NationStates Jolt Archive

Your Heart Races...The Adrenaline Flows...The Engine Roars...Feel the Thunder.

Attention all daring racers of the world! Nathan Cross, the creator of the dangerous and controversial Thunder Run has announced today, amidst a storm of criticism following last year's race, that another Run is scheduled for this year with registration beginning tomorrow and lasting for three days. He did not make a public address in his usual manner but opted instead for a quiet press release. Drivers from across the globe are welcome to participate in this epic race which will push a racer to his/her limits and test their fortitude on the road. This year's track will be from coast to coast in The U.S. American officals from the Department of Transportation agreed to allow Cross to hold the race in the U.S. Once racers register their cars and teams, the offical checkpoint list will be handed out to racers. For now, the race begins in New York and ends in a still yet unclear California destination.

The legends from Thunder Run such as Lukas Krueger and Elena Santini will not be participating, but some other familiar faces are expected to attend. Sign-up today and become a hero in this racing epic!

Name: Dimitri Adenski
Age: 33
Height: 6ft
Weight: 190lbs
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Bio: Little is known about Adenski's early life. He was placed in an orphanage but left after several years. He was picked up by Yuri Andropov and began working for his syndicate. Over the years, Adenski rose through the ranks and became one of Andropov's most loyal and important assets. He is calm, stoic, almost emotionless. He raced in last year's Thunder Run which was called off after a near fatal incident involving Russian gangsters. He is currently under investigation by several European agencies and is being monitored by INTERPOL. He races in his spare time and has become proefficent. After the race he left Andropov's syndicate to strike it out on his own. There are no reasons given for his sudden departure from the Russian mob.
Vehicle: Black Lotus Europa S

Bump

With a statement now cliche and iconic...

"I am soooo back"

I don't know who'll I'll bring to the race but I already know the vehicle, but thats a surprize at the moment.


But I'll say this..."Dimitri. I love your taste in cars, but you are going to taste my dust! Caio baby"

( Can you hear the theme song to the movie Canon Ball Run crooning cheerfully in the background? And a cookie to any one who can name the title of that song )

Bump

Rowan Chantal Hickock (http://www.atddm.com/Rowan.html)

Cousin to one of my minor characters in the last Thunder Run. And her cars listed there as well.

Glad to see you aboard.

Name: Tommy Grant
Nationality: American
Age: 25
Height: 5'11''
Weight: 186lbs
Hair: Black, long sideburns
Eyes: Hazel
Brief Bio: Grant grew up outside Atlanta. His father was a skilled mechanic who taught him everything he knows about cars. Since he was old enough for a license, Grant drove trucks and cars of all sizes, becoming quite skilled. He dabbled in moonshine running when he was a teenager then moved on to street racing. That is where he found his calling and took part in numerous races around the country and entered to race in the Thunder Run. He's a bit cocky.
Vehicle: Porsche 911

OOC:This open?

IC:Name: Rusky Jones
Age: 27
Height: 1.85M
Weight: 84kg
Hair: brown, crew cut
Eyes: black
Brief Bio: A recent addition to the racing circuit, he is a rising star and pride of his country
Vehicle: Silver Dodge Viper SRT/10

Of course, it's open to anyone who wishes to race.

Your character sure is short and quite light in weight.

LOL I have a feeling that Tommy Grant and the Pettimore clan are not so friendly rivals. The Pettimores have been making and runnig moonshine in north eastern Tennesee - Mountain City, Johnson County - since before there was 'revenooers' and the song by Steve Earl Copperhead Road lays down part of the clans story, specifically it's current head 'Three' as Johnny Lee Pettimore III gets called by those close enough to be allowed such a priviledge.

The Pettimores branched out in the early seventies to even more profitable sources of not necessarily legal income such as arms dealing, gambling, transportation of cigarettes that some how escaped the tax stamp, and making sure that people disappear- some of them even living!

LOL Kul if thats 1.84 meters then he's 6'4'' ish - but at 84 pounds sounds more than a bit malnourished - was that supposed to be 84 kilos, or 184 pounds perhaps?

Stupid mistake on my part, not too accustomed to the metric system. I guess Grant and the Pettimore's could make for some interesting racing. It's a shame Charli Firewalker won't be back for this race.

I lost my earlier post due to my cable temporarily crashing so here goes an attempt at a repost...

LOL Charli has more problems than she can point a FN P90 at - and the US is a particularly 'not good' place to be what with the Shop once again actively hunting her. If you think a few russian mobsters fouled up you race last year, just shudder at what the Shop would do to the racers if they though Charli was among them.

No Rowan will have to do. She is very much a Steel Magnolia - polite, gracious, generous, careing and soft as silk on the outside but inside she isn't just steel but titanium steel alloy, tempered by the fire - flexible and unbreakable.

Bump

I'll have a character up here shortly, need to work one out. So far, looks like the Pettimore offshoot will be the only compitition. Good stuff.

LOL ego much Imi? This is rally style where I think that driver ability, knowledge of the lay of the land and luck will have as much to do wit winning as what the vehicle is.

And Dimitri showed a lot of promise in the last Thunder Run.

Now Rowan might have the fastest street legal 'Cuda around - howevershe also is a 'known figure', not that she's ever been conviced of a felony but there may be a lot of hypos and others out to make sure she's not acting as a distraction for other Pettimore activities...

I have heard very good things about the Lotus Europa and the Porche is, of course, a classic.

I haven't ever paid much attention to the Viper however, so I'm unsure of it's 'street creds' as some put it. Though wasn't your character driving a Viper in the last Thunder Run? ( or am I remembering incorrectly?)

Even if it is rally style, anyone with half a brain in the race would now the easiest way from point A to point B in a high speed race in teh US should take highways. So in all hosty, its gonna be who can hit the top speed fastest. I already got my car picked out, and its a 250 mile per hour plus car, no problem there.

A Europa can handle, sure, but really, it'll max out the stock motor around 140. It'll tear shit up on a track, but its not going anywhere all that fast beyond that. A 911, well, there are gobs on 911s. What year? What model? I mean is it a 997 GT2? Or a 993 Carrera? Need more info. The Viper? Again, it depends on what ya have done. Stock, yeah, they are mean, and even meaner with mods, but most of those heavily modded ones are set up for drags. The Cuda, like I said, well, it depends. I can't believe they put those big ass wheels on it, thats just gonna throw off the balance, and hurt the top end. The car is really a show car, and while I'm sure it runs one mean 1/4, again, we're talking about a race that is massively top end.

At this juncture, the key has nothing to do with power to wieght ratios or how many digits your peak HP number is. Its about gearing in relation to the power output of the car, and a proper torque and power curve.

Anyways, I digress to much. My next post will detail my character and car.

Looks at Imitora suspiciously "Don't tell me you're running a Veryon? I thought you despised them..." Tried to peek under tha blanket hiding his car:p

The Man

A seven point six two round from something in the Avtomat family slings by my head at velocities enough to turn my head inside out. My own rifle, a nicely updone Mk. 18 CQBR, barks back, sending out death in the form of five five six ball rounds, dropping another one of these TaliWackers. I don't care much for PCness, and hence forth, you'll need to excuse my account of our little battle in the usage of less than friendly terms of our opposition.

Yet, I digress, and back to the situation at hand. My eight man boat team keeps the fire on strong as we approach the ambush point, dropping Taliban and al-Queda fighters quickly. A nice snatch and grab of some one who has three Mohmads in his name, and isn't exactly a fan of the great Satan. Whatever. A near by explosion of a forty mil grenade from an M203 sends chunks of dirt in the air, and I burst forward to keep from getting hit by rounds from the light machine gun that has kept us pinned for the time.

Thats the best part about being a SEAL, I get to do all the fun stuff. And I think I'm good at it, too. I was one of five to make it out of my BUD/S class, and the only officer in that bunch. Behind me, a petty officer on Mk. 48 SPW lays down suppresive fire, and I make it to the Toyota. The door opens, my rifle goes down, and as someone with a turban tries to fight his way out, his nose comes in contact with the barrell of my Sig Sauer P226. he stops moving.

The fire fight continues, I drop down, and keep my mark covered. He has intell, or at least thats what we've been told, and obviously his comrades don't want to let him go. An RPG singes by over head. I yank a white phospherous grenade from my vest, roll, and toss it over to the pick up/technical with the MG.

The loud bang makes it stop shooting.

The mission is a success, and the Air Force fly boy calls in a bird to get us out. The entire time, I contimplate but one thing.

I hope my car is ready.

I started out my Navy career as a way to figure out what to do after graduating from college. I completed OCS in 1998, and found myself as a Port Security type in Pensacola. I was going good, wanting more but never really going for it. Then the Towers were hit. Two weeks later, I found myself in BUD/S, and eventually completing the whole program, earning that nifty gold trident.

When I'm not jumping out of MC-130s and kicking down doors, I spend most of my time racing. I guess I just like adrenaline. Whatever the reason, between racing and SEAL fun, I've found that maybe joining the Navy was the best thing to do. And now we have a bunch of wanna be hotshots comming outa the woodwork for this new rally. I've done the Players Run, the Cannon Ball, and plenty of other lower key long run rallys. What's another one.

One thing is for sure. These wannabes might be pretty tough, but I'm better. And if all else fails, I have a Sig Sauer P226 to back me up.

Name: John Meyers
Nationality: American
Age: 31
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 220lbs, muscular build
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Green
__

The Machine

Somewhere around Northampton, Imitora, there is a nice little shop with a simple sign in block letters over the door. Psychosis Tuning. They work mostly with BMWs, Porsches, and Audis, though they have been known to toy with a Camaro or two. And the occasional Maserati. And that is why John Meyers had his car sent there.

It started life as a lightly used 997 Turbo dealer demo model. Nothing to fancy, and having never touched one of his paychecks after his commision, but instead having them all dumped into mutual funds and investment opportunities. Saving up, he purchased the car lightly used in Imitora, and had the boys at Psychosis take their hand at it.

The displacement of the six-cylinder flat engine is increased from 3.6 to 3.8 liters and the engine is reworked entirely. Psychosis Tunings Chief Porsche Engineer, Russ Haywood's, power cocktail also includes special combustion chamber shapes as well as precision-machined cylinder heads with larger valves, and high-performance camshafts.

The engine's peripherals are also completely new. In addition to an intake manifold with larger and smoothened ports the engine is equipped with a more powerful turbocharging system and a high-performance exhaust.

The stock turbos with variable turbine geometry are replaced by larger conventional ones, which are supplied with optimal amounts of exhaust gas by the custom-tailored stainless-steel exhaust manifolds. Higher capacity intercoolers provide cooler charge air for maximum power output, aided on the exhaust side by a stainless-steel sport exhaust with metal catalysts. Psychosis Tuning's stationary test bench is used to fine-tune the perfect interaction of all individual components with special 100-octane fuel mapping for the Bosch-developed engine electronics.

With a boost pressure of 1.5 bar the engine develops 1,054 wheel horse power at 7,700 rpm and a peak torque of 760 lb-ft at 5,800 rpm. The Sportec SPR1 body kit helps keep all that power on the ground, and the Sportec wheels hold race ready R compund tires. The suspension has also been overworked, and tuned to help keep the car planted on those highspeed runs, but is fully adjustable in cockpit for when comming up on the twisties. The car lost none of its luxery, including the continued use of the famed DSG gearbox, a head liner reupholstered in Alacantra, and equiping of a HUD in the dash. Further, a Valentine V1 has been hardwired into the car, as well as a Radar/LASER jammer.

The car and motor has been tested by the enginners at Psychosis in Bahrain, the Artic, and in South America for reliability and ease of use in extreme hot, cold, and humid temperate zones. The top speed has been marked at 250 plus miles per hour, though most of the race will be handled in the upper one hundreds, lower two hundreds in order to ensure optimized fuel consumption. It accelerates to 60 from dead stop in 2.7 seconds, passes the 125 miles per hour in 8.3 seconds, and can deaccelerate from 60 to zero in less than 36 meters.

hmmm, why do I feel I ought to say "You can out run us but you can't outrun Motorola.":D

Sign-up people!

hmmm, why do I feel I ought to say "You can out run us but you can't outrun Motorola.":D

I'll give ya the secret to that some day ;-)

Smart Ass:p

OOC: Judging from the speeds your cars can hit, RJ's viper gonna be toast. Time to hit the net and firure out how to soup it up without Uberw@nking it.

Sadly, I do have to state that Imitora is not wonking it- in the world of automotive tuning he knows where of he speaks. Though don't let him get you down - he can still be stopped cold by such things as engine failure, tire blow out strips, and bad food ( and bad gas ) - we just have to make life interesting for him, while avoiding our own "Imperial Entanglements".

Imitora is a friend, but hey, we all want to win...or do we? I've already got my opening post written and held...

"Yeah, I get bored at work at times"

For what its worth, I've worked at two decently known speed shops up my way. Worked on one car (didn't do much of the building, but did have my hand in it) that made it as a magazine cover car. I'm working now as a service advisor at a BMW dealership, and one of my assigned mechanics is THE man in the area to go to for high end go fast bits.

Ownership...gods, I'm not sure. Lets see...

-First Gen Turbo Eclipse with some basic work
-E36 325i with I/H/E and M3 Cams
-Trans Am WS.6 with a motor swap and tons of other work...ran high tens on slicks if I could ever launch it right.
-Audi Bi Turbo S4, exahust only
-Turboed E36 M3, blew up (bad turbo)
-1997 Toyota Supra Turbo, every mod short of a single turbo conversion, blew up (bad motor)
-Late second gen Eclipse GSX, I/E, free mods, ecu
-Suzuki GXS-750, Yoshimura exhaust and power programer
-Three or four E46 3 Series (non M) BMWs, one was Supercharged with nitrous, the rest have had different combos of parts and such

The Trans Am, First Gen Eclipse Turbo, and most recent 3 (330i ZHP) I've owned the longest (Trans Am-2years, First Eclipse-3, Current 330-9 months). Most of the time I'll get the car, and just work on it till I can sell it for more than I put into it, so usually two or three months. And I usually have two cars at a time. When I had the Gixxer (sport bike), I had the curent 330, and the late second gen GSX. Honestly, while I could give you a full list of all mods for everything I had, I couldn't give you prices. The way I see it, if the price matters, then your in the wrong hobby.

For my next car, I'm thinking either a 335i (would have to finance), a Zed Oh Six 'Vette (would have to finance even more), an E46 M3 (could probably pick up out right), another Supra, or a GTO. Regardless of which I get, I already have planned mods for all of them, lol.

After all, automotive modification is simply the art of taking money and making it into noise.

Further, if anyone needs any help with their choosen vehicle and going faster, by all means, ask away. While I may not be able to give you a perfect individual detail that I could give someone else as I haven't worked on that specific car, I could definately point you in the right direction!

So uh...we gonna do this or what?

Yeah, lets kick this pig!..or turn those engines over, get the Dodges out of Hell...