FH5, Series 22, Week 3

The treasure hunt was a drag race in the Dodge Challenger. Easy money.

The weekly challenge was in the excellent Holden Torana (see below for more excellence). No real problems apart from trying to get an ultimate burnout skill which I can only do buy driving the car into a barrier and turning very slowly to get the rear wheels spinning.

The photo of the Porsche 911 3.3 Turbo was another doddle.

The Eventlab tiles were working first time. Is that three weeks in a row? It’s a Christmas miracle! Circuito de Mulegé was interesting, but a  bit of a start-stop affair for another stupid American hat. Racers in the Mist gave me a choice of two off-road cars, neither of which I liked. The reward was a horn (colour me indifferent) and a rubbish wheel spin (colour me annoyed).

I unwittingly PB’ed the danger sign and one-shotted the speed trap, but it was messy and untidy. The speed zone nearly made me sick from the stress and frustration. It was twenty minutes of hell for which I got a rubbish SWS.

It was also one of those PR stunts where the devs clearly have a particular car or type of car in mind. As the Jesko didn’t have the handling, I switched to the Maserati MC-12 Corsa, but possibly a number of extreme track toys would do. The (FE) CLK-GTR is another car that might fit the bill. I have my suspicions about the PR stunts which we’re expected – it seems – to five star. It’d be nice if this was used to weed out the cheats instead of making me feel sick and frustrated.

Let’s be reasonable started with the awful Reservorio Sprint, which was followed by the awful Panorámica (at night just to ruin my gaming experience a bit further). My BMW 2002 Turbo was a solid choice of car, but the most annoying drivatar was in a Ford Lightning, which should not have been in a road-racing series. It’s a pickup truck. It belongs on a farm owned by someone called Cleetus. The reward was an old Nissan Skyline which is only good because it’s not an item of clothing or a horn.

It was back in the Holden Torana for Muscle Memory, which started with an American race, viz. an oval. Once again – and yes, I’ve said this before – the Torana was an excellent choice. The reward was a 2008 BMW M3. Why couldn’t we have an M3 Competition?

The HW PR stunt was a magnet track speed zone in a retro hot hatch. My 1997 Honda Civic Type R was in S2 class. This seemed to be the answer to the question, “Which car do the devs want me to use?” I rebuilt the car and took a sighting run before taking a very long run-up that took me downhill, thus supplying me with the additional speed I needed.

For The Magic Number I considered the 2008 M3 and the iconic M3 GTR before choosing the latter. This proved to be an excellent choice, although the car would’ve benefited from a little light aero. The reward was a stupid American hat. Time well spent.

The PR stunt in  Sierra Nueva was a speed trap in the desert section. Guess which car I used – the 1997 Honda Civic Type R. I tried the speed trap from the obvious direction (i.e., down the sandy road) and then from the opposite direction, bouncing across the dunes. The second method worked. The SWS was probably worth more than all of the others combined.

I got Tune Buggy done in the Alumi Craft Class 10 without any real issues. The reward was a horn. Something else to despise.

Anyway, I have the series clown car which I’ll probably never drive (nice livery, shame the car only appeals to the drifty boys), and the Singer Porsche (another formerly missing car) is back in my garage. This means that I can ignore the Horizon Open event since I don’t need the points.