Now for those who are interested, this is totally inspired by the actual running of the 24-hour race. I just had to mix it in with the Mario universe...

This event happens right after a Mario Kart tournament, namely the Special Cup Tour, so be prepared for an intense race in the future!

Chapter one

Mushroom Kingdom: 6:00 AM

The sun began to dawn upon the Mushroom Kingdom. With clear skies and radiant rolling green hills, it was yet going to be another beautiful and typical day in the Kingdom.

The trees were a deep green and it was only 6 in the morning when the sun rose. As it was summertime, the land welcomed the warmth the sun brought on the grass, the flowers…

In a certain two-storey house lay Luigi on his comfortable bed, his signature green hat put aside near the front door. It had been three weeks since the competition for the Special Cup Tour in Mario Kart Racing. With a victory as second overall to Mario, and after two weeks of preparation and racing, he was exhausted.

He dreamed of that time when he stood on the podium where the silver Special Cup was passed into his hands. Even though he never came in first, it left him with something of a success.

Mushroom Kingdom: 8:00 AM

A few hours later, Luigi awoke to the bright sun rays that shined down through his window. Although exhausted, he slowly got up and went to eat his breakfast. The meal he prepared was a recipe sent from his friend Princess Daisy: a first-class style Mushroom omelette that only she knew about. To Luigi, it felt like a bit of an embarrassment for Daisy to show him such favour.

"Okay, Daisy…" Luigi muttered to himself. "Let's see how well your recipe tastes…"

But this was the first time that he had to prepare this recipe. He took out of his stock some Mushrooms, some onions, and some the biggest yet common eggs just at the border of the Mushroom Kingdom. Even though they were eggs, they looked like small boulders. He only needed to cook one and there would be more than enough for him.

He set the grill and put a frying pan over it. As quickly as possible, he cracked the egg open and added onions and Mushrooms. Secondly, he cooked it for minutes and added some black pepper to enhance the taste.

The egg was starting to solidify, and finally Luigi added some milk and flipped the egg he wanted to. After a metre high flame briefly erupted, he switched the grill off and landed the egg on a plate. Pouring himself a glass of orange juice, he brought his breakfast to the table and prepared to eat.

"First class style…" he said. "Doesn't look like much…"

Luigi picked up his fork and ate a bit of it, and the omelette was indeed as delicious as promised. But what Luigi wasn't satisfied with was that the flavour tasted just… too regular. But he decided against complaining and kept eating the tasty meal.

By the time he was halfway through his omelette and right after finishing his juice, a knock on the front door could be heard. He put his fork down and hastily went to grab his hat, which he clumsily put on his head in an effort to get to the door first.

"Hello…?" said the voice outside.

"Coming!" Luigi shouted, and then he opened the door in a flash. His jaw slightly dropped.

It was Princess Daisy. Luigi by instinct immediately straightened his hat and cleared his throat.

"Eh… good morning, Daisy," Luigi bowed. "What brings you here today?"

She rushed quickly to give him a hug, forcing his hat to tilt slightly again. When she had finally let go, Luigi re-straightened his hat again, giving her an annoyed stare.

"Oh, Luigi," she gave a flick of her hand suggesting 'Whatever.' "I thought you'd be interested if we could have some coffee in the city this morning."

Luigi raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"Oh, well – it is a nice day in the summer, isn't it?" Daisy said. "Why don't you take out your kart to Mushroom City? It'll be a nice day for a drive."

"Why not?" Luigi looked over his shoulder into his house. "Why don't you come in while I get my kart ready? It won't be long."

Daisy nodded. As Luigi walked away to his garage, Daisy took the liberty of looking around his house: it was tidy for sure. And at the kitchen table she could not help but notice a well-cooked half-eaten omelette on the table. When she saw the ingredients though, Daisy had an idea what Luigi was trying to cook. But the real giveaway was when she saw her own handwriting on a piece of paper; and she concluded instantly that this was Luigi's attempt to cook her first-class style Mushroom omelette.

Let's see what you did wrong… she thought, and she began her five second analysis.

"Okay, Daisy! I'm ready," Luigi said while walking in, and saw Daisy cut a sample of his omelette and ate it. Luigi then smirked.

"So what went wrong?"

"Well," she said. "You're missing a few drops of lemon juice. AND did you remember to use a Life Shroom with it?"

By the silence Luigi was giving, Daisy laughed and clamped a hand on his shoulder.

"So you DIDN'T, huh?!" she laughed. "That's hilarious! You should've – should've read my instructions more closely! I better do the cooking next time!"

Luigi smiled. "But you never mentioned a Life Shroom in your recipe, did you know that? How could have I known to use one if I never saw?"

Daisy snatched up the recipe and held it close to him.

"There, you see? Right next to the Mushrooms in fine print and underlined, how could you not see that? That was basic stuff!"

Luigi took the recipe from her and saw that Daisy was right. It was legible, at least, but the instructions were clearly written that he did need a Life Shroom to complete the taste in full.

"Well, you know, I'm still tired from that hard fought victory in the Special Cup Tour," Luigi explained. "Second only to Mario. That reminds me; what place did you come in?"

"Sixth," she said. "But I'm disappointed that you couldn't read that part of the recipe. Besides, I underlined it in RED."

"How about this?" Luigi proposed. "The drinks are on me once we get to the city. It'll make up for my failure, okay?"

"Sure!" Daisy said with a grin. "I can already taste it!"

As Daisy went to ignite her kart, Luigi prepared to start his. They both took off for the highway at a relatively fair speed.

Mushroom City: 10:30 AM

Their karts, one green and one orange, were neatly parked on the side of the road just beside a small coffee shop on the corner of the block. While Luigi and Daisy would have been famous in the region for numerous reasons, they preferred to spare some time on their own. Fortunately, the citizens of Mushroom City were used to their presence, and carried about their own business.

The two friends were sitting outside in the sunlight with two cups of coffee and shared a muffin. Daisy took a slight advantage of Luigi's purchase and ordered an extra muffin for herself. Fortunately for Luigi, the overall cost was a mere 20 coins.

"I wonder what we'll do today," Daisy said.

"And why's that?" Luigi said back.

"Well, the Special Cup Tour was pretty much the highlight of the Mushroom Kingdom," Daisy said with a sigh. "Some shops are closed, and at least three malls have closed for renovation!"

Luigi gave this some thought, and came up with an answer after Daisy had finished.

"I suppose you wouldn't mind if we do a little friendly competition in our karts," he suggested. "Or, we could cruise around in karts or bikes."

The two of them, who both had a liking for racing, although Daisy had only the slightest depression from her sixth place finish at the Special Cup Tour, agreed to cruise to Princess Peach's Castle, which lay on the more rural parts of the kingdom.

"Okay, I'm done with my coffee," Daisy said. "Hey, while you're finishing yours, why don't I buy another muffin? There's no harm."

Luigi sighed and handed over a few coins to her, although he felt a bit happier that he could gift Daisy with something. She smiled at him and stood up to buy another muffin, and Luigi smiled warmly at her in response.

In the main street, there was a particular car that was driving through with several decals on it. One decal read 'The Ultimate Driving Experience', which raised some questions from local pedestrians, though a quarter of the local civilians didn't notice. The back of the car had a steel model number displaying '330i'.

A/N: 'The Ultimate Driving Experience' is the slogan for BMW Canada, and not BMW of North America (which is the US).

That car stopped at the side of the road near the coffee shop, but not near enough that the people at the coffee shop could see the car.

The back door opened, and a well-dressed man with black hair in a blue and black suit and steel rim glasses stepped out, with a briefcase.

He looked around to make sure he didn't attract too much attention, and confirming that the person at the coffee shop really was the one he was looking for, he walked to the shop.

"That's Luigi, for sure," he said to himself, and then his next thought was, and that young woman… a girlfriend of his, perhaps, or maybe just a friend? No matter.

He continued to walk in the direction of the twosome, and hoped that he would leave with the hope of success he came for.

"Want a piece of my muffin, Luigi?"

"It's okay. I've had my fill of a Mushroom Omelette this morning."

"Oh, alright. I just didn't want to feel too guilty of spending your coins on this break."

"That's okay. I can always get more."

Daisy gave a smile of gratitude to him, and finished her muffin. Luigi got up and disposed of his cup into the trash and sat back down.

"I've been thinking, Luigi," Daisy began. "Maybe we should race to Peach's castle instead. You still have some hype from the Special Cup Tour?"

"Oh yeah, definitely," Luigi replied. He tipped his hat and reached out a hand for Daisy to get up, which Daisy did take.

"Excuse me for interrupting your date, but would you happen to be Luigi?" said a nearby voice.

The twosome stared at the voice. Right there was a fairly tall man dressed in a suit and glasses. Both Luigi and Daisy turned slightly pink at the mention of 'date', but the man was able to break the few moments of silence.

"My name is Michael Fong, could you give me a few moments of your time, please?" he said. "I've got a brief proposal for you, so I'm told of your racing skills."

Daisy glanced at Luigi, who nodded at her and they both sat down again, Michael did the same.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Fong," Luigi extended his hand, in which Michael shook politely. "May I introduce my friend Princess Daisy?"

Daisy shook her hand with Michael's too, and then he cleared his throat.

"Well, I haven't fully introduced myself nor did I say why I'm here. Anyway, I am the general manager and assistant president of BMW Motorsport. You've heard of it, right?"

Both Luigi and Daisy stared at him, but immediately they displayed an emotion that showed they wanted to justify themselves.

Downtown Mushroom City: 1:37 PM

"I know about BMW," Luigi said. "Or Bayerische Motoren Werke, I think it's called. It's a car manufacturer in Germany. I've seen many of them on my touring trips, and I gotta say; they are fine cars and quite unique in taste."

In a conference centre in Mushroom City, Michael brought their lunch for them to eat in the previous hour. They figured it would be more logical to discuss his matters in private.

"Me too," Daisy agreed with Luigi. "I've known about BMW since they listed it in the newspapers here and I've seen several models. Ha, I've even driven one. But what's BMW Motorsport?"

Michael chuckled and put his briefcase on the table, without opening it. How impressive it is that they were both thinking the same thing.

"BMW, Bavarian Motor Works in English, has a division called M; hence the name Motorsport. They specialise in taking stock BMW cars and tuning them to virtually making them race ready."

"Well, BMW M also participates in the racing world as well. Our signature car, the M3, is our lightest and most effective car out there yet, and we're still preparing to develop new ones. Sadly, we had to retire it. But it's spirit lives in the BMW Z4 GT3, where it's powered by the M3's engine."

He unlocked his briefcase and gave out pictures of an alpine white M3, and an alpine white Z4 to Luigi and Daisy ("Here's our latest," he said) in which they examined closely with genuine interest.

"Carbon top…" Daisy muttered and passed it to Luigi.

Oh, I remember this car, he thought, looking at the M3.

After Luigi had finished looking at it, he turned his attention to Michael.

"Hey, Mr. Fong –"

"You can call me Michael," he interrupted. "I prefer not to be too formal to some extent."

"Okay, Michael," Luigi corrected casually. "Say, what events has BMW Motorsport participated or involved in? I'm sure there must be lots."

Michael reached into his briefcase and took out more photos and a file. He turned them to Luigi and Daisy again.

"The vingt-quatre heures du Mans, or should I say, the 24 Hours of Le Mans based in France, is one of our highest concentrated races we do annually. We stake a lot of commitment into that one race." (NOTE: If you're not too fluent in French, the 'Mans' part is pronounced 'maw' and not 'mans', the s is silent).

"24 hours?!" Daisy exclaimed. "How do drivers stay –" But Michael held up a hand for silence.

"We always have a team of at least four drivers to operate the car. But as I was saying, there were other races like the 1000 kilometres of Silverstone and the 6 Hours of Zhuhai which we normally do very well in our class. But it's fairly rare do we actually take an overall win against all the other classes."

"By 'classes'," Luigi asked. "Do you mean regulations?"

Michael took out a few more photos and explained at the same time. "Naturally in Le Mans races, American Le Mans Series and of course the 24 Hours, they divide up cars into Le Mans Prototypes and Grand Touring. Of course, it's not often we can beat an LMP; they're racing machines! Even so, our M3 had the stamina to survive the race, at least."

Daisy looked at the photo of a Peugeot LMP and compared it with the M3. The point was taken instantly, as the Peugeot had the aerodynamics to exceed the M3.

"I suppose you're not just here to show us pictures of race cars are you?" Luigi asked, although he had a hunch for Michael's answer.

"That's correct," Michael replied. "I've heard you have a sterling skill with racing since your finish at the Special Cup Tour, and I was hoping if you'd be interested to join us; Team BMW Motorsport, in a 24 hour race in Germany."

He gave a handout to Daisy, which read:

Zurich 24h ADAC Nürburgring

The 24h parts were in large red letters, and the logo beside it showed a hand, coloured light blue and black in the style of a checkered flag. The hand was gripping an analog stopwatch.

"Another 24 hours?!" Daisy exclaimed. "That sounds exactly like Le Mans!"

"Pretty much," Michael nodded. "In southern Germany, there is a circuit called the Nürburgring. It has about 88 corners and 24 kilometres a lap. This circuit has nothing but legend written all over it: every section is dangerous combined with the fact you and the car need to survive day and night. 24 hours, and that's the kind of thrill the people want."

"The Nürburgring devotes its racing class only to Grand Touring, so there's no chance of any LMPs appearing in the race. And henceforth gives us an improved chance of winning the Nürburgring this year."

He took out a form and a pen. "So, Luigi, would you like to join the team? Actually, I'm thinking of inviting others from around this country to join the team too. I'll write letters to them tonight."

Before Luigi could say anything, Daisy jumped in. "Hey! No fair! Why is it only Luigi who gets to enter?! Wouldn't it be fair if I could come with him, too? I can drive. And I'm telling you this, Michael, I placed sixth overall in the Special Cup Tour! Isn't that acceptable?"

"Princess Daisy," Michael scoffed. "I never said you couldn't come. I was only giving an open suggestion to Luigi. But if you're that optimistic on this race…"

Daisy was about to speak, but Luigi intervened first, saying, "Come on, Michael, I insist. I can trust that she's a really good driver. You've got to admit; a sixth place finish in the Special Cup Tour is a feat enough; especially when she was using a standard kart."

Michael grinned at the sight of their faces: Daisy's was a mix of embarrassment and delight and Luigi's was pink. He exhaled a breath between a laugh and pulled out a second form from his briefcase.

"These are application forms. When you've filled them, I'll be sending letters for others to join the team. When all that's done; you'll go through a bit of training, and then you'll qualify as Team BMW Motorsport drivers!"

The forms had the official BMW logo on top, followed by labels and name and residence… all the usual things. But the thing both Luigi and Daisy had trouble with was that the application requested a short half a page paragraph explaining why they chose to apply for Team BMW Motorsport.

"Michael," Luigi said. "How am I supposed to answer this question?"

"Build on something you like," he said back. "Think. Why, of all racing teams, did you pick BMW M? You don't have to include BMW, just something out of your own heart."

Daisy had a different mindset at that question. She simply wrote about: my desire to become a better driver than I was in the Special Cup Tour. Even though I came in sixth… and I also want to show my great friend Luigi my skills in motor sport too!

Mushroom City: 2:45 PM

After a while, Luigi found a suitable answer to the question… One reason I can say is, apart from being suggested by a member from the actual team, I want to participate in BMW M for the people who enjoy the race and those who race in it.

Michael took the applications and stood up. "Thanks for your time! I will ensure you'll get in. And since you two are nothing less than a couple, I think that'll benefit our racing time, too!"

"We're just friends –" Luigi started but Daisy nudged him.

"Kind words, Michael. Don't worry, we will make sure we'll get that finish at Nürburgring in first!"

She was the first to shake Michael's hand, and Luigi followed suit. Michael then piled everything into his briefcase and closed it afterward.

"I trust you can do as you say," Michael concluded. "I will send you a letter when I have finished gathering the team."

They took the elevator to the ground level of the conference centre where they parted ways. Michael walked over to his BMW 330i and entered the rear door and took off for the highway. This left Luigi and Daisy in a suspended position.

"You figure he'll get us in?" Luigi said.

"He really wanted us to, AND we've never done Grand Touring before," Daisy reasoned. "It should be a wonderful experience for us, as opposed to the Special Cup Tour."

"Yeah."

They walked away from the building to their parked karts. With lots of daylight, they decided to drive to Princess Peach's Castle at back as they previously agreed.

Lower Mushroom Kingdom: 8:17 PM

In a temporary BMW-rented building, Michael Fong was now confident that, after counselling with BMW Motorsport presidents and managers, Luigi and Daisy would be two of the drivers for the team. Drivers aside, he still needed to assemble a pit stop crew as well.

Right now, in front of him, were applicants with completed forms ready to hand to him. Michael never thought that at such a late time did people start to apply to Team BMW Motorsport. But he needed a massive team to participate in the 24 hour race, he might as well work with what he has.

"You are…?" He said to the little character in front of him, who had something of a mushroom on top of his head. A helmet, maybe?

"Toad," he said, his voice high-pitched. "I've heard BMW M is in the country, and I think you'd want some help in races of yours. Could I apply for the role of tire catcher? What do they do?"

Michael opened a file and searched through for the description.

"In the pit crew, we have three essential roles. One of these three parts, like you said, is the tire catcher. They have the stamina to remove tires and carry them away efficiently from the car. Do you think you could manage?"

"Yeah, I can do that!" Toad said. "In fact, I have three friends of mine here, called Toad, who'd are also interested in the job too! I even have their application forms here on their behalf!"

Michael was speechless as Toad happily handed him three additional BMW Motorsport applications. After taking that in, he reached out to shake Toad's hand.

"I'm telling this to you and your friends; welcome to Team BMW Motorsport. I will send you guys letters eventually to date a meeting for the entire team."

"Thank you, Mr. Fong!" Toad said. "My friends and I will do our best! All for Team BMW M!"

Toad left the room with four applications in hand and a content smile on his face. Michael had a smile on his face too, and he wrote down neat notes on his file.

Lower Mushroom Kingdom: 8:39 PM

Another character walked in a while later. Michael examined him closely: a Koopa.

"My name's Koops," said the Koopa. "I'm a local in this region. Say, I've noticed your three-part pit crew roles. Can I apply with my friends for the post of tire carrier? I promise I won't let you down."

Michael had half a cup of espresso sitting right next to his right hand. As he had been working in the dark for the past hour and possibly into the night, he needed all the focus he could get. He drank a decent sip and looked at the application in front of him.

"I could trust you with the job," Michael said. "But would you have the speed and efficiency – not to mention precision! – to do this? In the pit stop: precision will be the matter between victory and defeat at the end of those 24 hours."

Koops brought his friends in the room to discuss Michael's words of warning. But they immediately turned to face him.

"Speed and efficiency we can do," said Koops. "We can simply pop into our shells to bring the tire on it from a distance, and then we can bring the tire from our hands onto the car."

Michael was partly convinced by Koops' argument, but still had another warning.

"Could I trust you guys to put the tire on the car precisely?" he deeply emphasised the word. "If the tire isn't put on right; the car's wheel alignment may alter, and that will badly affect the driving! It could cost us an hour to climb back to a high rank."

The Koopas were silent. Koops spoke up at the last minute.

"With some thorough training, we'll manage," he assured.

After ten more minutes of discussion, Michael was satisfied with the Koopas' passion for the race and how promising their efficiency would be. Soon after that, Michael accepted Koops and his friends into Team BMW Motorsport.

"You won't regret this," Koops said. "I'll expect your letters soon!"

"I won't take too long," Michael assured. "Just long enough to finish every letter correctly."

He then shook hands with Koops, each Koopa and called for adjournment. They left with traces of excitement on their faces, and Michael took the fact that he got ten members into Team BMW Motorsport. Maybe, this might be BMW's year to win the Nürburgring; the first time in years.

Lower Mushroom Kingdom: 9:57 PM

If anyone wasn't tired after nine hours of solid work into the night, Michael Fong was for certain one of them. Although he managed to get a major part of Team BMW Motorsport filled, there was still a number of positions needed to be filled. He had a list of people of the Mushroom Kingdom laid out beside him, and a computer with a blank page in front of him.

"More letters…" Michael yawned. "I've got to keep writing… but to whom?"

He glanced at the positions list: he still needed two more drivers to drive the race car for example, and this was followed by a need for four wheel gun carriers, someone to carry the fuel tank for the car, someone to power the pneumatic air jack to raise the car for changing tires…

The cup of espresso had been refilled by him at the coffee machine. He needed to focus, no matter how tiresome it was, and get the letters written to a select few of the Mushroom Kingdom…

He picked up the espresso and drank one mouthful of it. After that he put it down and laid one hand on the keyboard and the other on his pen and file.

Think, who might be suitable for these positions?

He began to write a few notes in his file and continued to think about more potential members…

I could give you guesses who would be in charge of these positions, but I've already decided who they are. Let me know if you're interested to read about a 24-hour race! Actually, I'm a little scared to write about it myself!