The Fastest Car on Earth

Part 1

It's midnight at Spook Cemetary in a lonely section of town. Standing near a hearse, a man uses a flashlight to signal someone in the hearse. The top of the car opens and a small crane raises up and swings over top a grave. It drops down and unearths an engine. The man laughs, rips off a shroud, and we see the name of the engine: GRX.

The next day we see Pops and Speed driving the Mach Five around a test track. Sparky yells that the previous lap was 2 minutes and 6 seconds. The third fastest time on record, according to Trixie. She seems to have a good head for numbers. Speed is hungry, but as he and Trixie open Trixie's lovingly prepared picnic basket...it's empty! Spritle and Chim-Chim got to it first. In the woods, Spritle starts chasing Chim-Chim for eating both portions. As Chim-Chim runs away, he sees links of hot dogs hanging from the trees, and of course begins eating away. Little does he know, it's a trap. Just as he's following the last sets of links, Spritle catches up and sees Chim-Chim snatched and thrown into the back of a truck. Before the doors close, Spritle manages to jump in.

The truck drives onto the grounds of a large, attractive chateau by a small lake. It's Oriena Flux's home and laboratory. She had Chim-Chim captured to be a ``guinea pig.'' He's strapped into a go-cart, as Spritle secretly watches from behind a bush trying to devise a recue plan, and the engine is started. Chim-Chim does his best to drive but is afraid. After that lap, he's sprayed with a drug called V Gas. The drug sharpens reflexive nerves, and the side effect is that there's no fear of speed since it can be easily handled. The next lap shows Chim-Chim buzzing along even faster in full control and with no fear. It still makes you wonder, though, how a lab could afford to develop a new drug but had to kidnap a chimp... Anyway, after seeing Chim-Chim's performance, Oriena tells her cohorts standing with her, ``Now we'll win the Grand Prix of the Orient.''

Later, Spritle frees Chim-Chim from a cage. They narrowly escape when Flux's snoozing bull-dog awakens and chases them. Chim-Chim beans him with a big rock.

Back at the track, it's three days to the Oriental Grand Prix. While talking about the upcoming race, The Go Team see a dazzling car pull up. Pops hears the engine idling and knows he's heard before but can't place it. In the stands, we see the driver being sprayed with the drug V Gas. As the car starts, the drug hasn't taken full effect yet, and the driver is still somewhat afraid. Pops suddenly remembers the engine; it's the GRX! After it finishes a lap, Sparky announces that it was a full 15 seconds faster than the Mach Five. The Go Team want to go over to the GRX, but Pops says to stay away because there's something supernatural about it.

When Spritle points out the bad guy who caused him and Chim-Chim so much grief, Pops grabs them and -- on the track still, mind you! -- flags down a taxi of some sort. They go to Spook Cemetary where the wind is howling, owls are hooting, and it's just generally scary. At a gravesite, Pops sees that the GRX has been dug up. They leave in haste.

Pops drives to Flux's home/laboratory and has a heated confrontation with her. She agrees that her organization built the car but denies it is using the GRX engine. Pops knows better and yells (as always) that Ben Cranem built the engine ten years ago and he and four other test drivers were killed by the unmanageable power of the GRX, the most dangerous and powerful engine in the world. That's why the GRX was ``planted,'' in Pops words, with Cranem when Cranem himself was planted. As tempers flare, a fight ensues. When it's clear Pops will be the victor, Oriena shoots him with a sleeper gun, knocking him out.

At the track, Speed and Trixie are following the GRX, which is on a flatbed truck. Speed pulls alongside the truck, has Trixie take the Mach Five's wheel, and he jumps onto the flatbed. As he creeps towards the the cab, he eavesdrops and hears the driver of the GRX begging for water. After drinking some, he suddenly becomes extremely afraid of speed of any kind and begs the truck driver to stop. As the truck pulls into Flux's grounds, Spritle and Chim-Chim who are already worried that Pops hasn't returned, see Speed on the truck.

Inside, Pops is being beaten up because he wants to destroy the GRX, which by now everyone admits is the engine in Flux's car. She asks him if he's willing to risk his life to destroy the GRX, and Pops says he is. So many drivers have died that he doesn't want it to happen to more because no one can handle the awesome speeds generated by the GRX. The Flux says here's a driver who can. But the truckdriver drops the whimpering GRX driver on the floor who's still crying that he can't stand the speed. I guess Oriena's drug affects humans differently than chimpanzees.

In the garage of Flux's grounds, Speed is awed by the The GRX. While looking at the car, a young, curly headed guy named Curly approaches Speed. He says he'll take the GRX. He and Speed get into a fight -- wow, this is a more violent episode than normal.

Inside, Flux's henchmen have left Pops tied up while they decide how to get rid of him. Spritle and Chim-Chim take the opportunity to climb through the basement window and free Pops.

In the garage, the figher between Speed and Curly continues. After Speed knocks out Curly, he can't resist driving the The GRX. The bad guys are surprised to see Speed drive away in the GRX, but not half as surprised as Pops, Spritle and Chim-Chim. As a bad guy leaves the grounds in pursuit, they flag him down and knock him out to borrow his car. Speed is traveling at 340 kph and is almost hysterical with delight, then feels as if he's entering another dimension; one reached only through speed. He passes out. The GRX avoids crashing only by the fortuitous shifting of Speed's weight on the steering wheel, which miraculously keeps Speed on the road.

At Flux's estate, the newly fixed GRX is wheeled out. Boy, the those bad guy mechanics are quick. Speed hops in the GRX, is given his hit of V Gas and starts off driving euphorically. (Hey, if Nancy Reagan had seen this, her slogan would have been, ``Just Say Go.'') From Flux's helicopter, Chim-Chim radios Trixie in hers. Somehow, that enables her to pinpoint Speed's location. They show up as Speed is in the midst of his test drive. When the GRX stops, Pops grabs Speed and brings him home.

After the Racers have left, we see Curly step forward deciding to drive the GRX, saying he's the only on with the right to do so.

On the drive home, Speed is thirsty due to the V Gas. After Trixie so nicely gives him a drink of water, Speed begs Pops to stop the car.

To cure Speed of his phobia, at home Pops sets up the movie projector (no vcrs back then, you know) and shows Speed some movies taken during a drive through city streets. Speed can't take it. The projector is turned off when the phone rings. It's Dr. Skuller, the noted cerebral physiologist, who analyzed the drug and figured out it was V Gas. Knowing better what they're up against, Pops turns off the lights and again turns on the projector. Speed handles it better but is still jittery.

At the Grand Prix of the Orient, Speed is still afraid to go fast. Pops says, or rather yells, ``Be a man. Don't let anyone know you're afraid.'' The race begins and fater the first lap, the GRXis up by five seconds, just like in the trials. At that point, Speed finally recovers from the V Gas. But in the fifteenth lap, the GRX is now up by thiry seconds with the Mach Five in second. The GRX driver, Curly, pulls into the pit for a drink of water -- don't these guys ever learn? During the pit stop, the Mach Five catches up to the GRX. As the GRX pulls out onto the track, the now fearful Curly crashes the GRX. It flips and burns, killing Curly. The Mach Five wins.

Speed and Pops only then discover that sadly Curly is the son of the GRX inventor, Ben Cranem.