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Icaras are an Anti-Gravity racing team based in Great Britain and sourced worldwide by multiple independent parties. They are best known for their craft being lightweight and incredibly fast, which earns them the fan-favourite status, both lore-wise and in real life.

History[]

Entrepreneur Burnston Burns had already been well-known for his publicity stunts, as seen in the extra pair of eyes on his forehead to advertise his digital spectacle product, Four-Ize. However, as time passed, Burns found himself struggling to keep his business afloat. Fortunately, one day, he stumbled upon Anti-Gravity racing, leading him to take an interest in it, and eventually start his own team.

This new team, which he named Icaras, was established in 2109 as a pet project after claiming he was able to build an AG racing team from scratch within seven months. Later on, he registered Icaras to the Anti-Gravity Race Commission to compete in the F7200 League. It seemed that the reason Burns wanted to do such a thing was mainly due to the large contributions from various businesses around the world willing to take part in the project.

As a technical project separate from large conglomerates, Icaras lacks major funding and relies on multiple independent investors to form its budget. As an AG racing team, Icaras appears to epitomize the pure spirit of racing, favouring performance, creativity and ingenuity, while eschewing violent tactics and aggression. The team's craft for the F7200 League was defined by a very light build and forward-swept wings. With all of this, it made sense for the team to introduce what they called "a new approach" to AG racing.

Unfortunately, the Icaras team's proposed approach didn't turn out the way they had hoped. Their craft would often fail to make it through a race intact, making even finishing a race a cause for celebration – Icaras didn't finish a single race during their first two years of racing. This led to team pilots complaining that the tracks were unsuitable for their craft. Icaras shut down following Burns' death in 2140. His son, Terence, sold off most of the team's assets and hid the rest away, not wanting anyone to remember the Icaras name ever again.

Fifty-nine years later, Icaras was revived. Under the new leadership of Burnston's grandson, Connor Burns, along with a new headquarters in Great Britain, the new Icaras team is a much more serious entry as opposed to the pet project of their F7200 days. Once they finished their new craft, which appeared to retain almost all the traits of their original F7200 craft, Icaras made a return to AG racing for the FX300 League. Despite such a late appearance, they quickly gained popularity as they competed in races and became increasingly more competitive.

However, Icaras would also make enemies of the European team that is FEISAR, even though it is still unknown whether or not Great Britain really had splintered off FEISAR as the latter always suspected. But back then, FEISAR was revealed to be the one responsible for the disappearance of the then-hidden remnants of the original Icaras team. Using those remnants, FEISAR accordingly began showing unusually dominant performances during the closing years of the F7200 League, and this continued until 2170.

Apart from their newfound conflict with FEISAR, Icaras once again became a late entry for the FX400 League, as they were still working on their craft due to slow funding. Despite this, Connor Burns had promised that the craft would be the fastest thing of the time, so as to challenge Piranha for the fastest craft on the grid. Needless to say, Burns himself was eager to continue his late grandfather's legacy that he had restarted.

FX400 Background[]

Icaras were the perennial underdogs in the F7200 era racing of the early 2100's. Scoffed at by the larger teams, but firm favourite with the fans, Burnston Burns' outfit never quite enjoyed the success of the elite teams. For them, finishing a race was a victory in itself – doing so in the top half of the field was cause for champagne and back slapping behaviour that those at the head of the grid would think beneath them.

That was then. The FX400 is now. The name might be the same, but the Icaras operation of 2207 is a different animal entirely. Well drilled and despite their modest budget, their speed is blinding. The only other chassis with the same kind of top-end is that of Piranha, and even their expertise and riches can't help them match the Icaras in terms of acceleration.

Team Director Connor Burns admits, "We make no pretence about it – the speed and acceleration comes from our lack of armour, so we're weak in the shield department. But if they want to take advantage of that, they'll have to catch us first."

FX400 Message[]

Statement issued by Icaras Team Director, Connor Burns, North Weald, GB

Get ready, Icaras fans – our SunGod FX350/FX400 craft is going to be the fastest thing on the track in 2207. You'll need to set your holo-cams to their fastest data rate and hope you don't blink, because you'll miss us if you do!

If you've been checking out the Icaras datacast you'll already know that in pre-season testing we were quick off the marks and untouchable in a straight line. Yes, Piranha has said they can match us for pace, but by the time their ship gets up to speed ours will be spec on the horizon.

Of course, we couldn't have that speed without sacrificing some shield strength, so we'll be looking to recruit pilots who have scored well in precision and race strategy at the MAGEC Academy to add to our roster for 2207.

Before the team travels to Makana for the opening rounds of the FX400, you can come and meet the team and see the new SunGod race craft up close by attending the Icaras Fan Festival at our base in North Weald, England.

Be sure to connect to the Icaras datacast for further details in the weeks ahead.

Icaras – Flying High

Appearance, Evolution and Stats[]

Icaras ships are known for two important traits – High top speed and very low durability. Their ships are typically the fastest overall in every game the team has appeared so far, but also the weakest in terms of shielding, making them extremely easy targets for elimination. Due to such an outstanding top speed and abysmal shields, the use of airbrakes becomes an absolute necessity to keep these ships in one piece, no matter how easy they handle or how fast they accelerate.

Throughout the series, the ships have always retained a forward-swept wing design, supposedly reflecting the enhanced maneuverability at higher speeds. The ship designs also feature stabilizing canards at either the front or the mid-section, and the cockpit is put at the far rear. Apart from these design traits, their appearances have differed everytime.

In Wipeout 3, the design was the flimsiest among the team ships, even to date, with an incredibly thin fuselage, large rear wings, and medium-sized canards on the front. With the bulk of the engines in the wings, the ship was essentially a stick attached to a powerful engine.

In Wipeout Pure, however, the ship has a different design, with the rear wings elongated and the canards now stretching along over half the ship to more-or-less become the front fuselage itself. The ship looks more like a bulkier work of engineering, although it still has the low shields as before.

In Wipeout Pulse, the design was tweaked very little and is almost the same as the previous league, but the design has become slightly wider, heavier, and bulkier, with larger canards and wings being pushed slightly towards the main body of the ship.

Their Wipeout HD model returns the ship design to its roots, with the fuselage becoming slimmer, and shallow front canards, as well as the mid-body extensions merged into the forward-swept rear wings that dominate the design.

Finally, the Fury model has omitted the canards almost altogether, favouring a more angular and staggered design based on the HD body. The rear wings are still present with their forward-swept design, but are less of an acute appearance. Strength-wise, however, it remains vulnerable to heavier hits from attacks, especially with a direct hit from Plasma.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • The name of this team is often misspelled as the name of Greek mythological figure Icarus, yet it is very likely that the name Icarus is the inspiration for this team.
    • This misspelling has become a running gag among the Wipeout fanbase, as well as in Wipeout Merge.
  • Burnston Burns' death in 2140 was due to a rather humorous incident where he accidentally swallowed a balloon at a children's party.
  • It is often claimed, especially in fan sources, that Great Britain broke away from being one of FEISAR's member states in order to resurrect the Icaras team in preparation for the FX300 League, although the official canon never proves this to be true. According to popular belief, this may have foreshadowed Brexit, where the United Kingdom politically left the European Union in 2020.

Notes[]

  1. The official Wipeout 3 website lists Icaras' country of origin as "Various", likely because the team was funded by various investors. In fact, Icaras was not given a proper country of origin until Wipeout Pulse.
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