CSR 108: Get (Rally) Schooled!
Previous round
The Car Shopping Round general guide
BACKGROUND
Emu Crocker Rally School, somewhere near Brisbane, 2012
The usually-silent forest was cut short by a groaning and hissing Kinusoka Chisana Eko, as it swerved through corners of the course made of dirt, rocks, and mud. The driver, tense but smiling wider than a Cheshire cat, gripped the steering wheel to commandeer the agile car left and right, up and down, at speeds no typical person would call “safe”. The voice, sounding calm but still crystal clear through all the noise, gave out instructions on how he should approach every turn.
But suddenly…
CRACK! screeeeeeeech crackle crackle CRASH!!!
The car suddenly lost all steering control after a jump and barged itself face first into a fence. Nearby spectators frantically ran to the car, trying to push it out of the ditch, but the car’s front was already planted into the fence and refused to budge.
“You alright, mate?” the driving instructor asked.
The driver, still shocked, took some time to recover his scattered courage before he could speak. “Y-yeah, I guess. What just happened?”
“I think… The steering rack is busted. I’ll call us a tow truck.”
Back at the facility’s garage, the totaled Chisana got towed in, while the driver-instructor duo swapped into another car.
One of the mechanics shook his head at the sad sight. He’s already noticed the steering problem before this fateful day.
“Well, shit, it finally happened. This is already the third Chisana that’s been trashed, and it’s only a couple years old.”The other mechanic chimed in to his concern. “This is why you don’t buy cars at a 50% discounted price, there has to be something fishy going on.”
“What do we do, then? Tell the boss that we need replacement?”
Some hours later, one of the mechanics visited the manager’s office.
“Hey Boss, I think it’s time for a replacement for the whole Chisana fleet. They’re apparently a lot more trouble than they’re worth.”
The manager, Earl “Emu” Crocker, looked displeased with the statement.
“What are you talking about? Those cars seem perfectly fine to me.”“They’re not. And with only two cars active, we’re starting to run short on the fleet.”
BRIEF
The Emu Crocker Rally School needs a new fleet of beginner cars to replace the less-than-reliable Kinusoka Chisana Eko. But, as they are a relatively new school with limited funds and spare cars to expend, Crocker only gives the team a tight budget to spend on the new cars. Thus, that car needs to be really good at doing its (potentially unintended) job so it could serve the school for a long time.
Do note that they are not looking for a pre-modified rally car, but rather a cheap, easy-to-maintain and bulletproof base car that is decent enough to be yeeted around gravel and mud.
RULES
Chassis:
Trim and Variant year - 2012
(model and engine year can be older)Preferred body style - Hatchback, sedan
(coupe and wagon are still viable, but everything else may be a hard sell)
Engine:
Maximum Engine Production Units (PU) - 35
Maximum Engine Engineering Time (ET) - 110
Fuel octane - 95 RON / 90 AKI
3-way cat required
Maximum engine noise - 35 (government regulation)
Trim:
Maximum Trim Production Units (PU) - 100
Maximum Trim Engineering Time (ET) - 105
Maximum Estimated Price - $25.000
Interior - At least equipped with Basic CD
(I mean come on, what new production car has no stereo in it?)Seating - 4 seats minimum, or 2 if there’s no second row
Maximum Brake Size - 300mm
(as most common rally tyres are only made for up to 15” rims)Minimum Environmental Resistance - 46
Minimum Safety - 40 (also government regulation)
At least ESC required (don’t blame us, blame the government)
Manual gearbox preferred although not mandatory
Note: You will get called out when you use questionable and/or minmax design choices.
JUDGING
So, what is put into consideration?
Ease to drive.
The car should be easy enough to be driven by beginners (or even pros!) from a wide range of age. Would an absolute green choose an overpowered, fully-fledged AWD car around the dirt course for their first rally experience? Of course some will do, but if they hit a tree and total the car due to inexperience, that’s not going to end well for either party.Reliability.
This is the most important part, as the car will see a lot of crashes and abuse on the dirt track. Having a good reliability will save the car more downtime spent on the workshop.Budget.
This should go without saying, but the rally school at the end of the day is a business, and they like to save as much money where they can.Service costs.
If the car is cheaper to repair than most, this will give it a considerable advantage over its competition.
Not as important, but might make a difference:
Sportiness.
Sportiness can give your car some edge, but not by a significant amount. Heck, if the car’s well equipped the school might don’t even need to spend an extra dime for aftermarket parts!Safety option.
While the car may be installed with a roll cage inside, other safety features such as extensively reinforced crumple zones are indispensable towards the car’s rigidity when a particularly nasty crash happens. In other words, the better the safety option, the less lawsuit paperwork–err I mean more favored the car is.Fuel economy.
Yes, these cars aren’t used for a typical road-going scenario, but as long as the school can save extra gas money then why not, right?
Least in importance:
Comfort.
As long as the car doesn’t feel cramped or outright break the test driver’s back pre-conversion (a.k.a. not in the single digit), it should do fine.Design.
This won’t really be a factor. We’ve had ugly cars in the past that can surprisingly rip the dirt track very well. As long as it doesn’t scare the trainees, then you shouldn’t really have anything to worry about.And others.
Pretty much everything else that’s not mentioned in the list is not likely going to be looked upon. This includes Off-road stat, because the school will do the off-road conversion (tires, skid plates, and suspension if necessary) themselves.
SUBMISSION
Send a PM containing your .car file to either me, @goblin95, or @Centurion_23!
You must also make an ad of your car and post it to this thread.
The naming system, now with visual guide for those new to CSR:
RESUBMISSION IS NOT ALLOWED!
We are judging your cars using the Open Beta branch.
Before submitting, please make sure that your car meets all of the requirements, especially on ET and PU. Even a 0.1 difference will warrant yourself a bin.
Most mods are allowed (except furry mods).
If you’re still confused, don’t hesitate to ask us a question!
Submissions will open on 7 August, 23:59 (GMT +7).
The deadline is 14 August, 23:59 (GMT +7).
Click here for a countdown until deadline.
Have fun and good luck to everyone!
uwu
