Why You Don't Bring A Motorcycle To A Car Party (Part 1)

Posted on Tue Aug 29th, 2023 @ 5:43am by Commodore Tohru Honda & Captain Shimakaze Zh'gero & Lieutenant Alisha Reno

1,435 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: The Fast & The Fleet

Lieutenant Clyde Th'rollo had just been lined up for his run. His car was what was known among Earth ground car enthusiasts as a SilEighty, meaning it was a Nissan 180SX with the nose of an S13 Nissan Silvia, and he had tuned the car into a force to be reckoned with on both the uphill and downhill run.

The program's weather had been set to clear, but the road's surface was set to remain slick from when Lieutenants Sh'veshron and Sinclair had had their run. However, unlike Sh'veshron, Clyde was a master of all road conditions, being able to control his SilEighty at speed on dry, slick, or even icy roads.

All these things taken into consideration, when Clyde had been informed he would be running a mixed uphill/downhill run beginning with the downhill run, he had assumed his opponent from the Myogi NightKids had quite the machine if they dared to take him on a mixed run. However, he was evidently disappointed when instead of a car, it was a motorcycle being lined up against him. He sneered at the bike's rider.

"Seriously? I get paired with the motorcycle" He scoffed. "And to think this was actually going to be challenging..."

Alisha had her visor flipped up and heard the comment, of course, she was undoubtedly intended to hear it. She flicked a wink over at the Andorian, "Don't worry, sweetheart, I'll save you a cup of coffee when you get to the finish line." She made her point by revving the Ninja's 4-stroke engine a few times, but lost her grip on the brakes for a moment, the bike lurching into a tight circle as she kept a hold of the bike, bringing it up on a rear wheel as she lost control of it but seemed to bring it back somewhat, both feet planted on the ground as the bike came out from under her, "Whoops!" She said quietly, but still loud enough for the Andorian to hear. Of course, at no time did the bike cross the start/finish line.

Th'rollo merely rolled his eyes. The level of unprofessionalism his opponent was showing was most appalling. He didn't need Captain Zh'gero to tell him not to let her walk away with the W, because he was going to make sure of that himself.

As Myogi's Intelligence officer got the bike re-settled and herself back on top of it, she flipped her visor shut with a flick of a finger and smiled behind the tinted visual opening. That should make this one even more confident. It had been a trick she'd practiced because if one thing would help her, it was psychological warfare. The road was wet, that would help her opponent around the turns, but unlike her, the car would be going for the outside turn whereas she was going to use the inside. That meant that for each turn there would be a pair of VERY dangerous crossovers in their paths. If it were neck and neck, she could get pressured into a wall, or even over the edge. But this one didn't know exactly who she was, nor her abilities with this particular bike. For what it was, it was far lighter than the 'original' model which would allow her to whip it around faster than they would imagine. Include the 1441cc engine? Calling it a rocket would almost be an understatement. Her gaze went to the starting signal as she kept the engine at just over 3000 RPM to give her a good start.

Ahead of the competitors stood Commodore Honda in the middle of the road.

"Okay, people; this is going to be a mixed uphill/downhill run, starting with the downhill first!" She yelled to be heard over the revving engines. "Competitors are going to complete the downhill run and turn around at the cone at the bottom, at which point they shall return up the hill to the finish."

Tohru held her splayed hand above her head.

"Starting in 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! GO!"

Th'rollo went for first and gave a demonstration of his throttle control, getting his tires to grip the wet pavement much faster than Alisha was expecting. The spray kicked up by the SilEighty splashed Commodore Honda as the two vehicles whizzed past.

Briefly Alisha cursed everything with two wheels as her main drive wheel slipped in the wet and briefly spun before the large treads finally caught on the ground and caught, catapulting her forward. If this had been dry ground, she'd have definitely had the acceleration advantage, but in the damp and wet? It really was anyone's race. But she had prepared for this potential situation and zipped past the Commodore even as she shifted into second gear less than a second after the four-wheeled monstrosity.

From behind, she had go to go Plan B even as she said a nasty word to the randomizer that had given them this particular weather pattern to race in. She'd probably have to slow down even more for those inside turns and speed back up, but it was the straightaways that she'd really need to make up speed on. The first turn was upon them nearly instantly, Alisha prepared to swing behind the car on the inside of the turn, but aborted that when Th'rollo dove for it himself. "Shit." She muttered, throwing out her entire game-plan and tucking herself in behind the car deciding to play the following game to start off with. Couldn't lose much time and space, or at least afford to.

The first five turns were the same thing, two of the last three being gentler until she knew where the first straightaway was. The long game it was. As they came out of turn six, Alisha allowed herself to swing wide and then dropped a gear and hit the accelerator hard to come up on the outside of the car in the few hundred meters before a hairpin turn in an initial bid to overtake. Had to see what his reaction would be to it.

An overtake from the oustide? Th'rollo thought. These fools really are desperate for a win...

The rest of the course produced similar results; with the bike attempting to overtake Th'rollo, but he went just wide enough to make passing impossible. Th'rollo had done a good enough job to keep the bike behind him on the downhill portion. But now, the turnaround was coming up. This could be the bike's opportunity to pass if Th'rollo wasn't careful. As the two approached the turnaround, Th'rollo found himself pivoting around the cone a lot wider than he normally would. He cursed his missing the optimal line, as that would surely be something the bike would take advantage of:

Now she was getting frustrated with this goddamned car. Even on the straightaways he was denying her the chance to pass in as expert a manner as she'd seen in any of the races she'd watched in preparation for this. Of course, she'd expected someone on a motorcycle, but she got what she got. And this had continued all the way down to the long straightaway at the bottom, the ending of the downhill. Even here she was denied on three different attempts to pass, the last one being on the inside before she once again had to fall back.

But as she watched and waited for the turnaround, she noticed that maybe it hadn't been for naught. His normally crisp and clean line on the turn was going to take him wide, leaving the inside line open, but there was little to no time to adjust her own line of travel. She gunned her engine and clamped hard on the brake for the front wheel even as she turned in and allowed her back end to use the momentum to swing around, back wheel losing grip on the ground as her front locked in place. As her rear end swung past the 180 degree mark, she finally release the brake and skidded sideways for a handful of feet before the rear wheel once again caught the ground and she shot forward once more, now a good five feet in FRONT of the car in relative distance. She tucked herself in behind the windshield and jammed the throttle to full, shifting back up as her engine screamed and she began to gain some distance from the Andorian on the straightaway. The turns were coming back up again and she'd need every inch she could get.

To be continued...

RSS Feed