Ok, after a grueling 29 hour drive across the border through Canada, we've arrived in Winnipeg.






: Phew, we finally arrived.



Well. This is certainly a pleasant place! I'm guessing that is the eponymous Lake Winnipeg.

Some nice, peaceful guitar strumming music is playing and we can hear birds tweeting!

I like this place already.

We get the following options:


Interesting. This seems to be more or less the same options as we had in Los Angeles.

Well, we didn’t take that 29 hour trip just to sight see. Let’s check out the local Circuit.


: Where are they doing the Zero Yon?



Huh. Well. Perhaps we can ask a local.

Let’s try Talk






: Umm, there’s a place around where they do zero-yon. Do you have it?







If you want to do a 0-4, you can do it on Lake Winnipeg.


Uh, ok. But that lake doesn’t look very frozen… Is this an underwater race?

Now that we know the circuit is just the lake, let’s go there.






Ah, i’m guessing this is the lake circuit? Thankfully, it has frozen over in the last few paragraphs. Boy Winnipeg sure has several seasons in a day.

There’s a young girl here. Maybe she can show us where the racing happens.





: Who are you?



: I came here to do the Zero-Yon. Is this the right place?


: It's okay because I'm number one here.



Wait, this little one is the Zero4 Champ of Winnipeg? Getting this medal should be easy.


: Huh, you? I mean, how old are you?


: 16.


: You can't get a driver's license at 16 yet. Ah, this isn't Japan.



It was interesting to me to learn you couldn’t get a drivers license until you were 18 in Japan. I assumed it was 16 like it is here in Australia, and evidently, in Canada.


: What are you going to do? Are you going to do it or not?


: I'd do it, but it feels kind of bad.



Feeling guilty about beating a kid Hiro?


: What's on the line is everything each of us owns. That's fine.


: All of them! Well, it's okay, I'm not going to lose.



Wait, what? Did I understand that right? Did she just say the wager is everything we own?!

Hiro mate… Tread carefully here…

I mean, let's be honest. She’s 16 - what of value would she really have for us to take? And if we lose… remember, we just got a really cool self-driving motorhome that can remotely deploy cars, so uh… Don't want to lose that to some pipsqueak.


: You have a lot of confidence.


: I wonder if you can still say that after hearing the rules here…


: Gear changes are prohibited here.



Uh. Excuse me?


: What?!? Gear changes are prohibited!?


: That's right, you have to keep going until the end in the same gear you started in.



That… doesn’t sound very good for the transmission or the engine… and I can't imagine we're going to get very high speed or acceleration.


: Oh no...Well then. You can't run either.


: I'm fine, I have an automatic.



Eh? Now she’s definitely screwing with us. Automatics have gears too y’know.

Hiro, why are you picking a race with one of those stubborn children that always changes the conditions so they will win?

Are you even sure she's the Zero4 Champ here?


: That's dirty! That's cheating! Even automatics change gears.


: I didn't change gears because mine is an automatic with a V-belt system



A v-what?


: A V-belt is like the CVT in the March. Is it the same type as a scooter?



Oh, it sounds like a V-belt was an early name for the CVT- or ‘Continuously Variable Transmission’ that is commonplace today. Basically this is a automatic transmission variant that continually changes gear ratios, rather than switching through a fixed set of gears. This results in a much smoother drive. I didn’t know they had them back in 1993 until now.

Sounds fancy, but I mostly hear that they are notoriously unreliable and very expensive to replace. I’ve seen car guys suggest that people with CVTs replace their entire cars rather than risk an inevitable breakdown and subsequent repair costs of a CVT.

(Also bonus shoutout to a Nissan March.)


: That's right, so I didn't change gears.


: You get it, right? If you get it, prepare it quickly.






: Hmm, I feel like I’ve been tricked…



I think you have Hiro. Yes it might not technically change gears, but does an equivalency by changing gear ratios!

We’re not going to win in a single gear. I think we’d better refuse this race and…




Oh, it didn’t give us any option…

Man, and she’s driving a Testarossa?!? What bloody Testarossa has an automatic, CVT transmission? Just who is this kid?

Forgive me for adopting the local slang, but this girl is a total hoser!

Anyway, Let’s do what we do best…





See that speck in the rear view? That’s her.

Eat that, hoser!


: You changed gears, didn’t you?



Oh… well… yes… kind of hard not to.


: Because I know exactly.


: No, just then..






: Kyahaha, it didn't work after all.


: As promised, I'll take all of your belongings.I'll take it. That's fine.



Well… shit…


: Dammit!






: What's this? You don't have anything good.


: Shut up! Keep it safe until I come next time!



Oh, maybe she’s not interested in our stuff?

Phew.

Wait, let's check. It seems we still have our cars? And the Motorhome? Good.

Wait… hang on a minute…

She took all our items! All our Mickey Mouse paws, our hand creams, our weird CDs!

It’s all gone!