#fully automotive

[snpcmachine]

SnPC Machines: Factor of bricks on wheel

SnPC Machines is providing heavy brick making truck that can produce brick with a speed of more than 25K brick per hours with a minimum labor and resources. BMM manufactured by SnPC Machines are making it possible for kiln owner to fulfill their brick requirements in a limited time and investments.

[diy-fire-water-pups]

General Lee, KITT, the DeLorean, or Christine, which would each of you own?

(( Why Christine, sweet Jesus, you could have put there, Idk, HERBIE, that's way more child friendly lol ))

[dasset-engineering]

Dasset Engineering: Your Trusted Partner for High-Performance Crankshafts in India 

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Our Crankshaft Solutions: Forged and Cast Crankshafts 

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Choose Dasset Engineering for all your crankshaft needs and experience unmatched quality and service. Contact us today to learn more about our offerings and how we can support your business! 

[engineoilcompany]

Selecting fully synthetic engine oil over organic or semi-synthetic options is a wise choice for engine longevity, improved performance, and enhanced protection. While organic and semi-synthetic oils offer some benefits, fully synthetic oil stands out due to its superior qualities, such as reduced friction, increased efficiency, and better resistance to extreme conditions. It's a top choice for those who want to ensure their engine operates at its best. To know more about high temperature grease, click here: https://bit.ly/fully-synthetic-engine-oil-vs-semi-synthetic-engine-oil

[forzalando]

the element of surprise

3k celebration blurb for @mvk1ma! friends to lovers!max with a bit of blurred lines friendship. you can find my celebration post here if you'd like to celebrate with me! open until the 16th :) wc: 1064 summary: max always throws you a birthday party - this year, he'd decided on a surprise party. however, the surprise isn't exactly what you expected.

Birthdays were never really your thing until you met Max Verstappen – somehow he’d turned the day from a reluctant celebration into something you looked forward to every year.

He always planned a party, attuned perfectly to what you’d be in the mood for whether it was a game night with close friends, a massive party at a club, or a dinner out with the few most important people in your life.

This year he’d planned a “surprise” party at his place – but was it really a surprise if you knew that something was going to happen?

You had lied when he asked you if you were surprised, and he knew you were lying, but he still smiled and fist-pumped like he’d just won some grand prize.

The party had been in full swing for a few hours and Max hadn’t left your side except to wait on you hand and foot. If he wasn’t refilling your glass or getting you a snack, his arm was wrapped around your waist. You were both in the kitchen chatting to Oscar, a newcomer to your friend group courtesy of Lando, about his past year working for McLaren as an automotive engineer.

The conversation lulled naturally, Oscar’s eyes drawn to Max’s thumb rubbing circles on your waist.

“So,” he chirped, “how long have you guys been together?”

“We’re not,” you answered coolly. “Why do people always ask us that?”

“You’re joking, right? You’ve been attached at the hip all night, there was cheek kissing! I saw you sitting on his lap earlier!”

“That doesn’t mean we’re together – we’re just close friends!”

Oscar’s eyes were wide, flicking back and forth between you and Max with a look of pure shock written on his face. His eyes finally settled on Max and his expression softened before he spoke.

“Good luck, mate,” he sighed, before walking away to join Lando, Carlos, and Alex in, what seemed to be, a very intense conversation about men’s football.

You twisted out of Max’s grip to face him – “That was weird, right? Oscar assuming?”

“What do you mean by weird?”

“It just never occurred to me that people would think that about us, so it felt weird.”

“The idea of being with me is weird to you? Why is that weird, would there be something wrong with that?”

Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion, his immediate defensiveness catching you completely off guard.

“Oh gosh no, Max, I just…I hadn’t considered it.”

In truth, you had considered it quite often, practically every minute that you spent with Max you thought about it. But, you’d been friends for years, his only dates were with models, and he was wildly successful. The idea itself wasn’t weird to you – only the thought that someone deemed it possible for Max to look at you that way.

“Never? You’ve never considered it? Never seen me that way?”

“Of course I have! But you haven’t so what am I supposed to do about it?”

He blinked rapidly, like his eyes were adjusting to the light, and then turned and walked away from you. Your mouth dropped open, you were sure you looked like a fish out of water, and of course everyone within earshot was staring at you with wide eyes.

“What the hell was that about?” Charles whispered from somewhere on your right. You heard a swatting sound and figured it was courtesy of Alex, a silent “shut up”.

Before embarrassment could fully set in, Max came storming back into the room with an envelope in hand, your name printed on the front with a heart. He didn’t even have to tell anyone to leave, just one look at his face had everyone scurrying into the living room.

“Read this,” he whispered, passing you the card in his hand.

You opened it carefully, slipping your finger under the seal and pulling out a copy of a photo of you and Max that Lando had taken of you two earlier this year. You were both smiling ear to ear, your faces smushed together and arms squeezing tight around the other. Just looking at the picture brought a smile to your face, and you almost protested when Max reached out to flip it over until you noticed the familiar scrawl of his handwriting.

Liefje,

Happy Birthday! I hope you were surprised, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Instead of a traditional card, I asked Lando for a copy of this picture – my favorite picture. Seeing you happy means everything to me and knowing that I put this smile on your face is the world’s greatest treasure. I hope to always make you smile this wide, feel loved beyond measure, and throw your birthday parties for the rest of our lives.

All my love,

Max

When your eyes lifted up from the photo, Max was looking at you the way he always did – soft eyes and a small smile, but the energy felt completely different.

“Does that sound like I only think of you as a friend? That I only care about you as a friend? You mean everything to me, I thought I was pretty obvious about it.”

“I guess I just never thought you’d see me that way, I never imagined that you cared about me as something more than a friend. I’ve always loved you, but I’m just me.”

“Exactly,” Max whispered, enveloping you in his embrace. You could feel the rapid beating of his heart in his chest and smiled knowing your heart was beating just as fast. As quickly as the moment began, a familiar accent sang through the air.

“Well, it’s about damn time,” Daniel shouted. Caught up in Max, you hadn’t noticed that the music had been turned down and your friends, although you loved them dearly, had been eavesdropping on your entire conversation.

“Alright, alright, everyone back to partying. And everyone say thank you to Oscar for asking the question that’s been on everyone’s mind since these two first met,” Lando gestured towards you and Max, as if anyone needed a visual to know who he was referring to.

As you looked around at all your friends here to celebrate you, decorations in your favorite colors and your favorite playlist now playing again from the speakers, all courtesy of Max, you decided that there was an element of surprise tonight: how shockingly oblivious you both had been.

[mecachrome]

pre-mclaren oscar piastri primer (ft. maxf, landoscar)

0. introduction

for a few months now i've been wanting to make both an oscar primer and a timeline of pre-mclaren landoscar moments, but i couldn't figure out which one to prioritize… then after some deliberation i finally realized i could just combine the two things together! so. here is an oscar-centric timeline that is mainly about his racing background, moving to the uk, and how he became acquainted with other members of the rfm pack—aka lando, maxf, and logan. i don't know whether any of this information is useful or even vaguely interesting, but i mostly just wrote it for myself and thought i'd share what i had in case anyone else wanted to check it out. please feel free to comment or shoot me an ask if anything here is egregiously incorrect; i've checked and linked as many sources as i could but it's of course possible that some errors remain :)

1. background, rc racing, early karting days (2007-2015)

oscar piastri was born on april 6, 2001 in brighton east, a suburb of melbourne not far from albert park circuit, as the son of chris and nicole and to-be oldest brother to 3 younger sisters. a love for all things automotive ran deep in the piastri family: both of his grandfathers were mechanics and his father had also co-founded his own vehicle diagnostics software company, hp tuners, aka oscar's sponsor throughout his racing career. thanks to his father's business, oscar's family was objectively well-off and managed to contribute a fairly substantial amount of support toward his junior career, but they also weren't swimming in cash by multi-millionaire motorsport standards either.

(L-R) edie, mae, hattie, and oscar, from nicole's twitter — each sibling is ~2 years apart (source)

while most drivers on the current grid were introduced to motorsport through go-karting, usually at or before the age of 7, oscar's path to single-seaters differed slightly. he first developed an interest in racing via remote-controlled cars at the age of 6, when his father brought him a monster truck as a souvenir back from a business trip in america. oscar began racing them that same year, eventually moving to safer electric track vehicles and even winning the second class of the national titles in 2010, at the age of 9. he was so small then that he often needed to stand on a milk crate to see the cars on track, and the next-youngest competitor at the time was twice his age. (source)

oscar on the podium at age 8 (nov 16, 2009)

oscar with his father chris, who often competed alongside him in a separate class (dec 21, 2010)

by 2011, oscar and his father were seriously considering his potential of pursuing rc racing as a viable career path, but things changed when he was introduced to karting via a friend's daughter in the rc community and his aspirations slowly shifted toward racing from inside a car. oscar was an unsurprisingly sporty and competitive child growing up; he'd played some cricket and aussie rules football and knew that all he wanted to do was race professionally, full-stop, at the time thinking along the lines of australian racing categories like v8 supercars. he was still competing in remote car racing as late as 2013, but he began karting seriously within australia in 2014, placing respectably in the junior categories of several regional karting series against relatively senior and more-experienced racers, and even going to france for a one-off event where he finished on the podium of the iame international junior x30 final. this outing affirmed his potential to his father and motivated the two of them to split time between australia and europe in 2015 as they juggled his karting future; plans for two more european events that year fell through, including the cik-fia world championship at the kfj level (which logan sargeant would go on to win), but at this point they were officially looking to take his career to the next level and commit fully to european karting in 2016.

this is when ricky flynn (and the hypothetical idea of lando norris!!!) comes in. before we get into rfm and karting professionally in europe, it's important to note that the defining aspect of landoscar's junior careers is that their pathways never once intersected. in fact, they don't even seem to have met properly before oscar entered the f1 grid as alpine reserve, although they'd spoken over social media and oscar was familiar with several people around lando's life—for example, maxf, logan, guanyu, and even lando's older brother oliver, who had also raced for rfm.

in short, you could say that landoscar's biggest hindrance was their parallel excellence. oscar was good enough to catch up and even surpass everyone else at lando's level, but lando remained untouchable throughout the years. oscar is only 1.5 years younger than him, but their f1 careers are offset by 4 years (2019 vs. 2023 debut) because of exactly two things: oscar's 2022 gap year in alpine and his two attempts at formula renault eurocup. on the other hand, lando sped through all of his junior categories in blistering fashion, falling short of the championship only once: the year he placed 2nd in f2 behind george russell. this is significant because many talk about the clinical nature of oscar's rapid single-seater ascension and three b2b2b victories (still very impressive, especially given his limited karting career!), but all of that speaks equally to the illustrious nature of lando's junior success and the sheer magnitude of faith placed in him as mclaren's "golden boy" coming up the ranks. to put things into further perspective, lando was teammates with maxf and jehan daruvala at rfm until 2014, jehan competing in the same class and max one below, yet by the time oscar was racing max and jehan—in f3 in 2020 and f2 in 2021, respectively—lando was already into his 2nd and 3rd years of f1. here's a chart that hopefully makes a bit more sense:

majorly simplified timeline showing lando, guanyu, maxf, logan, and oscar's junior careers + the karting classes they primarily competed in each calendar year. maxf did not complete his 2nd f3 season and many of them contested multiple/different formula renault series, but this is just a rough overview of their feeder series experience. 

2. moving to europe, rfm, regional formulae (2016-2019)

back in australia, oscar was a member of the oakleigh go-kart racing club and being actively mentored by james sera, a multi-time australian karting champion and fa kart dealer who worked with young karting talents alongside his cousin david. in late-2015, he presumably helped oscar and his father reach out to ricky flynn, who ran ricky flynn motorsport (rfm) and whose team was at the time enjoying exorbitant success in the karting scene; lando had won the world championship at the kf level the year prior, and logan would soon clinch the kfj title in 2015, results which further drew oscar's interest toward the team. ricky flynn agreed to take oscar on and have him and his dad move out to europe, and by november 2015 oscar announced on social media that he would be joining rfm the next year. in january of 2016, he and his father moved to hertford, uk, so that oscar could begin a 100-day karting program and travel extensively around europe to attend races. this is where he met logan sargeant, who was in his final year on the team but competing a class above, now at the ok (previously kf) level. oscar himself was only competing in the okj class.

not oscar-related, but as you can see guanyu, logan, and maxf were already acquainted before oscar and logan met, since the three of them and lando had been in rfm together as of 2014 — (may 11, 2014) & (feb 6, 2015)

oscar and logan in 2016

in an interview published on june 7, 2023, oscar reflected on leaving australia and committing to his racing dream, saying:

"i think if there was a turning point, it was probably when i started finishing towards the front in australia, and i started winning a couple of races here and there and finishing in the top three of championships and stuff, and then went to europe and fully committed to going down that route. [...] there's obviously a very big commitment at that point when you move halfway across the world without family and stuff. so i knew at that point that i really wanted to become a professional because, firstly, that's what i want to do anyway, but, secondly, now i'm sacrificing seeing my family, and stuff like that to be able to do this — which was a sacrifice i was more than willing to make."

like the majority of oscar's karting career, his time with ricky flynn can primarily be summarized as decent. none of his performances were particularly stellar, and in november 2016 he placed 6th in the fia world championship final behind the likes of victor martins and théo pourchaire (he mainly competed against guys like them, dennis hauger, caio collet, etc… once again logan was a class above and lando/maxf had already graduated to single-seaters), but he showed promising racing foundations and a great capacity for improvement, especially given that he'd moved to europe the same year and was still adjusting to life and racing on the opposite hemisphere. about 6 months into his new karting venture, oscar had settled in reasonably well and his father decided he would return to australia to continue on with his life, so they made the joint decision that oscar was to begin boarding at haileybury's uk campus and continue racing in europe entirely on his own. uk and australian school years are misaligned, so my personal understanding is he moved to europe after finishing year 9 in australia, attempted online school/took a few months off (he says he did online coursework here, but mentioned here that he was out of school, so it sounds like it must have been a very half-hearted effort…), came back to australia over the uk summer to do some more karting, then began boarding in september 2016 as a year 10 student. he spent ~4 years there and eventually received his a-levels in 2020, except his final year was disrupted by covid and he never sat his exams. (blog post mentioning his a-levels + btg transcript excerpt about his exams; his website says he attended haileybury from 2016-19, but i think this mainly encapsulates his boarding period, as he was still doing remote work in april 2020.)

oscar in f4 with his gcse revision guide, 📸 sebastiaan rozendaal (may 20, 2018)

2016 is also when oscar began his well-documented super-liking of several of lando's social media profiles. i think understanding oscar's time in rfm and his extremely british single-seater origins helps better paint his history with lando and maxf; my personal understanding of pre-mclaren landoscar is that while oscar never formally met lando or maxf during his karting days, he knew of them quite well through rfm and thus followed them on instagram/twitter after moving to the uk. of course, oscar has a fairly active social media presence in general, so young oscar quietly liked instagram posts and tweets from many different people, but i do feel compelled to note that in the early days he liked lando, maxf, and logan's posts with seriously impressive frequency compared to anyone else on the grid (or anyone in general, really); after creating his twitter account in may 2016, some of the very first tweets oscar liked were from maxf, and he also liked a multitude of mundane lando tweets from 2016 until… today, while on the other hand he didn't start liking george's tweets—another similarly-aged young british talent—until late 2017. (he does have some fun george-admiring moments though, but that can wait for another time!) outside of rfm, other people oscar was familiar with during his early racing years were british f4 teammate ayrton simmons, to-be series champion jamie caroline, and old australian karting friend christian pancione, who appears to still be one of his best mates (if not his best) as of today. fun fact is that christian raced for the carrera cup as a support event to the australian gp in 2023; here's oscar allegedly checking the quali live timing at lunch during his own media day. 

so, to conclude, oscar's early lando focus basically traces back to the motorsport path he took at the behest and guidance of his early rfm connections in the uk. the thing is that despite growing up in australia and vaguely admiring several aussie drivers in f1 as a child (read: mark webber and eventually daniel ricciardo), oscar has never had a specific driver he consistently mentions when pressed for his racing "idol," likely since his personality inherently resists idolatry and he instead views successful people more as actionable benchmarks or reference points for self-improvement rather than as unattainable paragons of accomplishment. as a kid forced to grow up almost entirely on his own, the majority of his racing aspirations were molded independently in the uk—he completed his karting career in the uk, boarded at haileybury for 4 years (fun fact: other drivers to attend include jehan, callum ilott, and clément novalak; callum was a few years above oscar and finished school in 2017, but the two would later become quite talkative over social media anyway), raced in british f4, became a brdc member, contested eurocup under a british license and therefore had the british flag raised and british national anthem played during his wins, stayed in the uk even at alpine since the factory is based in enstone, etc. oscar basically moved to the uk from australia without having really met anyone significant in the racing scene (other than jack doohan, or more importantly jack's father mick, but jack is younger and did an extra year of karting) and pretty much didn't have anyone specific to "look up to" at the time. oscar's first acknowledgement of lando's online existence was in december 2015, when he liked one of lando's instagram posts prior to moving to england, so it can be assumed that lando basically functioned as his most accessible reference point in the junior ladder as a 14 year old dipping his toes into the european racing scene for the first time. that is my highly subjective analysis of the situation!

select quotes re: oscar's inconsistent responses to his motorsport "hero" (or his favorite driver / a driver he looks up to in general):

(f1fs; mar 9, 2022) "i started watching f1 in… 2009 was the first season i properly watched. so when brawn came in, obviously mark was the only aussie on the grid at that point, so i was kind of naturally going for him. then joined by daniel, so obviously going to support the aussies, but i think watching lewis has been nothing short of spectacular, and a very good role model. [...] i think when i was first watching, i supported mark, but, you know, and i hope he takes no offense to this—vettel was winning everything at that point. so i was supporting mark, but vettel was doing most of the winning. i think now that i understand more about racing though, i would say [the driver i look up to the most is] lewis, mainly. the way he goes about things on and off the track is quite exceptional."

(mcl youtube; mar 29, 2023) sporting idols mentioned: ayrton senna, alain prost, michael jordan (see also ultimate athletes list)

(p1; aug 10, 2023) "i would say i never had like one specific idol. when i was growing up watching mark webber was at red bull, and obviously being australian, red bull being very quick at the time, i kind of naturally followed him. i mean—even like some of the guys in the junior ranks above me. like lando was always kind of two, three years above me, winning… most things on his way up. so i guess kind of him in some ways?"

(eff won; dec 4, 2023) "i don’t really have like one specific [idol]. i think what lewis has been able to do in terms of getting to seven world championships was incredibly impressive. i think what max is doing now is also very impressive…" 

the first lando post oscar liked on instagram (dec 21, 2015)

the first maxf posts oscar liked; instagram (feb 26, 2016) & twitter (may 9, 2016)

anyway, back to british f4! despite his initially unconventional foray into motorsport, oscar's journey progressed in a much more orderly fashion once he stepped up to single-seaters. his actual debut was in f4 uae, which he ran 3 rounds of between 2016 and 2017 (another fun fact: this is where he briefly acquainted himself with mclaren indycar driver david malukas, who would later recall him being very intelligent and whom zak brown allegedly spoke to oscar about before appointing to their indy team). after cutting his teeth on actual car-racing for the first time, oscar decided against moving up to the ok class as he felt confident in his ability to be competitive in single-seaters. his first full season was therefore the 2017 british f4 championship, during which oscar signed with arden while logan went to reigning champions carlin (lando had won with them in 2015, then maxf in 2016). oscar made his way to the top step 6 times in the season and placed just barely above logan for 2nd in the championship, finishing behind the considerably more experienced jamie caroline. arden was also founded and is currently owned by red bull team principal christian horner, so it was during oscar's time there that christian took note of and interest in his talent; oscar reportedly did a few runs in the red bull simulator but was passed over for joining the academy, which christian later voiced regret on. (source)

maxf, logan (center), and oscar (to max's right) on a day maxf was visiting the 2017 british f4 grid (april 11, 2017)

linus lundqvist, oscar, and logan on the podium at snetterton (jul 30, 2017)

jamie and oscar, who were… er, mathematically in the main championship fight. for some reason they made them take these photos (sep 30, 2017)

after a successful f4 outing with arden, oscar returned to the team for his first season of formula renault eurocup in 2018, a renault series that ran in its specific configuration until 2020 before merging with the parallel regional series frec to become what is today known as freca. this season proved to be less competitive for oscar, as arden was relatively inexperienced in this series and oscar's three teammates were afflicted with what can colloquially be referred to as a "skill issue," making it difficult to collectively develop the car throughout the season. (blog interview) the series was thus returning driver maxf's to lose, who at the time was racing for reigning champs r-ace with teammates that included oscar's fellow rookies logan and victor martins.

despite the unideal environment, oscar managed to prove his worth by placing a respectable 8th in the series, scoring 110 points as a rookie driver and capping the season off with 3 podiums and a top-finish of 2nd place—a jarring contrast to his teammates' joint total of 12 points. this result attracted the attention of r-ace and granted him a seat with them for the 2019 season, at which point maxf and logan both graduated to f3. thankfully that wasn't too much of a concern for oscar since he'd always intended to do two seasons of eurocup, and now he finally had a chance to win the first serious championship of his racing career with an established racing outfit.

oscar, max, and yifei ye on the hockenheim r2 podium (sep 23, 2018) [full gifset]

oscar's second season of eurocup is when he truly started proving himself as a driver, or at least to the people whose names, money, and opinions mattered around the paddock. his main competition in 2019 was again victor, who was now racing for mp and had been made a member of the renault sport academy back in 2018 after a strong performance in french f4. despite a close title fight, oscar managed to hold him off for the championship in the final race of the season, kicking off what would soon become an impressive string of consecutive single-seater series titles. even sweeter was the fact that all eurocup champions were awarded a renault sport academy spot that could be left or taken as they pleased, and of course—while the finances weren't nearly as impressive as alpine would later proclaim in their baseless smear campaign—oscar's connections in the racing world were limited as an australian driver almost exclusively managed by his father, so he gladly accepted the offer for the many venues of support renault presented to him.

see also: bby oscar briefly mentioning lando after winning eurocup in 2019 (@ 1:10)

oscar being lifted by his team (r-ace) after placing 4th in the abu dhabi finale and winning the title by 7.5 points

3. renault sport academy, lockdown, f3 (2020)

many things happened in 2020. one: oscar became an official member of the renault sport academy, joining the likes of max (who'd been picked up on merit after winning british f4 in 2017), guanyu, christian lundgaard, caio collett, and fellow new recruit hadrien david (victor had been strategically demoted after oscar's win because renault is a notoriously unserious organization, but again this is not the post). two: by the time oscar was ready for f3, moving up the ladder proved to be exorbitantly expensive, and he realized he needed better funds and managerial support to sort his career out. he'd been offered a spot in prema's f3 team by team-owner rené rosin at the end of his eurocup season, who'd named him for the post-season test before the championship was over and stressed that the spot was his no matter where he finished. (source) prema is unquestionably one of the top—if not frequently the top—teams one can drive for in most junior series (though there is also somewhat of a self-selection bias; if you ask oscar he is not a significant beneficiary of prematax!), having absolutely demolished the f3 competition that same year and achieved a clean sweep of the drivers' standings with rob shwartzman, marcus armstrong, and jehan at 1-2-3 consecutively. oscar completed post-season testing with them in spain alongside to-be teammates logan and fred vesti in october (source), before confirming on jan 26, 2020 that he would be joining them for the f3 season as a renault junior.

so, where does mark webber come in here? apparently mark's trainer from red bull and wec had also been oscar's trainer since 2016 (i'm pretty sure this is australian physiologist simon sostaric), and it was through their joint connection that oscar was introduced to mark. according to mclaren's 2023 season preview, "the pair hit it off, and webber took his countryman under his wing," signing oscar to jam sports management, aka the management agency he runs with his wife ann. mark's support would become a major factor in helping oscar progress through the feeder ranks and establish himself in f1, mainly because he had actual connections and could help oscar network with sponsors and negotiate his way during future signings. of course, more on this later.

as an aside, here are a few things mark has said about oscar:

"he’s got that white line fever when he puts his helmet on and turns into a different character, which is sensational." (mar 1, 2020)

"one of oscar’s biggest strengths by a mile, compared to everyone he is competing against — and this will be a huge string to his bow when he makes it to f1 — is his composure. he has immense levels of composure. [...] if you are weak mentally you won’t make it. he was on his own from an early age. he did brilliantly with his studies. but the racing disease would not go away, he wants it very much." (sydney morning herald; dec 11, 2021)

"he’s a prost, mate. he’s such a thinker and so calm. at first i thought i needed to inject a bit of urgency in him, but actually no, he’s got his own frequency. that’s just where he is." (the race; oct 7, 2023)

estimates provided by chris piastri on the cost of oscar's junior career, stressing the million-dollar commitments of running a single season of f3 or f2 (source)

anyway, back to the chaotic events of 2020. i think something that's good to keep in mind when discussing oscar's time in the renault sport academy is that he was actually a relatively new recruit, as in he only participated in a single training camp with the other juniors in 2020 and most of them (max, christian, guanyu, the temporary ghost of victor) already knew each other before. oscar essentially met with renault's factory team in early 2020, filmed promotional material with other juniors in january before attending the season opener together in february and then heading to winter training camp later that month, after which he and max left early for f3 pre-season testing in bahrain on march 1—a blessing in disguise, seeing as caio, hadrien, and christian remained behind and would soon be stuck quaranting in a hotel in tenerife—then briefly spent a week at school before returning home for what was meant to be a quick pit stop at the australian gp, which at the time had yet to be canceled.

then, of course, lockdown happened.

simplified breakdown of renault junior stints, notably showcasing the academy's struggles to meaningfully promote any of its juniors

oscar at the 2020 renault season opener alongside then-academy director mia sharizman, then-tp cyril abiteboul, alain prost, f1 drivers esteban ocon and daniel ricciardo, and the other academy juniors: fewtrell, lundgaard, zhou, david (feb 12, 2020)

oscar and maxf behind the scenes of the same event (feb 12, 2020)

stuck in australia for three months, oscar would end up participating in two fia virtual races, one for f2 and another for f1 (jun 7, 2020). a fun landoscar tidbit is that he finished 5th in the virtual gp right behind lando, so they technically had raced each other before 2023, depending on... well, whether you count a 2020 sim race wherein george russell and alex albon lead the pack as a real race. nevertheless, this was a time when drivers were becoming much more active online, seeing as streaming was the best way to keep their images relevant and connect with fans, and despite oscar expressing little interest in streaming on twitch he would still experience a considerable uptick in his online activity and twitter reach that year.

racing resumed on july 4 at the red bull ring in austria; oscar had been granted an exemption to travel to the uk and complete a 2-week quarantine back on may 27, a reassuring indicator to the motorsport world that the f3 season would run after all. now that he no longer had to attend school, having received 2 b's and 1 c for his maths, physics, and computer science a-levels, oscar relocated from hertford to oxford in june to be near the renault facilities, which he visited nearly every day to train at, and began living independently (as in in a flat) for the first time since 2016, rooming with fellow renault junior caio collet.

as i said before, this season is when oscar's online presence and "memeability" began to really conceptualize, enabled primarily by the fact that he was a) finally living outside of a school dormitory, and b) now, of course, signed at prema, a team notorious for its social media visibility, literal family atmosphere, and frequent youtube pandering. according to this f3 article, his twitter followers jumped from 795 at the start of the season to 11.6k by the time he won the championship, an audience built significantly off the self-deprecating string of jokes he used to tweet regarding drs and general reliability issues faced throughout the season.

what i guess i want to touch on here is how oscar's online presence has always been concentrated around the bare fundamentals of his personality: dry humor, candid words, sparing emojis, a few humorous photos detailing the mundane reality of his everyday routines, and at most the occasional inopportune meme or reaction gif (#thepiastri 🤷‍♂️, f2 in baku, jetpack guy, so on). he's bantered frequently with callum on twitter and near-obsessively liked memes, videos, and other updates lando shares with his audience, but he also has seemingly little interest in building up his own "brand" the way lando so smartly has with ln4 and quadrant, and quite frankly seems viscerally incapable of wanting to engage one-to-one with fans or otherwise leveraging the popularity of his material image. basically what i like to say is that oscar enjoys being adjacent to "lad humor" and will happily enable it, but he really has no interest in being the one to initiate it himself!

"there's some things you want to share, some things you don’t. in today's age and sort of having the profile that us drivers do, we kind of just have everything shared,” piastri said. “but (social media) can be used for good, certainly within the profiles that we have. but in some ways, it can be negative, and there's always going to be people out there that don't like you for being you.” piastri tries to write as many of his posts as possible, and he checks those written by his team to be sure they sound authentically him. (the athletic; jun 29, 2023)

along these lines, oscar does enjoy the spotlight, only he seems to prefer it concentrated in a specific lens toward a specific productive end. he's endlessly capable of seeing the objective upside of a situation, joking after he was made a meme in baku following his f2 sr1 collision that he was all for it if it got him popularity. after his eurocup championship he also said: "i think everyone loves a bit of spotlight on them. i think that's just human nature, so a bit of attention's always nice." which is interesting to me!

but back to racing. this season would unexpectedly become two things: maxf's last competitive season in motorsport—especially disappointing considering that he'd gone into the championship expecting to put on a second-season title charge, instead failing to gel with the hitech team to the point that each increasingly poor weekend made him spiral mentally—as well as oscar and logan's last season racing against each other before f1, since logan would later encounter financial difficulties that left him stranded in f3 as oscar catapulted himself to f2 victory. 2020 was obviously a weird season in general because of covid and the gap from pre-season testing, so it also meant that oscar had gone into the season fairly rusty; he managed to win the first race of the season, but on top of his drs rollercoaster he did struggle with middling results in qualifying and was met step-by-step throughout the championship by logan.

maxf's last race in f3 was the barcelona sprint race on august 16, with three rounds left to the end of the season. he dnfed in an unfortunate first-lap incident mere moments after oscar charged his way up from 5th on the grid to the front of the pack, where he would eventually breeze his way to victory and pull himself near-level with logan for the championship lead. i recognize that this is an oscar post and not a maxf post, but i think their time in f3 during an extremely isolated and covid-affected period speaks to both an interesting dynamic between them (the little kid who always lagged a series behind you suddenly beating you on merit) and their respective temperaments toward racing. while at renault, max reportedly lived with jack aitken during the week but would return to his family home on weekends, so it makes sense that he struggled to adapt when covid hit and drivers were collectively forced into very regimented sporting bubbles. mark webber, who worked for channel 4 as a commentator and had access to the f1 paddock, basically couldn't see oscar in person and instead spoke to him over the phone every day on race weekends. maxf said of his decision to quit:

"normally [...] i’m able to stay calm under pressure and i don’t let many things get to me but when you have a bad qualifying result and you see guys up there that you know you’re capable of beating, it definitely takes a dig at you inside and it’s been a lot to process throughout the year." (source)

while then-academy director mia sharizman, who worked closely with the renault juniors, spoke of oscar's inherent propensity for independence and how he adapted well to the pressures of living on his own:

"if you look at oscar piastri, he has been living on his own, [away] from his family who are in melbourne for the past five to six years. because he has been living on his own in boarding school, he learns how to live on his own, and he thrives in that. we have to force him... 'have you spoken to your father?!' it's just things like that, but he thrives in that. that's why he thrived in those weekends racing. he loves being on his own without anybody. on the other hand, we had max fewtrell, for example, who can't – he couldn't survive the 11 weekends racing, because he always needed his family to be around him. so those are the things that suddenly you see and, i think that that we see now, after a few years a driver who is quick, a driver who has the talent, and then the driver who is stable." (source)

2020 is also when lando and oscar spoke to each other on twitter for the first time. yay! after lando went semi-viral for having a meltdown over a hornet on three separate social media platforms, oscar first joked with him about it on august 24 (this was incidentally also the day maxf announced his functional retirement, which oscar liked as well 😭), before referencing the incident again a few weeks later in september.

(aug 24, 2020) / (sep 10, 2020)

outside of drs tweets and trying desperately to banter with lando norris, oscar's popular tweets at the time included several food-related mishaps and home appliance tragedies. while this isn't actually a lando moment, he was also slandered by the LN4 twitter account a month later on october 17 for reasons that remain a mystery, resulting in this set of interactions:

(oct 17, 2020) / (oct 19, 2020)

bonus: maxf's tweets @ oscar (when you aren't close enough to just text him.......)

but back to f3. similarly to his second season of eurocup, oscar would go on to clinch the title in only the final race of the year, this time even more stressfully—he never got pole that season and won arguably off of consistency, benefiting from errors and unfortunate collisions involving his primary competitors. after a hectic qualifying and string of contentious grid penalties set for the before-last round in monza, he began the feature race 15th on the grid but put on an impressive performance to finish on the podium, buffing his points lead after logan was tapped by clément and put out of the points. he, logan, and fred all dnfed in race 2 (read: the novalak pendulum swung away from oscar's favor to maintain stringent cosmic equilibrium, while logan and fred threw away a points opportunity with a teammate4teammate love tap), and oscar went into mugello with only an 8-point lead over logan and a 24-point lead over pourchaire. this weekend proved equally hectic, as is frequently the case with f3 racing standards, but in short oscar and logan entered the final sprint race level on points, with théo approaching terrifyingly near in their rearview mirrors. logan was unceremoniously taken out of contention on the first lap after contact with zendeli, and oscar managed to squeak his way to 164 points in the championship by placing 7th in the race; théo finished 3rd, with 161 points, two positions away from claiming both the race and the championship title.

a succinct summary of an eventful season! (posted jun 30, 2021)

despite winning the f3 championship in far-from-dominant fashion, oscar's career was now steadily on an upward trend. on october 30 he was rewarded with a private test in the r.s.18 at bahrain alongside christian and guanyu, and a month later confirmed that he would be racing for prema again in f2 (december 1, 2020). as a rookie f3 champion there was a moderate amount of interest in him, but no one really expected him to carry home the f2 title on his first try and so one of the main favorites going into the next season was his second-year teammate and 2019 f3 champion rob shwartzman.

4. f2, alpine reserve duties, #piastrigate (2021-2022)

at the start of 2021, fernando officially took daniel's place at renault and the team rebranded itself as alpine, parting ways with team principal cyril abiteboul and functionally replacing him with new ceo laurent rossi—part of a no-tp management structure, frankly a self-evident infrastructural faux-pas from a million miles away. the renault sport academy was then also renamed to alpine academy; again i know that this is an oscar post so i won't get too into the details of Alpine Being Alpine, but understanding how the academy functioned does help better contextualize the inevitable unfurling of piastrigate.

the main issue, really, would always be laurent rossi, or at least the values laurent rossi had been hired to represent and which he willingly peddled during his controversial tenure at alpine. after rossi's appointment it was reported that "the renamed alpine academy was now being tugged in two directions between director mia sharizman's ideal as a creator of future f1 drivers and alpine's chief executive officer laurent rossi's commercially-led preferences." (source) mia directed the academy from january 2016 until may 2022, and had been the one to restructure its recruitment process by demanding better funding and robust testing programs to cyril:

"when we first restarted the team in 2016, it was, we didn't even have a two-year-old car program at that time. we had to use a 2012 program using the [lotus] e20. [...] then in 2018, i went through it, and i said to cyril abiteboul, "look, let's try and do this." we needed financial resources. i needed a head start with financial resources to kick start the program whereby you entice drivers, and you offer [a place] to the academy drivers. it was more to see how they are... it was more of an evaluation process... that was what the first idea was. then we developed the program to develop the drivers to suit their formual 2 program." (source)

(note: mia also believed that 2020 was a disappointing year for all of his juniors save for oscar's performance in f3, which is a whole other thing. but rossi's greatest shortcoming was that he had singular, insulated vision, and he resisted any external input to the detriment of reactionary business decisions, a fact that alienated alain prost and soon led to his exit from the outfit in 2022. not a good look!!! prost would later call rossi "the best example of the dunning-kruger effect, that of an incapable leader who thinks himself able to overcome his incompetence with his arrogance and lack of humanity toward his troops." 🤌)

so basically, the cracks of mind-boggling incompetence within the team's leadership structure were long evident. on a brighter note, oscar's 2021 f2 season would quickly become his strongest single-seater contest ever (f1 youtube has a good summarizing video of his season, if interested); because of covid, f2 was experimenting with a three-race format this year in which quali set the reverse grid for sr1 and sr1 results then set the reverse grid for sr2, which essentially meant high qualifiers were rewarded for simply maintaining composure in the first sprint and running cleanly in the top 10 in order to secure a favorable grid spot in sr2. oscar adapted well to this format, building off his reputation of smooth, consistent driving on top of slowly improving his qualifying results over the course of the season, finally breaking through with his first feature-race win in monza. 

oscar with mia sharizman

this is also around the time when lando mentioned oscar in official f1 media for the first time, reading off a question about him to daniel in an interview posted in october:

"this one's not even about formula one. it's about oscar piastri. oscar pias-tree! [...] he's been on it this year." — (full video) (oct 1, 2021)

of his own f2 campaign, oscar said:

"i thought that i could challenge for race wins, but i probably wasn't expecting to be so consistently at the front. consistency is something that i’ve had as a trait throughout my career, and i was expecting to be consistent in my results this year — but maybe a bit lower down!" (source)

not only did he end up being consistently at the front, he became virtually unstoppable in the second half of the season. on december 11, oscar clinched the title in abu dhabi with two races to spare, ending the season with 5 consecutive poles and 4 consecutive feature wins, 60.5 points above his previously-favored teammate in the standings. #notbadforashitqualifier!

by now oscar was a hot commodity in the paddock; the only problem was that alpine didn't really care, mainly because rossi had enthusiastically re-signed ocon to a three-year deal in 2021 and held zero intention of actually promoting any of its juniors to one of the race seats, plus the one open spot at alfa romeo had instead gone to guanyu and his considerable financial package (though oscar has always been vocally defensive of guanyu's appointment to his detractors). instead of moving to another series, such as indycar or super formula, oscar recognized that he'd proven everything he needed to prove within the feeder system and opted to remain on the grid as alpine's reserve driver, mainly so that he could embed himself in an f1 team environment and—most crucially—avoid being left "out of sight, out of mind," because once you go to america you usually don't come back.

i'll keep the rest of this post brief since i feel like everyone already knows What Went Down, but a quick highlight for fellow landoscar enjoyers was the 2022 australian gp on april 10, during which oscar accompanied rosanna tennant for the post-race show and awkwardly participated in a chaotic lando & alex interview. as far as i know, this was landoscar's first time interacting on-camera!

o: "i haven't raced either of them, no." l: "not yet!" o: "not yet. hopefully soon." — (full video) (apr 10, 2022)

then silly season started, and everything was thrown into disarray when sebastian vettel announced his imminent retirement and fernando subsequently took his place at aston martin; alpine scrambled to recover from this blindsided move and prematurely promoted oscar to an f1 seat, to which oscar eventually posted The Tweet—claiming he'd never signed a contract with alpine and would not be racing for them in 2023, thus kicking off #piastrigate. or the piasco, or whatever you prefer to call it.

here's a good article that properly summarizes the crb ruling, but tl;dr: mclaren and alpine had come to an agreement back in march to loan oscar to mclaren's stable of reserve drivers after daniel contracted covid; mark webber, who was close to andreas seidl from their time at porsche in wec, quietly negotiated a contract with mclaren for 2023 that oscar would then sign on july 4, which was reportedly initially a reserve deal with an upgrade clause to a full-time drive given a dr buyout; alpine's legal team turned out to be essentially one overworked legal director who mishandled the situation thanks to a lack of organizational support, while a concrete williams deal never actually existed no matter what people continuously allege, and any proprietary right to oscar's services that alpine purported to have for the 2023 season would soon be voided by crb rule on september 2. in other words, they dun goofed.

because tumblr dies when i try to include it in this post, here's a link to a condensed chronological timeline version of this post.

that's it for now. i'm sure you know how the rest goes!!!

[plooto]

⋆·˚ ༘ * blinker fluid . ft. katsuki bakugo

synopsis . all he ever did was use you, why can’t you see that?!

warnings . nsfw . pining , childhood friends to lovers ! au , aged up ! au , quirkless ! au , toxic ! cheater ! kirishima is an ahole ( sorry not sorry ) , ( ooc katsuki ? , ) cursing , crying !! , cheating !! , more than friend ! bakugo , tons of emotion , slight overuse of pet names , piv sex , fingering , body worship , size kink if you squint , multiple orgasms , slight breeding kink , clingy ! small ! slight bimbo ! reader , slight possessiveness at the end.

words . 6k

notes . 6k i think is my longest yet.. thank you guys for all your support !

“ katsuki! you were right! ” you rushed up to him. sparing you an uninterested glance and a half hearted laugh,

“ i’m always right, what this time? ” you shook his arm,

“ c’mon kats, i’m your favorite person! the least you could do is pretend to be excited when i am.. ” he fully turned to you, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, playful smile on his face.

“ tell me then, what’s got you so excited? ” you take a moment, eyes widening at his undivided attention. you open your mouth, your heart beating hard in your head brought you back to reality.

“ k- kiri likes me! you were right, he’s taking me on a date tomorrow night. ” the soft smile that once graced his featured disappearing. he stayed looking at you, heart growing heavy, waiting for you to say something, waiting for you to discredit yourself, to say something, anything.

“ why aren’t you saying anything? ” he blinked once, then twice. recentering himself in the position that he put himself in. your smile faded, being replaced with worry.

“ good for you, yn ” he nodded, you smiled and looked at your phone before saying that you were running late.

“ good for you.. ” he said bitterly. this time he knew it was to convince himself.

he thought to himself, trying to figure out when these dammed feelings started to arise.

“ eiji! do you want to go to the store with me? ” you asked, double checking the shopping list you made on your phone.

“ go by yourself, pretty, i have to finish some things here. ” you nodded, leaning down to place a sweet kiss on his cheek.

“ do you want me to pick anything up from the store for you? ” you asked, placing an small hand on his arm. which he lifted and rubbed the back of his head, thinking,

“ uh, yeah could you stop at that store i always like and pick something up for desert? ” you nodded writing it down. he looked down at his phone, getting a message. “ oh, also some blinker fluid, i checked your car this morning and it’s low. ” you nodded again, picking up your keys and waved bye to eiji.

it was taking you forever, time you didn’t have. you still had to run to kiri’s store and get his desert for him and make dinner when you got back but you couldn’t find the blinker fluid for your car. remembering that your boyfriend had things to do you pressed some buttons on your phone to call katsuki instead. not even two rings later, he answered,

“ what do you want? ” you heard his gruff voice, you felt your face flush and then nervous from being lost in the store that you spend the most of your time in.

“ um, i need help ” you confessed, the next moment was filled with objects shuffling and keys jingling.

“ where are you ” you stuttered for a moment,

“ i’m at the store..i can’t find this thing for my car. ” you explain, everything on the other end of the phone coming to a halt. “ katsuki? ”

“ what are you looking for.. ” he asked, the tone in his voice made you nervous

“ um..blinker fluid? ” you heard the door slam shut, but no outdoor noises.

“ hah?? ” you looked around the automotive section frustrated, a hand running through your hair.

“ prin- how long have you been looking for it? ” you checked the time, distressed from how long you’ve been in this store,

“ um, almost an hour.. ” you hear something break in the background, “ kats? what’s wrong? ”

“ you’ve been played sweetheart. there’s no such thing as blinker fluid. ” you feel the muscles in your face release, but your eyebrows never giving way.

“ w- what? ” you tilt your head to the side,

“ shitty hair lied to you yn, i’m on the way just stay there. ” you mumbled a small ‘okay’ and waited in the store,

katsuki made it to the store in nearly record time, probably breaking every driving law in the book.

“ i can’t believe you fell for that, ” he huffed, you chalked it up as fatigue from running. you pouted at him, watching as he shook his head and used a large hand to push the hair off his sweaty face, followed with pulling the hem of his shirt up to wipe his face, giving you a clear view of his chiseled abdomen that he’s been working on since middle school. you looked away embarrassed that you were staring at another man, nonetheless the best friend of your long term boyfriend..

“ blinker fluid ” he scoffs, looking around before looking back down at you, “ why’d you call me instead of your boyfriend? ” he asked,

“ he said he had to do some things, so i didn’t want to bother him.. ” you tell him, a softer pout following.

“ call him. ” he told you, your head whips to look up at him,

“ wh- i just told you he said he would be bus- ”

“ call. him. ” he said, narrowing his eyes at you, you gave him the meanest glare you could muster before listening. you pull out your phone and click the call button,

“ speaker. ” you looked up at him and pressed the button, letting out a breath before he answered.

“ yn, what is it? ” he’s out of breath, you bring the phone closer so you don’t have to yell,

“ um i couldn’t find the thing you told me.. ” you said trying to hear what he was doing in the background,

“ huh? ask one of the fuck, ask one of the employees, i have to shit, i have to go. ” he doesn’t wait for a response before he hangs up

“ see? busy. ” you say waving your phone as if he didn’t just hear it for himself. his arms are around his chest now, an unfamiliar look on his face, “ what is it? why are you looking at me like that ” you tilt your head to the side

“ eiji is a good man, he loves me. ”

“ all he ever did was use you, why can’t you see that? he’s cheating on you, yn. ” your eyebrows pull together, confused you take a step back.

“ what? n- no,..he was probably working out. ”

“ i’ve worked out with him before, that ” he points to the phone, “ was not working out. ” you let out a half laugh, but he wasn’t amused.

“ that’s not funny katsuki.. ” he didn’t say anything, just looked at you, and finally it hit you:

he wasn’t joking.

your heart sped up, creeping up to your throat, you felt your throat close,

“ check his location, he doesn’t have work out equipment at home right? ” you shook your head. you unlocked your phone again, going to his location and seeing he was still at home.

“ no..he loves me, he- he wouldn’t ” you shook your head, shaking out the heart aching thoughts that plagued your mind. hands made it to your shoulder and you looked up at katsuki. he lifts his hand and you flinch, he pauses before wiping the tears streaming down your face

“ finish your shopping, and i’ll drive you. ” you shook your head, finally lifting your hand to wipe your tear clad face.

“ it’s okay, i- i can do it alone..thanks for helping kats. ” he scans your face, your warm puffy face.

“ yn.. ” you give him a smile before pulling your shopping list off and crossing out blinker fluid out,

“ thank you for your help katuki, but i still have dinner to make.. ” you told him, giving him a hug before going about your day.

‘ i shouldn’t have told her.. ’ katsuki thought to himself, ‘ at least she knows now.. ’ you walked away from him, hand coming up to wipe the tears still staining your face. and he just watched. that was all he did, for the past three years all he’s done is watch as you got hurt over and over again.

you knew he could be cheating on you, you’ve known for too long, but he’s so sweet to you you couldn’t think it possible.

“ i’m home. ” you said, placing the groceries down and taking your shoes off. kirishima comes to you from the table, placing a kiss on your cheek,

“ did you find everything? ” you looked up at him, remembering what happened in the store. you smiled,

“ i tried, the employee said someone bought the last jug of the uh, blinker fluid. ” he nodded, patting your head and taking the bags from you,

“ i ordered some takeout, i’m kind of tired and i have to get up early tomorrow. ” you pursed your lips together.

“ oh..um okay.. ” you walked with him to his kitchen and out up the groceries as he plopped on the couch, engrossed with whatever was going on in his phone.

“ i’m going to jump in the shower, call me when the food gets here? ” you nodded giving him a small smile and turning to the groceries. once the bathroom door shut and the water came on you leaned against the counter, feeling numb from everything that took place today. you quickly put up the rest of the groceries and made your way to his bedroom. you both had your own place, but you tended to crash at his place more often than you were at your own.

you found yourself walking to the bedroom, his phone on the charger as he showered. you fought with yourself, trying to convince him to leave his phone alone. that you trusted him and he loved you and wouldn’t do a thing to hurt you.

his phone buzzed.

you lost the battle with yourself. you sat down and pulled his phone to your chest. you knew his password, he hasn’t changed it in years..you typed in the day you guys started dating and read the newest message

ashido : i had fun tonight, can’t wait to see you again <3

your heart dropped, creating an empty space where it used to be. you opened the message and scrolled, finding a message asking if she could come over around the time you were leaving for the grocery store.

you shook your head, it just had to be true, didn’t it?

you heard the shower turn off and you were brought back to the situation. marking the last message as unread and closed the app before going to photos to scroll for something to cover up.

“ sweetness? what ya doin over there? ” you looked up at him, a smile gracing your face,

“ i was looking for that photo i asked you to delete of me the other day, the one with noodles shooting out of my nose? ” you giggled, seeing him smile after you,

“ i couldn’t delete that one, that’s one of my favourites! ” he joked, you shook your head, locking his phone and hearing the doorbell ring,

“ oh that must be the food. ” he said,

“ get dressed, i’ll get it. ” you walked out and opened the door, giving the driver a tip before locking the door back.

the next day, kiri said that he had to stay late for this new proposal that his bosses have assigned to him.

he told you to not wait up for him, indicating that he’s going to be home really late, or not at all.

it was already late and you were tired of sitting at home, doing nothing. you still had a good amount of energy that you haven’t used, so you grabbed your keys and went to get takeout, opting to go to bakugo’s.

you called and asked what he wanted and then made your way to his place.

“ why do you drive so slow? ” you shrugged not looking to entertain his smart mouth. he shifted to give you room to walk in with the takeout. the two of you settled in his couch, watching a show you’ve been dying to watch. stuffing your face you watched as the two main characters finally confessed their feelings that they’ve had for each other since high school with interest.

beside you, katsuki looked down at you, feeling the utmost domestic in this moment with you. you leaned forward to grab your drink and you leaned too far, loosing your balance. katsuki’s arms reached out and looped around your waist, pulling you back, you landing on his side.

“ thank you, ”

“ hold yourself up dumbass. ” but the notion of letting you go went right over his head, you looked up at him, through your lashes. his eyes glanced down at your lips, and for a fraction of a second he knew this was a bad idea, but only for a fraction. one of his hands moved to cup your cheek and he leaned down to you, connecting your lips in a chaste kiss. it was short but you felt every bit of it, his lips were soft and his hands gentle as the arm around your waist pulled you closer ever so slightly. you parted, his eyes searching yours for any disagreement, any sign to tell him to stop.

there wasn’t.

in an instant he pulled you to straddle his lap, arm pulling you flush against him, leaning in to close the all too large gap between you he captured your lips in a fiery kiss. a kiss that told all his underlying feelings for you. all that he wanted to confess to you. how he loved the way your eyes sparkle when you talked about your stupid animal crossing island, or when you threw your head back way too far while laughing. he pulled you even closer, as if you were not chest to chest already. katsuki’s brows knit together, focused on feeling every inch of you through the passionate kiss. you wrapped your arms around his neck, his hand falling down to your hip, pushing and pulling you on his lap, breathless you pull away from him and he turns his attention to your unmarked collarbone, but not before leaving gentle but passion filled kisses down your neck, goosebumps trailing behind him. you gripped his shirt, a soft moan falling from your pretty lips. finding the spot that makes your knees weak he pulls you up higher, brushing your clothed sex over his.

“ katsuki~ ” you whine, he freezes,

‘ what the hell did he just do. ’ he curses at himself as he pulls away, hands coming off of you as if you burned him. you sat on his lap dumbfounded, body on fire from the heated session you just took part in. your chest rose and fell quickly, much faster than it was before. he couldn’t bring his eyes to meet yours, as much as he wanted to continue, to show you all the pent up feelings he had for you, he couldn’t. he reached up to pull your arms from around his neck and held your wrists in between you two, effectively putting some distance between the you of two.

“ i think you should go home. ” he said hoarsely, as if he didn’t want to say it. you blinked, a wave of hurt taking the place of bliss that had entranced you just moments ago.

“ w- what? ” you voice was nearly nonexistent. you lifted your hand towards him, to see his face but his hand shot out to grab yours,

“ leave yn..before we make another mistake, ” before i make another mistake. he turned to you, revealing his vermilion hues, ones that no longer held the hunger he just displayed to you. you sat back, looking down before taking a breath and getting off his lap, nearly falling from your knees being in such an awkward position for so long.

he didn’t spare you another glance, hand coming up to cover his burning cheeks. you took one last look at him before making yourself scarce to your childhood friend.

you stayed at your own apartment that night, putting your phone on the charger before shutting it down. your heart pounded in your chest, the heat of bakugo still lingering after the drive..you pressed a finger to your lips, puffed and swollen. you pulled the covers up to your chin, curling into a ball before taking the long path to sleep.

you woke up late, assuming so from the positioning of the sun in your window. you turned to lay flat on your back, stretching from being balled up all night. you let out a sigh, the scenes of last night pouring back into your mind. you sat up quickly, regretting the quick action immediately. you held your head as you reached over to grab your phone. turning it on you found messages from your boyfriend and one missed call from bakugo.

you ignored the missed call and opened the messages from your boyfriend.

my heart : hey are you okay?

my heart : call me when you see this

my heart : i’m going to bed, love you.

you shook your head as you read the messages over.

“ i really am blind. ” thinking back to his lax attitude when you were on his phone, as if he was not committing infidelity in your bed hours earlier. you were one to talk, weren’t you? making out with his best friend with no intention of stopping.. you sighed, taking a shower and getting dressed to go to kirishima’s. you unlocked the door, opening your mouth to greet him when you realized a pair of shoes you didn’t recognize in your spot. closing your mouth you tucked your keys into your purse, setting your purse down on the table by the door and silently sliding your shoes off. you walked around for a moment, not before you heard a grunt from the bedroom.

your heart pounded, almost too hard, you were sure he would hear it if you opened your mouth even a little. you made your way to the bedroom, the shaking bedframe becoming louder by the second. you wanted to walk out, pretend you never came here, pretend you were still in bed and didn’t get up until the sun went down, but you couldn’t..you didn’t want to, as much as you wanted to run away you didn’t.

you pushed the door open, the lewd sounds reached you first, your eyes falling behind to adjust to the darkness of the room. the scene playing out in front of you was suffocating, watching your long term boyfriend pressed up against another in the most intimate way. loosing your grip on the doorknob, the light from the living room alerted the two,

“ oh fuck, yn! ” the pink haired girl didn’t scream, didn’t bother pulling the covers to cover herself, just smirked at you. kirishima stumbled, tripping over the covers to pull his boxers up his thighs. you stared blankly, you mind telling your body to turn and leave, with droopy eyes, you made your way to your shoes and slid them on, hurried footsteps behind you.

“ yn wait, i promise i can explain. ” you snapped out of your trance, you turned to him, tears starting to form,

“ explain what kirishima? ” you said, shrugging at him, eyebrows pulled in defeatedly. you waited for some excuse or lie to come out of his mouth,

“ well? say something. yell, scream, say something! anything dammit! ” you pleaded for him to say something to make you think that he wasn’t as bad as he made himself out to be, anything at all.. tears flowing freely now, your throat closed tighter and tighter the longer you were in his presence.

you hiccuped, looking past him to see the girl he was just balls deep in.

“ sorry to interrupt. ” you barely made out. the overwhelming feeling of rue washing over you. you turned back to kirishima, raising a heavy arm to gesture to the girl leaning against the bedroom door “ someone’s waiting for you.. ” you added heavy-heartedly. kirishima hung his head, sweat dropping down from his forehead. turning around you pulled on the door handle and shut it behind you. you got in your car, turned it over and ignored the figure of kirishima in your rear-view mirror.

you didn’t know where you drove to, your limbs knew where to go and you were just along for the ride.. you made it to your destination and got out, barely remembering to lock your car and started walking.

you weren’t sure when it started raining but when the cold sky water began to seep through your jacket you finally felt all of the emotions you were trying to block out.

as every rain drop hit you, two tears came in their place, your lip trembled. you shook your head, trying to fight it, you couldn’t. your chest heaved, breaths becoming shorter and shorter, your legs gave out from under you, knees slamming to the ground you screamed. trying to let it out, let out everything that has went wrong, everything you realized wasn’t as it seemed: when he’d stay out later than before, when he stopped showing you affection, when he stopped being your boyfriend..

eyes blurry you picked up your phone, not being able to see you held the power button, telling your phone a short task.

watching some random videos on youtube as he ate his favorite spicy noodles, his phone rang. seeing your name pop up he finished chewing his noodles

“ katsukii ” you cried on the other side of the phone,

“ yn? ” there’s a pause, it’s raining and your breathing erratically,

“ kat- he- i- it hurts.. ” you wailed, he balled his hands into a fist.

“ where are you? ” no response, “ stay there, i’ll find you, okay? ” he grabs his keys and a jacket for you and rushed to his car, sliding away from the call screen to maps. you managed to share your location with him, coughing and sneezing as he drove with white knuckles around the steering wheel.

putting the car in park he ran to where you map marker was and saw you, cursing he kneeled down to you, placing a warm hand on your cold cheek, he took his jacket and draped it over you,

“ hang onto me, okay? ” feeling your weak nod he lifted your arm over his shoulder and hooking the other under your knees, he lifted you up with ease. settling you into the passenger seat of his car he buckled your seatbelt and taking off your wet jacket, he places his jacket more comfortably around your shoulders. getting in the driver seat he turned up the heat.

arriving back to his house, he helps you out of the vehicle. he brought you to his room, stepping out after giving you some sweatpants with a warm hoodie as he warmed up a towel for you. you stood in the middle of the room, arms by your side, not in the sleeves. he took your hair and wrapped the towel around it, the warmth snapping you out of your daze, helping him slide your arms through the sleeves. leading you to the kitchen he turned to you,

“ do you want something to eat? ” you shook your head slowly, he sighs, resting a hand on the now damp towel.

“ i’m going to make you something to eat. ” lifting you to place you on the counter. you numbly watch him move around the kitchen, picking up various pots and ingredients.

“ katsuki.. ” you muttered, wiping your face with your fingers, he turned and look at you and you pushed yourself off the counter, and walked to him. he looked down at you quizzically and you ignored it, you tried to stop the tears falling from your eyes but they wouldn’t. you wrap your arms around him and just let it out. bakugo looks down at you, frozen unaware of what to do. he pulls his arms out of your grasp, heart hammering in his chest, and wraps them around your waist.

“ it’s okay, let it out. ” he runs a hand up and down your back, opting to make you something when you calmed down, he lifted you into his arms, taking you back to his room. he looked down at you, your cheek against his shoulder, eyebrows relaxed, and lips lightly parted. he kneeled down on his bed, placing you as gently as he could before lifting the covers over you, taking the towel from around your head. hearing your breathing slow, soft snores took the place of hiccups and ragged breaths. he sighed, getting up to clean up his kitchen he felt your hand grab his,

“ don’t leave me, ” your lip quivered, he bit his lip going to tell you he’d be right back, “ please, don’t leave me.. ” he gave in,

“ alright pretty. ” you dropped his hand and he walked to the other side of the bed, relieving himself of his outside clothes and putting on a pair of shorts and a tshirt. pulling the covers back just enough for him to climb in, he settled in next to you.

his arms came to engulf you, turning you over to rest your head on his chest, rubbing your back as he did before. your soft sniffles fill the quietness of the room.

“ you feeling better pretty girl? ” he felt you nod into his chest, cuddling closer to him. “ are you comfortable? ” you didn’t reply, just shifted your legs, taking the hand from your back, he lifted your leg to rest over his hip. you sighed contentedly, as he pushed a warm hand under his hoodie, resting it on your back. you shifted, getting uncomfortable again,

“ what’s wrong? ” you wanted to shake your head, tell him nothing, but bakugo knew you better than that. you bit your lip before pulling your leg off of his, turning around, holding onto his fingers. he laid still, waiting for you to position yourself before wrapping an arm around your middle.

“ i’m good now.. ” you mumbled. he hummed, closing his eyes and he gently pulled you into him.

you couldn’t sleep, today being way more eventful than you wished, so many moments, so many feelings you wished you’d forget.

“ you’re still up, ” you felt his voice rumble your body.

“ i- can’t sleep. ” you mumbled,

“ hm, ” he slipped his hand under the hoodie once more, pulling you flush to him. the hand resting on your stomach glided over your soft skin gently, wrapping around you fully, he placed a kiss behind your ear, your hair now dry. he kisses lower, finding your sweet spot like muscle memory, drawing a sweet moan from your lips.

“ tell me to stop princess, tell me to stop or i- ”

“ please, katuski.. ” you begged, turning to him and resting a hand on his jaw, the fresh stubble tickling your palm.

“ fuck. ” he cursed, pulling you close and locking your lips together. biting on your bottom lip you hesitated before opening your lips to allow him in. as his tongue explored you, his hands began to wander, going lower to grope at anything he could reach.

a sting of curses fall through his pretty lips and you open your eyes to lock with his. lips parted, allowing more air through as you breathed heavily. you leaned up to him but he pulled back, you pulled back to, wanting to apologize, that you didn’t mean to go so fast.

“ let me appreciate you, doll. ” he said, laying you flat on your back and softly stripping you of the clothes he let you borrow. without another moment, he peppered kisses down your body, leaving goosebumps in their wake. you squirmed, pulling him up by his shoulders to connect your lips again.

“ fuck..the things you do to me ” his hand trails down your body, slotting himself between your legs.

as his hand slid over your hips, he rests his thumb on your bundle of nerves, rubbing gentle circles on it. watching you face crunch up, he leans down to suck bruising marks on your supple skin, anywhere his mouth could reach. your fingers wrapped around the hem of his shirt, tugging on it, he pulls is over his head, sitting back on his heels. you sat up with him.

running your hands over his structured chest, you planted soft kisses down his torso.

“ you’re gorgeous katsuki.. ” you mumbled against one of his pecs, looking up at him through your lashes. he groaned, reaching behind you to unclip your bra, watching it slide off your shoulders before laying you down. he pulled back to free himself of his shorts before helping you out of your underwear.

turning his affection towards you, he captured your nipple in his mouth, swirling his tongue around it, fondling the other. you ran a hand through his hair, tugging at it every so slightly. releasing your nipple, he goes on to leave more love marks along your skin,

“ katsu..please s- stop teasing~ ” you whined, engulfing him in a heart stoping kiss.

“ what princess wants, princess shall get” he mumbled against your lips, “ i wanted to take it slow, but- can’t deny my pretty girl “ he spoke gently. stripping the both of you of your last articles of clothing left he pushed middle finger into your warmth, his ring finger soon following. a few quick thrusts of his hand and he already found and was abusing the spot that made you see stars. sucking one more hickey into your collarbone, katsuki let his tongue glide down your body, all the way down to where his hand met with your warm sopping hole.

“ you’re so wet for me pretty girl. ” you whined, grinding down on his hand as you ached for more. it wasn’t enough, not nearly enough..

“ more katsu, please. ” you moaned oh so sweetly. he groaned at the sound of his name falling from your lips, cursing, he moved off you, tugging his bottoms off in one swift motion, using the slick from you to rub on his dick. you watched him intently, sitting up while reaching for his member, he took your hand in his, pressing a soft kiss to your palm. the gesture enough to make your heart swell and bring tears to your eyes.

“ tonight’s about you baby, ” he muttered, leaning down to press kisses to the shell of your ear. rubbing the bulbous tip of his cock rub against your clit he draw another moan from your sweet lips, “ let me take care of you ” he whispered and you bit your lip, trying to hold the sinful noises back. katsuki pulled back a smidge, lining up with your entrance,

“ take a breath for me. ” and you did, with that, he pushed inside your heat ever so gently. you both moaned, and he captured your lips in his, swallowing any further noises from you as he pushed deeper inside you, you pulled away from him, pushing your head further into the pillow. you pulled your lips between your teeth, trying not to cry out from your cunt stretching to accommodate the sheer size of bakugo. peppering kisses along your cheeks, ending on your eyelids he tucked his flushed face into your shoulder as be bottomed out.

“ fuck you’re so tight.. ” he groaned, his thumb seeking purchase on your bundle of nerves. you cursed, his name falling from your lips as you clenched around him, he pulled out slowly, leaving just the tip in before pushing back into you. your eyes rolled to the back of your head,

“ feels so good~ ” you mewled. his forehead dropped into the crook of your neck, panting heavily.

“ fuck, i can’t- shit.. ” he pulled back, watching as he pulled out, a line of your arousal forming at the base of his cock. the sight nearly undoing him on the spot, he pushed back into you, circling your clit faster. you squeezed around him tighter,

“ oh~ katsuki, i- i’m ” he sped up his pace ever so slightly, watching your facial expressions as he angled his hips to hit the sweet spot inside you. your mouth opened but no sound came out,

“ come on baby, give it to me ” your body listened. clenching down on him like a vice, his hips stuttered as he fucked your through your first orgasm. slowing down to give you room to get your breath you pulled him by his shoulders for a seering kiss. he thrusted into you, more needy, wanting more of those pretty little sounds to leave your lips. he fucked into you as if it was the last thing he would do. aching with pure need your cunt pulls him in deeper, kissing all the right places you feel the coil in your stomach getting tighter. moaning into his mouth, you scratch against his back, leaving red marks as you go. he groaned into you , pulling from you to rest his forehead against yours, eyes closed as the feeling of you engulfed him in pure ecstasy.

“ fuck i’m close..you gonna cum with me pretty girl? ” you nodded mindlessly, moving your hips to meet his thrusts. you’re driving him crazy, the sounds of your body reacting to him, the feeling of you against him, it was nearly too much. wrapping his arm around your shoulders he coaxes another orgasm from you. eyes seeing stars, your nails dig into his biceps.

“ katsuki!! ” your orgasm hits you hard, tumbling over the edge head first you see white.

“ fuck. ” a few more thrusts and he was joining you at that cliff, pushing himself over to meet you he stills, blowing his load deep into you. your chest heaves, body shaking as he coats your walls with his seed. he presses his forehead against yours, eyes closed as you both breathed in the passionate air that settled around the two of you. pulling out of you, you whined. he hovered above you, letting air back into your lungs.

“ i’m going to get you some water, stay up for a little bit longer. ” you shook your head, not wanting him to leave your side.

“ stay..please.. ” he nodded, pressing a kiss to your hairline, he whispered:

“ okay ” he found your underwear somewhere strewn next to the bed and pulled it up your legs, making sure his load was secure. finding his and tucking his member into his boxers he pulled the covers up to your hips as you cuddled into his chest. he wrapped his arm around you, pulling you flush against his.

“ mine ” he growled lowly, you smiled gently,

“ yours.. ” you mumbled, eyelids fluttering shut.

not uttering another word, he watched as you peacefully lulled off to sleep, falling into a deep peaceful slumber. nothing could ruin this moment, the girl of his literal dreams asleep in his arms after a long night together.

but something could, and it did. it was your phone ringing. groaning he shifted to turn it off, but not before looking at the caller id.

hearts and an e. kirishima. he didn’t think twice about how this would sever the life long friendship with the red haired fool before answering.

“ yn baby! ” he shouted,

“ if you want to wake her up again go right ahead, just know i have to work in the morning and i would kill you. ” he said, vermillion eyes narrowing at the phone.

“ b- bakugo?! ” he grinned, finally realizing what’s happening. with his other hand he gently rubbed your back, hoping that the yelling from the phone would not wake you. not even a little bit.

“ that’s right. now you delete her number, i’ll text you when i can come get her stuff, don’t ever call her again. and i so much as feel you thinking of her, i’ll end you. ” with that he hung up the phone and shut it down.

he would protect you.

his perfect girl.

published . august 28 , 2023

[starrydixon]

Sweet Melody

Era: Alexandria (Pre-Negan) Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Reader Pronouns: None-Specified Word Count: 1,104 Warnings: none, just fluff!

Even though you were only a little more than halfway up the street from the house you shared with your boyfriend, you could already hear the electric guitar riffs and booming bass of the drums of the metal music Daryl was blasting through the record player in his garage. The idea of Daryl putting on music as he worked on his bike caused a smile to stretch over your face and your steps to quicken.

The closer you got, the more distinctive the music of Black Sabbath became. Although you were eager to get to Daryl, you slowed the pace of your steps as you began to hear the faint sound of an unsuspecting voice singing along to the song. It was hard to picture Daryl singing as you had never even heard him hum a tune before, so you couldn't believe what your ears were hearing until you saw it with your own two eyes. Your lungs had practically stilled as you strained your ears to hear more clearly. Pausing just before the open garage door so you were still hidden from view, you carefully peered your head around the corner to peek inside the garage.

Your gaze instantly fixated on the sight of the angel wings that were on his back. With a slightly ducked head that caused his dark unruly strands of hair to cover his face, he stood by his work bench fiddling with a piece of an automotive part that you couldn’t identify even if your life depended on it. As the music of Paranoid filled the garage, Daryl’s head bobbed slightly from side to side in rhythm with the song. 

Your heart melted at the sight, and you had to place a hand over your mouth as you tried your hardest to not audibly swoon over your adorable boyfriend. Tentatively, you took a few more steps forward so you were leaning against the door frame. With your arms crossed over your chest in a way that made it seem like you were hugging yourself, you bit your lower lip as you could clearly hear Daryl humming along to the song under his breath. 

You couldn't stop the smile from stretching out across your face as you basked in the sight of Daryl singing along to the lyrics that he knew like the back of his hand. Even after all these years of knowing him, Daryl still managed to surprise you every day.

As the song began to fade and a new one began to start, Daryl had finally felt your presence. Carefully, he turned his head to the side to look over his shoulder. The archer didn’t seem alarmed at the sight of you, as his body language only seemed to relax more knowing you were there. Turning to face you fully, Daryl gave you a lopsided smile and a small wave of his hand that was covered in grease and oil.

“Were you just singing to yourself?” You couldn’t help but ask as you stepped further into the garage. Finding the black stool that Daryl barely used, you took a seat.

“Oh, uh-“ Pausing, a sheepish look suddenly formed across his face at the knowledge that not only had he been singing out loud without even realizing it, but that you had heard it. Rubbing at a non-existent itch on the back of his neck with his hand, Daryl struggled to finish his sentence. “-guess so. Sorry- didn't notice.” 

Daryl wasn't the kind of guy who normally cared about what other people thought, especially when it was about him. As he'd never had an audience to impress, he never cared if he was able to hold a tune when singing along to a song. However, now that you had heard him sing, the one person whose opinion actually meant something to him, he hoped he had been somewhat decent at it. 

With a slight shake of your head, you slowly stood up from the work stool and strode over to Daryl. The closer you became, the lower Daryl’s gaze ducked away from yours. When you were standing in front of him, you instantly placed your hands on his chest while a warm smile spread over your lips.

“Don’t ever apologize, it was nice. You should keep singing.”

Daryl’s gaze instantly lifted back up to meet yours, and he couldn’t stop the warm blush from dusting over the tops of his cheeks that reached to the tip of his ears. You were looking up at him with so much adoration in your eyes that it was almost overwhelming. The longer you stared at him with all that love in your eyes, the warmer his chest felt and the deeper the pink became on the apples of his cheeks. Letting out a gruff chuckle, he shrugged his shoulders dismissively.

“This ain’t a free show, y'know. You’re gonna have to pay if ya want more.”

As your warm joyous laugh reached his ears, and he felt your body lean into his as you laughed at his lame quip, it was Daryl’s turn for his heart to completely and utterly melt. He snaked an arm around your waist so that his hand was pressed against your lower back for support. A rather smug smirk uplifted one corner of Daryl’s mouth as he watched you laugh. 

With a grin so big it threatened to split your face in two, and with a rather mischievous glint twinkling in your eyes, you moved your hands up Daryl’s chest so that your arms were now wrapped around his neck. The slight change in your demeanor sent an electric shock to shoot up Daryl’s back as he anticipated on whatever you were about to say. His hold on you tightened slightly.

“I think I can spare a little change.” Your voice was softer now as your fingers began to play with the ends of Daryl’s hair. It made another spark shoot up his spine and goosebumps to raise over his skin. 

“Ya think I’m only worth a little bit of change?” He scoffed again at the notion as if it offended him and pulled you in even closer against his body. “Gonna have to bargain with a little more than that, sunshine.”

“How about I add some kisses, too?” Your question was teasing and hypothetical. You already knew what his answer would be.

Just as expected, Daryl’s only response was raising the hand that wasn’t currently holding you so he could cup the side of your face. Your arms tightened around his neck as his lips came crashing down on yours in a sweet and electrifying kiss.

-

-

A/N: This idea was just too cute to not write and share! I hoped you enjoyed and thank you for reading! <3

[anandrettisimp]

2025 WOMEN IN MOTORSPORTS INITIATIVE

So for the fourth year in a row Chip Ganassi Racing is doing its fully funded internship program for women who are looking to have a career in motorsport with several alumni already fulfilling that desire and one even now working full time at Ganassi.

Now it is based in the USA and you should be enrolled in undergraduate courses focused on, but not limited to, engineering, mathematics, automotive mechanics, computer science, information technology, athletic training, or similar major and with a GPA of at least 3.5.

You will also have to relocate to Indianapolis for the duration of the program but you will be integrated into the team and helping at both the base and on track.

If this is something that would appeal to here then you can apply here. You have until the 31st of September.

Good luck!

[snpcmachine]

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[aiartwerk]

Carpenter A confident female carpenter working on wood in a workshop. With her curly hair tied back, safety glasses, and tools in hand, she is fully focused on her craft. Wood shavings and sparks surround her as she smoothly planes a piece of wood. Her robust physique adds to the image’s emphasis on empowerment and craftsmanship.

Construction Worker This image portrays a construction worker standing proudly on a construction site, donning a hard hat and tool belt. Her dusty outfit and powerful stance amidst cranes and scaffolding show her strength and dedication to the job, surrounded by a backdrop of a large industrial site under construction.

Crane Operator A woman sits inside a crane cabin, wearing a hard hat and work gloves, operating heavy machinery with intense focus. The interior of the cabin is filled with dials and switches, capturing the mechanical aspect of her job. The background is a vast construction site, highlighting the scale of her work.

Race Car Driver A striking woman in a yellow racing suit stands confidently in front of a Formula 1 race car. Her stance is powerful, with arms akimbo, as she commands attention amidst the high-energy backdrop of a race track. Her sleek outfit and the car’s detailed design contribute to the fast-paced energy of the scene.

Electrician This image showcases an African-American woman working as an electrician, kneeling down amidst a tangle of wires and cables. She holds a tool in her hand while sparks fly around her. Her expression is calm and composed as she works with precision in a high-stress environment.

Firefighter A fierce female firefighter stands in front of a blazing fire, exuding strength and bravery. Her orange firefighter suit is charred, and her face is determined as she readies herself for action. The flames in the background highlight the danger and intensity of her profession.

Pilot A stylish and commanding woman stands in front of a large airplane, dressed in a crisp pilot’s uniform. Her tailored black jacket and cap emphasize her authority and professionalism. The jet behind her and the blue skies reflect her role as a leader in aviation.

Lumberjill A woman in plaid and work jeans is in the midst of chopping logs in a forest clearing. Her strong arms grip an ax as she focuses on the task at hand. The sunlight filtering through the trees adds warmth to the image, emphasizing her connection to the land and hard work.

Mechanic In a garage setting, a female mechanic works on a car, her hands covered in grease. Her denim overalls cling to her toned frame as she holds a tool, surrounded by equipment and automotive parts. Her intense expression shows focus, dedication, and passion for her trade.

Soldier A soldier stands at attention amidst a battlefield, her body armored and weapon at her side. Her camo fatigues blend into the war-torn environment, while her fierce, unyielding gaze suggests experience and readiness for the challenges ahead.

Plumber A woman kneels beside a kitchen sink, tools in hand, as she works on the plumbing. Her determined expression and sturdy overalls emphasize her hands-on approach to fixing things. The homey kitchen setting contrasts with her industrial tools, blending domestic and technical elements.

Power Line Worker High above the ground, a woman works on power lines, equipped with a tool belt and safety gear. She balances on a wooden beam, her face focused as she repairs wiring. The towering power poles and bright sky in the background add scale and drama to the scene.

Spaceship Pilot Inside a futuristic spaceship, a young woman pilots the craft, surrounded by high-tech controls. Her white and black spacesuit glows in the colorful lights of the console, and the cosmos stretches out beyond the window. The vastness of space outside complements her focused expression as she navigates.

Submariner In the depths of the ocean, a woman operates the controls of a high-tech submarine. The control room is dimly lit with screens glowing, showing the sea life outside. Sharks swim past the large windows, creating a mysterious and adventurous atmosphere as she guides the vessel.

Welder A woman stands confidently in front of a welding torch, sparks flying around her. Her protective gloves and helmet highlight the dangers of her job, but her composed expression suggests mastery of her craft. The industrial setting around her adds a sense of strength and power to the scene.

Each image is crafted with ultra-realistic detail, featuring vivid 3D rendering and high-resolution 4K quality. The colors are bold and striking, with detailed lighting that brings out the textures in their environments, outfits, and the characters themselves. Each woman is depicted with strength and beauty, emphasizing her role in her respective profession while challenging traditional gender stereotypes.

These characters not only represent women of power but also pay homage to diversity by showcasing African American women in impactful, aspirational roles.

[hometoursandotherstuff]

I want this!!!!!  “My name is Cate and I’m an automotive interior artist, specialising in creating fully bespoke, classic VWs. This is my latest piece ‘Rose,’ she’s a 1967 VW Beetle.”

“There’re way too many details to fit into 5 images, if you’d like to see more you can find me on TikTok, Instagram, and FB as @cateculp.”

Love this so much!

And, it’s my kinda car- I drive nothing but manual. 

She does amazing work- if you look on her instagram, you can see that she tears the whole car apart. (I NEED this car!)

https://www.instagram.com/cateculp/?hl=en

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

Cadillac was founded in 1902 by Henry Leland, who named the company after Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, who happens to be the founder of Detroit. Just 6 short years later Cadillac brought the idea of interchangeable parts to the automotive industry and laid the ground work for modern mass production of automobiles. As a result, Cadillac became the first American car to win the prestigious Dewar Trophy from the Royal Automobile Club of England. After earning such high praise Cadillac adopted the slogan "Standard of the World."

In 1910, Cadillac became the first company to offer a passenger car with a fully enclosed cabin, a major change from the vehicles of the time. Two years after that, in 1912, the company released the Model Thirty, the car with no crank, which was the first production car to feature an electronic self-starter, ignition, and lighting. By dropping the crank starter, Cadillac opened the door to women drivers, and was able to bring the prestigious Dewar trophy back to Detroit, making Cadillac the only car manufacturer to claim the award twice. Nearly three years later, Cadillac brought the world the V-type, water-cooled, eight cylinder (V8) engine, which would become the signature of the Cadillac brand.

The Roaring 20's was not only a big decade for the country but was also important for Cadillac. In 1926, Cadillac branched out and offered customers more than 500 color combinations to choose from. As the famous Henry Ford saying goes, you can have any color you want, as long as it's black. Cadillac changed this mentality. That same year, the company brought in designer Harley Earl to design the 1927 LaSalle convertible coupe, which made the car the first to be designed from a designer's perspective rather than an engineering one. What Earl created was elegant, with flowing lines, chrome-plate fixtures, and an overarching design philosophy, that made the Cadillac brand known for beauty and luxury.

In the middle of the 1930's a midst The Great Depression, while most companies and families were struggling Cadillac created the first V-type 16-cylinder engine for use in a passenger car. This engine would go on to be one of the most iconic engines in Cadillac history. Shortly thereafter, Cadillac released a V12 version to give buyers something between the already popular V8 and new V16 engines.

Cadillac went quiet in the 1941's when they suspended automobile production to help produce planes for the war. After the war ended Cadillac adapted some of the aircraft technology and created the first ever tailfin on a vehicle. This feature is now found on almost every car and was one of the biggest reasons that Cadillac was given the first ever Car of the Year award in 1949.

The tailfin took off rather quickly and by the mid to late 1950's it was being featured heavily in the design of nearly every vehicle. Also in the 50's Cadillac began developing power steering, which helped the automaker take third, tenth, and eleventh places at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. After Cadillac's stunning "victories" power steering quickly became the new standard of the industry.

Small but meaningful innovations filled the 1960's for Cadillac. In 1963, the company made front seatbelts standard in their vehicles, which lead to the eventual passing of a federal law requiring front seatbelts in all vehicles just one year later. Then, in 1964, Cadillac brought to market automatically controlled headlamps and redefines luxury with Comfort Control, the industry's first thermostatically controlled heating, venting, and air-conditioning system. Over the next few years, Cadillac introduced variable-ratio power steering, electric seat warmers, and stereo radio.

While the 1960's were fairly quiet, with only some smaller, luxury items being introduced, Cadillac started out 1970 with a major bang. Cadillac opened the decade by unveiling the 400 horsepower, 8.2-liter engine Eldorado. With its completely redesigned axle this model boasted the highest torque capacity of any passenger car available at the time. Closing out the decade, Cadillac brought to market the 1978 Seville which used onboard microprocessors in its digital display. This started the era of the computerized automobile.

Throughout the 1980's Cadillac laid low, working on some new technologies that would come to market in the early parts of the 1990's. The first feature to debut was an electronic traction control system on front-wheel drive vehicles. Cadillac began offering this as a standard feature on the 1990 Cadillac Allante. This same year Cadillac would go on to win the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Two years later, in 1992, the company developed a feature that allowed the engine to run for up to 50 miles without coolant, and a unique induction system for near-perfect fuel distribution. The Seville Touring Sedan of that year would become known as the "Cadillac of the Year" thanks to features such as an all electronically controlled Powertrain, traction control, anti-lock brakes and speed-sensitive suspension. Closing out the decade, Cadillac introduced the, now iconic, Escalade SUV.

CELEBRATING 100 YEARS AS 'THE STANDARD OF THE WORLD'

Coming up on the 100th anniversary of the Cadillac brand, the company had to do something big or the decade, and they did not disappoint. Cadillac started off the 200's by introducing the F-22 stealth aircraft inspired Cien Concept, which ended up winning a few design awards. Later in the decade, in 2008, Cadillac expanded the Escalade SUV by making it the world's first full-size luxury hybrid SUV. In the same year, the company redeveloped the CTS Sedan. This redesign has been incredibly popular and even won the coveted 2008 Car of the Year award. A short year later, the performance edition CTS-V, becomes the fasted V8 production sedan in the world, establishing a record lap time of 7:59:32 on Germany's famed Nürburgring.

[itcars]

Zenvo Aurora Agil and Tur Hit Japan for the First Time

After a hugely successful run of events in the Middle East, the world tour of the Zenvo Aurora Agil and Tur continues, with an event in Tokyo, Japan with partners Bingo Sports, headed by Shinji Takei.

Hand-built in Præstø, Denmark, Zenvo Automotive pride themselves on their Danish foundations. The all-new Aurora will take inspiration from Danish design principles and be powered by a 6.6 liter flex fuel enabled, quad-turbocharged V12 engine that will produce at least 1250bhp at 8,000 rpm and rev to 9800 rpm. The Aurora will be fully homologated for global markets and will showcase Zenvo’s exceptional craftsmanship and attention to detail, all designed in-house. Zenvo Automotive focuses on limited-edition hypercars, available to those interested in completely bespoke manufacturing experiences and unique driving abilities.

The Zenvo Aurora Agil and Tur will be on display at the Bingo Sports showroom in Tokyo from March 28th – April 7th 2-25, 2024.

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Karma Gyesera, 2024. Karma Automotive have revealed their latest, fully electric, saloon. The car is an evolution of the GS-6 and Revero plug-in hybrids though is said to be 85% new. The new 120 kWh battery pack provides over 250 miles (402 km) of range, the rear mounted electric motor produces 590hp

[seat-safety-switch]

There is a great tragedy at the core of our automotive industry. Saab, our beautiful Saab, lies dead. Beancounters and the automotive press conspired to make the oddball front-drive turbocharged mad scientists who kept inventing things even when it didn’t make any sense a failure. Now we all zip around in modern-day future cars derived from their innovations, without a stray thought for our demented Swedish philanthropists.

Sure, Saab is still “alive,” if you can call it that, a trademark and skin stretched over whatever desperate Chinese or Swedish government-owned sub-volume automaker has bought it this week. They’re making electric cars. No, hydrogen. No, nothing at all. Wait, maybe electric cars again, but slightly different. No, electric cars again, but big ones, the size of a bus. Two buses! They look like jets now. We can’t decide.

How many people are still employed by Saab? Ever since their Trollhättan offices had that witch’s spell cast on them and shifted into the Sidescape, it has been difficult to know for sure. Morale is not great: competitors are often flummoxed as a Saab employee suddenly materializes in their breakroom, the air displaced by their instant arrival knocking papers off the photocopier and coffee to the ground, ready for an interview. They cannot talk about the projects they have been working on, at least not in a language that the rest of us can still understand. Everyone admits, however, that some of the ideas they draw out on the whiteboard, prior to their sudden disappearance at the conclusion of the interview, are pretty good.

We may never know when Saab will release another car again. It may arrive at any moment, like their employees, complete with an accompanying fully-functional dealership on the outskirts of town, its sodium lamps eye-searingly bright in the night despite no obvious source of electrical supply being present. Everyone will agree that the cars are a little weird, a little ahead of their time, and just a little bit too risky to actually purchase. And Saab, our beautiful Saab, will dissolve back into the ether, leaving us with a bunch of cars we can’t figure out how to fix but desperately need to.