Part Six: Redlinehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZW7et3tPuQLA. The pumping noise, where it all began, and where Ross had come back to. It wasn't often they went over the Atlantic, but when they did, it was for a good period of time. And they figured that they could do that.
It was there that Ross had acquired himself a stock RX7, painted in a crappy dark green, and was it stock? Well, not entirely. 2001 Mazda RX-7 FD, the Spirit R no less. A rare car in these circles, he'd paid something large in money, enough to probably buy a brand new hot-hatch, for that cash. But it wasn't in good nick. Bumpers half trashed, and it did not sound mechanically nice, the rotor was on the way out, and Ross had known that as he paid for it.
Cue the montage, and the increasing stacks of receipts, and the decreasing stack of money that Ross had come to LA with. The green had vanished, but it was a sight to see, sitting in the garage, around pools of oil Ross was only half-cleaning up, and spanners, and other tools everywhere. The packages, the sheer amount of time in his garage. It felt like this was months of work, but done in weeks, given that he'd had to call in a lot of favours, and spend a lot of all-nighters. Sitting there and quietly fiddling, and messing about. But Ross was an obsessive when it came to making cars his own, he left some things stock, as supercars, and his BMW, well, relatively. These machines were no-questions asked, customised, absolutely bonkers project cars, and he'd find nothing better than to sit in the shed and work on his Mazda.
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Ross had done something to the RX7, to say the least. The time spent under this thing, the hours, hours, hours into the night, he didn't know what the fuck else there was. A little OCD, a little car nut, he hadn't even seen Kimberly's build properly, and she hadn't seen his. Not entirely at least. He had let his mind run riot, his Scooby had been a race-focused, Kate Moss-thin, four-wheel drive grip machine. This was something else. The rotary had undergone a hell of lot of work, from the VeilSide bodykit, the phat carbon spoiler, the imposing scoop, and the paintwork that had undergone an entirely new lick. The metallic yellow and black looked mean and imposing, the carbon roof, the black outlining on the bodykit, and the whole engine had been remapped, redone, and remade, from as many overnight parts from Japan as Ross could get his hands on. It was minimalist, but not in the same way, it retained some sanity, the comforts at the edge. The colour was striking, the yellow more golden-green in the right light, the black matte, spruced with a yellow honeycombing, that had been Ross's finest graphical achievement to date. It would get scratched, but in the garage, it looked mega-fucking cool.
The rotary was not an easy tool to work with, and Ross had gone from being a basic mechanic to being a car sensei, given how fucking complicated he'd found it. But it was something that was wonderful, and twin Garrett turbos, combined with the Wankel beneath, that revved up, and up, and up. The noise it made, to the custom Akrapovic cans was genuinely scary, it wasn't like the whining anti-lag of the Subaru, it sounded like a lion. And so from all of this, came the weapon of choice for going sideways. Ross had always wanted to make the ultimate drift toy. A car with so much rear end poke, that it did not give a fuck. He'd pulled about 850bhp from this machine, and the rotary sounded like something that drove into warpdrive, with more on tap if he kept fucking around with it and was willing to blow up several thousand dollars worth of engine. He hadn't properly driven it yet, but the fat, wide and semi-slick tyres would do the job in the searing heat of the city, tearing it sideways on demand. The car's internals had NOS tanks by the driver's seat, in classic Fast and Furious/Need for Speed fashion, as Ross had always wanted to do (and hadn't on his Scooby), Recaro seating, a Momo race wheel, it felt a little overkill, but last time that he'd undertuned his car, of course, Kimberly had done up her own beast more. It was light, it was powerful, and scary.
Ross was a diehard, he didn't like to just make cars comfortable, if he wanted that, he had his daily, a BMW M4 GTS, sitting outside. And he'd left it stock, this time. Two cars a continent, he said to himself, that was a good rule, and relatively affordable from his previous cash flow, given he'd given up most of the work he'd done. But his RX7, that was something that he didn't really compromise on. It felt honed, it felt civilised, until you hit throttle. The car did not look like it had a lot of shape, until now. The complimentary Speedhunters sticker on the rear spoiler, two towing hooks, and even a radio inside. He was a little civilised in this thing, it was the West Coast after all, and it blared his favourite tune for when he had this thing to work on.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTkhvGVLf3kHe could only look at it, smirking. He took the can of Monster off the spoiler, as he turned off the DMX, hearing Seb come in.
"Bro....I leave town for a couple weeks and you make this?" Seb says, smirking, looking at the car, whistling.
"She's a beauty. Gonna have to try her out." Ross replied, as he looked at it, patting the roof.
"You have seriously been watching too much Fast and Furious. Even I can say that. Tokyo Drift." Seb commented, Ross chuckling as he knew the exact reference.
"Dipshit. I suppose we kinda do that anyway. Like you're in Point Break."
"Hey, you can't say that!"
"Gonna rob a bank?"
Seb was speechless, as Ross chuckled, heading towards the exit of the shed, chugging down the last of his Monster and tossing it into a bin, with already numerous Monsters inside of it. The shed was at the back of the house, as Ross didn't want
"No?" Seb replied, as Ross chuckled.
"I'm saying the film's retarded." Seb simply replied, as Ross chuckled.
"And I'm saying we do street racing, and other stupid shit. First one is the only one worth it's salt anyway." Ross added, as he headed back towards the house, seeing Ellie and Kimberly, back in the garage proper, working on the green monster.
"Whatever you say, man..." Seb commented, as they headed through, the noise of tools audible, as Seb looked over at Ellie.
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"Hey, beautiful." Seb said, kissing Ellie on the cheek, looking down at Mia.
"Awww. She's lovely." Seb said in his native German, knowing Ellie might have caught a little of it. With it, Seb tickled Mia a little on the cheek, chuckling, gurning a little at her. Meanwhile, Ross headed over towards Kimberly, who was firing up the V8, leaning in through the open window.
"Beautiful. Fucking awesome." Ross said, chuckling, looking at Kimberly, a nod of approval, as she stepped out, and he listened in. He took Mia into his arms, wrapping her around his shoulder, hearing the plan.
"Sounds good." Ross simply replied, as Seb nodded, looking over the green machine, the Mustang a fine specimen indeed. Ross looked to Ellie, smiling, listening to her question.
"Well....you guys do jump off of cliffs. Trust me, we've done this for long enough, you take a few risks, but you find a limit to this." Ross simply commented, as Seb shrugged.
"Why the fuck not. Don't put us into a car at 100mph and we'll be happy." Ross chuckled in response to the Austrian, as he looked around Kimberly's car, before sliding into the passenger seat, on her request.
"Sounds like skydiving to me. And trust me, I have some good songs. Are you into drum and bass, fraulein?" With that, Seb connected up the AUX cord to his phone, sounding almost a little overly Germanic, as he chuckled, knowing it was for the shits sometimes that he overdid it.
"Not like I'm gonna hear it over that thing!" Seb yelled, smirking. He didn't like this, but he was gonna have fun riding shotgun in a Mustang.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA_AIg6c3UQ-----------
Ross carried Mia back inside, dropping her off. He knew he'd have to wait on Kimberly's sister, who would look after Mia. His daughter cooed, as Ross sat down, smiling at her. She was the most treasured thing in his life. Working on the car was important, it was a little OCD, sure. But this was his project. Mia was that to him, more than just the car was, so whenever he had the chance, he was with her, looking after her with Kimberly.
"This is it. Madness, right?" Ross said, looking to Ellie, smiling.
"Can't say I didn't become a total car freak. Like I said I'd be. Makes me think though, if I followed you. Did all the stuff you did. The skydiving, the snowboarding. I'd have probably have been at it if I wasn't such a pussy." Ross chuckled, thinking back to all of it.
"But I suppose I kinda got into cars. Doing stupid things with them. And little Mia loves daddy Ross for it, don't you lass?" Mia cooed, as Ross chuckled, knowing how he sounded.
"I'd do the world for her. Never thought I'd be a dad. But I'll do right by her. Have my fun, but do right for her, might not be the best way either.." Ross said back to Ellie, as the doorbell rang.
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Stepping into the shed, Ross opened up the RX7, clambering into his seat, watching Ellie follow. He had to push the door open to the shed, before stepping into the car.
"This might be one of the best ones I've done yet." Ross said, as he looked across, and smiled.
"Haven't properly taken her out for a ride. I promise, I won't go too sideways. Tyres are gonna need to be bedded in. Trust me, that means going a little side-on." Ross added, as he fired up the ignition. The fuel injectors whirred, as the lights flicked up, the night sky visible, with the usual heat and haze of LA. Gently sliding the car into first as it started up, the low burble audible, he drove it out. door open, as he stuck it into neutral and handbrake on, shutting the door. He ran back and clambered in, doing up his harness.
"So. This is it. Ready, hun?" Ross smirked, looking to his old friend, knowing Ellie would find this a little exiting. And she'd probably know the rules, he guessed. It was this mad life that they chose, yet so different, and he didn't entirely understand what had brought it to here. But it was a good place to be.
Slamming first, the gearbox a sequential manual, the car caught and lept forwards, as Ross turned hard right, down the thin alley, pulling out, a small cloud of dust. The car revved higher and higher, hitting 10,000RPM easily, the engine sounding absolutely gushing, the noise of the Wankel rotary roaring, not like a throaty V8, but like it screamed, escalating in pitch whenever you thought it just couldn't. The car idled through the alley, as Ross hit a hard right, the iconic flip-headlights replaced for a modern LED and halogen lamp replacement, that beamed blue light strongly, Ross opposite locking the car onto the road, before hitting gears. It shifted fast, second, third, and he was going 90 comfortably, the Garmin already picking up to where the race route was. He turned on the carphone, already pitching in Kimberly's number.
"Hey, babe. We're headed on our route now. I can hear you, can you hear me?" Ross added in reference to their engines in the distance, as he looked to Ellie, before the black and yellow-skinned rotary's exhaust backfired, before Ross hit the throttle again, darting down the wide streets, with little regard for the speed that was accumulating.
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