Scenes From the Sunbeamers' Road Rally

By Bixyl Shuftan

Saturday July 30 was the day of the last event of Team Sumbeamer, the Relay for Life team representing the Sunweaver/Angel community, this season.: the Third Annual "Road Rally." Taking place on the northern most sim of the estate, Pacific Waters, owned by Cynthia Farshore, the racing would take place on a track around the island.

 While the place always has a track on it, recently modified so there's an underwater tunnel on one side, it was modified slightly with a couple loops and a few barriers in places. Cynthia had the help of Shockwave Yareach with the track modifications, as well as the starting/finish line.

Cynthia had a few planes on display, but the big attraction was the cars and motorbikes.

There were three categories in which people could race: Cars

Motorcycles

And "What is that?"

The big challenge, if people had issues with lag, they could end up getting a bath.

And sometimes, they did.

 Lag could also send a vehicle into the air.

Oops!

 In a couple places around the track were parodies of advertisements. presumably set up by Shockwave, whose "pun-fu" rivals a certain fox reporter's.

Don't tell Dusk Griswold about this one.

Shockwave considered this as the starting and finish line/marker.

 Sora Kraditzio (jamestkirk2323) had a few cars out, though seemed to do the best with her "Back to the Future" DeLorean.

Cynthia had her own motorbike, but wouldn't count her time in the competition.

 Rita Mariner, the Sunbeamer team captain, had out her own bike

Unfortunately, the bike had some trouble getting in to second gear.

Besides the racing, there was excitement among the Sunbeamers, and others in the Relay, about the team getting close to Platinum level in fundraising. Some came by just to donate a some cash. The event would raise about 10,000 Lindens, not including the 12,000 Cynthia herself would contribute (picture to the left by Cynthia). Rita Mariner, Dusk Griswold, and Oriana Sun would also contribute sizable amounts (Oriana's was 15,500), and Platinum rank was reached that night.

At 4PM, the racing was over, and Cynthia had the following results for fastest racers:

Car/truck
Lady Sora Kraditzio (jamestkirk2323): 60.762190 seconds!

 Motorcycles
Bixyl Shuftan:  l73.104000 seconds!
 
 What is that?
TS (ts.darrow) TS Darrow: 79.463990 seconds!

It was a fun conclusion to the Sunbeamer Relay season.

Bixyl Shuftan

Third Annual Hot Bay City Nights a Roaring Success

by Celene Highwater

  Set between 1940’s and mid-1960’s America, Bay City is a sprawling city with forty regions, with 24 of those regions containing land owned by residents. And as its time period suggests, this metropolis takes us back in time before computers, fast internet, color TV and missions to Mars. And every August, this mid-century city seeks to bring together the finest car designers in SL for an unforgettable exhibit of classic cars from decades that car lovers consider the hay-day of classic autos.

  These cars are on display for a reason. They are quite realistic. It is obvious from looking at them that the designers take a lot of pride in their creations. Most if not all of the models at this year’s event featured working lights, doors that opened, realistic steering, multiple speed andturn settings, and customizable license plates. These vehicles came in a wide variety of styles and colors. I even saw a light pink Cordail that I was highly tempted to purchase!

  Some of the companies featured in this exhibit were Bull God Choppers, Alkloto Fun Cars, GEMC,  Cindy Henusaki Custom Cars,, What-Iff Motors, and CHC.  Launched three years ago by the Bay City Alliance, this event is produced by Marianne McCann, a city resident.

  Recently I sat down for an interview with her in which she explained a bit about Bay City and its events. “The land is Linden-owned and used by the Bay City Alliance for local events, such as Hot Bay City Nights, our annual Tree Lightings, Mole Day, our anniversary, etc. Bay City is mainland. We all own our own parcels here, though about half of the infrastructure is owned by Linden Lab and used by all Bay City Residents. Well, anyone on the grid, really.”

When I asked how the event got started she said: “About three years ago, we did our first Hot Bay City nights. The idea for it is simple. We invite in some of the best vintage car designers in Second Life to show their wares. No cost to them. They can show and sell the best of what they have. We just ask that they keep it in the "theme era" of Bay City, of course, which is 1940-1965. Then we as a community hold car washes throughout the week, to raise money for charity.”

Those car washes were very successful, with L$115,900 raised for ChildsPlay, a charity that provides toys to sick children who are hospitalized. And this, it seems, is what the residents are most proud of. Childsplay.org is the charity’s website, and Marianne says that with such low overhead cost, the organization is very effective.

She went on to discuss another highlight of Bay City Nights: the crowning of Miss Bay City. “We have our annual Miss Bay City competition, where one lucky contestant will be crowned.” This year’s winner was Uccie Poultry-Seale, a Bay City resident herself.

At the conclusion of our interview, when I asked if she had anything to add, McCann said “just thanks for all who did participate in hot Bay City Nights, from Linden Lab for their help in promoting, to our car designers, to all our Residents who came out to wash cars, participate in Miss Bay City, and just enjoy the event.”

Pictures by Bixyl Shuftan, Uccello Poultry

Celene Highwater

The Sunday Night Demo Derby

It's probably something you've fantasized about during a traffic jam: revving up the engine, then charging and smashing into the mass of cars. Well, there's a place in Second Life where that behavior is not only allowed, but encouraged. Every Sunday night in the Random sim, there's a Demolition Derby in a track a few hundred feet above the sim.

The track for the event isn't circular, but a few times longer than wide. Guard rails keep vehicles on the track, at least when drivers don't have a case of lag that causes them to travel a distance away before reappearing back on the track. At one end is the entrance in which participants can walk onto from the entry area, which has a notecard giver explaining more details about the derby.

Dropping by one night, I heard the people running the event ask for all those interested in racing to be on the field. About a couple minutes before the event, cars were rezzed in two rows, one for each side of the track and pointed back end in. The racers were asked to get in, and about twenty seconds before the start, those cars still empty were derezzed and the racers told to get ready to start.

And once the staff yelled "Go!" the cars charged, rear end first to keep the engine from being hit. Or in this case, to minimize the number of hit points taken away. It was a chaotic scene as cars moved around to ram one another and avoid being rammed. None of the cars tried to circle around and stay out of it as the rules stated everyone in the derby had to "actively and continuously fight" or otherwise be flagged and disqualified.

Once a vehicle's hit points reached zero, it blew up. Drivers were asked to at least fly up into the air so they wouldn't get in the way (free flight feathers were in the lobby entrance for any newcomers). Voice chat was openly encouraged, and I could hear a few excitedly calling out as they went around the track. I didn't hear any insults or taunting.

Different rounds had different vehicles. Round two involved racing in semi-truck cabs. Round three had a unique race. The participants jockeyed about in small flying saucers, obstacles resembling planets were added into the course, and vehicles could suddenly go up the sides and on the underside of an invisible force field, going upside down. It could be quite confusing and disorienting.

Round four involved something not usually seen on wheels: driveable pool tables. Back to a normal course, it wasn't long before the less skillful drivers were behind the eight ball. Round five was back to smashing around in cars, but police cars. There were no tickets for reckless driving that day as all but one ended up disabled. The sixth and final round had another unique run. The drivers were in shopping carts, and when they bumped they would loose of of the items inside, and it would appear on the course a few times larger as an obstacle. The course was soon quite a mess, "Clean up on isle 9."

The winner of the final round got an 800 Linden prize, with 400 going to second place.

Following the event, I had a chat with one of the people  there, Barbie Alchemi. She explained her brother AlmostThere Inventor ran the place, and she herself was the head of the Creations for Parkinsons sim. So besides a great place to have a smash-up-derby, the track has connections to a major charity in Second Life. One which will be for another story.

To get to the Sunday Demolition Derby Track, head to Random (6, 92, 301). Once again, scheduled races are from 6 to about 7 SL time every week. Between events, the track is available for "practice and grudge matches."

Bixyl Shuftan.

The Hot Bay City Nights

As a man (or furry) with five years behind me in Second Life, there’s things to be seen still. I heard about a classic car show held at Bay City so I checked it out. I was greeted by a nice lady named Uccle Poultry who told me all about it. Walking in, I saw cars from the 50’s that reminded me of the movie Back to the Future starring Michael J Fox. Also by dumb luck I met one of the Lindens, Tommy Linden. He was quite happy to give me his teddy bear and participate in the event. Anytime you meet any Linden, ask him or her for their teddy bear.

Besides being a classic car show, it was also supporting Childsplay, a charity that buys video game systems for children in hospitals. You can learn more at http://www.childsplaycharity.org/ One of the car sellers named Anthony who makes 2zoetic Motors cars said that half his profits will go this charity. Wanting to support Childsplay I bought his Regalla car for 750L.

An event I wished to see but was too late was a “Miss Bay City” Bikini contest held on the 18th. I’m writing this article on the 20th. Doh!


The car show is being held August 17th to the 26th. One of the main events that I was told about was a car wash being hosted  by Pygar Bu on Wednesday August 22nd that also supports Childsplay. His car wash is 10 till noon. If you happen to miss that car wash, you can still catch another the same day at 6-8 hosted by Ever Dreamscape. The last car wash is August 2-4 pm, also hosted by Ever Dreamscape.  The car wash donations go directly to Childsplay. I might have to check out one of the car washes with my new car.  The last day has a party with Benny the Boozehound  at 5-7 pm SL time the 26th.

Doing a random search I found a raceway to test out my new car. There were speed controls on the hud and also the option to change color of the car. Matching my white griffin self I kept the car as the original white. It was a thrill to both support Childsplay the nonprofit and drive around in a vintage car for kicks.

The car washes are hosted by Bay City volunteers ready to greet you and to wash your car.
Bay City is still looking for more volunteers to help with this event. Anyone who is interested is donating their time contact Marianne McCann or Ever Dreamscape.

If you get the chance check out the Hot Bay City Nights event. I had fun browsing around looking at the stylish cars, and actually buying one. Or if you have a SL car already, go to one of the car washes and get your car clean and support the charity Childsplay.
http://www.childsplaycharity.org/

Grease Coakes