WipEout HD Fury - Piranha Team Profile

5 – Piranha Advancements (Brazil)

Piranha enter the FX500 series bearing their old number once more, as team number five in the lineup, the ones just outside of the spotlight and yet always harrying the heels of the established squads. Now a veteran team itself, Piranha is here and back on the FX grids with a bright and bold ship that is destined to perform the role of ‘bouncer’ to the upper echelons of the race series. If you want to get noticed, first you have to beat Piranha.

Piranha’s origins are dim and little evidence exists from that point in its’ history, a few years after the beginning of the F5000 league. With Qirex, Auricom, Feisar and AG-Systems established as the big four players in the AG-Leagues there was talk of the need for a fifth team that would help to do ‘dry’ runs on tracks to test them before the established teams went out, with power to match the full-sized ships unlike the J3200 league for rookie pilots.

An artefact that is proudly on display on Piranha’s Datacast site is a 360-degree viewable copy of the contract that was signed by Pierre Belmondo himself giving the contract to make a hyper-powerful, weaponless ship to a Chinese consortium calling themselves ‘Piranha’. Their ship, which was given the artistic name of the ‘Crimson Flash’ was a ship the speed of which beggared belief amongst new viewers to the sport and even Qirex officials were seen whistling at the stats. Piranha was the business, and set about ruining a lot of lap records in the early stages of the league. However, it was never quite placed within the leagues themselves due to the lack of weapons technology. After getting approval from all four teams to join them in Phantom class series, Piranha hit the tracks with pilot Tao Liu at the helm and despite all hype about their incredible speed of the ship, it was left for dead by the established squads.

With a lack of results, the Chinese backed out of the deal hurriedly and left Piranha up in the air towards the final third of the F5000’s series run. The purchase of the squad was done in equally mysterious circumstances to the formation of Piranha, though enough was found out by expert sleuths amongst the tabloid reporters to reveal the identity and nationality of the buyer. A Mr Aries Piermont, of São Paolo, Brazil.

AG-Systems in particular breathed a sigh of relief with the disappearance of another Asian team to take their staff – Qirex was close enough for comfort in Irkutsk and a team in Shanghai would only prove to rattle the Tokyo-based team further. It certainly gave them breathing space for F7200 as Piranha got themselves their own sparring partner in the form of fellow newcomers (albeit ones with pedigree and talent) in the form of Assegai Developments. The 7200 season proved to be a fierce one with rivalries springing up everywhere except for AG-Systems and FEISAR, who were often forced to weave out of the way to avoid the sprayed weapons of Piranha and Assegai as they duelled over fifth place. It was something of a shame amongst most teams therefore when Assegai was bought out by Piranha, which seemed to put an end to another series of good on-track battles.

The meshing of two rivals was never an easy task to manage, but as Piermont stated in his autobiography ‘The Fish That Bites’, he never attempted to treat the new African engineers in any way different to his own employees. They got exactly the same benefits and pay, worked the same hours and were offered the same options at the cafeteria. In his own words:

‘I had the vision of a perfect Piranha. I had saved this team from the death it would surely have suffered at the hands of bankers and stockholders and raised it up into a force of its’ own. Piranha. We were accepted by the great Mr Belmondo into his league and we were given a rival to prove ourselves against. Assegai were a worthy foe but they fell. To have them working with us is an honour, and I had no right treating them worse than my own employees. And yet I could not treat them higher than my men, who made the better ship. So they are equals. We strive as one, all as one, towards the goal of perfection. I repeated this over and over again as I stared at the image of our new ship for the upcoming league. The Swiftkiller.’

The rest, as they say, is history. Hiring the Tibetian AG-Pilot Myima Tsarong was a bold move by Piermont, but the woman did not let him down and Piranha began domination of most of the F9000 ‘Fusion’ leagues, winning five manufacturers’ championships and as many pilots’. And yet Aries never seemed satisfied much to the disappointment of his pilots and staff. This only egged them on to work harder and harder to leave Xios, Feisar and Tigron in the dust however, and the race wins were monstrously in favour of the red-and-yellow squad. Eliminations on the other hand... the less said about those, the better.

After the fall of the F9000, Piranha seemed to disappear off the map in the same way that their spiritual cousins eG-r seemed to, retreating to their underground base in the underhive city of Jamanha, just outside São Paolo. The gates would let nobody pass for many, many years, with very few visitors to the factory. Mostly these visitors were in driven in hover-limousines, and the men stepping out of them dressed either in ornate suits or military fatigues, all of which showed the green, blue and yellow Brazilian flag.

It wasn’t until 2193 that the door finally opened before a swarm of reporters called before Piranha’s front gate. The man who strode out was the popular pilot who had flown for Piranha in the closing stages of the F9000 league after Jann Shawdeckler’s death in the Temtesh Bay disaster, Zack Vilmã. When Myima Tsarong left Piranha after the fall of AG racing to return to her temple in Tibet, Vilmã was all that was left of the team. With the death of Aries Piermont in 2178, the popular pilot had been given new command over the tea, named in Aries’ will as the successor to the team.

Vilmã has been typically secretive as Piranha always has been, saying little in team press conferences and not appearing publically with many other team bosses – something that Aries Piermont possibly taught him. His leadership skills are not the same powerful ones that brought Piranha to their five world titles during the F9000 seasons, but he has brought a team back from the dead to race again, and for that a good deal of people in the paddock have great respect for the man. That said though, he is not without enemies.

Vilmã has done nothing to quell the fires between Assegai and Piranha, and he has been outwardly rude about Icaras and their ‘so-called’ powerhouse of an engine. His scathing remarks about Qirex to the end of last season when Piranha beat them to fifth in the constructor’s championship haven’t helped either, and Harimau have made queries about Piranha’s involvement with the ‘Azteca’ casino in Las Vegas, near the site of the Amphiseum circuit. Rumour has it that Vilmã has provided rare Amazonian panthers and jaguars as live exhibits in the hotel/casino, yet this has never been proven. It hasn’t stopped several Harimau pilots and team members trying to break into the casino though in an attempt to find out what abuse may be being done to their beloved felines inside though.

Ally: Auricom
Rivals: Qirex, Icaras
Arch-Rivals: Assegai

Searching AntiGravity Racing Archives for Subject ‘Piranha and Assegai’
68 Matches Found.
Opening Selected File...

Sol 2? Love that track. Such a huge view, so exhilarating to fly and such a risk too. Not to mention we do well on that track regularly. Are Mirage flying there too? The Egyptian is a damn fine flier there...

Ah, they’re not going there? I suppose monetary issues... unfortunate for them. Who is going? Feisar, AG-S... usual suspects... oh, Piranha too? Excellent, I hope they pick Silvaris. Hm? No, why should I be angry at them going to Sol? They’re a racing team, right? They’ve got a right to fly there... hey, no! Bad Suhi... bad girl...

*Subject proceeds to calm a snarling one-tonne lioness with a scratch behind the ears.*
Easy girl, easy... Heh, not the only lioness who needs to take it easy, let me tell you. That’s the main reason I like to take on Piranha. Nobody flies like Silvaris does, she’s just a goddess at the helm. Always a challenge, maybe not so much on Sol given how twisty it is, but Metropia’s a great place to play cat and mouse with them. The engineers seem to like the challenge as well.

*subject is informed of the rivalry between the two teams reaching back several years*
You’re kidding, right? They’re fighting over something that happened nearly a hundred years ago. Jeez... stupid. All this fighting is just getting to me. It’s bad enough with Auricom and Qirex at each others’ throats every race, and we could do without AG-Systems and Triakis glaring at each other on the starting grid. It’d make the whole place a bit safer to race. I don’t want to have to keep looking over my shoulder for Piranha mechanics trying to sabotage my ship when I’ve got to deal with their pilots chasing me already. That Harimau contract can’t come...

*subject stops talking abruptly, and busies himself with brushing a large lion male’s mane, avoiding any more attempts to bring up the subject*

-Pilot N. Kassan of Assegai Developments, private interview with ‘Float Nation’ magazine, Nairobi 2202

Ship Details:
The FX300-400 ‘Rockettooth’ series of ships got critical acclaim for looking fantastic and possessing one of the most powerful thruster systems in the league along with enough shield to suffer quite the battering. The problems caused by initial launch thrust power and poor handling capabilities limited Piranha’s climb up the table with the second and third pilots sometimes having trouble getting the heavy ship off the grid and control issues at high velocities.

Piranha has been hard at work though and have certainly pulled off an interesting craft in the ‘Razorfin’. The longest of all the Fury Ships, it seems that Piranha’s aim in this is to cram as much long-boost technology as they can into the allocated chassis, meaning that the crash structure is somewhat thin and long (easily visible on the Zone Battle Razorfin). The Razorfin is about as wide as the Rockettooth, but that is mostly due to the bodywork and brake systems this time located underneath the wings. In addition, the Piranha boosts the only air-cooled engine system on the grid this season, having ditched their sometimes unreliable cooling system from last year that cost Dominguez the win at Anulpha Pass once.

That said though, there have been doubts raised as to the effectiveness of the Razorfin at high speeds once more – with such an odd centre of gravity, turning will become quite difficult at Phantom class speed. Piranha as a whole have said that that’s a problem they’ll deal with when they get to it.

Lead Pilot – Leona Silvaris

‘Float Nation’ magazine is no stranger to wanting a nice juicy piece of gossip to talk about, and once ran a survey to try and work out just which lead pilot the money-paying public wanted to find out more about. The winner by a clear mile was the enigmatic new pilot that Piranha Advancements had picked for its’ return to AG-racing. Silvaris had said very little in the press conferences she had attended and rarely mingled with the public in keeping with Piranha’s secretive nature second only to EG-X in terms of how much they keep their mouths shut. She had been seen sometimes in the garage working on the ship along with the mechanics occasionally, but it was unsure if she was aiding them or simply looking on. The magazine’s spies pulled strings to find what they could, and have produced the only working biography of the pilot herself which Leona has grudgingly accepted is mostly correct. 

Silvaris was born into a Catalonian biker gang, and never attended school. Instead, she learned how to spell and read from watching the many racing championships the biker gang would crowd around a great hololithic projector to watch. From the Cross-Atlantic hoverbike series to F9000, the young Silvaris was enthralled by AntiGravity racing. Her mother reportedly said that the question she got most from her daughter was why they didn’t have a hoverbike instead of the ones that ran on wheels and petrol engines still that gave such a rocky ride at times.

Whenever taking on odd jobs in towns her gang passed through, Silvaris made a habit of keeping the money she made and guarding it jealously with her life. While her peers spent their money on tarting up their own bikes, Leona kept her own money and her own, broken and forever failing bike that she was underneath as much as on top of. On her eighteenth birthday though, after persuading her friends she didn’t want the trip to a male stripper’s club and would just want the money instead, she packed up and left the gang, riding to Seville and its’ great hover-port.

Leona and her bike took a bargain cargo transport system to Brazil, and in particular to Jamanha, the subterranean city that was the home of Piranha Advancements. Despite the fall of the F9000, Piranha had never fully set up shop, only going into silent contemplation as they allowed the Assegai technicians to return to Africa. It was when getting her first taste of Brazilian cuisine that she noticed a business-suited man desperately looking at a dead cellular device and calling for a taxi.

Finishing her meal, Silvaris approached the man and asked if he needed help. The businessman promised her ten thousand reals if she would simply follow his instructions to get him where he needed to go within half an hour. Twenty minutes later, Silvaris and her passenger found themselves outside the gate to Piranha Advancements Headquarters. Realising that the man worked there, Leona asked him if he could get her a job instead of the reals. Zack Vilmã, still trying to hold on to his own lunch after the speed that Silvaris had shown, motioned for her to follow him indoors. Five days later, Silvaris was testing the ‘Rockettooth’ prototype.

Leona is the only pilot to double up in terms of what she flies – as well as a permanent pilot for Piranha Advancements AG-team, she also participates in the Andes Endurance Hover-Bike championship yearly in a custom built device that uses the chassis of a Florida Panther hover-chopper and the engine out of an old FX300 Piranha prototype which she maintains herself, giving rise to the assumptions that she works on the ships along with the mechanics herself.

A loner amongst the pilot community, Silvaris prefers to keep to herself and her mechanics, though their recent boorish behaviour towards Assegai has meant she has drifted from the Brazilian squad of late. She has few friends amongst her fellows going into the FX500 league and one particular enemy in the form of Sibrand Van Saur of Icaras, whom she has almost come to butting heads with in terms of flight technique. Her racing talent is obvious for all to see, but with the Eliminator matches putting stress on pilot relationships it seems that Silvaris needs friends outside of Piranha to see her through the tough matches.

Second Pilot – Esteban Dominguez

An antidote to the quiet and withdrawn Silvaris, Esteban Dominguez is forever being heard including when he doesn’t need to talk. Verbose to the point of being a constant nuisance, the Mexican at least is willing to tell the engineers how he wants the ship rather than insisting that he does it himself. A lot of people in the paddock can’t quite make up their minds whether they’re irritated by Esteban or love him – for every time he’s made a public outburst or gone on incessantly about himself in a press conference, he’s managed to kick life into another meeting that’s going downhill, diffused a potentially dangerous situation between rivals or simply told a genuinely good joke.

Fifth son of a fifth son, Esteban grew up in Tijuana, Baja where the second race of the newly formed FX150 series took place, looping between Baja in Mexico and California in the United States of America on the imaginatively titled Death Valley Sprint race. As one of the few reliable restaurants about the Mexican part of town, Esteban came into contact with a lot of AG-race personell, particularly members of FEISAR who set up shop in Mexico to keep costs down from the expensive and primarily Auricom-focussed USA.

The young cook got himself involved in carrying food personally to the lead pilot of FEISAR at the time, the Grecian Thanos Ikrausus. Spotting the lad’s lust for more information about the leagues, Ikrausus asked Esteban’s father if he could let his son accompany him as a personal cook and aide over race events given how unpredictable the ones he was given by FEISAR could be. Mrs Dominguez complained loudly, but Diego gave his permission and Esteban was soon touring the world with Ikrausus. During the middle of FX250 though, there was a scuffle and an argument from inside Thanos’ quarters, and Esteban ducked out and fled the circuit.

He has taken after his new Piranha masters quite well in that he says little as to how he got to wear the red and yellow overalls, something he is at least quiet about and remembers to shut up concerning, but speculation says that he was hired by them for advice on the ship and was installed as first a test pilot and then a second pilot behind Silvaris when his knowledge of Ikrausus’ setup was determined to be accurate and useful.

Though he is obviously thankful for the break given to him by Piranha and the fame he receives back home in Mexico, there are dark clouds that follow the most talented chef on the grid around. His acceleration and timing is lacklustre and has left him either trailing the pack at the first corner off the line or overcooking the thruster like he did at Anulpha Pass during the FX350 series. He also is rather openly vocal about his dissatisfaction with the way the team always puts Silvaris first, claiming that on his lacklustre performance. But whatever is keeping him at Piranha’s door must be tempting, for he was not ignored when it came to retaining pilots this year...

Third Pilot – Morgan Victius 

Aries Piermont once famously went on record stealing one of Qirex’ most notable quotes at the height of their performance in the F9000 league that ‘not just anyone’ can fly for Piranha. Vilmã seems to have taken this to heart, and Piranha is only one of the mainstream teams that does not have a junior squad. When all squads at the beginning of the FX300 were told they could use their FX200 and 250 ships and any craft built to that specification for running a junior squad, Piranha was one that refused on principle rather than any monetary worries such as Qirex or Icaras had.


The old saying goes that what the fans want, the fans will get, and a private interest purchased an old Assegai ship under the claim that it was truly a Piranha with what the Africans had stolen from the Brazilians. The ‘Jaguar’ was painted bright red with yellow and white teeth marks and entered under the title ‘Amazon Fury’. Considered a curio by most of the established teams, with Piranha giving little to no assistance to their unofficial squad, it was little surprise when few pilots volunteered for the mock-Piranha squadron. The one who did make the cut was a boy who’d grown up racing jet skis around his home island of Antigua and had fancied himself as something of a pilot.

To the surprise of everyone, Morgan’s skill in the pirated Assegai was impressive, and aside from the Van-Uber squadron who dominated the proceedings with their light, nimble craft that aided the newcomers and gave rise to the new Korean star Park So-Gun, was ranked amongst the biggest surprises of the season. It was almost no surprise when he sealed the championship in the year of the FX350 and like a parent whose bastard child turned out to be a gifted student, Piranha snatched up the laid back and quiet Morgan.

Though ‘Amazon Fury’ has dropped back in the JX leagues now, Morgan is settling comfortably as a very unintrusive and capable pilot in the Piranha family. Like Esteban, he lacks assistance from his team in favour of Silvaris, but unlike Domingues he is unconcerned, saying that it was his job to impress the team enough to give him equal terms. This however is proving more difficult than he thought, trying to get used to the heavy Piranha from his paper-light Assegai days.

WipEout HD Fury - Harimau Team Profile

2 – Harimau International (Malaysia)

AntiGravity racing has never really been a nice easy subject to tackle. It is rare to find any team that is perfectly understood; whether it be the numerous dark deals Qirex/Tigron used to perform, eG-r/EG-X’s mysterious technologies or Piranha’s quiet about their in-house business. But everyone could make their assumptions and fill page upon page of speculation about what evils the above teams could be up to. But the AG-Commission got a shock in 2192 when a new team entered – at first there seemed nothing untoward about that, it was seen as good for business with a newcomer in along with Triakis’ second season. But never before had the team met such an open and friendly reception as with the Malay team.

Harimau International was an international peace organisation started at an unknown date by an American psychologist and a Malaysian writer who began making plush tigers and distributing them along with free care to disadvantaged children. The two women soon began selling extra books and toys on their website, with all the money going to one of the biggest genetic clinics on the planet with the idea of bringing back tigers into their wild after their extinction in 2100.

Mrs Speed and Mrs Suruni were eager to beat off the hordes of businessmen who clamoured to fund their business and triple output of toys. All of them were instead told to send their money into the building of a tiger reserve on the grounds of the old racing circuit in Sepang. The two women’s vision was completed in approximately 2179 with the birth of the first pair of tiger cubs for almost eighty years. There was quite the turnover (and huge amounts of successful reviews in the press) when the park was launched as people flocked from all over the world to see the newborn cubs and enjoy the leafy paradise outside of the bustling metropolis of Kuala Lumpur.

One of the visitors to this park was none other than Nicolo Testa, the head of operations of the Federal European Institute for Science And Research, one of the few teams to have survived the collapse of the F9000. He was fascinated by the work of Speed and Suruni, and to his surprise the respect was responded by the former, being a FEISAR fan during the days of AG-Racing.

Through a series of meetings between Testa, other FEISAR officials, interested Malay businessmen and the heads of Harimau International, the idea was initially set up for FEISAR to have a branch in Malaysia, but this was scrapped after objections were raised from the FEISAR board of executives about having a European branch in Asia. The plans were then instead changed for FEISAR to provide assistance for a new starting team in Malaysia. With the arrival of FX150 soon, FEISAR was finding that some of its’ old locations from the F9000 still had technology and skilled personnel who did not have a place on FEISAR’s new team due to the team member limit enforced as one of the new rules.

Instead, all these engineers were sent to Malaysia to begin work on Harimau’s take on the world championship. It was a slightly rocky ride, partly due to the difficulties the FEISAR employees had with suddenly working together in close conditions but mostly due to the fact that Harimau was mostly working on a budget with strict environmental guidelines. It meant that the team wasn’t ready to enter the world championship until FX250, along with Van-Uber. As newcomers to the league, their unveiling ceremony was not as hotly anticipated as their fellow entrants, and indeed the crowd was fairly small for the unveiling of the second Orange and White ship to grace the starting grid. Only Testa from FEISAR and Levovitch of Qirex attended the ceremony from other teams, though in light of the championship afterwards it has been debated if more praise was deserved for the Malay underdogs.

In a season that was surprisingly dull by historical records, Harimau managed to beat their rivals Van-Uber to the punch at seventh place, but few people took note of the achievement. In a season that had mostly seen squabbles between various teams instead of any flat-out racing, the tradition of Triakis-AGS on the front row followed by Qirex-Auricom, Assegai-FEISAR, what was another fight between the two new teams whose pilots weren’t quite as well known as those of the more established squads? It took the much more impressive FX300 season to turn that impression of Harimau International on its’ head though.

On the island of Makana throughout what was the most ambitious league since the fall of the F9000, Harimau thrust a light, compact ship with excellent handling into the mix and it did not disappoint. The H5 ship was a perfect balance of everything the pilots needed and they began to leave the heavy squabbling Qirex and Auricom ships behind to nip at the heels of the all-conquering Triakis and AG-Systems. And with Triakis disqualified at season’s end, that allowed Harimau to put the number two on their ship from next year. That if nothing else made the punters sit up. In only its’ second season of AG-racing, Harimau had gone from seventh to second. No team before or had made such strides in such short a time including the world title taken by Daniel Johnson in 2163, given that FEISAR itself only finished fourth in the constructor’s championship thanks to Carlos Beneto’s dreadful form.

With Triakis taken out of the picture thanks to the Reverse Inertia Decelleration System, when FX350 rolled around it seemed as though Harimau was the favourites for the championship – after all, their defeat to Triakis and then the shame of being ‘gifted’ the championship grated heavily on AG-Systems’ morale and they could do no better than fourth. But their rivals were still Harimau, the white and red duelling with the orange and yellow for third place. The lack of preparation for FX350 had not produced much advancements with the H6 ship and they lost out to Icaras and firm allies FEISAR, who took their fourth world championship.

Both AG-S and Harimau were back on track soon though, and put the Europeans back into third and fourth. Though the two teams became stern competitors, it never devolved into any sort of animosity or aggression between pilots or engineers. In the words of Thierry Caluroso himself ‘It’s difficult to hate a team when they’re being so damn nice to you.’

AG-Systems therefore is about the only thing Harimau has to any sort of serious rivalry as relations with almost every other team are good. Their old allies FEISAR are close friends on the grid, and Harimau has shown great support to their other newcomers to the grid, especially the shaky Mirage squadron. Qirex has also been a surprise recipient of a lot of Harimau’s goodwill, with Felix Levovitch being given a snow leopard cub to raise as an expansion of the Tiger Programme that Harimau ran throughout the FX400 season. Assegai have also been in talks about the possibility of helping the dwindling lion population in Africa, though not every team is as fond of Harimau as they are of everyone else.

Jessie Fairbank, the head of Auricom has called Harimau a ‘fad’ and nothing more, and Piranha have been aggressive towards Harimau’s attempts to gain access to their funded casinos and hotels where it is rumoured they have zoo exhibits with South American panthers and jaguars within.

Allies: FEISAR, Mirage

Rival: AG-Systems

Ship Details:

The H8 craft has undercut one of their rivals in a critical manner – Icaras now no longer has the lightest ship on the grid. Using spaced lattice composite technology, the wider ship is now flatter and sharper, giving it unbelievable handling ability and the lightness means that it is the perfect ship for ambitious jumps in, something that isn’t lost on Harimau’s lead pilot.

The 100% bio-fuel technology is not reaping the benefits it was intended to, and more typical energy sources are proving more efficient – that said with the new regulations, a lot more teams are looking into the options of powering their ships with regenerative technology and Harimau is more than willing to share what it finds, though this has lead to some competition – namely between Qirex and Mirage, as to whose solar-recuperation panels will have the best effect.

Lead Pilot – Foster Goh En Lai

Foster Goh En Lai was a surprise announcement for the lead pilot for the FX500 season after the departure of Zhara Preest of Switzerland, the development pilot that helped to win Harimau their respect in previous seasons. FEISAR’s old protégée returned to Europe to help the team privately, in particular with winter testing in the Alps on the site of the old Cubiss Float track. Given that Harimau always had an affinity with the Sebenco Mountain Range when they were in Makana and even had a small base built there, Preest looks set to help the European squad with preparations for the rumoured FX600 series which will feature races in differing weather conditions.

What it left Harimau with was a slight problem though. Sekhar Sahib had always been a good second pilot, and being very superstitious had begun to believe that his craft was the lucky one, being the second Harimau ship whether it be number five, eight or even when it was sixteen. So when he was offered the place of first pilot, he turned it down point blank, refusing to step from his #2 position. Instead, Harimau had to turn to their third pilot for promotion.

While there is some worry about how he will perform in race trim, the decision was met with widespread enthusiasm. Foster is possibly one of the best-loved pilots on the grid for his do-or-die approach to the tracks and his enthusiastic commentary style whenever he isn’t flying and takes the commentary box for SEA Radio, the main broadcasting channel for much of South-East-Asia. With his willingness to take a big leap in his career and wear the number four on his overalls, respect for the young Singaporean has risen greatly amongst his fellow pilots as well. Caluroso of AG-Systems was amongst the first to clap Goh En Lai on the back when he first heard the news and quite a few others joined in afterwards.

Despite his enthusiasm and support from the fans and team, Foster is known for being terrible at Zone Mode, and his highly-strung attitude will not lend himself to Detonator mode at all. As with their friends Mirage, Harimau may have to rely on their other pilots for expert flying in the Zone Battle events to come.

Second Pilot – Sekhar Sahib

One of the pilots from the first days of Harimau, Sekhar Sahib is an oddity amongst the grid as being the only non-rookie pilot to have never scored a clean race win. The golds he has won have mostly been due to other pilots’ mistakes, penalties, disqualifications, or the memorable moment when both Mika Repo of EG-X and Vincent Stephenson of Triakis hit a ‘lapped bomb’ on the last corner before the line at Sol 2, allowing Sahib to power through and take the gold, much to the fury of the latter.

The reasoning behind this is irritating to a lot of Harimau fans, but somewhat understandable. Harimau’s first ship in FX250, the H4, was a notoriously fragile beast and in his first ever race, Sekhar’s craft was eliminated by a well-placed shot from Torogu Ukantu’s Auricom and though the H4 had passed most of the necessary safety checks, Sahib was left frightened and shaken by his half-kilometre-long drop off the track until one of the rescue craft could pick him up. Ever since then, he has preferred single events such as time trial, speed lap and zone and lacks confidence in Single Race series.

In particular, Sekhar has developed a deep-seated fear of the Auricom team and doesn’t like to race with them when possible. The team are somewhat concerned about his prospects for Eliminator and his reluctance to take the #1 position has not given him a huge boost of popularity from the public. This looks to be a difficult season for Sahib, with the exception of Zone mode – Sahib is possibly the only pilot on the grid who likes Pro Tozo.

Third Pilot – Ishak Bin Yusof 

Bin Yusof comes to the FX500 grid with high expectations, being the reigning champion of the JX250 junior series, using old H4 craft for the Harimau Cadets team to take the championship and earn a place in the three-pilot ‘full’ series. Ishak was named as a ‘next big thing’ in most of the AG racing publications after his win, and his acceptance into the full Harimau team does not come as much of a surprise. However, there is some wariness about his performance by some experts. The following is an extract written for ‘Float Nation’ Magazine by race analyst Tieran Hawker.

“My congratulations go out to Ishak Bin Yusof for a fantastic victory at Talon’s Junction for Harimau Cadets, with which he seals the junior title ahead of main rival Mercutian De Gautet in the Van-Uber. With that performance, it will be no surprise at all if he gets the seat in the FX500 series with the H8. I wouldn’t go so far to say as that he’ll be very good at it though.

Bear in mind that almost all the previous graduates to FX from JX have not had too much of a gap to make – last year’s winner, Gabrielle Zuzovnitch for EG-X, had to move from a modified FX250 machine to an FX400 machine. Given EG-X’s lack of overall development over this time, it did not take too long for the Pole to slip in to the role comfortably. Bin Yusof however has to deal with switching from an H4 ship to the brand new H8, with almost twice the power and half the weight. It’s lucky that he’ll be starting at Venom speed and even then, he’s likely to be taken aback at just how fast the things are.

Not to mention he has to deal with the new modes, which will be completely alien to him, especially Eliminator. Why the organisers of the JX league didn’t think of putting Eliminator events in when they were there in FX400 escapes me. To be honest, Ishak would have been better staying in JX for another season, but the die is rolled. I wish him the best of luck, but I am not putting any money on the fellow.

WipEout HD Fury - Icaras Team Profile

4 – The Icaras Project (United Kingdom)

It’s no lie that ‘everyone loves an underdog’, which gives credence to the huge number of Mirage supporters that have popped up over the more recent years, but still the big favourite amongst fans, including as the team began to challenge for titles, was The Icaras Project.

Begun by Lancashire-based businessman Barnston Burns in 2109, The Icaras Project was an attempt to get an AG-ship to break the height record for a horizontal-thruster ship. The record was set by FEISAR’s own Sofia De La Rente in 2023 at 4,782m above sea level, and Burns was defiant he was going to see the project come to something.

As the factory outside Clitheroe began to take shape, and the first concepts of the craft were released to the public, more and more UK citizens became interested and offered up donations of their own. People dissatisfied with the way FEISAR was treating them at the Dover plant left to work on Icaras, and fairly soon there was nobody working for FEISAR at their plant any more. The European squad had lost another of its’ constituent members and they were not happy with the vanishing of Great Britain, an industry leader in AG-technology concepts.

Icaras’ first ever ship, the Helios floated from its’ garage on the twenty-third of June 2111 and was loaded on to a transporter for its’ first ever attempted lift off, the location being the Atacama Desert. A purpose-built hundred mile runway had been built through it several years past by the AntiGravity Race Commission for straight-line speed tests and crash testing as well. The Helios took off at five minutes past two o’clock local time with pilot George Dravere at the helm. An hour later, the Englishman returned the ship to the start point with a gloomy face.

The height counter on his ship dashboard had maxed out at 4,743m before he began to fall and the Icaras Project hadn’t brought any more fuel for another go that day. But when he got out, there were broad smiles on all faces around him, and a man with greying hair wheeled his chair over to Dravere and offered his hand. “This is Pierre Belmondo,” Barnston Burns introduced the old man. “And he has offered us a place in his race series.” And so began Icaras’ involvement in the F7200 league.

Nobody blamed Icaras for a poor, almost farcial start to the leagues, as their first entry was basically the Helios with stronger air brakes and a crude weapon rack, but eventually Icaras had managed to put together a proper ship, albeit one that was incredibly light and flimsy, meaning that Dravere often had to leave the hyperthrust button well alone during races, especially as they caught up to their fellow newcomers Goteki 45. But unfortunately, with the great ship blocking their path, there was no further that Icaras could go.

The pink and brown craft never progressed higher up the grid than fifth, and that was after a double elimination of the AG-Systems and Assegai ships in a race of serious attrition. When they along with Goteki were outed after their best result of fourth due to the resultant fight in the pit lane, Icaras left the league as the worst performing team of any that had shown its’ face in AG-racing. The shame of it caused Barnston Burns’ son, Terence, to sell most of his father’s legacy and trade it in for a quiet house in the country for his father when he emerged from hospital with leg paralysis, a result of a thrown screwdriver during the Goteki-Icaras fight.

Icaras was to stay quiet for many years until Barnston’s great-great grandson Connor Burns, inspired by the new AG-racing leagues, brought together many dissatisfied backers of FEISAR around the United Kingdom, and bought the Dover-based factory from their European fellow racers for a not-inconsiderable sum of money that Connor’s family had left over in the bank from the support money they’d got from the original Icaras project. When the Burns family discovered there their money had gone in 2197 when Icaras made the announcement of their return, there was uproar both at home for the prodigal son and from FEISAR who hadn’t considered their own factory would be used to make the new Amun-Ra craft.

Wisely, for the start of FX300, Connor moved himself to a private resort in Modesto Heights on Makana Island where he lives to this day. Questions as to whether or not he has made peace with Keao Manumaleuna have been rebuked though as Burns has stated he will ‘never forgive’ what happened to his grandfather all those years ago. It seems though that Connor has fallen closer to the tree than most expected, and Icaras’ second place behind FEISAR in the FX350 league is solid proof of his pilot choice and how he runs his ship design.

Icaras and their pilots have been known as pleasant folk amongst the grid, making them welcome in the Harimau and Mirage camps in particular, though Burns has admitted that he is ‘incapable of resisting’ the good personality of Feliks Levovitch of Qirex. A few critics of the near constant supply of whisky and girls that find themselves in the private elevators at Modesto Heights have commented though if Burns is after no more than one of Feliks’ pilots and his many gifts of potent vodka.

Allies: Qirex, Mirage

Rivals: FEISAR, Piranha

Arch-Rival: Goteki 45

Ship Details:

Following the tradition of all Icaras craft, the Project’s ‘Fury’ ship is named after an ancient sun god, in this case ‘Alaunus’, an ancient Celtic deity half in respect and half as a joke to Connor’s mother, a practicing Druid. Burns apparently wanted the ship to be named after a Mayan god but after a leak in one of the press conferences the name has stuck and Connor is the only one who doesn’t refer to it by name, simply calling it the ‘Fury Ship’ when he can.

Much like the AG-Systems, FEISAR and to a certain extent the Piranha ships, the Alaunus is more evolution than revolution, mimicking the old ship closely in shape though scaled up a little due to the FX500 regulations demanding larger minimum ship size, more armour plating and the chance to add a few more additions to the ship. Icaras has chosen to work on their sometimes poor handling ability, working on an aero package to help improve responsiveness – hence the small two ‘winglets’ at the front of the ship. Despite the heavier armour that the rules specify though, there has been no major improvements to the famously sensitive shields of the British team and the pilots are once again going to have to take care on track.

Lead Pilot – Sibrand Van Saur

There are two good reasons that Van Saur is known as ‘The Scalpel’ amongst his fellow racers, despite what some say that it is no more than an attack on his nationality. The first is his incredible knowledge of the human body stemming from his father’s occupation as a Dusseldörf surgeon and the second being his completely uncompromising, razor-sharp racing lines.

Van Saur joined the University of Munich’s Anti-Gravity Research facility, one that many European colleges and universities had at the time, all with links to the well-known and respected Federal European Industrial Science And Research programmes. Van Saur quickly gained respect amongst his peers if he was not liked, for he became the team’s vice captain at the age of twenty while still achieving excellent results in his current course.

A colleague of his at the time noted that while Sibrand was ‘Fantastic and intelligent... quick witted and able to spot problems from a mile away’, it never truly reflected in how he was able to work as a team player. He would always strive to be the lead in every project and begin to direct everyone to their selected tasks with military precision without any regard for what the others might think. So when FEISAR’s recruitment men came knocking for potential pilots, they discarded Van Saur’s application with the reasoning that they didn’t need such a domineering force, especially not with their new rising star in Ezio Di’Rosso. What turned FEISAR away though drew Icaras like a moth to the flame.

With Icaras’ return in 2197, the team had limited testing facilities especially with FEISAR’s large presence at Talon’s Junction, the closest working track to home that was fully FX300 league licensed (this was before it was given the mag-lock loop) and had to do most of their tests on the ancient tarmac roads around the north of England and Scotland. They needed a fully competent pilot who would know precisely how to develop the ship, and Connor Burns found just his man.

Sibrand Van Saur has never truly integrated himself within the team as other charismatic lead pilots have, but nobody denies that he was Icaras’ saving grace. While their rivals Goteki 45 came to the FX300 league at about the same level, the lack of innate ability in Ferrai as a lead pilot meant that Icaras was able to take advantage of Triakis and AG-Systems’ fall from grace in FX350 and net the team second behind one of the many other pilots he has declared a private war on – Di’Rosso of FEISAR.

Other notable enemies of Sibrand have been Leona Silvaris of Piranha, of whom the two have a shouting match almost every press conference they are involved in; Buster Harding of Triakis, whom he accuses of being ‘as big a pig-headed idiot as the ship he flies’ and most recently Nyoko Kassan of Assegai after watching the young Kenyan barrel roll his ship in places he claims that have no right being shortcuts. And yet as unpopular as Sibrand makes himself, that didn’t hurt him becoming #6 in a recent ‘wierd crush’ competition held in a womens’ gossip magazine, his ‘tall, angular face’ and ‘elegantly combed blonde hair’ earning him the place. He has yet to comment on this.

Second Pilot – Gryffyth Dawod

Dawod began his AG-Racing career as a trainee pilot for FEISAR, but found himself at the Dover factory when Connor Burns came in with the proposal for James Paget-Newman, the owner of the plant and suggested it to his staff. The young pilot, who was eager for his chance to shine, came up to offer his services as a test or second pilot if need be. Surprised somewhat by Gryffyth’s forwardness, Connor allowed him to come and help Van Saur with the development of the ship. With no other takers for the role of second pilot, Gryffyth was given the place for FX300 and Burns has said retaining the Welshman is one of the best moves of his career.

Amongst the pilots of the FX leagues, many paint the man from Burry Port as the most well liked and personable. Always with a smile on his face, Wales’ most beloved son has never refused an interview and always approached them with a big smile on his face even after eliminations, laughing and insisting he’ll ‘get them next time’ or ‘just won’t let them catch him’. His cartwheels down the nose of his ship into the engineers after race wins cause a few snorts from the other teams but the crowds roar in approval and especially back home whenever Dawod has convinced the track marshals to put the Dragon on the podium instead of the Union Jack.

FEISAR have been asked a few times if they regret losing such a personable and quick pilot to Icaras to which Nicolo Testa has said many times that he’s glad he didn’t have to deal with the more tiresome parts of Dawod’s personality though, one of which is that of the track’s ladies’ man. Gryffyth never claims to be the most attractive man on the grid, and has noted with a grin several times that he’d be a father of hundreds now if it wasn’t for this ‘bloody ginger hair’, but he has had no qualms about openly flirting with as many pilots on the grid as can be. As it happens, the only injury from this has been a solid kick between the legs from Andrea Santiago which put the poor man out of action for a few races previous season. He holds no ill will against the Chilean and has written her a formal letter of apology, which was summarily fed to the air thrusters of the woman’s ‘Mauna Loa’ craft the next race.

Third Pilot – Alvaro Montera

Montera is a new permanent pilot to the FX500 season, however his experience of top-grade machinery is nothing to be sniffed at. Montera was at Vineta K, the finishing location of the ‘Poseidon Challenge’ underwater race from Stockholm to Makana to collect his trophy, which was to be presented at the podium ceremony in which the first race of the FX350 league would take place in order to garner the maximum amount of attention and publicity to the new series and take the sting of the Triakis-AG-Systems controversy of the previous season away from the mouth.

Disaster befell Icaras as they were drawn for the first race as Gryffyth Dawod’s remarks about Andrea Santiago’s race suit earned him a firm racing boot right in the family jewels. Still miles away due to a delayed flight in Germany, Van Saur couldn’t turn up for the race and Icaras had no backup pilots. The AG-League rules at the time forbade pilot swapping between different teams and Connor Burns had to look around for a replacement. Montera was willing and able, climbing into the cockpit of the ‘Amun Ra’ with a cry of ‘how hard can it be?’.

To the surprise of all, the pilot of submersibles took well to Venom-class speeds and finished a very respectable fourth for his first race, turning the opinions of most in the paddock on their heads. With third pilots being optional but advised for future races, Burns offered Montera a permanent seat during the submersible racing off-season. The Portuguese pilot took it without another thought and slipped right into the cockpit.

A good friend of most on the grid, Alvaro is personable and easy-going, more traits rarely found in AG-pilots. He lacked for allies on the grid initially, but he has good relationships going with Balawyn Samirsdøttir of Qirex and Malik Al-Tamassal of Mirage, the three of whom are often seen touring the streets of Makana together. His big failings though are in high speed events where he is un-used to the level of reflexes needed especially in weapons-on races. His submersible racing days have left him with good endurance skills though, and he can stay focussed for much longer than other pilots in long events, holding several records for 20-lap Venom and Flash races.