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bambisafe · 18 days ago

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ROOMS WITHOUT END — CHAPTER 1

this work is a part of an on-going series.

pairing : re4r!leon kennedy/fem!reader

word count : 2.7k

genre : cosmic horror, mystery, thriller, romance

synopsis : when you started working at everline solutions, you never expected for the building you work at to come alive. or to fall for the pretty blond guy who sits across from you.

or, leon— a retired-agent-turned-office worker —saves your life in the midst of your office building turning into a backrooms-esque hell. and he's been pining for you for months.

warnings : office job au, takes place in los angeles, second person pov, explicit language, hallucinations, unsettling imagery, anxiety, overall one big mindfuck.

author's note : everything in this fic is made up so if you notice any inaccuracies keep in mind that this is all fiction. chapter one starts off kinda slow but i intended for it to be that way. i wanted a slow build before the brain-melting starts. chapter two is when leon will really be introduced so stay tuned. and yes, there will be eventual smut.

CHAPTER ONE | READER'S POV

“Shit,” you grit, smacking your steering wheel. Traffic was slow this morning, all cars at a complete stop, in perfect linear order along the road.

This wasn't uncommon for you. In fact, it happened every morning. Wake up, throw on the first white blouse and pencil skirt you can find, and head in for another day at Everline Solutions. At this point, your days were so repetitive that they began to merge together. You weren't living, just surviving.

You hated your job— to put it bluntly. Most of your 8-hour shifts were spent hunching over your computer, dozing off as you analyzed data on an old-as-time computer. Seriously, when was Everline ever going to replace those things?

A car lays on the horn behind you for a solid five seconds. Your impatience coupled with being stuck between grumpy drivers made your already festering anger bubble to the surface. The fucking nerve.

Throwing up your hands, you look directly at the driver of the red Ford Escape behind you through the rearview. “We're stuck, dude!” You snap, knowing it's useless. The driver can't hear you and you're getting upset over a trivial traffic stop, but goddamn it all if LA drivers aren't the most insufferable people to walk the planet.

But to your relief— though slowly —cars began to roll forward one by one until you braked in front of a four-way traffic light.

Green.

You press on the gas, cruising forward in a smooth-sailing commute.

“Phew,” you sigh, briefly glancing at your radio clock. 7:45AM. Fifteen minutes to spare. Seven minutes to get to Everline. “Thank god.”

—

Everline was an old building, just a slab of concrete and glass with windows too dark to see through, and it stretched sixty floors. No one knows how it got there, no one knows when it got there, and no one knows what happens there. Not even you. You just show up, log in, and do the work. It pays well, no one bothers you, and you live comfortably. Not much to complain about aside from shitty traffic every day.

Pulling into your usual spot, you park and untwist the key from the ignition, and somewhere underneath the hood the sounds of the engine winding down and a twinkle of metal cooling echoed in the monolithic parking garage.

Like usual, it was desolate, quiet, almost too much so for a big city. Your left with only the tap of your heels and the annoying buzz of fluorescent lights overhead, flickering every so often, as you saunter through parked cars, right between two identically black BMWs. They look eerily similar all the way down to the nick in the paint near the taillights. The same angle, the same size. It felt a little… wrong, but you brush it off, convincing yourself it's a coincidence.

That's not weird, is it? No. Can't be.

It's not weird for rich snobs to be minimalistic and unoriginal. Has to be two different coworkers who went out and bought the same overpriced vehicle.

By the time you reach the rickety elevator and press the upward-facing arrow, you've long forgotten about the twin cars. You didn't sleep well last night, must be catching up to you.

—

The elevator ride up is slow, it's like time crawls while you're inside. Above, the lights flicker— completely black out for a second, enough to make your heart leap.

“Come ooon,” you groan, ignoring how your pulse flutters at the base of your neck as the red digital numbers above the elevator buttons climb.

An angry groan follows as the increment of five looms over you like a shadow. The silver, automatic doors fold open with a drawn-out whine and you exit, hit with the rich smell of wood polish and printer ink.

You worked in the Data Integrity Division as a Junior Systems Coordinator alongside twenty other employees. Your work days are just as dull as your daily commutes, and there's evidence of that today as you walk through the familiar glass door (PUSH TO OPEN) and find the office is buzzing with murmured conversations over telephones, blank stares at computer screens, and the hum of overhead lights. It's oddly zombie-like, oddly… unsettling.

You also take notice that the receptionist, who was always there, sipping on green tea as she took calls, was absent. Like her desk had never been touched.

Was she out sick? Could be. With the weather change, she could be dealing with a respiratory infection.

Though it doesn't matter much to you. None of these people are exactly friendly, none of them care to even make small talk by the water cooler.

Except for one, a blond guy who sat across from you. He's quiet, polite, and keeps to himself, but he's not like the rest of your colleagues. Weirdly, he acts almost too sharp for a person working a desk job. He carries himself like a soldier, you can't help but notice.

You wouldn't call him a friend, per se. Maybe an acquaintance— you talk daily over coffee, sometimes have lunch together but nothing beyond that. No after-work hangouts, no spontaneous phone calls.

You find your desk among the gray cubicles and take a seat. Everything in the office looks the same. If you hadn't added a few trinkets to make your space homey, no one would ever know this desk was yours.

Setting your car keys down, you tap the spacebar on your keyboard, waking your monitor. Your name shines in the middle of the screen, a rectangle to type in your password underneath it.

You do, the irritating click of keys emanating from the clacking keyboard as you enter your password. Immediately, you're greeted with a loading screen.

Authenticating User Credentials… Please Wait.

You sigh, leaning back in your old, creaky swivel chair as you wait for your login to load. Every day, without fail, time seemed to drag the moment you pressed OK.

In your department, your days were spent verifying system records, cross-checking archive logs, and fixing discrepancies no one cares about. But before you could open your task list and read off a giant spreadsheet, you had to wait what felt like years for your clunky computer to set up.

“Mornin’,” that smooth, syrupy voice greets you from behind. It's like dark honey, warm and calm, like a blanket over your shoulders.

You turn and you're greeted by none other than the blond who usually sits across from you: Leon. He's dressed no differently from you: white button down, black slacks, and shoes to match. Everything fits his physique perfectly aside from the sleeves of his shirt, which look close to bursting around his biceps. You refrain from telling him his shirt is three sizes too small, not when this is the first pretty sight you've seen this morning.

“Good morning,” you sigh, sitting up a little straighter. Does my hair look okay— oh what does it matter? He's just my friend.

Leon nods to you, leaning a forearm on the partition separating your desk from the next person. “You get the anomaly report from yesterday?” He keeps his voice to a whisper, like speaking any louder would break the trance your colleagues are trapped in.

Anomalies could be anything. Temperature shifts, light malfunctions— anything concerning Everline’s building. And you are one of the many eyes logging these discrepancies.

“No, slow-ass computer’s taking forever to log me in,” you complain, shifting in your office chair to gaze back at the flickering blue screen, the old thing looking like it was two seconds away from giving out.

“Well,” Leon tuts, edging a little closer, and you can feel the faintest breath on your neck as he talks, sending an army of shivers down your spine. “Between you and me,” his stormy optics glance around, like the information he was about to relay was forbidden.

“Something weird was logged… last night. Around 4AM,” he whispers, volume barely audible, though it didn't seem anyone cared to listen in if they even could hear. Everyone's eyes remained glued to their screens, and you swear the man at the desk behind you hadn't blinked once. He was eerily still, like he was frozen in time.

Come on, me, you thought, grinding the heel of your palm into your right eye. Don't be stupid. You're just tired, that's all.

Leon notices this, thin blond eyebrow crinkling with concern. “You alright?” He goes to lay a hand on your shoulder but hesitates, letting it rest on the back of your chair instead.

Taking a shot at lightening the situation, he adds, “Not boring you, am I?”

You huff a breathy chuckle, shaking your head. “No, no,” you wave off his concerns with a dismissive hand. “Just didn't sleep too well last night.”

And I’m totally not seeing weird shit.

Leon nods slowly, clearly not convinced. There it was again— he was sharp as always. Saw everything, even the things you kept hidden.

“Want some coffee?”

—

“So about that anomaly report,” you began, taking the steaming mug that Leon handed to you and taking a tentative sip, careful not to burn your tongue.

“Yeah,” he runs the tip of his tongue over his bottom lip, eyes far away in thought, like he was looking through you.

“It was an elevator fault,” he brings up a hand to scratch the side of his head, mussing the fair blond strands. “The hell could that’ve been?”

You try to ignore the feeling of wet cement in your stomach, every instinct in you screaming that something was wrong, but a log at four in the morning?

It couldn't have been housekeeping, they showed up even before the work day ended. Maybe a higher-up. Maybe a maintenance crew.

“Maybe the system fucked up,” you tried, shrugging halfheartedly. “The tech in this place is old as dirt.”

Leon’s face was completely unreadable, completely devoid of any emotion. Whatever he was feeling, he was damn good at hiding it.

“Could just be an error,” he muses, taking a long pull of his coffee. “Like you said, tech doesn't hold up all that well. I’m gonna look into it though.”

He downs the rest of the liquid inside his mug, setting the white porcelain in the sink before brushing past you and out the break room without another word, his tension left behind with you.

Could he also be seeing things? After all, he seemed to have the better eye between you two. But that only scared you all the more. If Leon, tough as nails and fearless, was concerned about something as small as an elevator fault, should you be worried too?

With that thought lingering deep in your core, you leave the break room with your coffee in hand.

—

OBSERVE. DO NOT ENGAGE.

That pesky pop-up had shown its face every day since the day you started at Everline. It usually pops up around 8:30AM and 4PM, right at closing time.

Your computer monitor, completely black aside from glaring red letters blinking at you ominously, but you only rolled your eyes, plopping down unceremoniously in your creaky desk chair before hovering your cursor over ACCEPT. You had no idea what that pop-up meant except that it was annoying and recurring.

Instantly, the screen flickered back to normal and you were greeted with the familiar wallpaper: green field, clear blue sky. Slowly, icons start loading, emails start popping up, and then finally, your spreadsheet.

Before getting started with the day’s main tasks, you respond to emails, spend a mind-numbing amount of time going over Security Compliance Updates, and then finally open your daily tasks spreadsheet.

It's a monster: long and so wide that you have to scroll far right to read every record that'd been logged between yesterday at closing time and right then. The Daily Mirror Log was the least favorite part of your day, checking numbers and making sure nothing had shifted.

10:22PM - NO ACTIVITY DETECTED

01:02AM - NO ACTIVITY DETECTED

But then the next log, at 4AM, made your heart plummet to your stomach. All hope that it was just a result of Everline's shitty computers fucking up flying out the window.

04:00 AM - ELEVATOR ACCESSED — Floor 47

Leon was right. That report was right. But was it an anomaly? This felt too… coincidental for it to be a faulty report.

You scrolled further down, eyes widening at the sheer amount of activity that was recorded within two minutes.

“Oh shit,” you hissed to yourself, heart slamming against your ribs.

04:01 AM - ELEVATOR ACCESSED — Floor 103

04:01 AM - ELEVATOR ACCESSED — Floor 2

04:02 AM - ELEVATOR ACCESSED — Floor 47

04:02 AM - ELEVATOR ACCESSED — Floor 103

“103?” The fuck was Floor 103? Everline didn't even have that many floors. 60; that's what always showed up in logs. Never over that. Never above one-hundred. That was completely absurd.

Lines form between your eyebrows as you continue to scroll down. That was it. That was all the suspicious activity that was logged. Five elevator stops. And one of them on an unreachable floor.

“What the fuck,” this had to be some mistake, right? The computers at Everline were as old as the people working here. The possibility of an anomaly was high. You get them daily. Whether it was false floor access or temperature changes, you sent back at least two reports as anomalies a day.

But this? Nothing ever to this degree. This wasn't just one anomaly. Not even two. It was multiple, and at a time of day that the building would be empty. And what the fuck was Floor 103?

You couldn't bear to stare at your screen any longer, the logs staring back at you, almost mocking, so you stood abruptly and made for a brisk exit, racing past a man in a blue suit.

Your kitten heels clopped against the carpet, determined but anxious legs barreling you toward the exit.

But it seemed no matter how fast you walked, how far you walked, the single glass door of the Data department was eternally distant. And now that you looked around you, you realized that you'd been walking past the bullpen on what felt like a loop.

What the fuck?

You could feel the thundering of your heart in your temples now, the sensation crushing.

Oh my god, what the fuck— what the fuck is happening?

Again, you looped back to your desk, past four of your colleagues— and there goes the man in the blue suit again.

You're fucking kidding.

Your knees start to buckle under your weight.

Am I hallucinating? Am I really that tired?

This time, you get a good look at his face. Your stomach feels queasy, sweat beads at your forehead.

You couldn't explain it, but something felt undeniably… off. Not entirely human.

No way, you think. That's insane.

Though as you try to convince yourself it's just your delirium, there aren't enough excuses that explain everything that's happened so far.

The identical BMWs.

The absent receptionist.

The anomaly logs; an unreachable floor.

The looping bullpen.

The man in the blue suit.

Before you can spiral further, you hear something— or rather, someone —call out to you.

They call your name again, following with a firm hand on your shoulder, broad enough to take up nearly the whole expanse of it.

“Hey,” Leon turns you around, stopping you in your tracks, holding you by both shoulders now with gentle hands. “Look at me.”

You can't, eyes glazed over as your gaze locks on the conference room over his shoulder.

Leon’s words don't register, you're too far gone in whatever hellscape this building has created.

Through the glass, through the blinds, your hazy vision picks up something that shouldn't ever exist in this life.

You watch the room warp, ripple like stage curtains, and the walls start folding over each other. And then it begins in the main office: desks groan like old bones, breaking, bending in on themselves until they've sunken beneath the floor, jutting out from the carpet like fossils. All of your colleagues dissolve into mist. Everyone, except for you and Leon.

Once the room as you knew it as the Data department came to a standstill, you notice it had changed completely.

You and Leon were no longer in an office but an endless hallway stretching into infinity.

TO BE CONTINUED

#mars' writing ⋆.˚#rooms without end - ⊹ ࣪ ˖#leon kennedy x reader #leon kennedy x fem reader #leon kennedy x you #re4 leon #leon kennedy #resident evil fanfiction #resident evil x you #resident evil x reader #resident evil #multi chap fic #ongoing fic

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boxboxblog · 8 months ago

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Driver Profiles: Carlos Sainz

Updated December 2024

Name: Carlos Sainz Vázquez de Castro

Age: 30

Nationality: Spanish

Years in F1: 9 ( Toro Rosso 2015- Oct 2017, Renault Oct 2017-2018, Mclaren 2019-2020, Ferrari 2021-2024, Williams 2025)

Number: 55

WDCs: N/A

Driving Style: Sainz is most well known for his strategy more than anything. Regularly during races it is his suggestions on strat that are chosen, and most often they yield positive results. Beyond strategy, he has a calm and effective tire management and calculate decision making skills. All of this together leads to very intelligent driver, and allows him to be one of the smoothest drivers on the track. While he can be aggressive when needed, it is tempered by his patience (similar to teammate Charles Leclerc). The negatives about Sainz is that he tends to overthink in races. This is mostly due to his strategic and cautious way of racing, but it does not let him make split-second decisions very easily. He tends to not rely on his instinct very much.

History:

Sainz is the son of Rally World Champion Carlos Sainz Sr., and with his fathers racing fame came pressure at a young age. Sainz started his career in karting in 2006, after participating in smaller series in Spain. In 2008, he won the Asia-Pacific KF3 title, as well as finishing runner-up in the Spanish Championship In 2009, he also won the Junior Monaco Kart Cup, and was runner-up in the European KF3 Championship. In 2010 at age 16 Sainz raced in Formula BMW, and was added to the Red Bull Junior Program. He finished his season in Formula BMW in 4th place.

(Young Sainz sitting in Fernando Alonso's Renault)

During 2012, Sainz raced in both the Euro Series and British F3 Championships. He did well in both series, gaining multiple pole positions and podiums, but did not get particularly close to winning the championships.

In 2013 Sainz signed with a GP3 team to compete in that years championship. He was a midfielder during this time, and his highest finish was P7. He then competed in Formula Renault 3.5 the same year, and had a difficult year there as well.

In 2015 Sainz was brought up to Formula 1 to drive for Toro Rosso, Red Bull's junior team, opposite Max Verstappen. His time with Toro Rosso was difficult for Sainz, regularly experiencing mechanical problems and crashes. His first season with them he would find himself 15th in the championship. 2016 would see Sainz get his best career finish of P6, but still is counted as a rather negative year for the Spainard. 2017 was Sainz's best year with Toro Rosso, finishing at the Singapore GP in 4th place. Shortly before this race it was announced Sainz would be on loan to Renualt for the last 4 races and the 2018 season. Sainz stated it was unlikely he would return to Toro Ross. He never did.

(Sainz with teammate Verstappen)

The 2018 season with Renault saw Sainz have significantly more positive results. He qualified in the top ten for the beginning races, and finished in the points for all but one. For the next races, he would consistently score points. however, this was not enough for Renault and he was replace by Daniel Riccardo for the 2019 season. Happily for Sainz, he was able to sign a contract with Mclaren to replace his one with Renault.

(Sainz when he was with Renault)

The 2019 season and his first year with Mclaren saw Sainz achieve even better results. While his first three races were unfortunate, after he consistently scored high points right behind the top 3 teams and finished above his teammate, Lando Norris. He would go on to get his maiden podium at the Brazilian GP after Lewis Hamilton received a post race time penalty. Unfortunately the rest of the season was rather negative for Sainz, encountering engine problems, pit problems, and other things that made him DNF multiple races. 2020 was a more positive year, which saw him achieve more podiums and finish 6th in the championship.

(Sainz in his Mclaren)

In 2021 Sainz joined Ferrari opposite Charles Leclerc, by the far the most successful team he has been a part of. While he had some issues during the year, he also had a majority of his highest results, finishing the season in fifth and ahead of his teammate. 2022 saw his maiden win at the British GP. Won in a difficult rain race, he showed that he had the chops to keep up with his Championship battling teammate, and had a variety of positive results that year. He ended in fifth in the championship that year, this time behind his teammate. 2023 was a rough year for every team but Red Bull, however Sainz was the only non-Redbull winner that year at the Singapore GP, which was a mark of honor that year.

(Sainz after securing maiden win)

2024 Sainz had a relatively positive year, with a few standout performances and a few terrible results. Notably he crashed out of both Baku and Brazil. However, he won in Australia and Mexico, so kind of a mixed bag. He finished 5th in the standings.

He is set to join Williams for the 2025 season.

(Sainz getting champagne poured on his head by teammate Charles Leclerc at the 2024 Australian GP)

Major Races:

2019 Brazilian GP - Sainz first podium finish, he achieved it after Lewis Hamilton received a time penalty post race. Regardless, he has a strong race and was able to compete with top teams ina. midfield car.

2020 Italian GP - Driving withe Mclaren, he achieved a P2 finish, his highest at the time. Again, we see Sainz has a talent for pulling the maximum out of his car.

2021 Monaco GP - His first podium with Ferrari, the Monaco GP is a prestigious and difficult race. On top of that, it is an early race, and displayed how fast Sainz adapted to the Ferrari car.

2022 British GP - His first win, this race was a wet one which saw multiple DNF's from other drivers. His skill in wet weather allowed him to battle with top drivers like Hamilton and take the win.

2023 Singapore GP - As the only non-Red Bull winner that year, this race result will always show how strong his race craft is. Whiel he held the lead for most of the race, a late safety car threatened his position. In a spur of genius he used Mclaren driver Lando Norris as a buffer to the attacking cars behind, keeping Norris within DRS range but not allowing him by. By far the most impressive use of DRS I have seen from a front car.

2024 Australian GP - Shortly after his appendix surgery, Sainz won through pure race skill, and got Ferrari there first 1-2 of the season, giving them a major lead in the championships.

Cheers!

-B

#f1 #formula 1 #f1 drivers #f1 driver profiles #carlos sainz #carlos sainz jr

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classic-vintage-bmw · 12 days ago

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1991 BMW Z1 Coupe Concept

In 1991, BMW unveiled the Z1 Coupe Concept, a bold prototype crafted by BMW Technik GmbH, the company’s experimental division founded in 1985. Building on the Z1 Roadster’s innovative sliding doors and plastic body panels, the Z1 Coupe Concept reimagined the platform as a sleek shooting brake. Its elongated roofline and spacious rear hatch contrasted the roadster’s open-top design, while retaining the iconic vertically sliding doors—a feature that posed practical challenges for the taller coupe body. The prototype, primarily constructed from clay, wood, and plastic for its exterior, used a minimal steel framework to replicate the roadster’s galvanized chassis, ensuring structural alignment with the Z1 platform. Displayed as a full-size, non-functional model, the Z1 Coupe never progressed to production, yet its quirky silhouette hinted at BMW’s future experiments with unconventional coupes like the Z3 Coupe.

The Z1 Coupe was a testament to BMW Technik’s mission to push platform versatility and explore derivative models. The Z1’s architecture, with its steel chassis, flat aerodynamic undertray, and removable Xenoy thermoplastic panels, was designed for flexibility, enabling variations like the coupe and even theoretical all-wheel-drive configurations. Designated internally as the “Z2,” the concept, shaped under Harm Lagaay’s design leadership, blended E30 3 Series cues with unique features like roof bars, dual exhausts, and mirror-integrated spotlights. The prototype’s construction, combining a steel skeletal base with clay and plastic bodywork, allowed rapid design iteration while maintaining ties to the roadster’s engineering. Though high costs and niche appeal halted production, the Z1 Coupe’s platform-sharing vision influenced BMW’s development of the Z3 and Z4, showcasing the potential for scalable vehicle architectures.

Aerodynamics and engineering innovation defined the Z1 Coupe, mirroring the roadster’s advanced design. The Z1 platform featured a drag-optimized underbody shaped like an inverted wing, delivering 1g of lateral grip on standard tires. The coupe prototype, while non-functional, was built to reflect these principles, with its steel chassis core ensuring compatibility with the roadster’s transverse-mounted silencer and aerodynamic features. The concept retained the 2.5-liter inline-six engine in theory, offering 168 horsepower and 164 lb-ft of torque, though speculative plans for a 1.5-liter turbo engine, inspired by Formula 1 and aimed at Pikes Peak, surfaced in BMW’s archives, as noted in BMW’s Hidden Gems. These ambitious ideas underscored BMW Technik’s boundary-pushing ethos. The Z1’s engineering DNA, rooted in its steel and plastic construction, informed the structural rigidity of later Z-series models.

Though it remained a prototype, the Z1 Coupe Concept left a lasting mark on BMW’s legacy of bold experimentation. Its shooting brake design and platform-sharing strategy prefigured the cult-classic Z3 Coupe, proving BMW’s knack for blending practicality with driving passion. Publicly revealed in 2010 to celebrate 25 years of BMW Forschung und Technik GmbH, the Z1 Coupe, with its clay, wood, and plastic body atop a steel framework, symbolized the creative freedom of BMW’s engineers. The sliding doors, though less practical for a coupe, epitomized the Z1 project’s audacity. Today, enthusiasts cherish its influence lingering in BMW’s Z-series lineage and sparking ongoing fascination with its untapped potential.

#bmw #classic #vintage #classic car #bmw z1 coupe concept #1991 #classic and vintage bmw

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trainsinanime · 2 months ago

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Another early internet meme that keeps being very distracting for me is Longcat. Not because the cat is so long, although it is.

That is in fact literally what she's known for, according to Wikipedia.

No, what keeps sending me on tangents is the poster in the background. The one with the race cars.

See, because I know that race car. I've seen it race. I've hated it. I've seen it up close.

Well, not quite the same one. This is number 8, Ellen Lohr's car, and the one in the poster is number 1 of Bernd Schneider. I took those pictures in 2017 (wait, that long ago!?) at the Essen Motor show, when it was already a very historic car.

For context that nobody needs but that I can't stop myself from sharing: This is a Mercedes Benz C-Class, type 202, the first car that got the name "C-Class" after the previous 190 E. But not any C-Class, this is the DTM version.

DTM is basically but also not at all German NASCAR. It's historically the racing series for the crowds, with cars that look like the ones you drive home from the race track. None of that weirdness with ovals and love for dirt tracks or anything, just normal racing with cars that look like normal family cars. It's had major ups and downs, but it was almost on par with Formula 1 at times, and it seems to be in a solid if weird spot these days. It was historically the playground of the big German car manufacturers, and it was very popular in the 1980s and very early 1990s.

In 1993, they introduced a new rule set for cars. Other similar series around that time adopted the class 2 or "Super 2000" rule set that was used across the world. It was very successful and very competitive and started a golden age for touring car sport in e.g. Britain or Italy. But Germany, rich and recently reunified, decided that wasn't good enough. They wanted the fastest, most amazing touring cars ever. The resulting specification was known as "Class 1". Incredible technical freedom, with computer-controlled suspension, traction control, all-wheel drive, engines similarly complex as Formula 1 at the time, carbon fibre bodyworks, everything you could think of.

It was loud. It was fast. It was glorious. It was a complete and utter commercial disaster. BMW pulled out almost immediately, Audi completed one prototype before pulling out as well, leaving only Mercedes-Benz, a very hesitant Opel, and new entrant Alfa Romeo from Italy.

My family drove an Alfa 33 at the time, and so I was an Alfa Romeo fan. Still am, actually.

Look at this! The Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI looks amazing, sounds amazing, it's red, it's unique rather than a race version of a car you see on every street corner. What's not to love!? Alfa 155 for the win.

Anyway, Alfa won the 1993 season, in part because Mercedes's C-Class (and Opel's Calibra) weren't done yet, and so Mercedes was still running the old 190 E race version, which is considered a legend in its own right. 1994 was still a successful year. Mercedes-Benz won back then, and I visited my first race, at the Avus! One of the last times that race track was used. Which makes sense, it's objectively a bad track. The DTM race that I watched from the grandstands was very much proof of that, ending in two successive massive start accidents. But still, I get a bit wistful when I see the old bleachers whenever I'm in the area to take pictures of new trains.

Anyway, in 1994 the trouble was already apparent: The series was just way, way too expensive for anyone. What to do?

Go international! In 1995, the series got split into two: The classic DTM in Germany, and the new International Touring Car Championship or ITC that ran elsewhere, with the hopes of attracting more fans and more manufacturers. In 1996, the series would only run as the ITC (even though everybody still called it the DTM).

In the end going international didn't save it; the class 1 specification was just way too expensive. If anything, going international doomed the series, because traveling to Brazil or Japan, countries where Alfa and Opel didn't even sell that many cars or at all, was expensive. Both of them pulled out at the end of 1996, and with only Mercedes-Benz, there was no point anymore, so the series ended.

It got revived in 2000, but without Alfa Romeo, so who cares. Originally they went with a simpler, cheaper solution, but over time they developed it more and more, until they developed the most ambitious spec yet, called "class 1", which was too expensive. They tried to offset this by going international, but that failed, so the series almost ended again in 2020. Who could have foreseen this?

Today it runs with GT3 cars, which are almost mass-produced race versions of expensive luxury cars that are designed to be easy to drive and all basically equally fast no matter which one you pick. That means the cars are no longer the visual equivalents of family saloons at all; last year, Mirko Bortolotti won in a Lamborghini, the first Italian brand to claim the title since Alfa Romeo in 1993.

Anyway, the weird combined DTM/ITC season of 1995 is long forgotten. Clearly not even the DTM officials remember it anymore, given that they repeated the exact same thing that sunk the series back then in 2020. And it's not like that's such a huge loss. Let's be real, car racing is difficult to justify at the best of times, and given global warming of today, we're absolutely not at the best of times. For me this is literally a throwback to the days when I was six, seven, eight years old or so, but it's not like you need to share this interest of mine.

But the memory of this weird time in the weird field of German touring car motorsports lives on, visible for all those in the know to see, in the background of a picture of a Japanese cat that became an internet meme. I don't know why that poster is there, it's a bit of an oddity especially since we know the picture was taken in Japan. The ITC did go to Suzuka there, but only in 1996, after the season this poster refers to. Who knows.

More people have seen the words DTM/ITC in the background of this cat picture (well, TM/ITC, the D is cut off) than have ever known what the race series was supposed to be. And that's kind of amazing to me, and me personally. Thanks longcat!

#dtm #itc #this is me procrastinating I was actually planning to write a fanfic right now but the brain doesn't literatiotate well today #motorsports #touring cars #longcat

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usafphantom2 · 8 months ago

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Randy’s Warbird Profiles: Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-5 “White A”

August 30, 2024 Zac Yates Warbirds News 0

[Photo by Randy Malmstrom]

Aircorps Art Dec 2019

By Randy Malmstrom

Since his childhood, Randy Malmstrom has had a passion for aviation history and historic military aircraft in particular. He has a particular penchant for documenting specific airframes with a highly detailed series of walk-around images and an in-depth exploration of their history, which have proved to be popular with many of those who have seen them, and we thought our readers would be equally fascinated too. This installment of Randy’s Warbird Profiles takes a look at the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum‘s Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-5, currently the only airworthy example of the legendary Luftwaffe fighter.

RWW FHCAM 190A 02

[Photo by Randy Malmstrom]

This particular aircraft was built in Bremen in April 1943. It is an example of the Jagdbomber (“Jabos” for short) or fighter bomber modification. It was based at Siversky (southwest of Leningrad) and so has come down through history as the “Leningrad 190.” It is the aircraft of Feldwebel Paul Rätz, Jagdgeschwader 54, Staffel 4 and a veteran of 117 combat missions. I have heard variously that it was painted in forest camouflage using paints scrounged from local residents by Luftwaffe field mechanics, or it was pained in RLM colors being tested at the time. The yellow stripe indicates Russian Front and a letter marking generally refers to ground attack rather than a number for air attack.

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[Photo by Randy Malmstrom]

While on a “free hunt” for trains with his wingman in the “Corridor of Death” near Voybokalo, east of Leningrad, on July 19, 1943 Rätz encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire. He reported having been hit by flak and made a nearly perfect belly landing. He was reported missing in action, but in fact survived the crash and was taken prisoner in the Soviet Union and was later repatriated to Germany in 1949. The aircraft was found in 1989 where he left it near Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) with his helmet and radio gear on the pilot’s seat.

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It is believed that slave laborers sabotaged this aircraft as there was no bullet damage, and a rag was found in one of the oil lines. It was rebuilt with as much original skin as possible (I am told as much as 80-90%) and powered by a BMW 801 D-2 air-cooled engine (note the 12-bladed fan behind the propeller) — I have heard that an unused engine still in its crate was found for this project — which was rebuilt at Vintage V-12s in Tehachapi, CA. What was amazing about this aircraft was the Kommandogerät (control device), an electro-mechanical computer that sets the fuel mixture, propeller pitch, boost, and magneto timing all at once. It is my understanding that the famous KommandoGerät in and of itself was half the cost of the BMW 801 “Power Egg” engine (there seems to be question as to any use of that moniker in German-language regions), and that there were disputes between manufacturers Fw and BMW over all the early engine problems (who was to blame); a Luftwaffe officer helped the two companies come to some agreement.

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[Photo via Randy Malmstrom]

It was acquired by Vulcan Warbirds Inc. for display and flight at Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum (FHCAM) on Paine Field in Everett, WA. The BMW sticker has been removed for safe keeping but you can see the disk where it belongs. The canopy is largely original and I’ve heard reports that the plastic was recovered from the Bodensee (Lake Constance) or possibly Lake Geneva, Switzerland. Final restoration was at GossHawk Unlimited in Arizona and Steve Hinton flew it for the first time on December 1, 2010. It is the only flying example of this version with a BMW 801 engine as of this writing, with Steve Hinton and Kevin Eldridge the only two pilots checked out in the aircraft since it was restored.

RWW FHCAM 190A 07

[Photo by Randy Malmstrom]

This Jabos modification was armed with two Rheinmetall MG 17 7.92 mm machine guns in the cowling (disparagingly referred to by German pilots as “Türklopfer” or “doorknockers” for their lack of penetrating power) – two of the MG/FF 20 mm cannons in the wings were removed to carry up to 1,320 lbs. of ordnance. It has red mechanical landing gear indicator rods or bayonets which you can see protruding on top of the wings and where it attaches to the landing gear strut.

Note that in this vintage of Fw-190 there is a spring-loaded pulley on the canopy to keep the antenna wire taught regardless of the the canopy’s position; this was skipped on later 190’s such as the D-13 Dora (I have photos of that aircraft without the pulley). Flaps are metal whereas the Dora uses wood. Also, since the canopy rails are not parallel the canopy has a hinge on the top to make it flexible. There is a cable from the right landing gear strut to the tailwheel that retracts the tailwheel when the main gear goes up; there is an access panel on the left side of the tail fin to adjust the cable mechanism (see photos and diagrams). The right wheel rim of the aircraft is painted red indicating synthetic fuel (as far as I have determined).

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[Photo by Randy Malmstrom]

The “Achtung” warning on the armor behind the pilot’s seat reminds ground crews that there is an explosive canopy release – this is due to the difficulty of opening it manually when the aircraft is at speed.

RWW FHCAM 190A 06

[Photo by Randy Malmstrom]

About the author

Randy Malmstrom grew up in a family steeped in aviation culture. His father, Bob, was still a cadet in training with the USAAF at the end of WWII, but did serve in Germany during the U.S. occupation in the immediate post-war period, where he had the opportunity to fly in a wide variety of types which flew in WWII. After returning to the States, Bob became a multi-engine aircraft sales manager and as such flew a wide variety of aircraft; Randy frequently accompanied him on these flights. Furthermore, Randy’s cousin, Einar Axel Malmstrom flew P-47 Thunderbolts with the 356th FG from RAF Martlesham Heath. He was commanding this unit at the time he was shot down over France on April 24th, 1944, spending the rest of the war as a prisoner of war. Following his repatriation at war’s end, Einar continued his military service, attaining the rank of Colonel. He was serving as Deputy Wing Commander of the 407th Strategic Fighter Wing at Great Falls AFB, MT at the time of his death in a T-33 training accident on August 21, 1954. The base was renamed in his honor in October 1955 and continues to serve in the present USAF as home to the 341st Missile Wing. Randy’s innate interest in history in general, and aviation history in particular, plus his educational background and passion for WWII warbirds, led him down his current path of capturing detailed aircraft walk-around photos and in-depth airframe histories, recording a precise description of a particular aircraft in all aspects.

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Zac Yates

Zac, born and raised in New Zealand, grew up immersed in aviation, with his father working as a helicopter crewman and living at Wanganui Airport. His passion for aviation started in childhood, building scale model kits and following the global warbird scene. He later trained as a journalist but found mainstream media unfulfilling, leading him to pursue a career as an aircraft maintenance engineer.

Now residing in Blenheim, near the historic Omaka Aerodrome, Zac studies at RNZAF Base Woodbourne and aspires to become a private and warbird pilot. Known as "Handbag" in aviation circles, he shares his love for aviation through photography and writing, connecting with enthusiasts worldwide.

@VintageWarbirdNews via x

#Youtube

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gasgasdaily · 22 days ago

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The collab and car that it never be. Top: BMW M1. Bottom: BMW M1 Procar/Grp.4

When M was just starting to expand, BMW had instructed them that they wanted to go racing and the boss of M division, Jochen Neerpasch, told BMW that in order for that to happen, BMW would have to build a mid-engined car to compete on the world stage and Grp.5 was their aim. However to compete in Grp.4 and 5 category, BMW had to build 400-500 cars of such caliber but BMW and M division had no idea on the know-hows. However, someone in Italy does and had already perfected the "mid-engine for the roads" concept and that's Lamborghini.

BMW then tasked Lamborghini in designing the car's design and work on the engine whereas BMW would work with the engineering and building of the car. Except... Lamborgini by the 1970s was in total financial shambles thus they couldn't complete their end of the deal thus on BMW's end, they had no engine and worse still, no chassis. Desperate, they got whatever they could from Lamborghini and paid any Lamborghini workers that left Lamborghini to complete the design of the chassis at least which, they did. Now with a chassis but lack of the V12 that was planned to be in the car since Lamborghini has pulled out of the deal, BMW was stuck but not for long.

To complement the car, M division started to design its own engine right out the gate and made a 3.5L inline-6 codenamed the M88 mated to a 5spd manual. Chassis work and body would all be worked on in Italy before being sent to Germany to be completed for the mechanical fittings and final testing. BMW would eventually build 453 of them with 399 being the normal homologated road-going version and the rest being race-prepped variants.

The M1 would also see a few variants of them across its production life from 1978-1981. With the normal road-going version, it has the normal M88 engine making 270hp. To make up numbers to even qualify for Grp.4, Jochen started to persuade BMW to launch their own one-make series with the M1 to boost sales and with that, the M1 Procar Championship was born and with the series comes the M1 Procar which had the M88/1 engine which was a normal M88 with an uprated cam making 450hp. Series ran for 2 years before the actual numbers for homologation was reached and they actually did well in Grp.4 class. Finally, they made it to Grp.5 and with the Grp.5 machines, the engine was this time downrated to 3.1L with the addition of a turbo with the classification of the M88/3 being able to make 750-900hp.

That being said, only the Grp.4 cars were officially built by BMW as the Procar Championship also followed Grp.4 regulations while the Grp.5 machines were all customer modified. The Grp.4 machines raced in other privateer events after BMW pulled the plug on the Procar Championship to focus on building engines for F1 whilst the Grp.5 machines all never seen any races but lived as mere prototypes.

#cars #bmw motorsport

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hirocimacruiser · 2 years ago

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MITSUBISHI STARION

Technology that is inextricably linked to the Lancer EX Turbo

Leading early Group A races with advanced supercharging technology

The Japanese car that fought best against Eggenberger's Volvo at the Inter TEC. Starion may have such an image. In the All Japan Touring Car Championship, he showed a perfect run from an early stage.

Stability and reliability are the keys to good results A-car that makes it to the ground safely

In the lineup of Mitsubishi Motors, the model developed in 1982 was the Starion, positioned as a high-end sports coupe that was the successor to the Galant (Lambda) and Lancer Celeste.

This model was introduced in the All Japan Touring Car Championship that began in 1985, but Mitsubishi's motorsports activities were originally focused on rally fields rather than circuit races.

This is clearly evidenced by the A53/55 Galant, the Southern Cross Rally with the AR73 Lancer, and even participation in the WRC, which began in the 1970s. Participation in the long-distance rally raid from Paris to Dakar was also seen as part of these rally activities.

However, for other manufacturers, for similar reasons, the most convincing PR activity for a market that was hungry for performance while surviving emissions regulations was motorsport. It was a result of making a decision and stepping into the circuit race at hand.

In this sense, the Mirage Cup, which started the one-make race, is probably the best example. As a category that conveys the glamorous atmosphere of racing, it was one of the races that attracted attention at the time.

On the other hand, in the touring car race of Group A vehicles, the Starion Turbo, which had a proven track record in the North American continent, was brought in. One of the reasons for this was that until then, Mitsubishi had had little to do with domestic races, and that they could not find a suitable car to participate in the newly-started Group A race.

This is also the case with Nissan's Group C cars, which used the proven mechanics of the IMSA series in the form of "reverse imports."

Well, that Stallion is equipped with a G63B type 3-valve SOHC + turbocharger engine. Mitsubishi had accumulated turbocharging technology with the Lancer EX2000 for WRC. The engine type of the Lancer EX2000 Turbo is the 4G63 type (different from the 4G63 type of 4-valve DOHC used in the Lancer Evolution series later. It is the SOHC 2-valve engine that became the prototype of this), and the basic part is Stallion's

Common with the G63B type. Looking back on these circumstances, Mitsubishi had a certain amount of experience and confidence in the basic mechanisms and content that make up the vehicle.

The first Stallion that appeared in such a background was InterTEC in 1985. After that, Akihiko Nakatani, who became the main driver of the Stallion, was combined with M. Liu and Fumio Mutoh to finish 4th overall. Considering that the 1st and 2nd place was the Volvo 240 Turbo and the 3rd place was the BMW 635CS, it was a good result, what happened to the other Japanese cars?

Then, from 1986, Kunimitsu Takahashi and Akihiko Nakatani teamed up to participate in the All Japan Touring Car Championship series on a regular basis. He finished 5th in Round 1 and 3rd in Round 2, and in Round 3 at Tsukuba, he finally won his long-awaited first victory.

At this time, the opponent was Takao Wada/Aguri Suzuki's Skyline RS Turbo, and although they conceded the series championship, they were always on even terms and won the 2nd place in the series. He had become a presence respected by other entrants.

The following year, 1987, they maintained their first-class competitiveness and got off to a great start with two consecutive wins at the opening of West Japan and West Sendai. After that, he continued to lose races due to trouble, but he managed to win the series ranking 3rd place thanks to his savings in the early stages. He has proven that he is still a first class contender.

In 1988, the Skyline fleet changed to the HR31 type, the Sierra RS500 increased, and the Supra entered the war. The SOHC system engine was already severe, and the chassis performance had reached the stage of review.

In terms of results, the 2nd place in the match against Nishi-Sendai was conspicuous, and the number of cases where other division 1 cars fell behind was increasing.

On the other hand, the wide-body GSR-VR (1987) was launched on the market during this period, and the basic performance was slightly improved, but compared to the trend of rival cars, the progress of evolution was not good. He took small strides and eventually withdrew from Group A racing in 1988.

After that, Mitsubishi's motorsports activities shifted to Group A rally cars with turbo 4WD starting with the Galant VR-4, and after the release of the Lancer Evolution series, it became a WRC top contender until it captured the world title.

Even so, in 1986, when the race began in earnest, the Stallion, whose basic design was already outdated, was able to achieve such a good track record. It's nothing but Taka.

At the 1986 Inter TEC, which was the debut race, it was exciting to see the Stallion running fast and make the Volvo team say, "What is that car?"

#Mitsubishi Starion #Grp A Starion #Grp A #Starion #Mitsubishi #Race car

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coimbrabertone · 1 year ago

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If You Ain't Cheating, You Ain't Trying...Part Two.

Last time I covered the Penske P2P scandal and the strangely similar Benetton Option 13 from thirty years prior. Today, we're going back another ten years to 1984, and examine how cheating scandals get political: this is the story of the 1984 Tyrrell 012.

The lead shot car.

So, our story begins in 1982, with the likes of Renault and Ferrari (and, with much less success, Toleman) running turbocharged engines. These turbos were marking the end of the age of the British garagistas with their venerable Ford-Cosworth DFV, but a few of the frontrunning Cosworth teams got crafty about it and put up a fight.

Brabham and Williams ran water tanks on their new carbon brakes, ostensibly for cooling, but in reality, the cars were weighed with these water tanks, they dumped them in the race, and then topped off by the time the cars made it to scrutineering by the end of the race. Thus, for most of the actual race, these cars were up to 110 pounds underweight (50 kg).

Just a few years later though, Brabham had switched to BMW, Williams to Honda, and Tyrrell was the last Cosworth team left standing.

The turbocharged engines were getting close to their peak power - over 1000 horsepower with the one-off qualifying units, and still like 800 in the races - so Tyrrell had to get even craftier to stay in contention.

Enter the water-cooled injection system on the Tyrrell 012.

Similarly to the brakes from 1982, this 1984 Tyrrell had a water tank on the engine, ostensibly for cooling purposes, that could be topped off at the last pitstop. Only it seemed like the Tyrrell wasn't just getting filled with water, but with lead shot - 140 pounds of it - and some of that was coming loose as the Tyrrell pulled out of the pits. So, Tyrrell was taking the term "shotgun exhaust" a tad bit literally, it seems.

The real trouble started in Detroit 1984, when Tyrrell's Martin Brundle finished second. That sounds good, except the only problem was...in those days, F1 had much more stringent scrutineering for the podium finishers. And thus, the hammer came down on Tyrrell.

Tyrrell was accused of filling the cars with a mixture of water, lead shot, and benzene.

Thus, Tyrrell was alleged to have, 1: Refueled when refueling was banned in 1984. 2: Used an illegal fuel. 3: Used illegal fuel lines (the cooling lines from the water tank). 4: Had an unsecured ballast (the lead shot).

For these charges, Tyrrell would be disqualified from all rounds, excluded from the championship, and was banned from attending the final three rounds of the season. Furthermore, as they now had no points whatsoever from 1984, they did not qualify for travel subsidies for 1985.

To add insult to injury, FISA fined them for missing the three races they were banned from. Furthermore, as Tyrrell was not an entrant in these races, the other teams - all of which used turbos by 1984 - could unanimously push through regulation changes that benefitted them. Thus, attempts to limit the fuel usage of turbocharged engines were abandoned, 1985 and 1986 would be the years of unrestricted turbos up and down the field.

The writing was on the wall, and by the middle of 1985, Tyrrell would adopt a Renault turbocharged engine.

Thus, was it really about lead shot or illegal fuel or water tanks, or was it about FISA and the turbo teams strongarming the last naturally aspirated team into compliance? I think it was the latter a lot more than the former.

Similarly, the crisis that prompted this whole discussion - the Penske cheating scandal in the 2024 NTT Indycar Series - is that really all about using push-to-pass on restarts at St. Pete? Or is it about the fact that Roger Penske owns the series, owns the dominant Team Penske, and many are dissatisfied with the series' trajectory.

Stagnant regulations, stagnant TV ratings, and stagnant investments. Opportunities to bring Indycar abroad have failed to materialize, Honda is considering leaving and the premier Chevy team - whose engines are made by Ilmor, which Roger Penske also owns! - just got caught cheating. No wonder Zak Brown from McLaren and Michael Andretti from Andretti Global have been his most vocal critics, especially with regards to this scandal.

Michael was calling for Penske to sell the series before all this, now? Well, it's gotten so bad that there was a behind closed doors team owners meeting during this last Indycar race at Barber Motorsports Park.

Forty years ago, a cheating scandal was all the excuse the turbo teams needed to turn against Tyrrell, now, a cheating scandal has only strengthened the battle between Team Penske and the other Indycar teams.

The only difference, I suppose, is that Tyrrell was a minnow, and Penske is the big fish in the pond.

That team meeting at Barber? A day after that, Scott McLaughlin and Will Power crossed the line one-two in a dominant victory for Team Penske.

Tyrrell, meanwhile, were a shell of their former shelves after 1984, and would never win another race.

Next on this miniseries on cheating, we get to the wacky days of old timey NASCAR, particularly the infamous Smokey Yunick.

#motorsports #racing #f1 #formula 1 #formula one #indycar #tyrrell #penske

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