Fury -A racer's story.

[Rotary Junkie]

Chapter 1: Strange Beginnings
​

“Hey, John! Someone wants to talk to you.”

“Tell 'em to talk to Will. I'm busy back here.”

“Dammit, John, they want to talk to you.”

“Why the hell can't Will handle it? I gotta finish up this Camaro.”

“Something about wanting you to drive for them.”

“Okay, I'll be up front in a minute. Thanks Jay.”

Well, I don't know who it is that could possibly want me of all people to drive for them, and I sure as heck don't know why they showed up at my shop to talk to me about it...

I washed up and walked out to the front desk. I was met by a somewhat tall man in a suit, standing around waiting for me.

“Hello, Mr. Rothwell.... I've got a proposition for you.”

“Yeah, yeah, cut to the chase already. Something about driving, correct?”

“Yes, we need a few drivers... While we've heard much about your skills racing that green Camaro of yours on the streets, we still need you to prove yourself on-track.”

“Hey, I've got my competition licenses...”

“Not enough. There's a few races we want you to run... And win, of course.”

“Okayy... Why?”

“Let's just say that there's a ride ready for you to run in a very high-dollar championship.”

“Now I have to consider whether this man, who I know nothing of, not even his name, can back up what he says... Can you?”

“The knowing nothing of me is your fault, not mine. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a prior appointment that I may be late for otherwise. Here's my secretary's card. If you want to take me up on this, call.”

“Who on earth are you, anyhow?”

“You shall find out soon enough. Good day, Mr. Rothwell.”

Who is he, why am I wanted to drive, and why is his identity being hidden from me? There's no name on the card... At all... A number and no more, with “Drive” scrawled on the back...

He then walked out to his car, which was a BMW 5-series, one of the Bangled jobbies... It being a ways off and partially obstructed by a customer car sitting in the lot, I didn't notice until I heard it fire up that it was indeed an M5.

Later on, I finished installing the few bits my budget had allowed me to buy for the Camaro, those being an adjustable set of coilovers, a chip tune, and a set of gold Yokohama 5-spokes wrapped in extremely sticky road-race “cheater” slicks. I took it for a quick drive through the streets, testing the new suspension and making sure it wasn't killing itself with shoddy air:fuel mixture ratios after the chip.

The car felt very nice despite a small bit of understeer on throttle. Sticky rubber really IS sticky, as a redline clutch drop did not light them up, despite this car making (I'd estimate) about 325-330 ft-lbs of torque and around 290hp after the chip.

 

[Rykon Zero]

Hm, sounds familiar. I smell a new fad.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Hm, sounds familiar. I smell a new fad.

Can't help it if I'm bored.

At least I'm not ripping Initial D to the nth degree.

 

[Rykon Zero]

Ah, well. It doesn't correspond to AZN carzz, so I guess you're safe.

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

Interesting, a new story to read. I wouldn't be surprised if RJ ditches the Camaro for a rotary though

Look forward to more.👍

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Interesting, a new story to read. I wouldn't be surprised if RJ ditches the Camaro for a rotary though

Look forward to more.👍

My name ain't John.

I ain't a GM boy. He'll keep it for a while. It's actually quite nice to drive as it is, with just a mildly tweaked Semi-racing suspension.

 

[Smallhorses]

Nice to see so many people still keeping the GT4 thing going for those of us that still like to create and read these things. 👍

Hm, sounds familiar. I smell a new fad.

@Stig22121: it's actually a pretty old thing to write racer-perspective reports, and has been going on since the beginnings of the GT4 race report board. You may wish to get your nose checked.
Just because there's a couple of newer members giving it a go here at the moment (and making a pretty good job of it too) doesn't mean they're all writing for the same reason.
That said, if you've nothing constructive to add to a thread here, just don't bother chiming in. 👎

 

[bellybox]

Very nice writing style & pretty intriguing. Camaro looks good too.

 

[Skygrasper550]

nice! Red-Line must've inspired you in making your own story j/k

looking forward to reading more..,

at post #3, hey RJ, that sounds just like me, hmmm..,

 

[VTiRoj]

Nice start RJ!

Damn now I got 2 fanfics to wait for updates now. <_<

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Very nice writing style & pretty intriguing. Camaro looks good too.

I was very surprised how nice it looks on the gold Yokos. Sadly, the car itself isn't very photogenic, so it's not too easy to get a good shot of it.

nice! Red-Line must've inspired you in making your own story j/k

looking forward to reading more..,

at post #3, hey RJ, that sounds just like me, hmmm..,

Red-Line did indeed play a part in getting me to write this, but the difficult part was trying to not completely rip off you. And by extension, Initial D.

 

[VTiRoj]

I was very surprised how nice it looks on the gold Yokos. Sadly, the car itself isn't very photogenic, so it's not too easy to get a good shot of it.



Red-Line did indeed play a part in getting me to write this, but the difficult part was trying to not completely rip off you. And by extension, Initial D.

I have a green Camaro, might go see what the gold Yokohama wheels look like on it in person. 💡

You can't really not rip off Initial D or anyone else's fics when you write one yourself, its just the way things go, but it's always great to see new ideas. :tup:

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Chapter 2: Fresh Blood​

Called Mr. Mystery's secretary... Found out what races they want me to run, and when they're happening.

Apparently, they want me to run a single-race series called the Hot Rod Competition. The first race is next week, right here in New York. That's all fine and well, but there's a couple Viper owners that have been known to show up on occasion, and based on last year's event here, nobody brings anything under 380hp.

Great. There's also a Camaro-only series they want to see a full sweep in, a naturally-aspirated-only series again asking for a full sweep (5 races) against 400hp cars, a championship stuffed full of mostly Japanese tuner cars running around 400hp in cars that are 200-300kg lighter than my Camaro.

They've got the roads making up the NY track closed for practice though. There's a race today in fact, but nothing special is showing up. Supposedly.

*A few hours later*

It's race time. Of course, we're running the track the opposite direction of what next week's race will be, so it won't serve as practice, but hey, I need a little cash. We put up a pot, winner takes 600 bucks.

Starting Order:

1st: 1967 Mercury Cougar

2nd: Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI RS T.M.E

3rd: 1996 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport

4th: 1990 Lotus Carlton

5th: 2000 Ford Mustang Cobra R

6th: My 1997 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 Coupe

Right off the start I was easily outdistanced by the Cobra R in front of me, but I held off on braking for T1 much longer than he did, and kept my speed up through the corner better, giving me a slightly better exit speed. Of course, his acceleration stayed his savior down the straight to T2, where I braked a bit TOO late, tagging the early-braking Cobra and going far enough off line to cost me very noticeable amounts of time due to having to slow down excessively.

Short chute to T3 just further distanced him from me, and he stayed away until T6 where I was literally on his tail on exit and going into T7. Squeezed by on exit, with him steering INTO me (the arse) on exit, so when I got past he fishtailed a bit. T8 showed me on the Carlton's tail leading onto the T8-9 connection straight, just to have him pull away a bit from me..

Caught up slightly braking for T9 (which transitions into the long parabola that is T10), passed inside of him leading into T10 where he went wide due to a small bump from me. Cut onto the curbing inside of the C4 Grand Sport and squeezed by (Hey, it's paved, therefore legal... Track officials said nothing.).

C4 Corvette hits me exiting T11 (transition out of T10 parabola), then passes me down the straight, as does the Carlton. Cobra R gains. Brake late OUTSIDE of the Carlton, let him use me as a cornering crutch and still wind up ahead exiting T1.

Manage to stick reasonably with the C4, Carlton makes an attempt to pass me inside just as I go inside of the C4 for an outbraking attempt. I failed to pass the C4, but pulled away slightly from the Carlton. Scrape past the C4 on the inside of T3, get on the Cougar's tail out of T4, pass at T5/6. Get close-ish to the Evo coming out of T8, but he pulls away a bit down the straight. Drove the Camaro DEEP into T9 and into the T10 parabola, squeeze past the Evo on the inside of the T10 parabola and pull away the length of the corner. Quicker out of T11 as well, giving the Evo no chance to pass me back down the final straight.

I collected 600 bucks for my trouble, enough for a lighter flywheel. That's going to be fun to install. Not.

Afterwards, I just fired up the Camaro and headed home... One race was enough. Tomorrow the flywheel goes on and I'll make some laps around the reverse direction of the NY circuit. Apparently a 1:52 lap or so consistently will get me the win against the guys who drive 1st gen Vipers, but the 2003 cars are an unknown evil. I really don't feel like dropping the transmission. Ah well. The lighter flywheel WILL help acceleration at lower speeds.

 

[VTiRoj]

Awesome update!

Sweet pictures, seemed like a very intense battle around New York. LOL at the Carlton having a good rub of your behind.

More please. :tup:

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Thanks for the kind words, Roj.

Next chapter may not get posted until Tuesday, unfortunately. School is a pain.

 

[Smallhorses]

Good work so far, 👍 I'm guessing that was a Family Cup event right?
Just given prize pot, the spread of opposition, and the inclusion of a Japanese and a British entrant.

One thing you might want to bear in mind for your reader's benefit is the photo size.
Nothing major, but it does mean having to use the horizontal scroll bar to go back & forth from the beginning to the end of each text section for many of us without widescreen monitors.

School is a pain.

It'll seem that way the whole time you're there while you're young.
Keep at it though, as you'll appreciate the rewards of a good education as you get older. 👍

 

[Skygrasper550]

600 bucks?? well, that's ok, the main character's "career" is just starting..,

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

Cool, keep it up.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Chapter 3: Poor Chances​

It is now raceday, my Camaro still makes piddly squat over stock, and I'm broke to boot. Great. Got absolutely swamped with customers the day I was planning to go back to the NY track, and stayed busy. Got the flywheel in, didn't make any noticeable difference in acceleration but it did get the car to drop revs quicker and engine braking is now more effective.

Meh, anyhow... Talked to our mysterious friend over the phone the other day too.


&#8220;Ah, Mr. Rothwell... Say, how do you think you'll do at the New York event?&#8221;

&#8220;I think I might be screwed without more power. I've only got around 290hp as it sits.&#8221;

&#8220;That's too bad. You'll have to win it anyhow. I want to see you here in California, ready for race two, next week.&#8221;

&#8220;It's not on the calendar until the week after next though...&#8221;

&#8220;That would be correct. You see, Mr. Rothwell, there is someone here whom I want you to race against... Time trial style.&#8221;

&#8220;Who, and what do they drive?&#8221;

&#8220;Kid's name is Roj. Drives a GF Impreza they called The Bread Van. He had a job on the island of Capri delivering bread. He recently took out a Lancer Evolution rally car in it.&#8221;

&#8220;Specs?&#8221;

&#8220;Nothing quite positive, but we know it's quite quick. Probably about 350-375hp, stock weight.&#8221;

&#8220;So in other words, it can kill my Camaro?&#8221;

&#8220;Yes. Good day, Mr. Rothwell.&#8221;

Enough of that. Today is race day, my car didn't get the power bump I was planning just yet, and a black Viper just drove past my shop, followed by a Callaway C12 and a few others. Might be the massacre of my Camaro.

*A Few Hours Later*

We're lined up and ready for the pace lap.

Starting Order:


1st: 2004 Pontiac GTO 5.7L

2nd: 2003 Dodge Neon SRT-4

3rd: Callaway C12

4th: 2003 Dodge Viper

5th: 2000 Ford Mustang Cobra R

6th: My 1997 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

I was outdistanced at the start like usual, but caught up at T1/T2 Parabola by braking later than the rest and holding higher speed through the parabola. Passed the Cobra R coming out of the Parabola through T3 on the inside (I had gone outside through the parabola) thanks to higher exit speed. Pulled up alongside the Viper thanks to my raised exit speed, tried to get him to brake and let me in behind the Callaway and it didn't work. He steered towards me just as I tried to cut into the Callaway's draft. Contact! Anyhow, he pulled past me easily and I tucked behind him instead. Took the Viper and Callaway braking for T4 and nudged the Neon slightly due to my overzealousness

Passed the Neon at T6 where he and his overpowered FWD understeered into oblivion, cleared T7 without issues, then went deep inside of the GTO at T8, passing cleanly. The rest of the race was a complete bore, really, as while the Viper did take 2nd, it remained 3-5 seconds behind the entire rest of the race. He gained about 2 seconds on the long straights, but I took that back through the corners.

Quite a bore, but the pay was nice. 3 grand. Meh. The scare leading up to it was enough that I want much more than that.

 

[VTiRoj]

“That would be correct. You see, Mr. Rothwell, there is someone here whom I want you to race against... Time trial style.”

“Who, and what do they drive?”

“Kid's name is Roj. Drives a GF Impreza they called The Bread Van. He had a job on the island of Capri delivering bread. He recently took out a Lancer Evolution rally car in it.”

“Specs?”

“Nothing quite positive, but we know it's quite quick. Probably about 350-375hp, stock weight.”

“So in other words, it can kill my Camaro?”

“Yes. Good day, Mr. Rothwell.”

That Impreza seems like a tough opponent. Took out a Lancer Rally Car? Dayum. Good luck with that one. :tup:

Great chapter, although it was a cake walk of a race.

 

[Skygrasper550]

so, the green Camaro and the Bread Van are destined to race each other, by fate perhaps?? Can't wait for the next chapter, more!

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Next update will probably be tomorrow (9 minutes 'til midnight here).

Too tired to think properly right now.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Booze, Money, and Fast Cars​

Great. I'm sitting here in the port town of Amalfi, where The Bread Van used to dominate. I called up Mr. Mysterious to see if he'd pay to ship me out here and he agreed.

Thing is, I'm racing for the trip home. If I don't win, no free ride, I gotta ship myself and my Camaro home in a box. Speaking of the Camaro, I installed a freer-flowing exhaust on it, probably picked up around 10hp. Cost near-as-makes-no-difference 3 grand though, just because I insisted on titanium. Today I'm racing that same Evo VI RS T.M.E I did back in New York. Great...

So, I'll be following, it's three laps around the road that winds up and back down the hill (Mountain is slightly more appropriate) in the counterclockwise direction. Great! I'm SCREWED, I do believe.

*An Hour Later*

Off the start, the Evo was just slightly quicker, and had gotten a little ahead going into T1.

I lit the tires up exiting T1 and fishtailed slightly, lost a bit of ground. Gained a tiny bit back at T2, the second tight hairpin.

Broke even at T3, gaining nor losing much ground. Came through the chicanes and lost a tiny bit of time to the Evo.

Next hairpin, I came in hotter and gained because of it, but alas, fast in, dead out.

Lost out noticeably on the final uphill to the crest due to my Camaro's weight and relatively low power and long gears.

Gained it back through the sweeper onto the backside of the &#8220;hill&#8221;, and stayed on him through the s-curves to the next sweeper.

Down the short chute to the first downhill hairpin, falling back slightly despite going WOT straight down. Gained slightly under braking, fell back a bit on exit.

Had cut inside of the Evo braking for the second hairpin and tapped him. Got dead even but...

My ignition got cut and I had no go.

Cut inside of the Evo into the tight hairpin, got by.

The rest of the lap had been uneventful, but the Evo gained on me in the downhill section

I went wide on the last hairpin because I had gone in too hot, the Evo got inside... We wound up door rubbing on exit.

I think he backed off though, because I got in front of him and stayed in front down the straight. (Or maybe my Camaro knew it had to win this drag race)

Got some distance after the first tight hairpin...

He came back on the steep uphill to the crest...

I pulled back away on the downhill, finishing notably ahead.

The Following Day

The tosser wants another run. Same deal, 10k to winner, loser goes home. Had a bit of Amalfi's famous Limoncello after some great steak to celebrate my victory last night, then went out for a drive. There was most definitely understeer on-throttle, so I noted to swap in stiffer rear springs today. Which I did.

We're now running the clockwise direction of the same road as yesterday. I can only hope and pray that most of the understeer is gone now. That Limoncello was good... Might go for some more after the race...

An Hour Or So Later

Again the Evo starts ahead, pulls away a little...

I get closer at turn one...

Closer still exiting turn two...

Still close going up to turn four...

And around the sweeper.

Pass on the backside...

Just to spin at the hairpin at the end of the steepest downhill section and lose the lead.

Nothing doing... Gained a little, still behind.

Stay close until the second sweeper leading into the downhill...

Pass on the downhill, and wind up having to stop a tonne and a quarter of Evo as well as a tonne and three-quarters of Camaro.

Get away a bit going into the final tight hairpin, and just keep running away until the end...

Where the Evo wasn't quite in sight (although I believe he was just behind the pillar after the hairpins).


So after two wins in as many days, I'm 20 grand richer, and almost ready for Laguna Seca. I'll be doing some work on the LT1 under the Camaro's hood, probably shoot for 400hpish. I'll bring a stock motor along too though, because the last race in the Hot Rod Competition wasn't too hot... Swap that in after the time attack.

 

[Rykon Zero]

You should probably make that text a little bit bigger, I had a little trouble reading it. All in all, great work.

 

[Arppa83]

Nice

What more can I say


That's great driving in a Camaro, not easy to handle all that weight on that track 👍

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

Yeah, powe upgrades coiming. Although a gearbox on these tall-geared American cars can drop a second or 2 per lap.

 

[VTiRoj]

Welcome to Amalfi, John Rothwell. To your right we have the famous Capri Bread Shop, and passing by you right now at insane speeds is the famous Bread Van. Enjoy your stay.

Nice double win against the TME. Shame the Spec C didn't show up eh?

I'm enjoying the fic so far. Especially since I'm mentioned a lot.

 

[mafia_boy]

This is my first read of your story RJ and I'm pretty impressed. A backyard tuner trying to make it big. 👍

Hope to see it improve like Red-Line has.

@ Roj - Stop trying to get bit parts in other people's stories.

 

[VTiRoj]

I'm not trying at all! =drifting24/7= PM'd be asking if it was okay to mention my Impreza and use one of my images of it, and RJ came up with the idea of organizing some time attack between us after I mentioned going to Laguna Seca in my last story. Its not my fault that everyone ends up at Capri in their fics and want to feature The Bread Van.

 

[Rotary Junkie]

Chapter 5: End Of The Road​

The Camaro is gone. I had built it up into something respectable after the win at Capri, with a bit over 400hp and decent handling, and figured that I had a shot against The Bread Van as they call it. Got out to Laguna Seca and made a few laps to get accustomed to the newfound power and the track. Sure, it understeered noticeably, but it was plenty quick through the corners so long as I got them right. After, I checked in to the hotel room I had booked for the next two weeks and knocked off for the night. I woke up at around 9am to find the Camaro MIA.

Well, I freaked. One of my friends had come along with his '05 Mustang GT, and I ran over to where his room was, then proceeded to beat the living (dead?) daylights out of the door. He of course isn't happy about it, and proceeds to start yelling before opening the door.

&#8220;John! What the heck is this? Wait, ya look upset buddy.&#8221;

&#8220;I AM! Bill, the damn car's gone.&#8221;

&#8220;The Camaro?&#8221;

&#8220;No, the clerk at the front desk's Escort. YES the Camaro.&#8221;

&#8220;My god...&#8221;

&#8220;Listen, can I borrow your Muskrat in a bit?

&#8220;Not if you're going to talk about it like that, no. Yeah, sure, just don't get it stolen. What do you need it for?&#8221;

&#8220;I gotta go find the guy who dragged me here and his buddy who drives some Subaru.&#8221;

&#8220;Ah. Okay, gotcha.&#8221;

I pulled up to the gates at Laguna and was promptly met by a guy I figured was a track worker. Tallish, not exactly skinny, mid-to-late 20s...

&#8221;Hey, I'm looking for John Rothwell.&#8221;

&#8220;Tha'd be me.&#8221;

&#8220;Oh. Where's that Camaro?&#8221;

&#8220;I want to know that myself. It got stolen some time last night it seems.&#8221;

&#8220;Dayum. Sorry to hear that. Mind if I go tell Doug you're here? And... Well, about the Camaro?&#8221;

&#8220;Who?&#8221;

&#8220;Doug. Doug Smith.&#8221;

&#8220;I know there's a guy who wanted me here, but he never told me his name.&#8221;

&#8220;That's probably Doug then. He got me to come over here from Capri.&#8221;

&#8220;So you must be Roj.&#8221;

&#8220;Yup.&#8221;

&#8220;Okay, now then. Hello, Roj. Strange way to meet someone, ain't it?&#8221;

&#8220;A little. Go park that Mustang and come in to the main building. Doug's on the top floor.&#8221;

Well, I parked Bill's Mustang in the fenced lot and walked into the building. I walked around for a bit, found the stairs and rushed up. In one of the rooms facing the track was &#8220;Mr. Mystery&#8221; as expected.

&#8220;Ah, Mr. Rothwell, how are you?&#8221;

&#8220;Garbage. The Camaro got stolen.&#8221;

&#8220;That is quite unfortunate. Can anything be done so that you can make the race here?&#8221;

&#8220;Yeah, either it gets found or I'm screwed over. Unless I get a new car, that is.&#8221;

&#8220;Let me think for a bit. I'll have Roj get you. I assume you'll be here at the track still?&#8221;

&#8220;Yessir.&#8221;

&#8220;Perfect. Good day, Mr. Rothwell.&#8221;

I only managed to squeak out the beginning of what was supposed to be &#8220;The same to you, Mr. Smith.&#8221; before being shoved out of the room and having the door slammed on me by two very large bodyguards in all black.

I walked out to where I'd parked Bill's Mustang, got in, fired it up, and pulled onto track. I'd always thought it ran quite strong and it had some obvious suspension work, but I wasn't quite prepared for what I got when I stabbed it for the first time. It ate the rubber out back in 1st, spun the tires a little in second, and went like a bat outta hell in third. Not as quick as the Camaro was with the new engine, but it's quick. They weren't timing me, and I found myself simply sliding the brute around whenever possible for a lap. Pulled into the pits, then into the infield, and parked it. Roj came out and told me that Doug had something to say.

To Be Continued