Phenomena and Urban Legends in ESPLAR

In the ESPLAR Universe, there have been a series of interesting and mysterious phenomena and urban legends. Some of them are related directly to racing lore of the series itself, while others, not so much.

## List of confirmed phenomena

* Curse of Emil Epitaph: Since 1977, the so-called "Emil Epitaph" has been the driving force behind the legacy of failure of Mylo-Kerrivan Motorsports. In their current incarnation, the team has never won a single Morson-Austin Trophy, coming close several times but losing it in the end.
* Haksim's Pledge: Named after Kazuichi Saihara's crew chief during his championship year in 2011, Dremin Haksim, this "pledge" was made after Kazuichi Saihara was not renewed for a second season in Team Nitra, replacing him with Jan Henkla. Kaz vowed that Team Nitra would not win a Morson-Austin trophy for 10 years after Arroyo retires. So far, this has held true since 2012 as Team Nitra never saw championship success after Jose Antonio Arroyo retired at the end of 2012.
* Perkhar Conundrum: A phenomena which until Kira Eronthade solved in 2020 was difficult to explain. Prior to ESPLAR Lites' adopting the standardized bodywork for the 2021 season, mysterious "t-shaped" antennas were inserted into the roof flaps of several cars, including Julius Andersson in the 2019 ESPLAR Lites series and both Team Maxima cars in 2020 ESPLAR Lites. Upon closer inspection, a tiny device was found which confirmed Kira's worst fears of potential espionage used by Arktene to further develop their cars without consent of drivers. Kira concluded that Arktene did not obtain ESPLAR Lites' permission to install these antennas, resulting in a lawsuit ESPLAR v. Arktene in which Arktene was forced to obtain first drivers' permission before installing them.

## List of unconfirmed (or rumored) phenomena

* Hattenfield, Altruras is rumored to house 3 cards which hold mysterious powers relating to a folk tale in the island popular in the 1960s. The folk tale indicates that the cards hold the key to "self-autonomous control" of race cars that were commissioned for use in ESPLAR during the period. These were continually denied over the years.
* This same above folk tale became even more popularized in 1973 when 4 cars racing in the Evanshire 600 grenaded their engines at the same time, each with unexplained causes. In 1980, 2 drivers grenaded their engines at the same time which was the last time this phenomena was popular.
* A mysterious illness befell Max Edwards in the year following his retirement from the ESPLAR Elite Series. His death was not until June 29 2003, but considering how young he was, it is said that ESPLAR itself might have contributed to the illness itself.
* Since ESPLAR transitioned to faster and safer racing, one strange phenomena befell Yoshihiro Ishikawa. He was severely injured twice, one of his teammates in Formula Supercar also suffered a similar fate (Naoki Fujimoto) and Aoto Miyazami almost did not race in the 2020 Evanshire 700 because of the risk of injury.
* There's a popular theory among ESPLAR fans that suggest that Naoto Kazami, the 2019-20 Formula NX champion is "patient zero" for the BNV20 virus. Because of links between his condition following the 2020 German Grand Prix, where he was treated and the origin of BNV20 in Bonn, where Naoto was treated during the ESPLAR Summer break, it could be speculated that he could unknowingly become a carrier for the virus. However, the hospital where Naoto was treated a second time denies all links between Naoto and BNV20. There's also a rumor of the virus is not what it is classified currently, but rather is a nanobot from Arktene itself.