Radiator Springs. The gem on the necklace of the famous Route 66, the Mother Road. This small town is one of the most unique and amazing sights down the iconic highway, around halfway down the 2,940km (2,448 mi) route from Chicago to Los Angeles.
Radiator Springs was founded by a steam car by the name of Stanley in 1909, and a statue of him was erected up outside of the town's courthouse. Later, Stanley married Lizzie, a 1923 Ford Model T 2-Door Sedan. After Stanley died, more people soon came to live in Radiator Springs, and the town grew. It was a popular rest area where almost all cars would stop to shop and fill their gas tank. However, in the early 1960's, Interstate 40 was built near Radiator Springs, which greatly decreased traffic for Radiator Springs, since the Interstate bypassed the town. Finally, in the mid 1985, Route 66 was decommissioned.
In 2005, famous racecars Lightning McQueen and Braedey 'Bolt McQueen' Martin raced up into town, the former destroying the town's main road in a hurry to get to a Piston Cup race in Los Angeles, California, and the two racers were arrested for 5 days to fix the road. The two cars soon became friends with the Radiator Springs populace, and after his race, they set up a racing headquarters in the town and stayed there, and the town started to grow again, finally being put back onto the map.
~*~*~
Down on the main road to the small desert town, there is a deep blue sportscar heading off towards Radiator Springs, enjoying her time as she coasts along the road, driving along as she waits for someone.
This car is Mary Berlinetta. She a 2012 Ferrari F12 Berlinetta, with a lovely set of brown eyes, in a lovely shade of deep blue. The sharp lines seem to speak out she is about speed and agility, but also being a cruiser. The sloping lines on the rear look so well with the rest of the body, and she has the Ferrari logo on the front, and just nearby her wing mirrors. She looks rather alluring.
'It's been over around 3 or so years since Braedey had gone to Australia to compete with the V8 Supercars. He said he wished for a new change of pace.' Mary thought to herself. She slowed herself down to about 10mph, feeling a bit sad. 'I really hope he gets home. It's been too long since I've seen him.' She added in mentally.
About 3 or so years ago, after Braedey and McQueen won the Piston Cup race with The King, Strip Weathers, Braedey was given a position to be a driver for the Redbulldozer Racing Team of the Australian V8 Supercars Championship Series by the owner of the racing team, Leyland Dane; a red 1975 Mark-1 Vauxhall Cavalier. Braedey welcomed in the opportunity to race in somewhere different, and plus, to get better at circuit racing. It was a bit of a surprise for the others that Braedey was given such a position, but they respected his wishes, and allowed him to go off, but not until he got a kiss from Mary.
At that moment, the sound of a truck horn can be heard. Mary looked in her mirrors, just as a large shape drove up alongside her, forcing her to accelerate after. It revealed to be a large MAN truck with green eyes, while having the 'Triple Eight Race Engineering Australia' names and logos written on it with the Triple Eight logo, along with on the two trailers, plus the 'Redbulldozer Racing Australia' written all over them, along with logos. This truck goes by the name of Big Blue, short for Rebecca, Braedey's racing transporter.
"You must be Mary, am I right?" Rebecca asked the blue Ferrari with an Australian accent, Mary nodding to the truck in response. "Then, it's a good thing I found you beforehand. A certain someone onboard is really looking forward to meet you." She added.
Once hearing this, Mary accelerated alongside Rebecca, the two of them heading up to Radiator Springs, the former feeling excited to see her beloved and share a 'welcome home' kiss.
In Radiator Springs, just in the entrance of the town stands a café gas station. The sign reads 'Flo's V8 Café. The main building is circular-shaped, painted yellow and green with the logo on top. On either side, it has two narrow buildings, holding three cars who need gas on each side. The café was shaped to look reminiscent of that of a V8 engine.
Diagonally across the café stands another shop, with the sign 'Luigi's Casa Della Tyres', sporting the iconic white, red and green Italian colours. You can pretty much guess what they sold.
Just a little down the road, there is a small red brick and white stone courthouse. A statue of an old car grinning with one gold tooth stands proudly in front of it. The sign below it says 'Stanley. Our founder. 1909'. Surrounding the statue were flowers in tyres.
At another shop opposite of Flo's, the shop is filled with souvenirs and trinkets and read 'Radiator Springs Curios'.
Rebecca takes a large turn to spin about, not wanting to block the roads, parking up next to Flo's, then unhitches herself from the two trailers, and pulls up next to a nearby truck pump. She breathed a small sigh, as she clicks a nearby button, and a gas pump links up to her gas tank. "Man, what a trip." She sighed.
Just then, Flo drives up to the large MAN truck. Flo is a beautiful 1957 GM Motorama Show Car. She has light green eyes, painted in light green with cream stripes on her sides, and she has long fins on her rear. Her license plate reads 'SHO GIRL'.
"Nice to see ya back home, suga." Flo greeted the female truck, putting down a large can of oil in front of Rebecca.
"Thank you, Flo. This is what I need after such a long drive." Rebecca thanked, and starts to enjoy her drink and fill-up.
Mary drives up to the two trailers, looking up in awe of the sheer size of them. She drove up to the rear trailer, knowing Braedey will be in there, and waited patiently for him. 'I bet he's doing the thing he and Lightning would do before a big race.' She thought in her head with a smirk on her face.
~*~*~
Darkness. Alone. Total isolation. The perfect setting to be alone with one's thoughts. Or in this case, motivating one's self.
Heaving breathing could be heard. Breathing that belonged to a male. "OK... Here we go." He tells himself, his handsome voice filling the air. "Focus. Speed. I... am... speed."
He visualises being out there on the racetrack, zooming past the other drivers in a flash of colours and, the sound of crackling and roaring engines thundering just behind them.
"One winner. 24 losers." The male voice breathed. "I eat losers for breakfast." The images of racing past losers flashes in his mind, his engine accelerating and powering up, causing him to smirk. He suddenly dropped his smirk, due to another thought. "Breakfast. Wait, maybe we should have had breakfast? A little break-y would be good for us..."
When flashes of delicious breakfast food popped in his head, he quickly shakes them away. "No, no, no, stay focused. Speed." He now sees themelves speeding past the other competition, leaving them in his dust. The male smirks widely. Much better.
"I'm faster than fast."
"Quicker than quick!"
"I am the Bolt!"
Yes. Self-motivation complete.
Just then, a knock on the door of his trailer comes in, followed by the voice of his girlfriend. "Hey, Braedey! Are you ready?"
Did she really have to ask? The door to the trailer begins to open, letting some light into the darkness. "Oh, yeah! I'm ready to strike." With a couple of revs from his engine, he begins to roll forward, heading towards the blinding lights outside of the trailer.
'Bolt', or known by his official birth name, Braedey 'Bolt McQueen' Martin, looks almost identical to Lightning McQueen, but there are design differences between them. He has a set of brown eyes, with a slight tinge of electric blue in them, while his main paintjob is a nice cobalt blue, contrasting against McQueen's bright red. His body shape also looks to be a combination of a a stock car and a more curvaceous Le Mans endurance racer, with his good looks looking more curved and sharpened instead of being boxy, whilst he has some air vents on both his sides by the front fenders like that of a Corvette or even a Dodge, and he has a ducktail spoiler on his rear, giving him his stock car look. Some of his Piston Cup decals had been replaced with different ones; especially those on his ducktail spoiler. The left side of his rear bumper has the Triple Eight logo. Written across the top of his spoiler are the words "Redbulldozer Racing Australia". His number 95 has been removed, including the one on his roof, which now has the Redbulldozer logo there instead. Painted on his side windows in bright yellow is the number '888', and beneath it, his surname 'Martin McQueen', with his Lightyear tyres in blue as well.
Braedey shows a smile, looking to see Radiator Springs before him. He rolled his front wheels, and breathed a sigh. He then felt a kiss on his right cheek, making him turn to look over, and he saw his girlfriend Mary next to him. "Sorry I've been away for so long, Mary." He apologises to her. "It's been a long drive and flight home."
"I'm just happy you got home safely." Mary said to him. She gently brushes against him, showing a gently smile to her.
At that moment, Mater pulled up, and smiled once he saw Braedey. "Howdy, buddy!" He smiled, and both he and Braedey share a tyre-bump.
"It's good to see you too, Mater." Braedey smiled to him.
Mater, or officially named as Tow Mater, looks somewhat like a Haunted Hook/Haulital Hook'em, and a mix of a 1951 International Harvester L-170 "Boom Truck", One Ton Wrecker combined with some pieces of a Chevrolet 3800 and an old 1957 Dodge Truck. He is covered in rust and the only visible paint that could be seen is on his sides and on his rear. He also has a bumper with a yellow and black "caution" logo.
"I cannot wait for McQueen to get back soon." Mater added in. "I've got the whole Summer planned."
"I'm sure McQueen will get back soon." Braedey reassured the tow-truck. "'Becca called up Mack on the CB, and she heard they're on their way home."
"That's some good news." Mary commented. She next drove up to one of the fuel pumps, as Braedey pulled up to the one next to her. "So, how have things been for you in Australia?" She asked him.
Braedey soon began to explain to her, Sally, Flo, and to Mater, along with a few others, about his time being in Australia. He knew he had been gone for just around three years, so it be best to tell the townsfolk about how things have gone for him and the Redbulldozer team.
When he first arrived down under, he honestly wasn't sure of what to expect. First off, the temperature and the timezones were the real kicker for him. He did get some jetlag from it, but he recovered from it. The Redbulldozer V8 Supercar Team was stationed up in the city of Brisbane, a real haven for those who wish to surf the beaches, or take a nice cruise.
All V8 Supercars team are only allowed to have three practice sessions on a racetrack each year. Because of that, the teams have to find other means of keeping their racers fit and healthy. Not all of the teams have access to a home racetrack, so they have to make do with what they've got. The team's home racetrack is Ipswich; about an hour's drive from Brisbane. The racetrack's also part of the V8 circuit.
Braedey soon got along with two of the drivers in the team, Jamie Win-Cup and Craig Louds, and to be honest, he thought it'll be easy for him to race. But, he couldn't be more wrong. They race on some of the hardest racetracks in the world, including Mount Panorama during the infamous Bathurst 1000 and the Gold Coast street circuit. And the Enduro Cup is the pinnacle event. Once a racer's won the Enduro Cup, they're pretty much classified as the best racer in the world.
But, before he could race, Braedey had to undergo some minor modifications so he can be allowed to race on the circuits. His engine was about 12-15 horsepower underneath the recommended level for the V8s, so he had a little tune-up, allowing him to go up to the top speed of the V8 Supercars: 300km/h, or in American miles per hour, it's 186mph. He already has disk brakes which do comply within the V8 parameters, but will need to have his wheels changed. The air guns the pit crews use are designed to remove just one large bolt; not five little ones. In addition, his fuel cell checks out okay, but is a lot smaller than the ones the Aussies use. Braedey's can only hold 83 litres, whereas Craig's and Jamie's can hold a 112 litres. However, they won't need to worry about that for the Enduro Cup. Also, the Supercars are only allowed to race on E85 fuel, instead of the E15 fuel the Piston Cup racers use.
Braedey's first race around the Ipswich was definitely something else, even though it was a starter. Still, he has to fight his way through these kinds of races if he were to win them. For the Piston Cup, it was all about going as fast as you can go. But, for the V8 Supercars, it's about agility and mobility. Despite getting some small scuffs on his body, Braedey was able to keep going, managing a second place for his first V8 Supercars race. But, when it came time to the Bathurst 1000, the biggest race of all Australia, a race lasting up to 1,000km, he managed to get across the line in first place, despite having some oil bleeding from his engine during the race, but that was all patched up.
After the Enduro Cup ended, Dave Leyland soon got on the phone to Braedey, and he had a proposition: to join up with the V8 Supercars full-time. This was a bit of a surprise. Leyland explained everything to him. In the V8s, they have a preliminary series known as the Development Series. It's for racers who are looking to race with the V8s full-time. Nearly all of the current V8 Supercar racers competed in it before they were picked up by a team. That's how the Redbulldozer Team found Jamie. Craig raced overseas before he started in the V8s. The series is also used to let them test out new parts and gadgets that might help improve their racing. If the new parts do well in the Development Series, they're picked up by the full-time V8 racers. Anyway, at the time, the current Development Series racer decided not to continue racing next year, which left the team with a vacant spot. Since Braedey did so well for the racers of the Redbulldozer Team during the Enduro Cup, he eventually joined up with the racing team.
"And from that day on, I've been a Redbulldozer Racer, and I'm proud of it." Braedey finished up his tale, everyone in awe and amazement of how far he's gotten.
"You definitely rock that Redbulldozer design." Mary commented, gently bumping next to him, while showing a small smirk. "It really goes with your eyes and cobalt blue colour."
"Thanks, sweetheart." Braedey smiled. Then, he had a thought. "Why don't you and I do some quick runs down the road?" He offered.
Mary looked over to Sheriff. Sheriff is is a 1949 Mercury Police Cruiser, with blue eyes, his front grille being a moustache, his body painted black and white, with a Police Department badge on both of his doors, and the name 'Sheriff' on them as well. He has a red siren on his roof, and aftermarket "curb feelers" to help avoid scuffing his whitewall tyres. "Sheriff, can you allow us to do some high-speeds?" She asked.
"As long as you give way to those who aren't driving so fast." Sheriff warned the two.
"Well, let's do it." Braedey started up and revved his 900hp racing V8, with Mary starting up her own 730hp 6.3L V12 engine, the two of them heading off down the road, the sound of their revving engines echoing away.
"Those two are gonna cause some trouble, and there will be an accident soon." Sheriff muttered to himself.
"I'd better go and do some patrols, maybe find someone to tow." Mater reversed off, and he started to drive away, humming to himself as he thinks of some kind of jingle.