Red Racer Factory

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

Information
The various ghouls encountered in the initial levels exhibit the curiousity of suffering from exploding heads after death, accompanying an electronic "chirp", the sound made by a mine prior to exploding (which can be confusing if the player tends to aim for the head, as the sound will be played after the enemy's death anyway, even if there is no head to explode anymore). 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.

Location
The Red Racer Factory is northeast of the Nuka-Cola Plant (west of Hubris Comics). To get there, you have to travel north from the Nuka-Cola Plant until you reach Dot's Diner. From there, travel east to the factory.

Notable Loot

 * A copy of Dean's Electronics is well hidden near a toolbox on top of the machinery in the first assembly room straight forward from the main entrance. This room has a Giant Teddy Bear on a tricycle hanging from the ceiling. Jump up onto the barrels to the left of the machine to get on top and find the book.
 * 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. It's on a shelf.
 * 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).

Outside:

 * Goalie Ledoux will be standing in the parking lot outside the main entrance to the factory if you have obtained the Nuka-Cola Clear Formula as part of the Just for the Taste of It unmarked quest. He wears a unique mask named Ledoux's Hockey Mask that gives the wearer +25 Action Points and has a damage resistance of 4. (He will not appear if you finish the Nuka Cola Challenge quest before bringing him the formula)
 * East of the factory across the parking lot and in between the buildings across the street is a very well off Raider with a few guard dogs, Guns and Bullets on a counter, a spork on the shelf opposite of the counter, U.S. Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes next to the footlocker near the bed, a missile launcher, missiles, a Flamer, Flamer fuel, and a heap of food.
 * Immediately south of the factory in an overturned, radioactive trucking container with barrels and a dead body is a copy of Grognak the Barbarian (sometimes the dead body may not spawn).
 * On top of the overpass to the north of the factory is Scavenger's Bridge where a scavenger has three skill books (1x Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual, 1x Duck and Cover, and 1x Grognak the Barbarian). They cannot be purchased, only stolen. They're on a shelf in the scavenger's shop. Overpass can be recognized by a wrecked cargo truck underneath and can also be accessed by following the road starting from the Grayditch sewer.

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, didn't happen on 360). You can get in stefan's cage without using the key, get out a melee weapon,(proven with Jack) and target him in VATS and you will attack him in the cage. be warned though this is quite useless beacause if you did not get the key you will be stuck in the cage with no way out, unless the console is used.

Related Quests

 * Just for the Taste of It