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The Argonaut II is a hover car belonging to Umberto Lombardi, which was used by Jason Chaser.

History[]

Hover Car Racer[]

After his impressive performance in the Sponsors' Tournament, Jason Chaser and his team were invited by the owner of the Lombardi Racing Team, Umberto Lombardi, to race under his license in the upcoming Italian Run. Having a spare Ferrari F-3000 ready, Lombardi granted it to Jason for use during the race.

Upon arriving in Italy, Jason began practising in the Ferrari F-3000 at a training course on the outskirts of Venice II. After using the car to run the Shootout Course which determined the starting order for the Italian Run, coming 12th in the pole positioning, Jason decided to christen the Ferrari the Argonaut-II.

Moments before the Italian Run began, the bookmaker Ravi Gupta placed a pinhead-sized explosive on the Argonaut-II's tailfin.

During the race, as Jason moved to enter the first pitting lane, the Argonaut-II's right-hand nose-wing was sliced off by Etienne Trouveau, and the Argonaut-II lost control and slid out over the demagnetising strips, depleting the car of almost all of its magnetic power. After Jason managed to get into the pit lane, the Lombardi pit machine restored the Argonaut-II to racing condition, and Jason raced on.

Jason eventually managed to navigate the course's shortcut and fifth place, and as he neared the finish line, Gupta detonated the explosive, destroying the Argonaut-II's tailfin. As Jason struggled for control, the Ferrari flipped upside-down and crashed into the canal. Bug Chaser was trapped due to his seatbelt being jammed, and as Jason surfaced to take a breath he saw the Kamiko Ideki's falling Yamaha was on a collision course with the Argonaut-II. Jason swam back underneath the Argonaut--II and pulled the ejection leaver on his brother's seat, sending them away from the Argonaut--II as the Yamaha collided with the Ferrari and destroyed it.

Attributes[]

Hover / Flight Capabilities[]

Like any hover car, the Argonaut II is equipped with a set of six magneto drives in order to perform vertical take-off and landing feats, as well as fly.

Speed[]

As with all racing-class hover cars, the Argonaut II is capable of reaching speeds that the average land-based car could not, easily up to a few hundred km/h and near to Mach 1.

Reinforced Cockpit[]

Due to the extreme speeds race cars fly at, the Argonaut II possesses a heavily reinforced cockpit that can withstand a lot of damage should the car crash. Of course, this is not full-proof, nor intended to be a primary safety measure, as the cockpit also contains ejection seats for the driver and navigator too use, and so the reinforced cockpit is a back-up precaution should they fail to eject in time.

Trivia[]

  • The number assigned to the Argonaut-II is Number 55, which is the same number as the original Argonaut.
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