Red Racer Factory

The Red Racer Factory is an abandoned tricycle factory in the Capital Wasteland.

Information
The Red Racer tricycle factory is where you will meet Goalie Ledoux and two members of his gang, Sudden-Death Overtime. It's situated one map square to the northeast of the Nuka-Cola Plant, although you can't go due northeast from there, per se. Instead go north, then turn east when you come across a diner up a hill.

The various ghouls encountered in the initial levels exhibit the curiousity of suffering from exploding heads after death, accompanying an electronic "chirp". Further exploration, particularly into the CEO Offices, reveals super mutants, also with a penchant for bursting heads after death. Eventually, a mad scientist known as "The Surgeon", armed with a missile launcher, will accost the player. Reading the various computers reveals that The Surgeon was apparently experimenting with enthralling various mutant creatures with a brain implant. It is revealed that the reason for their heads exploding was a means of cover-up, and also as a failsafe in the event that he loses control. The player can activate the failsafe if they have the Science skill needed to hack the computer terminals with the option, thus killing most of the creatures in the factory.

There is also a Glowing One named Stefan, who is revealed from the notes of the Surgeon to be a particularly prized thrall. On The Surgeon's body is a key that will open up two safes nearby and the cage holding Stefan, as well as a Missile Launcher and the Surgeon's Lab Coat.


 * Note: The Surgeon could either be a man or a woman, but this has no effect on any possible dialogue or combat.


 * Note: Wearing the Ghoul Mask will make the mad scientist a friendly person

Location
The Red Racer Factory is northeast of the Nuka Cola Plant (west of Hubris Comics).

Notable Loot

 * Goalie Ledoux wears a unique mask named Ledoux's Hockey Mask that gives the wearer +25 Action Points and has a damage resistance of 4.
 * D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine under a bucket, on top of a large machine, next to a tool box, turpentine, ammo box and hammer at the eastern side of the factory floor - just northwest of the easternmost room. Must drop down from a catwalk onto a covered catwalk. This area is difficult to find, and you'll need to run all the way around the upstairs areas in order to reach this room.  Once on the covered catwalk, it's located between two generators up a small step ladder.  (One way to identify the correct room is that on the floor level there is a conveyor belt with two red lights on either side where it enters the walls.) It should be underneath a bucket.
 * You can find Nikola Tesla and You In the CEO Offices behind a locked door, as soon as you enter the Offices you turn the corner, first door to your left (Lockpicking Average = 50 required).
 * A copy of Dean's Electronics is well hidden near a toolbox above the machinery in the first assembly room straight forward from the main entrance. Jump up onto some barrels to get onto one of the machines and find it.
 * You can acquire The Surgeon's Lab Coat in the factory. The Surgeon is located in the CEO offices. The lab coat grants +10 Medicine and +5 Science.
 * There is a bottle of Nuka-Cola Quantum in the factory. It can be found in the CEO Offices inside Stefan's cage (The Surgeon's prized ghoul).
 * Southeast of the factory there is a Raider camp in a dead end alley where you can find Guns and Bullets on a counter, a spork on the shelf opposite of the counter, and U.S. Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes next to the footlocker near the bed.

Bugs
When using an energy weapon such as the Plasma Rifle or Laser Pistol, if a critical hit is made thus turning the creature to goo/ash, the script that calls for the head explosion (i.e., the failsafe put in by The Surgeon) will still occur, and the head will explode in chunks as though it were still there (it will explode out of the remains a few moments later). These chunks will identify as the creature you'd just killed, does not enable double looting from the same corpse. If you shoot in the heads in VATS mode, the game may freeze probably because of those built-in chips (confirmed on PS3 version).

Related Quests

 * Just for the Taste of It