Petrol Heaven — The Rohsm STR-750

✿ This article was featured in Issue #6 of the Atlantic Bulletin

The Rohsm STR series is a small racer built for clubs by Rohsm S.p.M., a hundred-year-old company headquartered in the Mediterranean racing culture of Tohs. Its most recent variant, the 750, is available in limited quantities to enthusiast owners and club pools. Like most petrol cars in Vekllei, they are built by hand, so no two 750s drive exactly alike.

Compared to its neighbouring continents, petrol cars are criminally unsafe in Vekllei, where a preference for speed and lightweight manoeuvrability in European bodies see much of the steel of electric autos traded for light alloys and carbon. They crumple like drink cans in a crash, but prior to their death the driver is having the best driving experience of his life. This reckless pursuit of good driving means locals call them “bastard cars”. Extraordinarily lightweight and tremendously powerful, they cut sharp racing lines and trace corners. Poised and nimble, they make good use of Motorway One, the gentle curved ring road of Vekllei with no speed limit.

Because of the inconvenience of finding petrol stations and their relative danger, not many people drive petrol cars in Vekllei. Why would you, when it is usually faster and more convenient to take a fast tram or train, or a battery auto from an autopool? The ones that do drive, however, drive hard.

Pictured is the 25th STR-750, returned home after wins on the circuit in Italy and Spain. Her drivers are pictured above. It also happens to be Tzipora’s favourite car, because it was the first petrol car she ever drove.