FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The next morning the bells for the starting line rang early. Joe and I hauled ourselves out of bed to take as much of the 30 minute maintenance period as we could. While he pumped more air into the tires, I added a few lead weights to the back and increased the angle on the wing for the extra traction we needed to counter act the loose, shifty dirt trails. We refilled the tank, topped off all the Firebird's oil and coolant levels and tightened some bolts on the driveshaft. Joe was checking out the gears when the call came out.

"Driver's!", The ref shouted, "your thirty minutes are up."

"Crap", Joe muttered, "there goes that idea."

"What idea?", I asked.

"I was gonna re arrange the gears for a slower off the line and maybe some more grip, but were outta time."

Joe screwed the gear cover back on and slid out from under the car. We dropped it down from the jacks and then suited up. Today, I was in the driver's seat and Joe was the navigator. He'd promised to be as annoying as possible, which didn't help my tensity and nervousness. I slid into the driver's seat of the XS and buckled up the racing harness. Joe slid into the passenger's seat and strapped himself in before shutting the door.

"Ready?", I asked.

"Let's do this brother", he said.

I nodded and started the car, as did everyone else. Since we had placed last the day before, we were in first and had a ten minute head start before the others.

I drove up to the starting line. There were red, yellow and green lights strapped to a tree that were wired to an un seen power source. The light was red. I revved the engine, the RPM shooting to 7000 and then quickly dropping off. The light went yellow. I revved the engine again. The light went through two more yellow stages and then clicked to green. I popped the clutch and put the pedal to the floor. The Firebird began to burn out in the loose dirt before inching forward.

We started down a different path than the one we'd taken last night. This one was a lot more turny and fussy than the straight from last night. The first turn went around a tree that was placed right in the middle of the road. I gave the car a bit of a brake and then turned the steering wheel right and then left, easily drifting through the corner.

"93 120 don't cut", Joe said.

"Got it", I said shifting back to 5th gear.

The road twisted for a few more yards before I came to the down hill turn. It was a sharp, down hill turn that could send us plummeting to our deaths if I wasn't careful. I down shifted from 5th to 3rd, keeping my foot on the brake and clutch as I did. With my paw also on the E-Brake, I managed to slow the car down just enough to get through the narrow, sharp corner without losing a lot of speed.

The road on the side of the mountain was windy and fussy like the first one and the traction was horrible. Even with the wing angle and the weights we were still front heavy, which meant all the tread was up front. I shifted into fifth gear and gunned it as another, right hand turn approached. Seeing as the turn was on the side of a mountain (more or less) and it was a right angle, I slowed to about four miles an hour and was in first gear as I turned the car around the corner, now seeing paved road.

"Traction!", Joe said as the bump signaled the transition to pavement.

"We still have three minutes before the others let off", I said flooring it, "let's put some distance between us and them while the road is for us."

"Don't jink it bro", Joe said.

"Don't worry", I said.

There was another turn about two hundred feet in front of us. I stepped on the brakes and downshifted to third gear and went around the corner before quickly coming out of it and shifting into fourth gear. The road curved slightly, allowing me access to seventh gear before I had to start slowing down again for the next turn. I went through that turn at about sixty miles an hour and then shifted into second gear, making it only to fourth before the next turn. As I was going through that one, I saw the Koenigsegg in the rear view mirror. He was a ways off, but I knew on the pavement he'd catch up quick.

"That Koenigsegg is back there", I said as we hit a straight.

"No he's not?", Joe said looking back.

"I saw him up on the hill", I said, "I figure there's a 30 second gap between us and him."

"That means we don't have any room for screw ups", Joe said.

"We never had room for screw ups", I said.

The straight let out at a four way intersection. There were cops set up and they had stopped traffic for the Rally. There was an off ramp to the right that had a yellow flare popped on it to mark the turn. I pressed the clutch and downed the transmission to fourth gear before giving the E-Brake a yank and swinging the rear end out with the front end pretty much pivoting around the guard rails. I tossed the car back into drive and floored it as the Saleen drove right up behind me. How he'd closed the lead we had so quickly, I'll never know for sure.

"Okay he caught up quick", I said.

"There's All Wheel Drive at work brother", Joe said, "4 is better than 2."

The Saleen was basically on our rear bumper as I E-Braked through another corner and went down another straight that wound up hill and then let out on a small residential road that had a flare marked freeway ramp. There were stopped cars lining the side of the road and many people had climbed to the roof of their vehicles to video tape the race cars that were about to pass by.

The Saleen seemed to want to go right over me as we entered the freeway and the full power of our engines was able to come out. I put all of the Firebird's 643 diesel powered horses to the pavement and slowly started gaining ground over the Saleen. Then that damn Supra turned up. It's driver past the Saleen and drove right up beside me, slowly starting to inch past me.

"Stay behind me", I mumbled shifting into seventh gear and flooring it. I'd have better luck negotiating with terrorists than I did trying to out run that Supra. He was out in front, but the way I was able to dog him in the Firebird suggested he had at most 50 horsepower and 20 pounds of torque over me. It wasn't a huge power difference, but since the Supra was an Asian Turner car at 2,400 pounds even with custom All Wheel Drive, versus the Firebird's 4,000 pounds and Rear Wheel Drive with extra weight in the back, you understand how I was coming up short.

"Never should have put those weights in the back", Joe said, "should have just raised the wing."

"Stuff happens", I said dogging the Supra through a corner and managing to over shoot him, taking the lead.

The hours wound on with mind numbing horsepower and crazy turns. It was a constant fight between our Firebird, the animal masquerading as a Toyota and the powerhouse Saleen. There were times when all three of us were door to door to door, times when we were out front and times when they were out front. At around 3PM, Joe and I were solidly in the lead after the Saleen suffered a stall out and the driver of the Supra had somehow blown his turbo and was now racing with what could easily be a loss of 250 or more horsepower.

Now new villains were tailing us, the Lamborghini and the Koenigsegg. The CCGT was about 500 or so feet back, barely in view and the Lamborghini was just behind him, but none the less they were both packing just under 800 horsepower to their drive wheels and one mess up would put them, literally at our back bumper. As we closed the last miles back to Sunset Raceway, I realized that while the Firebird had the handling, we were too short on power and the Reventon and the CCGT behind us were going to catch us.

"We don't have the power to out run them!", I said shifting up to fifth to recover from a turn.

"Yes we do!", Joe said, "this car will do 270! All you gotta do is feed it!"

That's what I did. I floored it and let the engine take over. As the transmission began to cry for sixth gear, the CCGT and Reventon appeared again. They began closing the distance as the In Line Four cried for seventh gear. The speed began to pick up. 250, 260, 270 and until I was doing 277 miles an hour. The CCGT and Reventon began to fall behind as the finish line came into view. I began to slow down from 277 and was amazed at how much the brakes dwarfed the massive power of the ogre of a four cylinder. We went from 277 down to 50 in less than 200 feet, crossing the finish line within this time.

"WOOOOOOO!", I shouted holding my fist up in the air.

My heart was racing as the engine put off a jet like whirring sound as the turbos shut off and the RPM wound down.

"That was a race!", Joe said, "not only was it fun, but now were the Modified Rally Class champs, that comes with a few things, including the blue wristband. I'll make sure someone gets it to you before the start of the next event. Go get cleaned up and then go see your family. I highly suggest you guys come down to the track tonight and watch the Audi vs Supra 850 Horsepower All Wheel Drive Shootout. Tonight, the Championship begins."