[Martin enters the pits after the race, stops the car an just sits there, not doing anything]
Pit crew: “you are okay? was the car good to drive?”
Martin: [silently sits in the car for a few minutes, then starts fiddeling around with the seat belt/ harness]
“are you gonna get me out of this shitbox of a car or what?!”
[the crew helps martin get out of the car and after that, he storms off in anger]
broadcast ended
Meanwhile, at the TSR Pit Stop
Takumi: It is an ok race. At least the launch is good but still no points.
Katana Racing Team: Ahhhh… Fine, try your best at the last race. At least try to get a point. Try to use risky moves even though it makes contact and more pit stop. Do whatever you can. Just don’t spin others.
Takumi: Yes I will.
In his Hethel office, Arthur burst through the door, before furtively glancing behind him. Just the bustle of the rest of the warehouse. One of the engineers noticed him and gave him a cheery wave. He waved back, before slinking in, shutting the door and locking it behind him. Settling onto his favourite chair, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the envelope. It was a blue envelope, with a fancy yellow seal, and he’d never seen anything the likes of it. Frowning to himself, he fished out the letter opener from his desk drawer, and slipped the envelope open. Inside was a letter, again bearing that fancy yellow seal, with printed words in capital below: THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF ANIKATIA WELCOMES YOU.
Huh? Confused, Arthur read on. The writing was heavy, formal. It also intimated towards his financial troubles, and he had to resist the urge to promptly scrunch up the letter and curse out the debt collectors. Except this didn’t seem at all like a debt collecting agency. If it was, this was a mighty strange ploy. Especially when they seemed to be offering some kind of invitation. And financial protection. Arthur’s heart fluttered, and not the kind that had him reaching for his tablets. Part of him had long been resigned to the prospect of imminent bankruptcy and closure and probably going to jail, but what if-
There was a click, and without warning, the door opened. Arthur blinked, then in a flash hastily threw the letter into the drawer and was on his feet in an outrage. “Graham, what did I tell you about–”
Except the man who had unlocked his door was no Graham. He was a stern faced pointy jaw in a dark suit and a trilby. In one hand was a skeleton key, which he’d no doubt used to pick the lock. In the other was an ID, which he was currently waving in Arthur’s face. Arthur peered at it: this time it bore an English insignia. Squinting harder he could barely make out the words: SECRET INTELLIGENCE SERVICE, MI6.
“Good afternoon, Mr Herrington,” the inscrutable agent said, before half a dozen armoured goons trooped into the office behind him. “Terribly sorry to barge into your office like this, but that letter you just dropped in your drawer is a matter of national security. You’ll have to come with us.”
It was at this moment, that Arthur regretted not speaking to Graham sooner.
Official Announcement
Internal Legal Position
It has now been two weeks since the incident at the Conke Cola 100 and we here at Leeroy Racing have conducted thorough internal interviews with all who were involved with the incident and have come to the conclusion that Bonkarenko had no malicious intent towards our driver and that it was merely a racing incident.
It is Leeroy Racing’s position that the matter is now closed and we’ll be formally withdrawing our complaint with the relevant ASCAR officials.
Head Lawyer
Team Leeroy Racing
(Note: lore wise this race takes place the Sunday following the Taco Knight 500.)
Laps 1-35
As usual, the cars started from their iconic rolling start; as soon as the green flag was shown the drivers gave their cars full throttle, with an excellent start from Dale R once again taking the lead; chasing it closely the Dermott in second place, Biffle third, Fußmacher fourth, Titcomb fifth, Bonkarenko sixth, Sivutuuli seventh, Ross eighth, the Tariuz ninth and Peech closing the top ten.
As the laps went by the race started taking shape. While the Celento and the Dermott kept their places, Wallace had climbed all the way to third place, overtaking Ross which had at the same time overtaken Biffle, the Shromet now in fifth place. The Cannonball held onto its sixth place, with the ocassional rubbing and controversial moves to overtake or defend their place; the Saber, after a poor start, had recovered quickly taking the seventh place. Following them closely were MacRoye and Jonrosh, and then Sivutuuli and Bonkarenko, who had previously understeered and scrapped the wall, losing valuable time and places.
Mitchell and Kakayama fought for the 12th place, with the ACA unwilling to give its place; Kakayama managed to get in front for two laps, only for an excessively early braking maneuver to take it away as the Traveller invaded the lower line to take the place back. Fußmacher lost control of the car halfway through this segment, spinning out of the track; the MSL could recover, but not without losing several places first.
Dunne, Hollerhousen, Spront and Smart formed another pack, without any fight yet; they were waiting for any of the other to make a mistake to attack and take the lead of the patch. The last pack was leaded by Callaway, with Bolovic, Roberts, Sinistra, Moore and O’Brien chasing him. The Bugbear closed the grid.
Laps 35 - 70
A series of quick false movements allowed Biffle to fool Ross and Ayrton, taking the third place by the inside; recovering quickly, Ross took the fourth place by rubbing with Wallace. Jonrosh had overtaken both the Saber and the Cannonball, now in sixth place; behind, Titcomb bumped into Donovan, forcing the Stallion to correct and let Titcomb pass; the Saber did, however, recover before MacRoye could threaten to steal their place.
Mitchell kept the place from the constant attacks of Rodrigues; at some point Rodrigues accidentally tapped the ACA, but in a show of sportsmanship he let the Traveller keep its place. The next battle was taking place between Fußmacher and Kakayama; after an excellently placed draft, the Fallwing took the outside of the turn, carrying the most speed, and overtook the MSL.
The midpack stayed more or less the same, with the rest of the action at the back pack; motivated by some words from his chief over the radio, the Bogliq had climbed to the top of the back pack, now leading it with the Birmingham and Sinistra still harrassing Bolovic behind.
Laps 70 - 105
The gap between the Celento and the Dermott had increased over the laps, with Connaughan’s worry now being the Shromet as it pushed strong. Wallace got revenge from Ross, rubbing him into letting the Mytheme pass; with this, Wallace was now in fourth place. The Ares and V590 were now in fifth and sixth place, after a mistake by Titcomb made him rub the wall and lose most of his momentum in turn 2; he had to let the Saber pass and take seventh place at the exit of the turn too.
Most of the action was in the back once again; the Regal had relaxed too much, not confident enough, falling behind and losing places; he was now being harrassed by Bolovic, who was still leading the last pack.
Laps 105 - 140
The most uneventful segment of the race was this, with only Donovan recovering their place from MacRoye with some unintended help from Titcomb, who put pressure - quite literally - on the V590 by sharing paint with it once again. The rest of the places remained more or less the same, with the drivers starting to feel the fatigue of going 100% from the beginning: they felt forced to do so as this was the last race of the season.
Laps 140 - 175
As the race end approached, the racers started preparing their strategies for the last laps; with quite a bit of agression, MacRoye took Titcomb’s place, bumping his back first, now slightly enraged by the Cannonball’s style of driving.
With the midpack remaining relatively equal, the focus was shifted once again to the back of the grid. The Maverick had finally managed to overtake the Regal and the Tariuz, separating itself from the patch that harrassed him.
Laps 175 - 200.
The last stint of the race was a tense one; in front, the Shromet tried to overtake the Dermott multiple times, at some point even sharing paint and contact with it. Connaughan managed to defend his position, however, until the end of the race, finishing second, behind the Celento who finished first. The Shromet closed the podium.
The last overtake of the race was performed by the Maverick yet again, a car that was providing the commentators with a lot to discuss about this race, taking the Deshevo’s place. However, it couldn’t catch Hollerhousen in time.
Final race standings:
Final championship standings:
Times spreadsheet: in Google Docs once again. You know the drill.
(This is to incentive RP and as possible ideas 
)
After the race, the racers entered the winners circle, which was way bigger and more detailed than in the previous races, with the top three drivers standing on top of their respective podium places. Biffle and Connaughan received their 2nd and 3rd place prices from the marshalls, and Dale received their championship winner trophy from the champion of the 1967 season of ASCAR, between applauses from his fans.
Congratulations to @strop and @Rk38 for their first place!
Congratulations to @DoctorNarfy for his second place!
Congratulations to @Riso for their third place!
And special thanks to everybody who took part in the challenge! It wouldn’t have been possible without you.
As soon as the prices were retrieved, the racers gathered for a group photo to remember the 1987 season of ASCAR.
(But the challenge is not finished yet…)
The Tuesday following the race, the drivers were boarding their planes with destination the UK after being informed by their teams about the Brands Hatch Thunder Special…and the fact that there would be financial bonuses for the top 5 as well as a minor title up for grabs in that last race.
This has been nice, you should host more stuff like this. Maybe simply another season of this at some point when you’re up to it?
Perhaps pickups the next time around, but this is most certainly coming back 
Well that was a season with ups and downs… unless you are @strop and @Rk38.
That Celento needs to be banned; it’s way too good. I really want to take a look at that car, I certainly wouldn’t mind sharing mine.
After that first race I was not expecting my car to perform that well, I am really surprised. @Mr.Computah did a really good job presenting the races. My only complaint is the starting grid ought to be presented before going into the race report to make it easier to follow.
I’m happy to share the tune if RK is! There was absolutely nothing more to it than the usual tuning to the rules and the good fortune not to attract the wrath of the RNG gods.
That said the handling graph will appear funny, therein lies the secret to getting the edge in drivability and handling.
At the TSR Pit Stop
Takumi: Not bad huh?
Katana Racing Team: It’s alright. At least you pass someone.
Takumi: Great!
Ok I’ll finish the writing for the lore that we’ve set up later. What will happen to Arthur, the head of Armada? Will the charge of conspiracy against country be added to his list of woes? Will Dale ever come to terms with his whirlwind ride at the helm of a British Communist car? Will fans of ASCAR ever forgive him? So many questions! All to be revealed in good time.
For now though here’s the car. The design was all Rk. The tuning was all me. Frankly I optimised it for Daytona, but noticed that to a certain point if I didn’t have wheelspin below the slowest corners on a particular track that would also provide the fastest lap time. It’s easier if you can just floor it right away, after all.
ASCAR - Rk38 strop - Armada Racing Maesima Celento No. 7 Dale R. Thomas.car (82.5 KB)
Also note that the engine wasn’t optimised for maximum hp, but rather, a balance of the right curve at optimal rpm and the exact weight that allowed me to exactly balance the handling right on that weird line. I’m not going to pretend I know how to get the absolute maximum hp (@DoctorNarfy help us here), because I suck at pushrods. Anyway, it’s possible to tune the car to that line in almost any weight distribution and get strangely good values. I don’t like it, and tend to avoid it normally. But there was none so good a balance as with this. It should get a raw time of 54.39 flying on Daytona.
“No way. No fucking way. Holy… Lawrence, did we actually?” Danielle was staring at the position tree, seeing the #25 in the 8th place as she was driving back to the garage.
“You bet your ass we did, 8th place for GBSC!” She heard the rest of the garage cheering in the background.
As she entered the garage, and stepped out of the car, she was swarmed by the team as they began cheering and chanting. All Danielle could do was laugh. She worked her way through the commotion to the front of the garage. She was very, very happy.
Here’s my car for comparison. I don’t have a weird setup that’s for sure. But I noticed because of the changed brake calculations it’s now got way too much braking powers.
ASCAR - Riso - RM Dermott Racing 87.car (20.5 KB)
*** Transcription from Post-Race interview ***
“Hello Mr O’Brien, Brad Hampson here for Motorsport Magazine, can I ask you a few questions about your performance in the 1987 ASCAR season and how Ios feels about being at the bottom of the pack every race?”
“Hi Brad, just call me Buddy, but sure. I’m reasonably happy with my driving this season, although obviously if I said I didn’t wish we placed higher I’d be lying. My accident in the second race was a disappointment, but both myself and the team here at Ios Competition Division have learnt a lot in the process.”
“You say that you’re reasonably happy, but, forgive me if I’m being blunt here, the Dragoon just wasn’t competitive at all was it?”
“You’re right. No we weren’t. But right from the start, we looked at this as a chance to find our feet and get some precious experience. As you would know, this is the first ASCAR season that Ios has entered, so we were obviously coming in with less experience in this sort of thing than the other teams. While the car has had some use in motorsports over in Europe, this is the first time we’ve used it in oval racing. Due to the timeframes involved and unfamiliar regulations, we had to use an engine that wasn’t specifically designed for this sort of thing, so we definitely had some teething issues.”
“The car seemed to handle pretty well, although it looked a bit tail-happy out there! But you were definitely down on power, is that correct?”
“Yeah, from what I can gather, we were probably about 20-30HP down on the lead cars, but again this is the first time we’ve used the engine in a racing environment. Overall, we are happy with how we’ve performed, all things considering. The amount of experience and lessons that we’ve learnt here this year has been priceless, and we will be sure to funnel it back to our engineering and racing tech teams so we can build up a more competitive entry next season!”
“Thank you Buddy, best of luck in the future”
Conversations with pitcrew
Bepis 105
Pre race
“Now Vlad, I know we aren’t that competitive on ovals so don’t expect you to place well.”
“Yes Chief…”
“But don’t slack off though, give 'em hell and race like there’s no tomorrow!”
“Got it Chief”
Vlad fires up the Maverick and heads out onto the track, hoping to place well but knowing that the winner of the season is already decided…
Race start to lap 35
“Bloody hell! This car is so slow… I can’t even catch the mid-pack.”
“Well, changes will have to wait until next season’s car! Stop bitching and make the crowd want to watch you, NOT that candy ass Maesima up front”
“Kay Chief… I’m a leader, not a loser, a leader, not a loser, a leader…”
Laps 36 to 70
“Chief… This mantra ain’t workin’. I just can’t get past!”
“sigh Vlad, you’re too high in the corners. You always do this when you’re scared of being spun… You wanna go home to Moldova and work on cheap, tiny Bogliq’s for the rest of your life?”
“No way Chief, you know that!”
“Then stop looking behind you and PUSH!!! Make 'em nervous 'bout where you are and use that slab of iron and steel to make 'em FEAR you!!!”
“I’ll try Chief… Wish me luck!”
“Son, do or do not! There is no try!!! 'sides luck is for amateurs and you’re a pro kid! Now make your own luck and don’t call again until you’ve done it!”
Before this session was over, the Maverick took over leadership of the back group of racers!
“Chief, I did it.”
“Excellent work. Now hold the line and keep pushing for position! Don’t give up…”
“Yessir!”
Laps 71 to 105
“Vlad! Watch out for Spront! He’s slacked off so focus on him! He’s the weakest link!”
“Goodbye”
“What?”
“laughs It’s a Moldovan game show. Called “the weakest link”. Signature line when a player was eliminated was “Goodbye”. sighs Tough crowd…”
“Not funny Vlad. Just do what I told you, OK?”
“10-4 Chief chuckles”
Laps 106 to 140
“Vlad. Safety check. You doin’ OK kid?”
“So bummed out right now… Everyone’s so aggressive and I’m feelin’ the burn! I can hardly breathe without feeling like I’m having an ASCAR shoved down my throat!”
“You’ll be fine. You’re just feeling the mid-race heat. Good drivers cope with it, great drivers push back and push through!”
“Gotcha Chief, I’m gonna be fine, just fine…”
Laps 141 to 175
“Go high Vlad, the key is to go high!”
“I see it Chief! They’re dozing off on the job!”
Vlad then finally passes Spront and scores the Tariz as an unexpected bonus!
"Nice work kid! keep it up and you’ll be nipping at the heels of the mid-pack next!
“Thanks Chief! grins”
Laps 176 to Finish
“We don’t have far to go but I reckon you can catch Kostyrov and Hollerhousen if you really push it!”
“Will do Chief!”
The Maverick gains on the Deshevo every lap, Vlad drafts Kostyrov and bursts ahead but is unable to surprise the CTFM car, who baulks Vlad just enough to frustrate his chances of getting past in time before the end of the race.
“Bloody hell that was close! Great race Vlad! Everyone has been talking about you and your racing skills!!! I cannot be prouder of you and your efforts than I am today, unless of course you manage to win the championship next year… Wink, wink!”
“Thanks Chief, that race was incredible! Hopefully this means we’ll get a second season… But Damn!!! That Maesima is dominating! Dale’s living the dream!!!”
“Don’t worry about that now, you’ve done good kid! Now bring in that Maverick so we can hit the after-party!!!”
Post race after-party
Team Leeroy Racing chose to stay overnight and join in the closing ceremony festivities. Vlad cheered on the podium winners, they’d done well and deserved their wins. Vlad made a special point to stand next to Bonkarenko in the group photo and posed with him for the press. By now Vlad had totally forgotten about the incident and only wanted to make a new friend!
Vlad, Bonkarenko and whomever else wanted to come along, went back to the Leeroy Racing pits where they had a Nu-wave dance party with as many grid girls as they could round up and, needless to say, everyone had a great time…
The End - Almost!
the car in 4th place. i ended up not making any post about it.
because stuff happens, when i got time to write it, it’s already race 2. i just lost motivation. but here’s the bad boi
Race trim
Road Version
and the car file, because why not?
ASCAR - Grehet Mytheme- Road.car (42.2 KB)
ASCAR - Grehet Mytheme- Race.car (47.6 KB)
Statement from PMI Racing Director Benny Barstow to The Informer Newspaper
PMI Racing is satisfied with the performance and especially the reliability of the Usurper (despite some rubbing action from a rival at some point). We congratulate Mr. Bonkarenko for his able driving. We recognize the engine was sub-optimal for the ASCAR championship in terms of power, but our driver managed to land us in the middle of the pack almost each race with a mere 385hp.
Request to all other teams from PMI
PMI is looking forward to Bristol. However, may we kindly ask you not to refer to any dates around Mr. Barry Bonkaronko, as we is afraid of flying and is under the impression that we come by boat, a “trip during which sadly enough he had seasickness and slept it off in a daze”.
So, please keep the story up as we need him to drive proper and not go bonkers. Pity the fools who are near him when he realizes.
