iTonehh's Garage

I can't do this anymore. I'm getting too old for this. I managed to lose them this time, but how many more times am I going to get lucky? They've started using advanced methods to try and cut the illegal street racing out, here in Rockport. Sergeant Cross was getting closer and closer to catching me each time I broke the law, but last night was the final straw. We were told that they weren't aware of the race location, but someone obviously tipped them off, as they swarmed us before we even knew what was going on. Cruisers, Rhinos, A chopper, multiple roadblocks with spike strips. It's horrible to think about now, but if the guy in the orange Supra hadn't of been taken out by those Rhinos, it would have probably been me. The M3 GTR is pretty banged up, it still runs, but she's seen better days. I could probably make a bit of money off of it, and flee, maybe go to Mexico or something, either way I knew I needed to leave Rockport, and I needed to leave tonight.

I spoke with Mia, who helped me secure a buyer for the M3, and probably helped me decide where I was going to go... Colorado. Apparently there's a race festival going on there, with legal racing. I realise it meant I'm not leaving the country altogether, but it should help me drop off the radar long enough to build up enough money to leave, especially as she said she had a few contacts down there who could help hook me up with a place to stay as long as I paid the rent, which was fine by me, as right now I'd do just about anything to get out of Rockport. The airport actually had an advertisement playing for the "Horizon" festival, which I can only assume is the festival going on in Colorado, and I have to admit it looks pretty good, a lot of nice cars on display, decent music, and hopefully an opportunity for some easy money. Within minutes I had my ticket bought and I was sitting on the plane awaiting departure.

I woke up pretty suddenly as the plane hit the ground, completely disorientated due to the fact that I'd been dreaming that I was trying to outrun Cross back in Rockport, completely forgetting that I was on a plane. I can't even remember falling asleep. I walked out of the airport and it was still pretty early, but luckily there was a long line of cabs parked up outside. I could hear fireworks going off in the distance, and heard a few loud roars off in the distance, most likely from the other festival participants. The sun was just starting to come up, so I decided to take out my camera to try and get a couple of pictures before I arrived at the house, which is apparently in a place called Redfoot Ranch I think. On the highway, I spotted a sign on the side of the road advertising the festival, and just as I leaned out of the window to snap a picture, a dark red Evo X overtook us pretty quickly, and pulled back into the lane in front of us, making the picture look even better in my opinion.



We continued down the highway for another couple of miles, before turning off onto a couple of normal roads, which were often filled with racers in their cars. I seen everything from Imprezas, to Range Rovers, and even caught a glimpse of an old E-type Jaguar. Hell, even the cab I was in was a pretty hot looking Chevy Impala. We turned off the main roads into a little ranch, which had a few barns and stuff dotted around it, like a normal ranch does. We passed a few smaller houses, each of which I thought would be mine, but they weren't. Just a couple of minutes later though, the cab driver pulled up outside of a house and told me how much the ride was. This couldn't be it surely?



I paid the cab driver, and took my stuff from the trunk, and off he went, kicking up the dirt behind him. I guess just about everyone here in Colorado fancies themselves as a racer. Much to my surprise, the key Mia had given me actually worked for this house. I know she said she knew people, but I didn't realise she knew people who had places like this. There was still furniture inside, a nice big TV on the wall, a tropical fish tank that was thankfully empty.. Keeping fish? Ain't nobody got time for that. I unpacked my clothes into the wardrobe and dressers, and got my laptop out and placed it on the bedside cabinet, I need a car, but first I need a nap.

It's a good job I managed to get a good bit of sleep on the plane over here. One thing I forgot about ranches.. Tractors. I couldn't really complain though, as it was almost mid-day, in fact it kind of did me a favour, as now I'd have enough time to start looking for a car, and maybe if I was lucky, even a job. I hopped on the laptop and started looking around, and quickly came across a forum for the Horizon festival, which contained a section dedicated to buying and selling cars. Then came the hard part, not only thinking about which car I wanted, but being lucky enough to find one for sale. I didn't really know what the festival was about just yet, so I couldn't base my choice on that. One thing that helped though was the location I was staying, and the dirt roads that surrounded it.. It had to be an AWD.

The forum was only ran by a local festival-goer, so it wasn't a professional website or anything, making the search functions lackluster, meaning I had to search through everything to try and find what I wanted. The first car I came across was a blue Ford Escort, which ate up pretty much all of my budget. It had everything I wanted in a car, but the price kinda put me off a little, even though it was in brilliant condition.



I decided against it and kept searching through for a car to buy. I was surprised at the variety on offer, the festival must really cater for everything, as there were drift tuned cars, high powered SUVs, and even a few Ferraris, but they weren't what I was looking for. Then I came across another blue car, this time a Subaru Impreza, the 2005 WRX STi model, which again was in brilliant condition.



This car is a possibility, it had everything I wanted, and at a very decent price too, which would leave me a little breathing room to make a few modifications using the money left over from my starting budget. I kept browsing though, just in case something else caught my eye. It was then that I seen it, My new car. A stunning white Mitsubishi Evo VIII. I loved these cars when I was a kid, all I ever thought about growing up and learning to drive was getting one of these, and I hadn't had the chance to try one yet. Unfortunately the picture within the advert wasn't of the actual car for sale, however the ad claimed that the car was identical, in both looks and condition, so I decided to give the guy a call to arrange a meeting with him about the car. We arranged to meet later in the day at his workshop, which luckily wasn't too far away. The time was nearing so I called a cab and off I went, and was treat to this image as we neared the place.



The car was better than I expected. I thought that it would have a few scratches or something, anything to warrant him not putting a picture of the actual car up on the sale advert, but like he said, it was in perfect condition. I had arrived a bit earlier than the guy, who called me to say he was stuck in traffic, but wasn't too far away. True to his work, he arrived after just five minutes and we quickly got down to business. We went inside his workshop, which was full of old boat engines and stuff, and started talking numbers. I was expecting him to try and take me for everything I had, but all he asked was a very modest $21,000. After a quick test drive of the car and a bit of negotiation, I was now holding onto the keys of my very own Evo VII, in exchange for just $20,000 of my hard earned money.