TSAR (Tri-State Auto Rally) held a match on Sept 21, 2053. The Division 15 event was played in the HUD.

Kills were worth their normal points, in addition to a 6 inch jump being worth 20 pts and a ramp to ramp (or overshooting) jump worth 27 pts.

Players in attendance included: Eric Freeman, Jeff Dodge, Curt Lindmark, and Joe Reynolds, Joe Barlow, and Dave “Teflon Cobra” McGee.

In six of the eight gates:

Eric Freeman – Barnstormer 03: Luxury, electric, driver only, 4 tires. Turreted energy laser, turreted rocket weapon, 4 rocket weapons left. Wheel hubs front, wheel guards back, spoiler, airdam, ramplate, discharger front, left, right, back.

Jeff Dodge – Cheesy Poof – Compact, electric, driver only, 4 tires. Turret with no apparent weapon, ramplate, spoiler/airdam, wheelhubs front, wheel guards back, 2 dischargers left, 2 right, 1 back.

Curt Lindmark – RathUvKhan – Luxury, electric, driver only, 4 tires. 2 Large Bore front, rocket left, right, back, spoiler, airdam, dischargers front, left, right, back.

Joe Reynolds NNN – Reversed light trike, electric, driver only, 3 tires. Energy weapon right, spoiler, airdam.

Joe Barlow – Mace – Subcompact, gas, driver only, 4 slicks. Ramplate, spoiler, airdam.

Dave “Teflon Cobra” McGee – Art – Sloped compact, electric, driver & gunner, 4 tires. Turreted small bore top, sponsoon small bore left, right.

As the cars take off, Eric and Dave exchange fire. Eric misses with his targeting laser, Dave connects with one of his two LMGs on Eric’s front right hub, damaging the hub but not destroying it.

NNN connects with Cheesy Poof’s left armor, smoldering it.

Mace take a hard turn left and NNN takes a hard turn right, and Cheesy Poof heads past the first wall out towards the open.

As RathUvKhan and Art parrellel eachother, Rath opens up with his primary weapon, spoiling the surprise, and Art’s day. Rath connects with three concealed flame throwers, breaching the armor and lighting Art up. Art neglected (again!) to bring any sort of fire extingusher, and is a full kill at the end of turn 3. +40 pts Curt, -40 pts Dave. (Rath suggested that Teflon Cobra’s new nickname be changed to “Burnt Teflon”.)

Rath chooses not to press his luck with tight turns and circles around the outside of the outer wall, building up speed and making small, careful manuevers.

Meanwhile, NNN and Mace both complete ramp-to-ramp jumps, with NNN miraculously jumping _over_ Mace!! +27 pts NNN, +27 pts Mace.

Barnstormer and Cheesy Poof exchange fire, and Cheesy, with a previously concealed right mounted RR, managed to breach Barnstormer’s armor! This happens in the same time that Barnstormer fires his entire AP LHL HR barrage at Cheesy….and MISSES!!!

One phase later, Barnstormer opts for a 100 mph head-on ram with Cheesy, and Cheesy’s ramplate?? It’s fake. +40 pts Barnstormer, -40 Cheesy Poof.

As Mace lands from his jump and homes in on the severely slowed Barnstormer, Barnstormer offers only his front end for Mace to hit. Mace opts instead to pass on a head-to-head ram and circles around for another jump. Barnstormer doesn’t have the speed to make an immediate jump, so he circles to the right to jump up the next ramp.

RathUvKhan has meanwhile accelerated to a blurring 90 mph, and connects with two triple hits of flamethrower on Barnstormer’s back end, setting him on fire. With all of his rockets gone, Barnstormer has no explosion risk, and burns miraculously for 8 turns before finally putting the fire out.

As Mace starts his second jump, NNN has circled around to the right and starts his jump coming from the other direction. They pass in mid-air and NNN tries for a PB shot at Mace with his medium laser…he couldn’t possibly miss….but he does!

RathUvKhan eases on the brakes and follows Mace up the ramp, off to one side. The arena referee reminds him in his headset that firing flamethrowers always leaves smoke, 3 smokes to be precise, and leaving 3 smokes over the HUD, even airborne, will cost him 120 pts, so he elects not to fire while jumping.

As Mace lands, Barnstormer is right around the corner. Opting not to make yet another head-on collision with a ramplate car, Barnstormer manages to squeak around the corner and past the front end of Mace. Mace turns sharply after landing and heads for another jump. (+27 pts Mace)

As Barnstormer tails NNN over the HUD, NNN tries to score an easy laser shot on the front end of Barnstormer…he couldn’t possibly miss again….and he does.

Rath lands and squeals the wheels hard over to the left, opting to try and stay in the fray. (+27 pts Rath)

As NNN lands, he circles right and heads for the next ramp. (+27 pts NNN)

Barnstormer lands soon after him and circles to the left to try and cut off Mace after he lands. (+27 pts Barnstormer)

NNN starts his second jump, trailing after Mace.

Carefully positioning himself on the edge of the dropped weapons zone, Rath lets off another triple FT shot at NNN’s back armor, only connecting with 1.

Mace lands his third jump in turn 14 and sets the 5 second clock! +27 pts Mace.

Barnstormer neatly catches up to Mace as he lands and T-bones him at 60 mph. Mace’s heavy armor shrugs off the impact. [See Editor’s note]

As Mace accelerates away, it is clear that no one can catch him and kill him in time.

Barnstormer turns hard to the left and skids, but manages to catch the front end of NNN as he lands (+27 pts NNN), and the resultant impact cores NNN (-40 pts NNN), with the light trike doing scant damage to the larger Barnstormer (+40 Barnstormer).

At Turn 15 Phase 1, the game is called with Barnstormer snatching the checkered flag from Mace’s hands.

Results are

1^st – Eric – 109 pts

2^nd – Joe B – 83 pts

3^rd – Curt – 69 pts

4^th – Joe R - -13 pts

5^th – Dave – Jeff - -40 pts

[Editor’s Note: The film is still being reviewed as to the severity of the impact between Mace and Barnstormer as Mace landed his third jump. The armor allocation showed 18 metal, 12 plastic, which, when calculated with the rest of the design, would never be able to move under its own power. It was discovered after the match that both armor types were actually plastic, netting 30 pts of plastic armor. The amount of damage was roughly in that area, but the exact amount is still being reviewed.

On the off chance that the 60 mph T-bone was enough to kill Mace, the end result would be that Eric still wins, Curt gets 2^nd, Joe R gets 3^rd (having never been killed), and Joe B gets 4^th with 41 pts.

Considering that investigating this discrepency would not result in a change of winner, it has been decided not to bother.]