[AEC] Arbitrary Engineering Challenge #1 [Completed]

Community Challenges & Competitions
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For some reason I thought I put in steel rather than fibreglass, but I also can’t remember now. (checks files: yes, it is steel. I checked its stats with fibreglass and it goes to $21k in price, would’ve bumped to 37 MPG and 2:36.) I imagine in this particular IC context, steel vs fibreglass is (as alluded to) a decision of centralised vs decentralised production :slight_smile:

I came into this basically going “this needs to have some sort of sporting credibility even though it’s also an eco car” and figured that “hot hatch” - and in my lore “adaptation of existing hot hatch for this weird market” - was the way to go. In retrospect, went too far in minimising tyre profile to reduce weight :rofl: - but it looks like my approach has given me a unique finalist, and I’m now 2-0 at avoiding the :wastebasket: in all competitions so YAY!

Love how Xoury’s wagon got “repurposed as a rural rescue services vehicle” :slight_smile:

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Finals

A day later, you hear a broadcast over the radio.

WE HAVE MADE A SELECTION FOR THE NEW CAR OF THE PEOPLE! WE SHALL HAVE THE Decarlis, CREATED BY COMRADE @Arn38fr.

This decision was made based on the overall cost of the car. While it’s not the best fuel eco of the bunch, it is still very high, and the cost to manufacture it is relatively low.

If I had to place the final cars in order of top 4, I’d have to go with.

@mgobla for second place. The fuel economy can’t be beat, but the price is just too high, and the springs are questionable.

Third place is @ShinyBat. The car is the fastest car on the track, but the other features of the car seemed a bit… off. The tires are rubber bands. The fully clad undertray is a bit unusual, but there were no restrictions placed on trays. As a result, it did make it to the finals, but doesn’t quite clinch the top spot.

@reeve509 gets fourth place. This car was pretty good all around, but is just average among the top three cars. The use of steel is appreciated, and the car is overall a reasonable shitbox, it just didn’t quite cut the mustard, as a result of being THE average for eco.

Honorable mention to @Xoury. Couldn’t quite cut the mustard on the eco either, but it was a very interesting concept car.

I enjoyed doing this contest, and I hope you enjoyed participating in it.

Just a question now. Who should host the next round, and when should we do it?

  • Have Admiral make another round.
  • Have the winner, or the next in line make the next round.
  • Don’t do another round until the next patch comes out.

0 voters

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7 Likes
85

Can i come? I have a bottle of ginger ale and chips.

2 Likes
86

You’re good at this, Admiral. Definitely I’d say keep ownership of it for now. Perhaps in the future you could wind up as a sort of “executive director” of AEC, helping other people host it and keep in the spirit. And yes, I absolutely hope this concept lasts long enough for us to talk about AEC in these terms :slight_smile:

Quite happy with third place, I think I went a little aggressive on “sporty” because I didn’t want to completely miss that part of the brief, but getting 35 MPG out of the fastest car in the field was pretty satisfying and allowed me to leap way over the hurdle of “didn’t mess up” I’m going to keep setting myself even though I’ve now leapt it comfortably in both challenges I’ve done :stuck_out_tongue:

Congrats to @Arn38fr - thoroughly deserved winner.

2 Likes
87

Of course, all are welcome at The Instabin, which is wherever the competition after-party is located!!!

Congrats @Arn38fr on your win. Not only did your car have excellent stats, but you also did it with a lreal world sized body as well, instead of a tiny exercise in engineering exuberance!

Can’t wait for the next AEC; weird challenges are surprisingly fun to do… :nerd_face::grin::nerd_face:

3 Likes
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Already looking forward to pushing the frontier of cheapness with the next one hah

also, bundaberg is some seriously good stuff

2 Likes
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I am a bit surprised to win this challenge. Especially since it was necessary to modify the engine 10 mintues before sending the file: the block and the cylinder head were made of aluminum …

I look forward to the next challenge!

Thank you @Admiral_Obvious

3 Likes
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Here’s the draft for the next one.

1 Like