Alright, how much…?”
Ryoga:“Ay, foot on both brake and clutch, the car is rolling forwards…”
Hou proceeded to stomp on the brake pedal. Once she tried to accelerate again, the car didn’t move; she kept her foot on the clutch…
No wonder why she was sometimes known in Yokohama as “The Clutch Burner”.
Pi:“Whoa…! Ok, foot off the clutch…”
Cody:“Control the clutch and don’t grind the…”
Hou did as ordered. The car abruptly moved forward and bumped head on into Chanty’s Imperator…
Ryoga:“Chanty is gonna kill us…”
Jan:“No, Thomas is the one who is gonna kill us…”
Alexandra:“Calm down, everybody ! Now, Hou, backwards again…”
Hou put reverse, and with a quite heavy foot, the car finally started reversing, only to then bump into the Hooligans’ van…
Cody:“Wha— Hou !”
Hou:“Sorry !”
Cody:“Don’t step too much time on that clutch… And, don’t worry…”
Hou:“Sorry…”
Alexandra:“Anyway, you’re nearly slotted in…”
Ryoga:“I’ve just realized something.”
Everyone:“What ?”
Ryoga:“Why are we teaching her to reverse… When the main objective in a race is going forwards…?”
Jan:“Oh you…”-facepalms-
Hou proceeded to giggle as she realized too. They’d effectively wasted almost 15 minutes… and damaged both Chanty’s Imperator and the Hooligans’ Van, and the clutch of the Minivan they’d rented was effectively starting to cook. But nevertheless, they were almost parked. And with some scratching into the Hooligans’ Van, and a bump into the Kontir of team Chitco, finally, Hou was parked. Now all she had to do was drive forwards around the Parking Lot at a “decent” speed.
And while Hou was exceedingly bad at reversing, her driving forwards wasn’t great either…
Ryoga:“Right, smooth with the accelerator pedal…”
Hou once again made the clutch spin at redline…
Ryoga:“OK, OK, are you in Neutral…”
Hou:“Uh… Uhhhh…”
Ryoga:“What number would be good to start with ?”
Hou:“Like, I know which gears are which, I’m not that dumb…”
She proceeds to launch in first, and for once she was going smoothly until she shifted to 4th… grinding the gears, on top of that.
Cody:“Don’t grind the… That pedal isn’t all the way down !”
Hou:“Sorry ! Sorry…”
Jan:“No worries, now, as long as you don’t…”
Once she shifted back to first, she stepped hard on the accelerator, then on the brake to avoid a collision against the Imperator… again.
Alexandra:“Careful !”
Hou:“I’m really sorry !”
Ryoga:“Gee…”
Pi:“Can I get out…?”
Jan:“I personally want to get out too, before get in any trouble…”
Cody:“I may need to get out too to check how much damage is our van ta… Uh… Guys, smoke is coming from below the car…!”
Ryoga:“I’ve noticed already !”
Alexandra:“Hou, you’re burning the clutch up…!”
Hou:“The Usual…”
Alexandra:“Can we get out of the parking lot ? You don’t need too much clutch control there, so maybe you’ll handle better ?”
Hou:“Uhhhh… Yeah, maybe…”
After this request, she would do as ordered. As Jan, Pi and Cody got out, leaving Ryoga, Hou and Alexandra alone, Hou tried to get the car out of the parking lot, nearly colliding again with the Imperator, and giving the Hooligans’ Van yet another tap.
At least once she actually got out of the tight parking space, scraping the Kontir a bit more, and with one mirror and one bumper less, her driving was getting a bit better.
It seemed she was better at handling at more open spaces than at tight ones, while still going quite slow…
…proof of that are the damages to the Minivan, which, now, with an Overheated Engine, the Rear Bumper gone, the passenger side mirror gone too, and with the clutch on its last legs, not to mention bumps and scrapes, returned to the Parking Lot of Holjesbanan one hour and 10 minutes after the lesson began… Now in the hands of Ryoga for the parking.
…even with this, Hou thought that her driving was getting better… Let’s hope that under her command the car at least limps thru the finish line…
Current Status of… The Car !
- The Rear Subframe is Coming Loose !
- Handling is starting to get worse…
- Minor Electrical Niggles.
Repairs/Inspections/Modifications: Some shoddily done welding in the Subframe to hopefully make it last longer. By shoddily made we mean more like it affected handling, and not that it was badly made…
Current Status of… The Team.
Ryoga: Well-Rested, Motivated, and actually quite happy.
Catherine: Really Hungry, and Thirsty. Wants to head over to sleep but willpower and her boyfriend are keeping her awake. Mechanical Skill drops by 1 on the first half of the next stint.
María: Sick enough to stink, Nervous enough to seem hyperactive, and Anxious enough to faint. Her feelings are on a thread, and she just would like to go and rest, but, she can’t right now…
Ángel: Frustrated, Hungry, Thirsty, and Tired. He’s staying awake by the heat of his girlfriend, useful because he’s cold.
Kanna: Tired, but satisfied with herself and her drive. Mechanical Skill drops by 1 on the entirety of the next stint due to sleepiness. She’s now out of the car, to be swapped by Hou.
Hou: Nervous, but Well-Rested and feeling a bit more confident. Her new strategy is now shifting only in 2nd and 3rd. Only shifting to 1st or 4th when absolutely necessary. Aggression increases by 1 on the next stint… Which is hers, by the way.
Mentioning: @MrdjaNikolen @nicxv @HappyHungryHippo @Madrias @Knugcab @Dildoplocus @06DPA @Chaedder @oldmanbuick
Editing Notes: Angelustyle forgetting to ping all teams which were mentioned (even briefly). That’s why I had to edit this post twice now…
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Part 9: The podium in sight
including TOTB by @oldmanbuick, Highway Hooligans by @Madrias, HRSR&M by @Dildoplocus, YEAR by @Angelustyle, mentioning team PhirmEggplant by @PhirmEggplant, Speed Freaks by @nicxv and Trafikjournalen by @Knugcab, Vet Inte by @06DPA and the rot by @Chaedder
On the track, Thomas has everything under control so far. The opponents avoided contact if possible since they already got a taste of how massive the cop car is, and let him mind his own business. Still, he had a hard time closing up to the Interceptors in the Mara.
He had a bit of hope when he saw that the Ishii crashed and the Flint spun, since these were the fastest cars, but the Flint was soon back on track, and the Ishii was now definitely slowed down, but comfortably ahead so the podium wasn´t really much closer.
A bit later. he had to pass the Sedlak, but braked too late and skidded sideways, losing time and speed when squeezing past the czech wreck. Mikko immediately noticed his next chance to take revenge, as he has a superb instinct and situation awareness. But Thomas, as a very experienced driver, didn´t forget to keep the interior mirror in check when being close to the Sedlak, and pressed the brake hard, so that the Sedlak did not hit the rear quarter of the Globus but the rail instead.
“Good that nobody was directly behind me. Damn, that finnish brat needs better meds!”
The weak points of the Globus are… the monumental size, which slows it down in the narrow areas of the track, the … not really great cornering and, how supririsng, abysmal thirst, so Thomas ran almost out of fuel. He agreed to do that alone and only call Jan and Chantal if really needed for repairs or multitasking, but refueling was easy to do alone… if he had the hopper, that Chantal forgot to put back.
“CHANTAAAAAAAL!!! ARGH!”
Thomas, noticing that his direct opponents did very well on track while he struggled to refuel, yelled through the pit lane.
“I NEED A COOOOOOOOOOOOOONE! FAST!”
The team with the Mishuto made an apologizing gesture, since theirs was already in use right now. And not to forget: The Mishuto was just two laps behind the Globus, so helping out there would ruin their podium chances, it was an absolutely understandable move to refill the own car first, and Thomas understood this, and the Mishuto driver pointed towards the wreck of the Brunelle. Robert Marcel was still in the pits, sadly staring at the remainings of his car. He had also observed the raging Thomas.
Robert: “What is a cone?”
Thomas: “THE FUEL FILL THING! YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN! TRICHTER! ICH BRAUCHE EINEN GOTTVERDAMMTEN TRICHTERRRRRRR!”
Thomas then remembered that Robert Marcel might speak French as first language, that Thomas also knows very well.
Thomas: “ENTONNOIR, MONSIEUR! VITE!”
Robert: “Yeah, here it is. Just keep it. I have no use for it anymore, as you can see when looking at my car. Oh fuck, I need whiskey.”
Thomas: “THANKS! Monsieur, after we´re done with racing, I owe you a bit of my best bottle!”
Robert: “Ok, now we´re talking!”
Soon after, the refilled Globus took off and merged with the traffic, and when the Mara spun and the Mishuto got held up, he couldn´t hide his enjoyment, although Thomas tried hard since good sportmanship is of utmost importance for him. It was even better that the Flint had to slow down, too, while he got past the mess without a problem since it happened directly behind him. Thomas was also amused to see the Qua back, after a damage that would usually be the end for it.
Thomas: “Better not get that paper car too close to my intake, when my V8 sucks you in, it will break apart!”
Kanna: “Just try not to kill me, I AM UNDER CHANTYS PERSONAL PROTECTION!”
Thomas: “Everyone not being an asshole is. She´s not picky so I wouldn´t be too confident.”
Kanna: “If she was picky with the persons around her, she definitely wouldn´t help you grouch in your garage, so be proud of her!”
Thomas: “I don´t really want to admit, but you might have a point theeEEEEEEEEE OH FUCK”
Kanna: “THOMAS?”
Thomas: “FUUUUUUCK SOMEONE SPUN ME! Ah, the Cago!”
Angel: “It looks like … their car has to be serviced, the front wheels steer in different directions. Your car only has some dent but seems still perfectly fine.”
Thomas: Why on earth would anyone driving a Cago mess with a Grand Cruiser? That´s their self inflicted misery now. Please wake up Chantal, I am really tired now and need to be replaced here.
At the driver change, Thomas was stressed, he isn´t in the age anymore to do such long race driving with ease, and the refill incident was still annoying him.
Thomas: “CHANTAL! I don´t get it. Whatever stuff you are supposed to keep, YOU LOSE IT! Whatever stuff you are NOT supposed to keep, YOU KEEP IT! AAAAAARRGH!”
Chantal: “YOU CAN DRIVE YOURSELF THEN, IF I AM DOING EVERYTHING WRONG! YEAH I WONT RUIN YOUR SHIT ANYMORE, BYE!”
Jan: Leute, BITTE!
Whatever he said in german, the amount of despair in his voice told everyone in the pits that this isn´t the first father-daughter-argument he was withnessing.
Thomas: “We talk about this la… AH NO IT HAS NO SENSE TALKING ABOUT IT LATER BECAUSE IT HAS NO SENSE TALKING TO YOU IN GENERAL! NO MATTER WHAT I SAY, YOU ARE ALWAYS DISTRACTED AND DOING THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO!”
Chantal: “AND YOU HAVE NEVER MADE MISTAKES? I AM YOUR BIGGEST ONE, RIGHT?”
Now the Rhinos had all the attention, because Chantal having aggressive temper was… new, at least for those that know her for a longer time, like the Hooligans.
Cody: “Damn, that´s a firm voice.”
Trevor: “Definitely not the milkman´s.”
Cody: “Yeah, definitely Drill Sergeant Nilferts daughter.”
Trevor: “I think it´s a good sign. Instead of sadness, sometimes anger is the better vent, if it´s not freaking out completely.”
Jake: “It´s not. Now she wants some hugs from her teammates.”
Cody: “Good then, for a moment I doubted if someone kidnapped the real Chantal and replaced her with a substitute.”
As it still was the one and only real Chantal, she was of course NOT doing well in stress situations, and took off like a rocket… in the meaning of loud and with a lot of smoke, but not in the meaning of being fast, since most of the expensive fuel was transferred into… inefficient wheelspin.
Trevor: “Dear god…”
Jake: “AS IF YOU BELIEVE IN OUR HOLY LORD AND SAVIOUR!”
Cody: “Come on, I want to enjoy them trashing their even thrashier cars, stop blabbering and get us some beer.”
On the track, Chantal continued being the sledgehammer of all drivers, and the reason how she didn´t get into accidents is maybe that most others were afraid to see the massive Globus closing up sideways at full throttle and gave way to it. Thomas watched it with some worry, when he was suddenly interrupted by the CB radio.
“Thomas?”
Thomas: “I am enjoying my beer now, who distracts me there?”
“Oh come on, you know who it is! But I’ll give you a hint anyway: with the way your daughter is swerving all over the track, I could probably teach her a lesson in the thing I used to do best.”
Thomas: “Ah, straightaway Hans!”
Hans: “YEEES! Your daughter is definitely on a mission there.”
Thomas: “I hope she doesn´t crash.”
Hans: “With your genes, I would already call a towtruck for her as soon as possible. Nah, joking. I wonder why she really doesn´t crash when driving like that. Maybe it´s not your genes. Have you compared her face to the milkman?”
Thomas: “Oh, just shut up.”
Hans: “Will do. You`ll stuff my mouth later with some beer?”
Thomas: “Could also do that with my fist.”
Hans: “Sorry, but I recently became vegetarian.”
Thomas: “Yeah, you already look like that, so I would ALMOST believe you.”
Hans: “Good to see you´re still the good old Turbo-Tom, see you later. My team is quite busy with winning right now!”
Thomas: “I have already won. I have lived a mostly good life, got the best daughter that I could have, made my hobby a profession, and had enough luck with that so that I don´t have to worry about money.”
Hans: “You are a better philosopher than driver, that´s for sure, and you weren´t even that bad at driving. See you later, and GOOD LUCK, pal!”
After the retirement of the ARVA, that Thomas commented with “I knew communism would lose against capitalism”, referring to his own choice for an American boat, team Trafikjournalen was a bit fed up, but didn´t compete for winning anyway from the beginning, but to have some fun, so did Thomas, but the ambtion of his younger self came back after the reunification with Straightaway Hans, and Thomas jumped up when he saw the Ishii retiring after the car fell apart some laps after its last heavy crash.
Thomas: “CHANTAL, PODIUM NOW! REPEAT, PODIUM NOW. Don´t ruin it, TAKE IT EASY. You`re only loosing time with that driving style, and nobody is right now filming you for your ticktack so it´s not needed to make it look spectacular.”
Chantal: “TIKTOK! IT IS FUCKING TIKTOK, I`ll give you some Ticktack if you don´t stop talking to me as if I was 14! I AM TURNING 21 IN A FEW DAYS!”
Thomas: “Then act like 21… yeah, I see that you´re doing some steps to adulthood lately, and you´re slowly fading out of being a teenager…”
Chantal: “YOU ALWAYS WANTED ME TO BEHAVE LIKE oThErS mY aGe…still you sound disappointed of me again.”
Thomas: “You growing up means, well, that I am fucking old. And even if we argued A LOT already before, you seem to be… well, better at that now.”
Chantal: “I`ll cook you some healthy herbal tea when I am back, it´s good for old people.”
Thomas: “WOULD YOU STOP MOCKING ME? I need to get used to you speaking irony and sarcasm, you were never before capable of that.”
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Team Off-the Books, 4-8 am
Hank Richmond was exhausted. He had known that this whole exercise was going to be exhausting, and he had tried everything to make sure that he would be prepared for his overnight driving shifts. He had been sleeping when the race started. He had stocked up the team on caffeine. He had insisted on 2-hour driving shifts. And he had even snuck in a little cat nap during his last break. But after two driving shifts in the middle of the night and the strain of trying to keep pace with the maniacs on this track, he knew that this last driving shift was going to be a challenge. After all, if anyone knew about the dangers of fatigued driving, it was him.
In the meantime, Hans was in the pits, sipping a cup of coffee and smiling to himself at crossing paths with good old Turbo Tom. What were the odds! When was the last time he had seen him? Was it–
Hans’s reverie was interrupted by Hank swearing loudly and repeatedly over the radio.
“Hank,” he said with a hint of panic in his voice, “What’s going on!?”
“Aggggghhh!” was the only reply over the radio.
“Hank, talk to me!”
There was a pause, then a deep breath audible over the radio.
“I’m OK, I’m OK!”
Hans breathed a sigh of relief. “Hank, what happened?”
“Just came into a turn a little too fast and had to bail myself out with the handbrake. Almost hit another car, but just cleared it. Not even a scratch on the paint. Well, you know, other than the ones that are already there.”
“You had me worried for a moment there, Hank. How are you on fuel? It was getting pretty low when we switched off”
Hank glanced down at the gauge. It was getting low. And then the idiot light came on.
“Yeah, I’m going to have to come in soon. We’re running low. And Hans, can you do me a favor?”
“Depends what it is.”
“Have a cup of coffee ready for me when I come in.”
“Didn’t you just have one before you went out there a little while ago?”
“Yes, but there’s no such thing as too much coffee tonight.”
Not long after the fuel stop, Hank was back behind the wheel, now feeling some heartburn from the cup of coffee he had chugged while in the pits. Not to mention that Hans was a black coffee guy and hadn’t even thought to put in some cream. And Hank had been in too much of a hurry to care.
At this point, he was counting down the time until he could hand the car back to Hans. Still well over an hour. He knew the team was in the lead, but he was too tired to be excited. He just wanted to get this over with and go home. Maybe take a nice, warm shower. And then–
Hank was snapped back into the moment by realizing that he was coming up fast on a massive tangle of cars up ahead. He swore loudly, slammed on the brakes, pulled on the handbrake, and yanked the wheel hard to the side. He felt Fred’s ABS system stuttering furiously and heard the brakes squealing furiously as the mass of stopped cars drew close quickly. He closed his eyes, bracing for impact, and then…nothing. Hank opened his eyes. The car was turned around opposite the direction he’d come from. He looked in his mirror. The mass of cars was right behind him, one of them seemingly only inches away.
It took him a moment to realize someone was yelling his name over the radio. “Hank! Hank! Come on, talk to me!”
It was Hans again. Hank came to his senses.
“I’m OK. Just barely, but OK. Big wreck up ahead of me that I almost got tangled up in.”
Hans started chuckling.
“Hank, you certainly seem to have a knack for just narrowly avoiding danger!”
“Well, I wish I wasn’t avoiding it so narrowly!”
Hank released the handbrake and stepped gently on the gas to start maneuvering back around the track.
Hank was tired, but he was determined that he wasn’t going to have another run-in. No more drifting thoughts. Eyes on the road. Not fixing on a single spot. Keep your eyes moving. Check your mirrors. He reached for the climate controls and set it to blow cold air in his face.
“Come on, Hank, you can do this. You can do this,” he said to himself.
His last round on the track had been relatively peaceful. What was going on? Two near-misses already? Maybe he wasn’t the only driver who was getting tired out here.
A few minutes later, there was another run-in of some sort up ahead. This time, Hank was ready and swerved around easily. This time, Hans wouldn’t have to hear panicked swearing over the radio.
At 6 am, and after yet another near run-in, Hank pulled into the pits for the driver change.
“It’s over!”, he yelled as he stepped out.
Hans, approaching the car, gave him a clap on the shoulder. “Good job hanging in there, Hank! You did what you needed to do–keep us from falling behind. Now it’s time for Sam and me to finish this thing!"
Hans jumped in the car and sped off. Hank breathed a sigh of relief and walked off toward his cot.
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PART 6 - 8 AM - NOON
After the driver change, Samantha Prescott in the Flint does a dramatic exit from the pits. The understeer of the Mishuto shows its ugly face once again into a corner. Hou Niu in the Qua accidentally downshifts instead of up, resulting in some timeloss. After hitting the guardrail with the front corner, the Globus goes into the pits with the headlight knocked loose, but it is expected that a quick fix with zip ties and duct tape will last the few hours that is left of the race. The Cago swings out its tail which does some rail banging, but without all to much damage on the car.
The DAW has some rail contact but what’s left of the exocage seems to protect it well. The Mara goes in for a fuel stop. After a hard hit from behind by the VerBanka, it is a wonder that the already shortened Sedlak is still driveable, but apparently it is. The VerBanka looks rather sad by now, too, but can keep on driving. The Phoenix then pushes the Qua more or less into a spin, but Hou manages to save the situation and the cars does not seem to have suffered too much damage.
The DAW rolls into the pits with smoke coming from under the hood. Apparently some of the rewiring done for the engine swap was very sketchy, so the team has to swap out some of the wiring, which takes some time. The Mara slides wide through a bend, but without spinning loose. Instead, the VerBanka does a spinout. The Torrento has to brake hard to not hit it. Hou seems to have been looking at the shifter instead of the track, seeing the Flint slowing down for the braking Torrento a bit too late, hitting it without managing to brake. Unfortunately, to hit the heavy Flint seems to be the final nail in the coffin for the light Qua that is skew in more or less every direction now, and Y.E.A.R. realizes that they have to give up for 2024. The WAZ has to swerve for some flying debris from the incident. Chantal Nilfert in the Globus seems to be confident that she can pass the pileup of cars, realizing in the middle of everything that she can’t, braking in panic as a result. The Vortex goes in to fill up the tank. The chaos on the track is easing up but it still slows down the Cutter a bit when it enters the war zone, as well as the Phoenix.
The DAW, recently out from the pits after the rewiring, gives the Sedlak a little tap. The Sedlak seems to survive the friendly little tap, but the hard driving seems to have taken its toll on some suspension parts, after a little jump, it behaves weird and in the pits the team comes to the conclusion that a control arm is bent. Luckily, they had a spare in the pile of parts, so they are swapping it out. Then, there is some contact between the Mara and Torrento but without any major damage. The Mishuto manages to avoid becoming the third car into that tangle. The Torrento is stalled and has some starting problems though but quickly goes away again. Chantal Nilfert seems to once again have adopted her “wild west” driving style with the Globus. As stated earlier, spectacular but costs time.
The Flint comes back from refuelling and drivers change. The Torrento hits the Phoenix from behind, folding up the bed quite seriously. The Torrento survives reasonably well, but Team Marian’s dream have to spend quite a lot of time beating panels in the pits now, so the rear wheels will at least not interfere with the folded up bed. The Cago slows down to not be a part of that tangle.
The Vortex enters a corner with a little more understeer than would have been optimal. The Torrento goes in for refuelling. The Cago takes the bends a bit wide at the moment. Coming back from refuelling, the Globus is powersliding wider than ever before, like if the Rhinos had filled it up with some kind of rocket fuel. Just as we said, looks cool but not the driving style that will win any races. Next car in to fill up the tank is the Cutter, with the DAW following behind.
We now see the Phoenix doing some rail scraping. The Mara barely escapes the same fate. Then the Flint hits the DAW with some very interesting consequences. The exocage stays rather intact but being too stiff it instead bends and twists the chassis out of shape and not even the support wheels can help the DAW now,and it is out of the race. We hear someone shouting from the pits that “stupid Patrik Lindvall can’t be right in his head!”. The Mishuto goes in for one last refuelling. The VerBanka now does a spinout and the Globus is pretty close, but Chantal manages to counteract the skid - barely.
The Vortex is plowing rather heavily through the bends now, and the WAZ is going a bit wide through the turns. The gravel is still flying from the wildly drifting Globus, and it is obvious that the Rhinos wants this party to end in as spectacular ways as possible. But ending it spectacularly instead, is Jani Kyllonen, with a demonstrative handbrake skid in his Sedlak after 24 hours have passed.
The race has now ended, and the final standings for this year are as following:
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Team off the books - Flint - Lap # 1584 @oldmanbuick (0)
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The Interceptors - Mara - Lap # 1555 @AndiD (+1)
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Team PhirmEggPlant - Mishuto - Lap # 1512@PhirmEggplant (+1)
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The Rhinos - Globus - Lap #1507 @Happyhungryhippo (-1)
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Seinäjoki speed freaks - Sedlak - Lap #1485 @Nicxv (0)
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Три Полоски Racing Team - WAZ - Lap #1481 @0rangeghost (+1)
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Team Vortex - Vortex - Lap # 1472 @George (+2)
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Team Chitco - VerBanka - Lap #1465 @MrdjaNikolen (0)
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Team Bowling - DAW - Lap #1398 (DNF) @Djadania (+1)
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Team Marian’s Dream - Phoenix - Lap #1398 @Tailgate_sniffer (+1)
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Team Vet Inte - Cago - Lap #1387 @06DPA (+1)
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Bugs in the Code - Torrento - Lap #1360 @Fayeding_spray & @Leone(+1)
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Team Left for dead - Cutter - Lap # 1345 @stm316 (+1)
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The rot - Ishii - Lap # 1234 (DNF) @Chaedder (-8)
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Y.E.A.R. - Qua - Lap #1156 (DNF) @Angelustyle (0)
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Team Trafikjournalen - ARVA - Lap #1048 (DNF) @Knugcab (0)
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HeltR SkeltR & Marcel - Brunelle - Lap #895 (DNF) @Dildoplocus (-2)
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The Highway Hooligans - Bricksley - Lap #837 (DNF) @Madrias (0)
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A wing and a prayer - Astral - Lap # 736 (DNF) Rambow (0)
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