International Gran Turismo Rally - The Grand Tour 79 [FINAL RANKING]


Journal entry Stage 5


This was the second day on the road with my dad. He insisted on doing most of the driving. I still don't think he fully trusts my driving skills. I for one, do not trust his! He tends to overdrive the car, especially when he thinks that he has to go fast. This was the sprint stage, so he wanted to show off the car and go fast. But in the end, I think it only backfired! We were definitely not as fast as I know the car is capable of going. We lost time, because he is just not fast. Too jerky and no finesse in the corners. I hope to convince him tonight that I should do most of the driving again.He shoudl stick to fixing the car when it breaks down!

And he IS a great mechanic! Yesterday we had two break-downs, and he fixed both quickly. And whatever else he did back in the home garage paid off: we had no break-downs at all today! It was one of those rare days when nothing went wrong with the car. I am very grateful for that, because we can ill-afford to lose any more time.

Archana and Lenagrad have been great so far! I have never crossed the border and only know the stories people tell of this country. I was a bit weary coming here, but the people are very friendly and the food is great. The architecture sure is different - more brutal, more grey than at home, but somehow it fits. And the brown colour of the Mons fits much better in the Archanan car-landscape than back home! Haha…

Tomorrow we enter the great basin and the organizers predict a lot of detours and rain. From past experience the Deimos does well on dirt roads and detours, but the rain might be an issue. Especially if dad insists on driving. Maybe I’ll leave him Lenagrad. Perhaps he will want to join the Mara team. He seems to be bonding well with them over a bottle of Vodka right now. Before I left the table, I heard them yelling back and forth about paint jobs, stickers, and liveries.

F.




In front of our hotel in Lenagrad. The mix of modern concrete and glass buildings with the old street signs is an interesting but jarring juxtaposition of styles.

3 Likes

Power trumps Heart in Round 5 of The Grand Tour

Worker's Truth

18th April, 1979

Excerpt

With the majority of the stage 5 route closed off to traffic, the borgeoise automobiles of Fruinia and Gasmea revealed their power disparity over the hard working Archanan teams. The Maran team was able to place 12th, turn to page 3 for their interview, and the comrades at Proletariat placed 19th. But have no fear, dear readers, as the Archanan countryside is still a dangerous place for any would be invader. Archana will rise again to claim round six!

WT: So, you placed 19th, anything to report?

DV: Well, we kinda partied too hard in Calides last night, so today’s drive was met with a less than 100% enthusiasm level. Then, when it was our turn to go, the carburettor flooded and we wasted valuable time dealing with jets, chokes and “Paprika Skull”! laughs

WT: Were you pleased to arrive in Lenagrad, “fashionably late”, or were you hoping things would go better?

DV: Lenagrad loves me. Perhaps a little too much at times! laughs So I was glad we didn’t fail to finish today, but it would be nice if my Pananche had some fire in her belly when it mattered! laughs

WT: Interesting… So, how does Lenagrad compare to Calides?

DV: Lenagrad is … LENAGRAD IS 100% A WORKERS PARADISE AND I WOULD NEVER LIVE IN DECADENT FRUINIA, EVER! … and that is all I have to say about that topic. laughs heartily

WT: Tomorrow shapes up to be a traditional Archanan road trip. Are you prepared for the roads and the rain?

DV: Hell yeah! laughs I chose the Pananche because she’s been tuned with Archanan requirements as part of the design brief. I think you’ll see our fortunes change next stage, we may even capture first place! laughs heartily But for now, we party with lenagrad and all Archana. Care to join us?

WT: Absolutely! Bye everyone, don’t forget to cheer on Team Mara or Team Proletariat at every opportunity; Archana Forever!

Stage 6 and 7 - Lenagrad to Krongrad to Basara

ooc: terribly sorry about the long wait. This challenge will conclude this week.


Prologue

giorgio_xsmall jacques_xsmall
by Giorgio Diola and Jacques Dupal

Lenagrad, April 18th 1979 - 7:00 AM

outback-outback-storm-south-australia_2000x

Before the storm

JD: This is Jacques and what a wonderful morning it is today. Well, a wonderfully cloudy and stormy morning. What does this means for the competition G-man?

GD: Well, for starters, make sure you bring your umbrella, there will be rain. However, the big news is that there are heavy thunderstorm warning overnight and tomorrow, with tornado and flash flood warnings. Since we can only stay so long in Archana with our visas, we’ll have to do two stages in one today before the storm - trip to Krongrad and right away the sprint to Basara. This is highly unusual, but organizers had no choices in the matter. This is a bummber for the two Archanan’s team that only had last night to celebrate in their homeland.

JD: Indeed, I feel bad for them, but with Mara in good position, they could come back home in only a few days with some recognition at the very least.

GD: It is hard to predict how these two stages back to back will unfold, but Stage 6 is a long stretch of Archanan’s outback, with dirt roads and dusts. Now with the strom approaching, the could mean mud and landslide tho, so everyone needs to be careful to not get stuck. However, it is mostly flat-ish, with some climbs early, and the road is no the most technical one. Then on to a sprint to Basara for Stage 7.

JD: I think more drivable cars with good offroad would perform well today, but then again this one is up for grab, I think everyone could perform very well here.

GD: Since we are a bit rushed to start the day as this is a double header, let’s go to the starting line and get them loose!

JD: Good luck everyone and be careful.


Stage 6 - Results

Stats Breakdown for Stage 6
30% Drivability
20% Sportiness
50% Offroad

Stage 7 - Results

Stats Breakdown for Stage 7
30% Drivability
60% Sportiness
10% Offroad


score_legend

How to read:

  • Each teams are ranked in order according to their total score based on the stats breakdown posted above, including Exhibition entries.
  • Then, we have 18 competitiors (+3 exhibitions), so in increment from 0 to 8 they are assigned points in order, excluding exhibition entries.
  • The breakdown penalties are then applied. For reliability, this is a random 20-100 roll done against engine and then car reliability. Yes, we will see a lot of breakdowns for this event. Penalty is -1 for each reliability roll. Later rounds will have a -2 penalty for wrong fuel octane.


Epilogue

giorgio_xsmall jacques_xsmall
by Giorgio Diola and Jacques Dupal

Basara, April 18th 1979 - 9:00 PM

So long, and thanks for all that mud

The stormy front is behind us now, but we’re not safe from the weather yet. Winds have picked up here in Basara, and the clouds are moving past quickly.

That was a challengingly long day for many teams. Momentum between the two events was hard to keep for many, exposing a Jekyll and Hyde truth about many cars - it is hard to have a all around good car. Still, some teams survived with brio this hardship.

Starting with Cisalpina. What can we say about them? With only the salt flat drags remaining, they hold firmly the first position of this competition. They finished strong with nearly 11 points in the last two events. This is a well oiled machine, a beauty and a crowd favorite. it is also resilient, with only 3 breakdown across all of the competition.

With over 10 points in the last two rounds, the surprising (can we still call it that at this point?) Mara GT breezed through Archana and emerged in Basara in second place. It also created a comfortable buffer between it and 3rd place. However, it is not expected to do very well in the drags, so hopefully this is enough to clinch top 3. Kudos to them. Except for stage 4 weird mechanical issues (rumour is that it could have been something else), they were very tough as well. Archana tough.

Then the competition is very very close for 3rd place. We have 3 good cars that are very very close to each other, but are also very very different. The very luxurious LACAM entry barely holding 3rd place, the flashy but flimsy Silverstone in 4th, and the very race-y Zephorus in 5th. Only the Zephorus has a realistic chance to climb ahead of those three in the final drags, considering it’s performance for track day. It is one to watch for sure. It actually didn’t do too bad on the dirt surprisingly, it just seems a bit hard to drive. The Silverstone was plagued with three dual breakdown stages along the way, in this case it’s reliability relegated to fourth place - we expected much more from it.

Then we have to talk about Tristella. They could have put on semi-slicks and would probably not have fare worse or better. They were constantly stuck in mud, slipping left and right and lacking traction in Archana, but then finished first in the sprint to Basara and found all the traction it needed. Still enough to make it in 6th place, very close to Zephorus. A few more offroad tuning and preparation would probably have helped the team immensely.

TransitStar had an opposite day compared to Tristella, struggling in the sprint but doing pretty well on the rough. Still, the Tiburon was able to stay ahead of it slightly, but like Tristella, a more rounded tuning could have helped it even more. It did have a small engine leak in the crucial sprint, but still finished first in terms of overall breakdown total (2), ahead of Cisalpina (3).

You thought the Tiburon and Tristella had bipolar tuning? Well, we need to talk about the Mons entry. Now that the Daughter and Father team is reunited, we had high hopes for them. Francesca struggled in the mountains, but this time… they struggled equally in the outback. The car is really not well tuned for any offroading or even softroading. Like not at all. It is even worst than that, it had real trouble getting good performance on the sprint. This really did put the brakes to the aspiration of that rookie driver and her brown colored car. She at least gained a lot of respect and admiration from her competitors.

Stuck with the TransitStar and Mons in a cluster is the HRV. We never were really impressed with it. It has great performance, proved it in the track day and the last sprint, but that is not enough to succeed. It is expected to do well on the drags tho, so maybe it can win back a few positions, but it did not impress anyone.

That concludes the top 10. Congratulation to all the rest of the cars, such a competition is really hard and they showed great workmanship and professionalism, even if they did not make it higher.

Right now, we are only waiting for the storm to subside and hopefully, tomorrow we can watch the cars rip across the salt flats, then get a good wash and have the final judging bestowed upon then.

Until then, good night. It has been a long day.


Standing after Round 6

Standing after Round 7


Aesthetics Poll

The Aesthetics vote is now CLOSED. Thanks for all those that took the time to put in their ratings. Results will be posted at the end of the stages in the judging round.


Topics

Due to the lack of interest, I will forgo Topics for the last rounds.


7 Likes

I hope this doesn’t invade too much on the challenge but here’s a random event.

The Car on the Dirt Road
Earlier on in the journey as Jacques and Giorgio and the rest of the GT drivers drove towards the Dalluhan border all was well, the rain earlier in the day had subsided as the climate got drier and drier. The forecast predicted more rain later that day but there wasn't much worry. But, at the same time the would be drivers of the Alkonost, Matthew and John were sitting by the side of a dirt road, stranded just 3 miles from Basara because their IVERA 122, thanks to John's "shortcut", had gotten stuck in the thick mud. Naturally, John had refused to help as Matthew was rummaging through the trunk attempting to reach the tow rope. It was about half past 3 pm when one of the teams saw the car stranded by the side of the road and decided to help (You can choose to stop for help, or you can choose to ignore the stranded motorists). The teams seemed to recognize the car from somewhere most likely at a hotel in Hetvesia or from an overtaking maneuver on the highway.
The car in question.

Parked outside the hotel in Hetvesia


Overlooking a valley in Eastern Hetvesia

This may be off with how the challenge is done, so, let me know what I should change.
2 Likes

Whoooo! +4 positions on the outback, TransitStar is BACK BAY-BEE! :cowboy_hat_face:

…-3 positions on the next stage, never mind. :unamused:

Maybe we’ll pull a crazy result in the drag race. Everyone knows solid rear axles are the best for standing starts, so if any other team wins, they DEFINITELY cheated.


Journal entry Stage 6 and 7


I am so mad at dad! He stayed out way too late drinking with the Mara guys, and today he was in a grumpy mood and didn't let me drive for most of the day! I tried to reason with him that I have much experience now with the Deimos on dirt roads and in wet conditions, he insisted that this kind of weather is "not for girls to be driving in". I wanted to smack him! He just couldn't focus today due to his hangover, and kept sliding all over the road. It was simply the worst day and the worst result we've had this entire tour! I am not sure if I could've nursed the Deimos to Krongrad any faster, but at least I would've liked to have the opportunity!

After a quick rest and food stop in Krongrad, he finally fell asleep in the passenger seat and I got to drive the sprint to Basara. The car didn’t feel too good. I am not sure what dad did to it this morning, but something felt off. We also had two engine issues today that set us back. I am afraid that despite the decent result in the sprint to Basara, the damage was already done by this morning’s result and we are, for all intents and purposes, out of the competition. I feel myself getting disheartened, so I think I’ll stop writing for now. Perhaps I can tinker with the car a little to get it ready for the drag race tomorrow.

F.




There was not much time to stop in Krongrad, just for a quick bite to eat and then we were on the road again. It was neat to take the bypass through the city along some dry canals (I was a bit nervous about flooding after the rains, but I was assured that the Archanans had water-engineering down to a tee).


On the way to Basara. What a landscape of towering red rock! Simply stunning. No matter how we do now, this trip will forever be remembered for its epic landscapes of our wonderful world.

2 Likes

The Grand Tour flees the wrath of Archana's Heart

Worker's Truth

19th April, 1979

Excerpt

The arrival of the Bourgeoise decedance that is the Grand Tour raised the ire of the ancient workers of Archana yesterday, prompting the organisers to collapse stage 6 and 7 into a single day. There were many contestants who struggled with the primitive conditions but neither domestic team were able to fully capitalise on the foreigners flaws…

Team Mara has maintained their second place position despite trouble in the first half of the day, although they’ve fallen behind the lead team in overall points. Team proletariat has also maintained their position. Their run was trouble free and there was even rumours they stopped to help some tourists stranded in a mud bog! Unfortunately we were unable to contact either team before they left the country but we here at Workers Voice wish both teams well and that they’ve done our country proud…

TO BE CONTINUED

Two countries in a single day… or How did I get here?

Still somewhat dazed, Rodin Gumprov opened the passenger door of the Irena GTC, and the sudden influx of Basara’s dry heat against a dark sky does not really help him find his bearings.

The last 24 hours really seemed like a blur. Celebrating the arrival in the motherland. Glasses that were full, then empty, then full again. Cracking odd taxi livery jokes with the Mons driver. A long evening, followed by a short night and a surprising and too early wake-up call by the rally organisers to stay ahead of the weather. A rally stage that was supposed to be 50% offroad, but then they just followed the standard southern route up the Lenagrad pass and then straight towards the lake. Yes the roads were dusty, with some gravel near the peak of the pass and crumbling asphalt around Zhmesky, but nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing he had driven countless times before.

He had swapped driving duties with Jakub a few times to catch some rest, but made sure that he was at the wheel when they made it past the old lakeside quarry that was the main Mara testing facility where the factory employees had gathered roadside to wave at the contestants going by. He resisted the temptation to take a quick right turn and do a lap or two, as too much was at stake, since they still were surprisingly well in contention for a podium spot. Especially since they had lost some time with a flat tyre early on, but they were far from the only ones suffering this fate.


The lakeside road towards Kronagrad with the entry to the Mara testing facility

The stage handover on the large White Square in central Kronagrad was a surreal affair. Originally intended as a pompous dignified welcome to the rally circus, the whole thing had degraded into a different kind of circus of too many cars being haphazardly parked, being serviced in a rush, or making their way towards the improvised starting line. Rally and state officials and mechanics were running around like headless chicken, all under an ever-threatening sky. At least someone has had the good sense to have the state police cordon off the whole area and patrolling the boundaries of the square, lest the general public would add to the chaos.

In a way, this suited Rodin as he certainly was not in the mood for shaking state officials’ hands and answering their silly questions. With Jakub nowhere to be seen - as usual - he quickly half-vanished underneath the Irena in his overall, pretending to fix a non-existent hydraulic leak, and hoped that Jakub would at least return with something edible and in-time for their designated start towards the final stage to Basara.

Finally, they were on their way, and he happily let Jakub take the wheel for the start. As they left the outskirts of Kronagrad, he dozed off…

2 Likes

Special Stage 2 and Judging Part 1


Prologue

giorgio_xsmall jacques_xsmall
by Giorgio Diola and Jacques Dupal

Basara, April 20th 1979 - 8:00 AM

Salt Flat Drags

JD: Good morning! With the storm finally out of the way, we can finally move on to the final special stage on the salt flats - the 1 mile drag!

GD: This will be interesting to see who goes the fastest on there, and how this will affect the standing. After this event, the final Rallye part of the competition will be close and a Trophy for the Best Rallye GT will be given to the winner.

JD: But this is not all! After that cars will be washed and serviced and the final Judging will begin. We have the chance to have 7 journalists, specialists and mechanics going through each team’s car and going through a lengthy checklist for important categories, and four other important trophies will be given: Best GT Design, Most Luxurious GT, Best Value GT. Then, the tally will be made based on the Judging and Standing and the best overall car of the competition will win the Grand Prize: Best GT of the Decade award.

GD: Let’s now watch the cars rip through the flats.

JD: May the best GT car win!


Special Stage 2 - Results


score_legend

How to read:

  • Each teams are ranked in order according to their total score based on the stats breakdown posted above, including Exhibition entries.
  • Then, we have 18 competitiors (+3 exhibitions), so in increment from 0 to 8 they are assigned points in order, excluding exhibition entries.
  • The breakdown penalties are then applied. For reliability, this is a random 20-100 roll done against engine and then car reliability. Yes, we will see a lot of breakdowns for this event. Penalty is -1 for each reliability roll. Later rounds will have a -2 penalty for wrong fuel octane.

Best Rallye GT (1/5)

Final Standings and Rallye winner

This concludes the Rallye leg of the competition. What a competition it has been. This will be a short ceremony since we all have been following this part of the competition already.

So without further ado, here are the final results...

In 3rd position, Mara and the Irena GTC have achieved what few Archanan’s could have expected - they finished on the podium against international GT cars, showing that engineering does not need to be fancy, it just needs to work well and be drivable! @AndiD

In 2nd position, Zephorus and the GT T have shown that pure performance still has it’s place in a GT and that we can get a lot of it from premium sport brands like Zephorous. It was slightly surprised by the HRV on the drags, but still holds the win on Track Day, so we can say without hyperbole that that if you want a GT car that can compete on the track, this is the one to get. @Riley

And the Best Rallye GT award goes to Cisalpina and the Presto 72!! While pure performance is good, when you can balance drivability, sportiness and even offroad performance on such a beautiful package, this is fall in a class of its own, with a large lead on the rest of the competition. They’ve shown that the car is also not everything and the that team of experienced drivers they employed played an important role as well. @Der_Bayer

Congratulations to the winner and runner ups for the Rallye portion of the competition. Now, let’s see how they fared in other categories!


Best GT Design (2/5)

gtprofile

Style and aesthetics

Now as the judge are starting to review and judge cars, we move on the to Best GT Design category that is based on a vote by experts around the world, as well as the public - 27 votes in total were cast.

Here are the complete voting results...

In 3rd position, Arion and the Aquila 8C Pursuit was a fan favorite with its striking Raspberry and Racing Red paint job, its glamorous front and rear fascia and the long and sleek lines of its body. Arion is known for luxurious cars, and it shows here. @Aruna

In 2nd position, Cisalpina and the Presto 72. A very very close finish here in the voting, nearly tied with first place, the Cisalpina is probably the Jacques and Giorgio’s favorite entry. It is sleek, it oozes charm and GTness. The roundness and smoothness of it’s body combined with the blue paint and red interior mates perfectly to deliver a timeless look. @Der_Bayer

And the winner of the Best GT Design award is Zephorous and the GT T! Not only is it a performance beast, it is a looker. While no one had a unanimous first place, it ever slightly edged out the Cisalpina. It looks gorgeous and really looks like a performance monster. It’s Terra Bruciata color contrasted by the creamy white interior gives a unique look. It looks asleep at rest, but roar through the paved and unpaved road. Truly a design that showcase the performance nature of the car. @Riley

Congratulations to the winner and runner ups for the GT Design Award portion of the competition. Now, we have to wait for the judges to finish their tally and reviews…

11 Likes

Journal entry Special Stage 2


It's over! And what a day! Dad let me do the drag strip race (something about "what can go wrong in a straight line, you might as well do it"). The usual misogyny I'm used to from him. But I took the bull by the horns regardless and floored the gas pedal and set the second best time! Well, it was a tie for third, but still, it was the second best time on the clock. I am super proud! I think dad's jaw dropped too, but he was equally proud of "his tuning" of the car. Never mind that I fixed it up last night after his sloppy driving the day before. It's ok. I'm just happy that we still made some ripples in this competition! And we climbed another spot in the overall Rallye event standings, which is a huge bonus.

I have noticed during the course of the race that people really don’t like the brown colour of the car though. This might spell trouble for the final aesthetic vote. But that is what it is. Perhaps dad should’ve left the original colour of the car intact, but this is more unique.

In the end, we will just enjoy a nice final meal with all other contestants and finally get a good stress-free night rest before the final results tomorrow.

F.




The Deimos speeding down the drag strip in the desert.

3 Likes

Judging Part 2

warning: I had problems with some fixture disapearing since I imported the cars, tried to salvage as much as I could but many are missing, especially one steering wheel used by a few cars. Sorry about the shots with missing fixtures, it took a lot longer to try to fix those issues, but I did not succeed


Most Luxurious GT (3/5)

Comfort, Prestige and Authenticity

The judges notes are in for each cars in the competition for this category.

@TheAlmightyTwingo

The Haniyasushin Monaaku LV6-IIb Suzuka spec Rally is a mouthful but is not such a comfortable ride compared to many other. Understandably, as a rally spec, it focused more on performance, but even there it lacked some oomph. With a sporty Manual 5 transmission and short gearing, this did not help much bring our a luxurious side to this GT. The wheels have a nice balanced feel to them, but brakes were very grippy. The high quality sport interior with premium accessories, plus a very soft suspension setting, could not compensate for the tight and small cabin with cramped seats, especially considering the simple black interior felt rushed. With the fourth lowest comfortable ride, prestige had to be really good to compensate, but it came about the same position as well there, not helped by the smallest pushrod V8 at 4.2L. The lack of exotic options, most likely due to the rally spec trim, is the culrprit as the base options are really good, but competition here went all out on prestigious options. On the authenticity front, the rally spec also played tricks here. The judges felt the car was more a premium muscle car than purely a GT. The looks and engine/transmission were very west Gasmean and while many other GTs also used pushrod V8, it was hard to hide the origins of this one. Not a bad GT at all, but not one that is luxurious enough for this category.

@Riley The Zephorus GT T is a different beast than the Haniyasushin for sure. With its fully luxurious interior and amenities, this is a class act. The beautifully crafted interior charms you but does feel a bit oversized - with the cabin proportion, it has the advantage of fitting in large fellows with plenty of space and headroom. While its quality is astounding, it comes with a few rough spots in the assembly of the interior. The wheels and tyre profile and medium compounds makes the ride really smooth, compensating for the slightly sporty brake pads - it does grip for sure, maybe a tad much, but tamer than expected. The killer is the fancy hydropneumatic suspensions - it might explain why they did break down a few times, being a pretty state-of-the-art. The suspension is also on the soft side. As for prestige, this one is up there in the top 3 for a teen’s poster of choice. The full aluminium DOHC V8 is tuned for peformance and less for comfort or enjoyment. The trottle response is atrocious and smoothness is non-existent, nothing to write home about. It was made to rev and judges felt it was a bit too much performance oriented. The rear independent suspensions and 5-speed manual with overdrive felt balanced. Overall, a great balancing effort between comfort and performance, retaining GT authenticity everywhere but the engine. Still not as luxurious as some other entries, which is understandable considering everything else it brings to the table.

@Prium The Duquesne Frigate is a boat. A luxo boat. A convertible luxo boat. It was not made to bring you fast from point A to point B, but to bring you in style. The very well crafted luxurious interior is at the top of the class. Comfort was never compromised (but we can’t say the same about performance), with fully automatic transmission, IRS, smooth brakes (but with a lot of fade and maybe lacking a bit of grip), comfortable pads, and hydropneumatic like the Zephorus. Here it makes a big difference. The engine, a 5.0L SOHC V12, is very, very smooth. You feel in a bubble while you drive. The advantage of the Duquesne is that it also passes emission standards in West Gasmea. It is made to be a luxury boat, but unfortunately is not the most suited for a GT and not the most prestigious, right in the middle of the pack. A good effort.

@SolidSnake

The Silverstone DS5 SE '79 is not the most comfortable car out there. In fact, it is near the tail of the pack. Getting a closer look you can see why. It does make it up in the prestige department, thanks to it’s V12, but the interior is a bit premium with the accessories. The engine is smooth, the suspension is comfortable. So why isn’t it competing with others? Cabin space. It is cramped. You feel like you are in a tin can when you drive it. The gearbox could be improved, but mostly this is about having enough space to be comfortable inside. A shame, because it does feel authentic otherwise, the interior, while hastily crafted, is not bad as well. It is just too small for a GT. A LWB version with a beefed up engine would probably be very competitive here.

@HighOctaneLove The Proletariat Panache is here to show what Archana can do. And kinda failed to do so while Mara did achieve success. Comfort is second lowest here, which is not enviable. Prestige is non-existant. Authenticity? Well, it does look the part!! Lack of a well crafted interior is a big let down here, a lot is left to the imagination. It is old, barely updated since 1968. It even has a phonograph!! This is a museum relic more than a modern GT - the old V12 from a tank is not helping anything here. Smooth, sure. Silent? Yeah. But this barely makes 160hp, has enough torque to break you back, and has absolutely no throttle response. Stay away. Scavenging parts is not the way to build a GT car.

@cake_ape The Mons Deimos is an interesting espresso beast. Comfort is average here, nothing bad tho. The beautifully crafted hand made interior is however top of the back. The kammback brings some uniquness to the table against tough competition, and overall looks and feel like a GT. With such quality in, what is the issue with its comfort? Well, very very grippy brakes and pads does not help at all. The cabin could be a bit less cramped - it does look like it has plenty of room but is surprisingly tight. It has a ton of storage space behind tho. The suspension it where it went sour. Nothing bad here, but for a GT we would have expected it to be slightly softer, or at least its competition decided that was the way to go. Great effort and craftmanship, but will it be enough? Well, the good news is that the whole package feels incredibly prestigious.

@Der_Bayer The Cisalpina Presto 72 is in the same boat as the Mons, but is definitely not a boat. A very GT entry, very authentic, good comfort, but let down by the gearbox here and the dampers on the suspension. The very smooth V12 helps here a lot, and the incredibly well crafted hand made interior is a big bonus, but premium accessories is a slight letdown. The brake grips are similar to the Mons - way too grippy and could lockup while still exhibiting some slight fading issues. Overall not a ton of compromises here, but not an overall luxurious entry. It does not have to be tho, as it showed on the road.

@AndiD The ** Mara Irena GTC** is a very interesting entry. An unexpected surprise. Ok, it is not comfortable at all, we won’t lie. Prestige is non-existent with only 4 cylinders. Is it authentic? Not really. This is a very small an agile car with a bit of Oomph, but this is nowhere near GT level. Without any interior to speak off, this is really not a great option here. Next.

@SenseiB12 The TransitStar Pan Gasmea with both average comfort and prestige, the TransitStar is not doing too bad. It does not really have any good interior here, even if supposed to be luxurious. Brakes a slightly grippy, but comfortable. The progressive suspensions is welcomed here, as it is very soft and smooth. The V8 is not the roughest one of the lot, and lets out enough noise while being not too noisy. While the look is authentic, the internals does not fully speak GT here. A good effort here, but missing the mark as a luxury option.

@th3maldonado

The Brooklands Bamburgh GTS Royale is surprisingly… not comfortable. For such a renown brand, we expected a lot more luxury in this package. Interior is good and comfortable for 4, but a bit tight. Gearbox and the amount of torque it has to deal with makes things a bit rough around the edges. Suspension is pretty good, also running on Hydropneumatic springs. Engine is not too rough and responsive, one of the rare V8 DA OHC of the lot. Well built and pretty authentic overall. Do get us wrong, comfort is good, as is prestige, but not what we expected from Brooklands for a GTS Royale.

@Xepy The Tristella Ciconia GT-5 feels similar to the Brooklands. For sure we did not expect the same luxury level, but it is a premium brand and did not completely hit the mark on comfort, despite a beautifully detailed hand-made interior. Prestige is however in the top percentile and the DA OHC V8 is very responsive and feels like a GT engine. It feels as authentic as it looks, and while the suspensions feels a bit hard, it does the job. Overall a very good result, but the torque and gearbox, alongside the firmer suspension is pushing it out of the top.

@Aruna The Arion Aquila 8C Pursuit is a beauty, no two way about it. The incredibly well crafted interior is a testament to Arion’s legacy. It is an hand-made full luxury package. Overall an above average comfort, including a very smooth suspension running on hydropneumatics. Brakes are incredibly rough and way too sensitive. Another V8 here, but DOHC full aluminium and average across the board. Where the Arion really shine is prestige! It has a boatload of it, anyone looking at it up close (and far away), feels a certain magnetism, the pull of the Arion. This is a hard to beat package.

@arn38fr But the Lacam Malissol GT4 finds a way to edge the Arion out. The interior is also incredible, the creamy yellow leather goes very well with the white exterior. It feel top end for sure, and it oozes comfort all around, and prestige to top it out. Another hydropneumatic wonder, but tuned for comfort. The automatic is there to make gear changes as seamless as possible. It even runs on Hard compound, but with comfortable brake pads. Engine is very very similar to the Arion, but is very silent and well insulated. It was built with luxury and comfort in mind. Pretty authentic as well, another tough cookie to beat.

@Mikonp7 The Pfeil Spessart is, well, a Pfeil. While they always made great funny ads, it did not translate here. It does look like a tame GT unfortunately, a bit bland. Authenticity is not its best trait, and a lack of interior or an engine with good forged component are very obvious issues here. It is one of the few inline 6 of the group, but the all cast components clashes with the rest. Comfort is not bad overall, with luxury amenities and one of the softest suspension around, but the small cramped cabin, gearbox and loud motor does not help it. Prestige is also very subpar here.

@BannedByAndroid

The ZKF Z4000CSi is not the answer to the question: what is a luxurious GT car? Is it even a GT? It really does not look like one at all. It does not have much comfort, nor prestige. Yes, it has a nice luxury package, and soft suspensions, but you can’t polish a muscle car into a GT. It simply does not work.

@Harvester The HRV - RVH shines on this stage. It has above average comfort and the most prestige of all, thanks to its ultra smooth V12. The lack of detailed interior is a big loss here however, and might sting, especially with such lower authenticity. The hand-made cabin and luxury equipment really shines here, and the front bench is unique on this class. Another hydropneumatic suspension here as well, and it does the job very well while not being too soft. Overall a luxurious option with a rough side.

@Tzuyu_main and @chiefzach2018 The Mistral L600 is an interesting entry. It is creative, used as a camera car, filming the rallye - too bad it was never in the thick of the action there. Rest of the car does not feel very GT, despite a nice smooth V12. It is however pretty comfortable, but prestige is dead average, which is enough to make it competitive at least, but not enough to get a ton of praise unfortunately.

@Kyorg

The Tiburon 388 did not perform as good as expected in the rallye and also is not the best performer here. Really not. It had the worst comfort of all competition, big let down for a GT. The archaic 3-speed manual transmission is not helping here. The slightly grippy brakes, the fade and less comfortable pads are pushing this toward a performance car, without as much as needed. This is no Zephorous. The interior is very well craft tho, but is very sporty and only premium, not offering much luxury. The sporty suspension does not help much, neither does the engine - even rougher than the Zephorus. Beside an incredible reliability, you feel like you are sitting on a brick, and surprisingly it does not feel prestigious - a ton of work went into styling and interior, but the insides are letting it down. It does feel more authentic than the Zephorous tho, but overall Tiburon needs to work on it some more.

And now for the results.

In 3rd position...

Zephorous and the GT T! What a car it is. It is from from the top cars tho, but enough to beat the rest of the competition for 3rd place. Is there something the Zephorus is not good at? @Riley

In 2nd position...

HRV and the RVH. Really not far from 1st position, but the lack of an interior really penalized it - even a simplist one would have probably crowned it as the most luxurious option. @Harvester

And the winner of the **Most Luxurious GT** award is...

Surprinsingly a tie!!! A tie between the Arion Aquila 8C Pursuit and the LACAM Malissol GT4. They both are incredibly luxurious options and it was hard for the judges to crown one of them, so they decided to reward both with the award! @Aruna and @arn38fr


Congratulations to the winner and runner ups. Now, it is on to best value…


Best Value GT (4/5)

Best-Value

Enjoyment, Economy and Costs

Now, how about the value proposition of those cars? Not a lot of people can afford GT cars, but if you have the money to burn, getting back a bit of value would be nice, wouldn’t it?

@TheAlmightyTwingo The Haniyasushin Monaaku LV6-IIb Suzuka spec Rally fuel economy came in at 20.8 L/100km, unfortunately was outside the 18L/100km category where many fell in. Not the worst, by far (nearly twice better in fact), competition was fierce here. Service costs however were great, one of the best of this category, which helped it immensely. You would not expect that from a rally spec. Enjoyment was slighlty below par tho with a not so great throttle response, a very unsmooth engine thanks to it being pushrod, but steering was ok, as well as gearing which was too tight, but cornering was a big letdown for a rally spec. Overall, not a bad value proposition, but it could have been better.

@Riley The Zephorus GT T fuel economy came in at 18.6 L/100km, which sounds pretty good in this category, but actually had trouble competing with many other and finished in the bottom-tier, but only because it was a very tight competition and many entries came in around 18.0 L/100km. The brakes were without any noticeable fade but performance oriented engine does make for a bit less enjoyment, feeling very sporty and race-ish without being very responsive. This is also the roughest engine reviewed, the V8 balance and timing was not great with a noticeable shake. The high-revving engine really felt you were in a race car. Then the roll was considerable on such a performance vehicle so close to the ground, which was detrimental to the driving experience. Judges felt steering was at the limit, if not without oversteering issues. This is nowhere near a tame entry, but we do not think it was supposed to be! As for costs, th good news was that the Zephorus is not the costliest option to service… but it was not very far behind, with over AMU$3000 and it is right at the limit of costs for this class of GT. You will not find any good value here if you want every cent you invest to count.

@Prium

The Duquesne Frigate does not shine here. The V12 is a guzzler, with 36.1 L/100km… yeah, this will burn a whole in your pockets for sure. Enjoyment is very average here, nothing bad, because it has great response and smoothness from the engine, but it is a boat. They are made for cruising. Cornering is bottom of the class, steering is not great, gearing from the automatic could be better. The sportiness is a real let down here. The service costs are pretty good and it is one of the cheapest GT in this category, but there are no redeeming factor for such a poor economy. We would stay away.

@SolidSnake The Silverstone DS5 SE '79 has good fuel economy. Nothing to complain about here, even if the top ones are in the 17 L/100KM category, it is not far. Service costs are pretty low, and it cost less to purchase than many other. The judges were not impress with the overall GTness of the car. While feeling authentic, the enjoyment was not there. That aluminium 3.0L V12 DOHC engine is smooth for sure, but throttle response could have been improved with better timing. The gearing, steering and cornering were all subpar compared to the competition tho. Grippy brakes and very understeering tendencies really were a letdown here. There is no WOW factor here.

@HighOctaneLove The Proletariat Panache has an old V12 from a tank. Can you guess how well it did in fuel economy? Actually, it top of the class. Top 5 at least. A surprising 16.4 L/100km here. How did they do that? We’re not sure, but this is no Duquesne. Service costs are great even. It is also the cheapest to acquire, being such an old relic, at around AMU$25,000. Really, you can buy 3 for one Zephorus. How about enjoyment? This is where it gets dicey: you will not find any here. Other than a balanced engine that is relatively smooth, the response is bad, steering is non-existant, gearing is lacking, cornering is nowhere to be found. You were worried there for a minute the judges would recommend it right? Well, they still do. It is not the worst, and if you want a 10 year old car and museum piece in your driveway, you could do much worse. It does look like a GT and is Archana, there could be value there in the future. Just avoid driving it.

@cake_ape The Mons Deimos was a fan favorite, but does it bring any value to the table? It does, with the second best fuel economy of the competition! At 14.7 L/100KM, it is hard to beat for a GT. The service costs are a tad high, and it is slightly cheaper than many. Is it enjoyable tho? It is not bad actually. Steering is good, not too much oversteer, cornering is average for the pack, but the smootheness and throttle response are a bit of a let down here, and gearing could be improved - the automatic transmission ignores most gears since they are so close together. Great for cruising and economy tho. Overall, while it lacks in pure GT enjoyment, it does bring good value to the tablle. Enough of it? We’ll see.

@Der_Bayer The Cisalpina Presto 72 has pretty good economy. Not as great as the Mons, but better than average. Service costs are average but not too high, and price is not at the limit of the class. So overall, a pretty average value, but then you need to factor in excitement. It has top of the class cornering, throttle response and smootheness, good steering and not too bad gearing. The engine purrs and roars at the same time. A very nice driving experience, if not the best. Truly a enjoyable GT to drive, a remarkable feat considering the performance it exhibited.

@AndiD Then on to the ** Mara Irena GTC**. What can we say about it? It is a Frankenstein. It has top of the line cornering, as good as the Zephorus. Good steering also, but how would a 2.5L pushrod straight 4 really perform here? Like a rattling can of death. We’re unsure how could the GTC get to where it is in the standing when looking at the engine. Non-existant smootheness, incredibly poor throttle response, a very low redline cutting off the power. There are not a lot of redeeming factor here. Is there? Yes. It is efficient. The most efficient engine at 12 L/100km. Well, not surprising from a 4 cylinders really. Service costs are slightly above average, and price is a bit below average. We would have expected a cheap entry like the Proletariat, but they went overboard and just pushed on every. single. component’s quality. Way too much for what this offers. A cheaper option would actually have fare much better, this is non-GT mechanics overengineered to make it a GT. They never give up, that we can say.

@SenseiB12

The TransitStar Pan Gasmea is very enjoyable to drive. Beside not being very smooth, with a 5.0L V8 cast iron pushrod that is still running on a carb. Engine response is not the worst, everything seems to be well tuned there. We could not call it efficient tho, far from it. With a 25.4 L/100KM, this is one of the worst gas guzzling engine. Service costs are pretty good, but price is a bit high, a lot due to the massive engineering invested to tune the engine and the quality-focused components. Overall, not enough value is brought to the table.

@th3maldonado Does the Brooklands Bamburgh GTS Royale bring any good value to the table? Let see. A slightly below average consumption. Slightly above average service costs. High MSRP. The 4.5L V8 shines tho. Responsive and not too rough for a V8, with good mechanical fuel injection. Good cornering, acceptable gearing and steering. It really ends up right smack on the average, but surprisingly edges out a lot of the competition who all have some kind of Achilles heels.

@Xepy

The Tristella Ciconia GT-5 has unfortunately an above average fuel consumption. The 5.0L V8 is however fun to drive, with enough reponsiveness while not being too loud, just enough. Service costs are par for the category, but is on the pricier side of acquisition costs. However, while the response from the engine is top of the class, it does not feel as enjoyable overall to drive as the Brooklands, surprisingly. Gearing and steering could be improved, they are a bit tame. On paper the 5-speed manual is performant and brakes are pretty well balanced. It just has a tad too much of an oversteer.

@Aruna The Arion Aquila 8C Pursuit is a bit of a gas guzzler for sure, with 21.7 L/100km. It is not gonna win any awards there, and while the MSRP is pretty low compared to many, service costs are pretty high - you will pay a premium there. While the V8 response is good, cornering is not. As we’ve seen from the rally, this is a luxo boat more than a performance car, it feels like someone someone’s uncle would drive. Cornering is below average, steering is a bit on the understeer side, the very short gearing is also not helping here, but keep wheelspin manageable. Overall, this is a luxury package, not a value package for sure.

@arn38fr The Lacam Malissol GT4 is in the same boat (pun intended) as the Arion - it is a luxury package. It has worse reaction while driving as a GT - it is a much better cruiser. Enjoyment is not at the top of the list here unfortunately. It does have also above average consumption, like Arion. Service costs are much more acceptable here, but it comes at a very premium price, at the top of the class. You will not find a ton of value here.

@Mikonp7 The Pfeil Spessart has great economy tho, one of its strong point. It is cheap at around AMU$45K, and service costs a pretty low. Is it fun to drive tho? Well, surprisingly, yes. It has a good response from the engine, is pretty smooth, has average cornering, but the steering is a bit of a let down, on the understeering side. This does end up being pretty good value. Pfeil! Pfeil! Pfeil!

@BannedByAndroid The ZKF Z4000CSi had it rough in the rallye, but is it of any value? Fuel economy is better than the average bit a bit, and it is also very cheap, cheaper than the Pfeil at around AMU$37,000. Service costs are a bit higher tho. The main issue is the complete lack of enjoyment. It has no cornering abilities, gearing isn’t great, It understeers even at low speed, the engine is also not very smooth, despite being very responsible. The iron/alu V8 is not the worst of the class for sure, but is nothing to write home about unfortunately. Definitely not a Pfeil here.

@Harvester The HRV - RVH has some value for sure. Somewhere. Pretty dead on average economy, it does have many caveat, like costs. It has the worst service costs of the group, by far. It won’t be gentle on your wallet for sure. MSRP is also pretty high as well. It is however on the more enjoyable driving experience side, but even good cornering and smoothness from the V12 cannot compensate for the lack of everything else.

@Tzuyu_main and @chiefzach2018

The Mistral L600 is really more a luxury sedan than a GT. It is not super fun to drive, with poor response, steering and cornering overall. You can find more fun entries for sure. The economy is one of the worst, which does not make it such an attractive option. Service costs are good tho, but it is also on the pricier side, acquisition-wise. We would not recommend.

@Kyorg The Tiburon 388 is in a similar position than the Zephorous and many others - it’s 19.3L/100km is good for the class, but many of the competition went even further in the low 18, making it less interesting there. It is however higly enjoyable compared to most, with a good throttle response, at the limit steering, gear spacing, above average cornering but a slightly high roll, the shaky engine and a lot of wheelspin feel like a cold shower. It is not as performant as we would expect such a 5.0L DOHC V8, but even the rudimentary mostly cast component feels it cheapens the car a bit. The race car feel you see when you look at the engine does not translate - but it is enjoyable. Would you pay AMU$80,000 for something subpar but that feels ok? Well, it does have very low service costs. In fact judges were perplexed by them, they were the lowest of all competition. It does end up being a chimera - it does bring somewhat good value to the table while being subpar everywhere else.

And now on the to the results.

In 3rd position...

Mons and the Deimos. It brings a lot to the table, and while many competitors were subpar, this one was good all around, but not without its rough spots. Still enough to place 3rd. @cake_ape

In 2nd position...

Cisalpina and the Presto 72. Wow. What a good balance this car is, it can beat anyone in a Rallye and is also an extremly good value. Mostly because of a lot of the GT cars are not a very good value in themselves. Still, impressive. @Der_Bayer

And the winner of the **Best Value GT** award is...

Pfeil and the Spessart! This is a complete surprise. While it is not such a great GT car and did not perform while, it is hard to beat its price, maintenance costs and the fun it is to drive after a long day. Still, if you have the money, you should not pass up the Cisalpina, but if you are on a budget, it is a fun low cost car. @Mikonp7

Congratulations to the winner and runner ups. Now the judges are deliberating on the final ranking for this competition, stay tuned…

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Final Ranking


Final Epilogue

giorgio_xsmall jacques_xsmall
by Giorgio Diola and Jacques Dupal

A long and exhausting event comes to an end

JD: Welcome back everyone. We’ve heard that the judges are soon going to unveil the final rankings.

GD: All the teams seems to be a bit nervous, some more confident than others. This was truly a incredible that finally comes to an end after many delays.

JD: We hope all the teams enjoyed it, because we sure did. Covering this event was a dream come true.

GD: It certainly was, I am blessed to have covered this event at such a young age and with such an incredible…

JD smiles

GD: assortment of teams. I guess my co-host was not too bad.

JD: sarcastic You are too kind. I’ve rarely spent so much time in close quarters on the road with my wife, so this was interesting to cover this event with you G-man.

GD: We’d be remiss to not mention our favorite car. Do you have one Jacques?

JD: Oh yes of course. I love that Arion. We’ve seen it was not much of a performer unfortunately, but I loved the classic look and luxurious demeanor of it. I might be heading to an Arion’s dealership when I get back. And you? Let me guess…

GD: Cisalpina without a doubt. Fruinian champions, how could I not back my hometown boys? Go Fruinia!

JD: Are you just saying that because they won the rallye part?

GD: How could I not love a winning horse. I’m surprised you liked Arion, they really did not…

JD: It is not all about winning you know, I am also fond of that Mons…

GD: Of that brown box or of its driver Francesca…

JD: Ok we are getting sidetracked here.

GD: Are we? You started it you know…

JD: A-ny-way. It was a pleasure to be of service to all our listeners and readers, and it looks like the judges are ready now. Good luck to all the teams and may the best team win!

GD: We all know who’s gonna win, come one it’s…

JD motions the staff to cut the mics

And here comes the final results...

No big surprise in first place, congrats @Der_Bayer! This was an incredible car and a true GT, through and through. There is not much more to say here.

As for @Riley, that Zephorus was a monster,and gave a good run to the Cisalpina, but ultimately lacked a bit of refinement. Still ahead of the rest of the competition, the Cisalpina was just so good.

A very close 3rd position for @Arn38fr, who really benefited from the judging and the poll. This was a beautifully done car, as always. It had so many little details and touches, it really was quite special. While it was not top in the Rallye, the judges loved it.

A special mention to @Harvester in 4th - this was really really close. Judging also went very well, the judges loved it, but just doing even a simple interior would have given you a top 3 position. For some reason it did not poll very well, but it was a very well engineered beast.

Congrats to the winner and all who participated! Stay tune in the future for more banter from Jacques and the G-man.

OOC: That was such a interesting event. As my first major challenge, tt was rough, had many delays and forced me to dig deep to be able to complete it, but it is done now! A well deserve rest (from hosting such events) will follow and I have a few ideas, maybe when 4.2 is out. For now, enjoy and I hope it did not feel too rushed/too long at the end. I learned a lot and will structure things much better next time.

10 Likes

Well I for one enjoyed my participation in this competition and hope that similar events like this are run in the future… I will have to re-tune my car to see if I can squeeze some extra numbers out of it; It’ll be interesting to see how far the parts bin special can be pushed, hahaha!

Thanks @karhgath for hosting the competition and congrats to all the contestants who participated alongside me; I joined for the camaraderie over competing and I regret nothing, hahaha!

Special shout out to @AndiD, fellow Archanan, who was pack leader for many rounds and confirmed the OP’s rhetorical…

Yes, the high petrol era is indeed dead. The future will be dominated by hard fought and focussed racing teams, not gentleman drivers in their marvellous machines!

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A pyrrhic podium (or 8th place)?

After the short - and for him, somewhat awkward - podium ceremony for the Best Rallye GT, Rodin Gumprov, Mara’s chief engineer stepped down - with his small trophy in hand - from his spot on the rostrum to make room for the winners of the next category.

Awkward because he, of course, had stood alone in his place whereas everyone else was there joined by their co-drivers. Before the ceremony, all Rodin could mumble to the ceremony organisers was that his co-driver could not attend because of an emergency. Luckily, noone had asked about the kind of emergency - Rodin would have been unable to tell whether it was a family or a national emergency.

As he listened to the well-deserved praise of the three Best GT Design winners which were up next, Rodin wondered whether his ‘team’ had not been too successful, especially with the two stage wins at the beginning on top of the overall 3rd place after the final stage?

Yes, his goal for the event had been to be a worthy representative of Archana, and the project to prepare the car actually had been state sponsored to an extent. However, if the higher-ups in the Archanan government would have truly expected him to perform well, they would most certainly have sent a proper diplomat as his co-driver and not someone who had to disappear from every occasion where there was the danger of photographs being taken.

In any case, if Rodin had learned one thing over the past days - which seemed like months to him at times - that the other countries were far ahead of Archana in terms of car engineering and design. The trouble was - noone back home would believe him and just point to the stage results or even the overall results table. Rodin could well see the futile conversations playing out in his head, as he saw the podium crowd changing again from Best GT Design to Most Luxurious GT.

Something like surprise 3rd place on a single stage would have already gone a long way to prevent his entry from being a complete failure, but would have helped him making a case that they need to step-up their design and engineering game country-wide in order to remain competitive. Now, Rodin feared that there would be years of stagnation ahead of them, with those comrades being in charge of funding being able to point to the rally results to convince themselves that all was fine in the Archanan car industry.

Moreover, all that special effort seemed to be a bit wasted in retrospective since few of the improvements to the GTC Special over regular Irenas would actually make it into any mass production model anytime soon. And despite all the care that went to engineering the regular GTC, there was still a marked difference to the rally-prepared Special he had been driving. Yes, they gained some experience, but was that all in the end?

While the podium changed again in the background - now to the winners of Best Value GT - Rodin glanced to the side where all the cars were parked side-by-side. What would actually happen to the trusty Irena GTC Special upon his return?

While he would not be able to change the fate of the Archanan car industry on his own, there was one thing he could do in his company: set up a proper company museum and other efforts to conserve their heritage. And he also knew who to put in charge (as a side job, of course) - one of the Mayster twins who had proven themselves in the team that had worked on the GTC Special and who he regarded both as having great futures as engineers at Mara or anywhere else.

At last, Rodin applauded the winners of Best Value GT and with anticipation, waited for the announcement of the final ranking and the final ceremony to celebrate the overall and well-deserved winners across all categories. In the end, he concluded, given the circumstances, he would still treat his overall 8th place like a win or a podium finish.


OOC: I honestly had no idea that quality spam was so effective in meeting the goals of the stage part of the challenge. At least it made for some - hopefully entertaining - write-ups (even though the last one turned out a bit gloomier than anticipated). And yes, many thanks for organising, and looking forward to future rounds with the same spirit!

3 Likes

A fantastic conclusion, I Enjoyed the write ups alot!
I can’t wait for something like this to appear again. Well done for hosting and seeing it through to the end!
Congrats to everyone.

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The final journal entry - the long road home


Dear Diary,

I can’t believe the race is over! What a whirlwind couple of weeks this has been. Between “borrowing” dad’s car without his knowledge, entering a big cross-continent GT, visiting countries that I’ve never been to, meeting all the fun people along the way, and finally making peace with dad. It’s been an adventure of a lifetime that I’ll never ever forget!

The last couple of days were such a rush! With the double-header to Dalluha, the salt flats, then all the fanfare of final judging. There was really no rest at all and everyone seems very tired - jubilant, but tired.

As for the Deimos, it certainly was a mixed bag and I am very happy with the overall 6th place in the final rankings. I think I’ll have to have a talk with dad and convince him to get with the times, otherwise the business isn’t going to improve. For now though, with the prize money and exposure, I think we’ll be fine. But things need to change. For example, he is a stickler for weird and off-putting colours. Just like the “coffee” brown of the Deimos. It is just outdated and not popular anymore. If he wants to make sales, he simply cannot paint his imports these colours!

On the engineering side, however, he does do a great job. He does keep up to date with the latest technologies and trends, and implements them in his customs. The customised hand-built interiors, the updated engine components and tuning - that all works. And he still does this at a great price - which resulted in our third place in the “best value” category! Perhaps this is really the best advertisement we could’ve received.

So maybe he just needs an aesthetic consultant in the shop. I’d be happy to help him out, as long as he can drop his “no girls in the shop” attitude. It seems that this experience is changing his mind. Dad seeing me participate in the GT and overcome adversity has taught him that girls aren’t just little pretty meadow flowers that can’t handle a gentle breeze.

Well, now that we’re on our way back home, I can really enjoy the countryside from the luxuries that the Deimos has to offer for such a trip. I think that the car is indeed more suited for a leisurely cruise rather than break-neck speed. And I prefer it this way. Nice and relaxed driving, taking in the sights.

As I write these words, I find myself smiling in the passenger seat as we pass the massive rock columns in central Archana. What a beautiful world!

F.



OOC: Thanks @karhgath, this was a really fun and entertaining event! I especially enjoyed it with the commentary provided by the other teams along the way :slight_smile:

1 Like

Wow, I am really delighted by the performance of the Presto! The challenge was a real nail-biter and turned from “I hope it is going to be top 5” to “the others will have better stats” to “I think I can really win this” for me. :slight_smile: There have been some truly nice cars I have been afraid of.

Here’s the car for anybody interested: 70GT_-Der_Bayer-_Cisalpina_Presto_72.car (85.3 KB)
I haven’t opened it again, but I think the biggest “exploit” was probably that it is only a 2-seater, which saved some weight, cost and increased performance and comfort. It was a 1972 model year - I don’t know, what exactly that did for the final scores, but maybe it also saved a bit of weight and cost.

Thanks @karhgath for a very entertaining and exciting challenge! I can only imagine what an effort this must have been!

1366_2000
The Presto on the stage 4 in Fruinia

3 Likes

Considering that a two-seat trim of a particular car weighs less and requires fewer PU/ET than one of the same model which has four or more seats (all other things being equal, with the additional assumption that the body chosen can also accommodate two or more seat rows), and the fact that cars get heavier and more expensive over time, your decision to submit a pure two-seater was entirely justified. The only drawback is that it received a desirability penalty in the GT and GT Premium demographics, both of which prefer four-seater coupes; even so, it was still more than good enough to claim the overall victory.

Thankyou @Der_Bayer for sharing your winning car; I can now directly compare my entry AND the re-tuned variant I built to see just how far off the top stats my car really was!

It was a joy to watch this challenge unfold and the stories that it brought. So, I also wish to have a send off to the crazy duo that are Matthew P. Weston and John Wesley. (The P in Matthew’s name is Philips)

As Matt and John set off toward west toward Gasmea they laughed to themselves at the trouble they got into. Matt recounted the time they had to sleep in a tent by the side of the highway at the first overnight stop, somehow evading the Hetvesian Highway Police without making their car wanted. However, their more recent cockups was when John made Matt take a detour and they got the car stuck in a bog and having to be towed out by the Proletariat they saw in Highport the morning the journey began. Another stupid thing they did was steal a 55 gallon drum of gasoline from the salt flats drag racing event strapping it down to a wooden pallet which they had added earlier that day.

Later, They laughed that Matt may be in trouble for taking his wife’s car, but both knew quite well that Matt’s wife was in Hetvesia on a mountaineering vacation and she wouldn’t notice the car was gone. But, the one issue was that Matt and John would arrive 20 minutes after her and showing up with a car full of luggage and an oil drum strapped to a pallet on the roof wasn’t ideal. That day eventually came, and Matt drove to John’s house after arriving in Highport. They removed the oil drum with an engine hoist and unloaded the luggage there. Then Matt went home and told his wife he was at John’s house because John had needed help with something. Matthew Philips Weston passed away on November 8th 2009 at age 90 after a long battle with Alzhimer’s disease surrounded by his family at his home in Highport, Gasmea. he was buried at Denton Park cemetery alongside his wife who passed away that July. John Wesley passed away on March 3rd 2018 from a heart attack at Wilson General Hospital in Highport surrounded by his family too. He was 87. He was cremated and his ashes scattered in the IVERA Garden at the IVERA Complex in Ellisbury where he spent long hours relaxing. There is a bench in that garden that is dedicated to him. Both men were added to IVERA Hall of Workers in the museum at the complex.

This was an interesting challenge and it is unfortunate that I was not able to participate in it. I hope to see something like this again in the future. :wink:

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