Not too long after that everyone who's not a racer is shooed off the starting line and the organizer, carrying a racing flag and a starting pistol walks up in front of the line of buggies, most of them puttering in idle, one of them clanking and coughing.
"You all know the rules. First one to make it around Lover's Rock and back here wins! On my mark! Ready... Steady..." he says, aiming the gun into the air.
"Go!" The gun goes off with a bang that sounds a little
too real, but there's no time to think about it too much as
everyone takes off.Haley's buggie bounces and jerks in place for a moment until it finally finds it's gear and gets going with a couple moments delay. Ahead of her the Santa Carlita buggy seems to be running just fine, the tire still hanging on despite the loosened lugnuts. Well enough to let them swerve and side-swipe one of the other racers who goes off the track and hits a dune at an angle, going airborne and spiraling a little too much before crashing into a little shack full of beach balls, umbrellas and other assorted thing. As the other racers pass them everybody kind of expects them to be standing in the wreckage, annoyed but safe, but they don't. It's just a flipped buggy in a whole mess of debris. A sad trombone sound plays for everyone to hear.