Sno-Cat

Initially published in COMPUTE!'s Gazette 1984/08 (Issue #14) / a.k.a. "Snowcar", it was later released in Ahoy! 1986/05 (Issue #29) as Ski Folly and then in Robtek's Slalom. The Sno-Cat is a super-powered turbo-driven tractor that can go zero to fifty in less than a second. It has a minor problem, however: It shifts its own gears. It starts in second, shifts into third automatically after ten seconds, then into fourth

after fifty seconds. It can't go any higher, but it doesn't need to. It's difficult to maintain control in third gear, let alone fourth.

Fortunately you have brakes, very powerful brakes that will slow you down to almost zero in tricky situations. To stop overuse, the brakes (controlled by the fire button or space bar) cause the distance meter to stop as long as the brakes are pressed. But the timer still runs, so your time may be impaired by using the brakes too much.