No doubt you've seen these things, if not in real life then in the tri-dees. Whether you're 8 or 80, this high-performance vehicle makes your heart race and the whine of the closed-cylce gas turbine just sings of adventure, either as a Police Pursuit craft, a space Patrol personnel carrier on a raid or an expeditionary vehicle on some far-flung planet. The Fas-Trak is the go-to guy that gets it done.
"Fas-Trak" is the trade name for any vehicle derived from the Expeditionary Suface Vehicle, specifically ESV-1/3, where 1 is the model number and 3 is the service profile number, in this case the profiles are General, Medical and Armed Personnel Carrier. The guidelines that specify each Fas-Trak design is called a Template. Fas-Trak, and others like it are a result of the Task Oriented Vehicle Design Program (TOVD-p: Agency for Advanced Research Projects, whose usual projects involve Space Patrol and whose main line of work is good stuff cheap). In the Space Patrol those are SPSV-1/1 Commander, SPSV-1/2 Medic and the SPSV/APC-1/3 Raider and SPSV/APC-1/3 rev1 Striker. Revision 1 added a more powerful motor. longer range and weapons with a signifcantly longer range and targetting capability, enhancement of the flare launcher to also fire mortar, 4 ZNX-23 Stamdard scooters. It also uses much thinner armor since it operates further back from the area of combat. There is also a SPSV 1/1 mod1 Paddywagon that is used to transport arrestees and a mod2 to carry dnagerous prisoners. instead of the usual 3 deep of 2 across, the mod1 is 2 across in front and has 3 rows of 3 across and two seats behind theose. The SPSV 1/1a mod1 Pursuit is a lightly armed fast-reaction pursuit vehicle based on the quick-acceleration, agile SuperCommander mounting only the 15mm guns on each side of the nose. This one can reach top speed in 10 seconds as opposed to the usual 13 and can cover a 1/4 mile straight stretch from a dead stop in a blistering 11.835 seconds. Even Mallory Sport/Utility Ltd. has gotten into the act with the SportCommander 24' x 8' 6-seater, a take on the SPSV-1/1.
The basic ESV-1/3 Template was a 12 passenger with an aft raised driver's compartment. It uses the Repello-Ray Caterpillar tread and can rise to 18" on flat ground. It has a top speed of 120 m/h and can cruise at 90 m/h fully loaded it is 35'long and 12' wide. The dry weight is 10,000lbs and fully loaded is 14,000lbs. Being atomic powered, its operational period is 1 year with checkups after every 5thmission. Like all Repello-Ray Caterpillars, it is amphibious. a hole in the front of the body allows for a flare laucher that can also fire small orbital beacons if needed.
The Space Patrol Surface Vehicle Template is 30' long by 8' wide. seats 6 in the Personnel Section with two in the aft raised compartment; a driver and a Mission Desing Specialist, Med-Surg Officer or Gunner for a total of 8 that being the standard crew of a Battlecruiser/Terra Class ship. The vehicle is capable of cruising at 100 m/h and has a top speedo of 150 m/h, weighs 7500lbs dry and 10,500 fully loaded. The transmission has an added forward and reverse speed and the body and frame are more durable than the stnadard ESV-1/3.
Other ESv's that are trying to earn the designation of Fas-Trak are the 2/2 with towing capacity of 3,800lbs and Y3/1. In the works is the X/n 19,000lb 18 passenger behemoth mil-spec Sergeant. To be a "Fast-Trak", an ESV Template vehicle must have a crusing speed of at least 75 m/h, a top speed of at leat 90 m/h, 0 to top spaad of less than 13.6 sec and a 1/4 mile straight stretch time of less than 14.5 sec from a deas stop.