Dalnit-Bralka Rally 1965 [FINAL RESULTS!]

[RaduST]

Kingdom of Romania, 1961 - a time of great economical growth after a more than 10 year struggle to recover from the disasters of the Second World War.

At the initiative of His Royal Highness King Mihai I, a true car passionate since early age, a new auto company is established, financed directly by the Royal House of Romania.

Technical headquarters and the factory are set in the historical city of Alba Iulia - the place where the unification of the three Romanian Provinces was signed on the 1st of December 1918.

The Company was named Apulum, the old Roman name of the city.

A team of the most gifted Romanian engineers - coming mainly from the Malaxa Auto Workshop and I.A.R - Romanian Aircraft Factory - was assembled with the task to develop a light and nimble sport coupe suited for the Romanian twisted mountain routes, like the Transfăgărășan.

The model, called Gerula after an ancient military Dacian leader, was developed in less than 3 years and by mid 1964 it was presented to the general public and production begun at Alba Iulia.

The car was power by a small 1900cc V6 mounted transversely and powering the front wheels.

When news of the Dalnit-Bralka Challenge started to emerge in the newspapers King Mihai saw a great opportunity to make his new brand known across the world, so he urged the engineers to prepare one of the cars as quickly as possible.

Trouble was, none of them had actual experience in high level racing design so the modification made were nothing more than what an amateur would do:

Back seats were removed, the ride height was raised so the car could tackle rough roads, additional engine protection was fitted. A new high flow exhaust system was fitted, mainly for reliability and robustness, but otherwise the engine remained stock.

The honor of driving the car was given to two Second World War Romanian fighter pilots and Aces of the sky: Captain Constantin “Bâzu” Cantacuzino and Captain Alexandru “Alecu” Șerbănescu. After the war they both had careers in aerobatic aviation, motorcycle and car racing and although they were by no standards young men anymore the choise was more than fitted.

Captain Constantin “Bâzu” Cantacuzino:

Captain Alexandru “Alecu” Șerbănescu:

The two man who served Romania so bravely during the war were determined to come back home with a honorable result.

[RaduST]

Now that I posted my story I have to ask you something. The game acts a little weird. It calculates my top speed at 200 kph, but with a 216 gearing setting the car has to trouble in actually reaching the top speed of around 220 kph in the first 1/3 of the straight line at Nutsoring. It spends the remaining of the straight line bouncing off the rev limiter at a constant speed of ~220 kph. If I’m not mistaking this was a bug a long time ago and it had something to do with a wing, but with the wing removed it does exactly the same. If I further increase the theoretical gearbox top speed the game crashes.

Note: It is very likely that I will not get to compete in this even if I sort this out. I use open beta and my only hope was that since we are so close to a new major update maybe the open beta and the stable are actually identical build. That hope was largely shattered because today when I opened the game a small update was installed.

[koolkei]

@RaduST maybe it’s just the track? like the first 1/3 is a slight incline? which not matter much on low and mid speed, but near the top end, even the slightest thing will hold the car back.

i went with an OP engine again… 180-ish hp from a v6. on which, i may or may not put complete disregard to fuel economy…i think it’s gonna bite me in the ass again. i didn’t do the math…

[HowlerAutomotive]

On Nutsoring, there is a steady 10% incline all the way from Wiesmann to Valkyrie, which should help your car reach its top speed more easily. Trebuchet is banked to further assist in this. (Valkyrie is banked outward, because it’s the Valkyrie.) Modern supercars will reasonably easily break the 400km/h limit on The Long Howl.

I can confirm that in the current stable build, the game will crash on Nutsoring if you set your maximum geared top speed too far beyond the engine power/areo limit the game tells you (which in your case seems to be the 200km/h you mention). This issue has been reported to the developers, but meanwhile can be addressed reasonably easily when designing the car, as you have discovered, by keeping your gearing closer to home.

I went and double checked with both cars I’ve made, and both seem to accelerate steadily through Trebuchet and the start of The Long Howl, though the rate of acceleration is much slower once they get above 200kmh or so. At the end of the day, they can only reach the speeds they do thanks to the incline. If your car completely stops accelerating for a while, I’m not sure what’s up. Could be something to do with the beta.

@koolkei the Howler’s fuel consumption in g/kWh is (only just) in the four digits. I know I’m going to regret that.

[DeusExMackia]

@phale…However much I’d love Justin Trudeau to be the leader of my country (seriously his political views are identical to mine and he’s seriously good looking), I am in fact from little ol’ England

@RaduST Now THAT is some serious backstory!

[phale]

I’m aware of that… Just having some fun with the ‘Canadians say sorry’ stereotype

[Speedemon]

Me, on the other hand, is from Canada.

[DeusExMackia]

And what a stereotype it is…
Britain: Tea and a stiff upper lip.
America: FREEDOM
Canada: Oh terribly sorry I didn’t realise we were doing stereotypes sorry sorry sorry

No offence to you @Speedemon

[thecarlover]

The government-run Archanan company of H.A. began its rally heritage in 1965. This is the year the communist Archanan government decided to allow exports of some H.A. models to certain countries in order to bring in money for the government. The reasoning was that developing a rally model based on the popular 250 family car should bring some recognition and prestige to the company. Of course, the rally car was of a much better build quality than the one available for sale since 1960, with additional features and an entirely different engine that was engineered to be more than just cheap and easy to manufacture.

Here is the 1965 H.A. 250 Avtoralli, in H.A. livery that includes the national colours of Archana: red and gold.

The only visible changes from the consumer model are the addition of rally lights, the rear lip spoiler, and of course the roof mounted spares.

The drivers for the rally are Vladimir and Artyom (the government kept their full names secret) and high hopes were placed on them and the car, as it stood as an important milestone for H.A. and the glory of Archana.

[lysambrias]

G+C Engineering couldn’t pass up an opportunity for an extended reliability test of their latest creation, a 1.95L V6 with a lightweight aluminum block. The engine will power a rally-tuned version of their compact Cascadia CS in a tasty mint green. Lucky drivers will be the plucky Ethan Irving and stoic veteran Clark Morrison. Cheers to the Dalnit-Braka Rally!

[HowlerAutomotive]

Just a quick update on the numbers. I think I got everyone, but if not, make noise.

I have so far received entries from:
1.) abg7
2.) Madrias
3.) RK38
4.) Der_Bayer
5.) TR8R
6.) DeusExMackia
7.) Puffster
8.) JohnWaldock
9.) Speedemon
10.) stm316
11.) Vri404
12.) koolkei
13.) dude44
14.) RaduST
15.) MrChips
16.) thecarlover
17.) lysambrias

[Faintingh]

let me see if i can knock something together on the last minute

[AirJordan]

Smooth Motors presents Smooth Perlita S

1.8 V6

[koolkei]

i…
that…
uh…

but the looks…

why the pitiful front and angry rear?

[Sillyworld]

Is a time of 1:58 in the flying lap consider as competitive guys?

[HowlerAutomotive]

I have to reuse the link I used for @Absurdist’s cornering speeds in the BRC.

Are we still talking about the ATT?

[AirJordan]

It depends strongly on[quote=“HowlerAutomotive, post:1, topic:17404”]
cars’ Engine Reliability, Overall Reliability, 1/5 of their Comfort and 1/2 of their Offroad will be subtracted from the time (in seconds)
[/quote]

Mine is 3 sec faster I think.

@koolkei

why the pitiful front and angry rear?

So you would let her (yes Perlita is a girl) pass but not dare to overtake

[stensen]

there is the 65 Wiseman 4x4.

drivers:

1. wiseman sen. who personally built the car
2. co-driver, mainly responsible for keeping enough vodka on board, provide good laughs and leaving tags behind: edgar kapatisominov, an old friend of wiseman and a local that knows every single road between Blomozvakia and Rokonia.

[Faintingh]

Ravencraft will participate with the Ravencraft Colibri, reworked for racing

Story time:
Ravencraft Colibri was a family sedan introduced in 1962. Following the company traditions, it was reliable and safe, powered by a 80hp I6 OHV engine. It didnt enjoy the same success as the Lark did a decade ago (and in those times still did) but it ended up as an interesting alternative for the upper middle class that was on the rise. It was also the time of garrage strat-ups and one of these was Sikora-Racing. It was founded by Jakub Sikora, who was the son of the former Ravencraft CEO Michal Sikora. This young man dreamed of becoming a racing driver, but he also enjoyed doing th engineering himself. He teamed up with his friends Marek Honza and Viktor Stejskal and started working on race versions of normal street cars, to be used in anything from derby to nascar. He didnt have much success, the only money came from drag racers. Then in 1965 a new kind of competion was announced, the Dalnit-Bralka Rally. His adventurous mind almost immediately hook up on the idea of participating, but he didnt have a car nor finances for one. The struggle was hard but in the end they managed to buy a Ravencraft Colibri two door sedan, because his father used his contacts still inside Ravencraft and made a deal: Sikora-Racing would recieve the car for half the price, if it fails, the blame would go on them, but if the car manages to finish the Rally with some glamour, Ravencraft would get its share of fame and money. It was a risky deal, but mr. Sikora was young and reckless. The car arrived just a month before the start of the competition and the three friends needed help in tweeking the car so in the end the team had 12 members. They removed unnecesary weight from the car, while still leaving some amount of interior for the comfort on the long journey, swapped the 80 horsepower engine with a 150hp 1800cc DOHC V6, put a 5 speed gearbox and reworked the suspension. They almost ran out of time, but in the end the car was parked before the DBR entry hall 6 hours before the start. Jakub Sikora would be the number 1 driver, while Viktor Stejskal his copilot. Honza Marek became the chief mechanic and would provide support throughout the competition together with the rest of the team. The car was named Ravencraft Colibri DBR Special.

PS. Sikora-Racing of course understood the magic of Racing Stripes and their speed invoking effects, which were discovered by a certain Mr. Clarkson

[4LGE]

When Tare, a manufacturer of consumer cars in the emerging Southeast-Archanian Peninsula, made their move to export to Gasmea, they did so introducing the Pratinum. Not quite luxurious, not very dynamic, but primarily efficient, it struggled despite or possibly because of its bold sedan-like design.
And then the export project leaders had the grand idea of promoting a more enticing image by entering any buyer into a raffle to participate in a race event.

This did give Tare some attention by buyers who wouldn’t normally consider buying a saloon. One of these would be the young mechanic Walker Pierce, who happened to get the car by suggesting it to his father as a company car. His father, after all, was manager of a workshop specializing on imports. Walker himself aspires to go racing with cars he’d modify himself. So, of course he looked under the hood of his ride, and was quite excited to not find any indication of a pushrod valvetrain, but then unnerved to see only a meager single barrel carburettor.

Meanwhile, at Tare, the project leaders struggled to get any agreement with Gasmean race organizers, mostly due to poor communication. Some of the last straws are being sought after, until the idea was settled that it’d be best to just set up their own racing team and then participate at an event together with the raffle winner, even if he or she had to be flown in. But Tare hasn’t been involved in any racing for more than a decade. Finding a suitable event would be as hard as building the race car for it, not to mention babysitting a possibly untrained driver. There weren’t even any more advanced carburettors than the optimized single barrels available.

Some weeks thereafter, the raffle has been done. A 20 year old man called Walker Pierce has been randomly picked. Management suggested participating at the Dalnit-Bralka Rally, not only due to relative proximity, but because it’d be excellently suited showcasing how uncompromising Tare automobiles could be. The engineers have improvised, based the race car off of the 4x4 model of the Pratinum. To better compete in performance, they have given production the order to build their truck inline 6 engine, but halve its size.

With a few more refinements including a rear wing, the car was deemed ready. Walker Pierce, however, couldn’t help but fiddle on the engine a little bit, changing the air to fuel ratio and slightly advancing the ignition timing, but did get stopped as he attempted to remove the mufflers.

Kai Gonhan, engineer and hobby motorcyclist, volunteers to join and guide the driver Walker Pierce as his co-pilot. The rear bench has been left in, supposedly to take a translator with them in case communication errors occur, but that turned out to not be the case.

And here was the backstory to go with the backside. tl;dr, driver won this race… in the lottery!