The Great Automation Run | Chapter 16 and final results!

The Lone Wolf: GAR Part 2

James Carhard, 26. Modified '68 AEA Barracuda GT

“Fuck! This is fun!” James shouted aloud after bypassing the initial road block. Now the race got more technical.

James pushed the Barracuda into the increasingly twisty corners, the car… not exactly happy about it. The Barracuda groaned at the bends, under-steering immensely til James popped the clutch in the downshifts. Then it just cried for freedom, the large rear tires spinning furiously on the twisting bends til they simmered down to squeaking just after the apex. Pushing the Barracuda through the corners was like trying to pilot a drunken fist in a brawl, once momentum is started it doesn’t change direction very fast.

Adrenaline

“Ha, Ha, you fucking pricks! Eat Shit!” James exclaimed to the morning commuters and occasional tractor or lorry. Rounding a blind bend, he almost rear-ended a small car. A slam on the brakes with a quick yank of the steering wheel sent the rear end of the Barracuda to where the front end should have been.
“Woo, Shit just got real!” James yelled, throwing the car into reverse to correct himself with a Rockford Spin.

The car started to hesitate slightly, as the air thinned out. James had some thoughts about re-jetting the carbs, but only momentarily, as he narrowly dodged another commuter.

Throughout this leg of the race, James had minimal contact with any serious police, as he was racing just behind the middle of the pack. As the road widened out, he did catch up to a red sports car of sorts, though James never got a good look at the driver, as he had to dodge a lorry to get around it.

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By the way, in the off sections, will there be opportunity to cross paths? Can we keen an eye on who might be in range to see if any encounters should crop up?

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I know I am hoping to catch you before my first fuel stop. Its possible with a nice long straight stretch (185mph top speed). After re-fueling it wont have much chance.

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Good thing the Dingo isn’t FWD :wink:

Close but no cigar. My car’s top speed is 187mph :wink:

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And here I thought my 158 MPH would be good enough for this challenge… Then again, I’m the shit-lord who brought a 4.1L I3 into the Run. At least it gets decent gas mileage at 30 US MPG.

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You should run the same car in UE4, oh boy, you’ll be ready to rumble then!

Damn and I thought you had said you were pretty slow at the top speed.

I don’t think there’s enough quality slider to find enough smoothness to not shake the internals apart in UE4. Otherwise, I’d probably have quite a lot of fun with it. I know it’d certainly not have a 6,000 RPM redline.

I tried to build a giant I3 in UE4 similar to your car and it flat out does not work unfortunately :frowning:

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Definitely far from the highest top speed. I tried to make a car that had a decent balance of everything. I figured as long as it was close enough to the pointy end across drivability, reliability, top speed and track time it’d come together ok. We’ll see.

Whereas I took a couple of dumb ideas and tried to make something competitive out of it, I am figuring by the time its all said and done I should come in the middle somewhere.

My screenshot was actually from a separate version that uses 93 AKI, the real one makes about 20 more horsepower than advertised (more aggressive cam tuning to lower the octane rating), and is a bit quicker, but suffers a penalty of 2 mpg because of it). I wanted a canyon carver with insane MPG, and although I had one that got 30, it was way too slow to be competitive. This was my compromise. Less range for better acceleration

Don’t know why you did this. I found that Tsukuba does just fine with 210+hp on tap and 10l/100km consumption.

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Since it has a sub 4 second 0-60 and a good passing time (I’m typing this from my phone, I don’t remember exactly what it is), I’m happy with it. Plus, my range isn’t as bad as I thought.

Part 0
Sumgit, being the prat that he is, had completely forgotten to consider the need for a travelling companion. The dumb onion had driven his technically “stolen” car from whatever country Simpel-Karr are based in, and arrived at a hotel close to the well-publicised “secret” staging area for this semi-transcontinental half-baked mass-suicide attempt. He spent the day before the start hacking into the traffic cameras (he’s a bit cluey like that) trying to get a bead on what he’d be facing. As his labours began to pay off, he figured it’d be advantageous to maybe hire a local as an aide.

His inability to “habla español”, as they say, kind of made it difficult.
—Insert time-lapse bit here.—
– End insert—
Maybe not the smartest move ever made deciding to park as far from what would pass as the start line as the organisers would let him, but…hey.


Part 1

When the other cars began to fire up, Sumgit grabbed his sweat band and pulled it on…then made “VROOM, VROOM!” noises. (I don’t know what language he speaks, so I’m just going to do it in English).
There was sudden confusion as the cars at the front left the line, he could see this because he’d managed to park sideways at the end of the line. One by one they left.
“My turn!” Spooling up the puffer, he dropped the clutch, spitting gravel as the tail flicked around, it took him a while to reach the Five-Oh, who was just standing there at the door of his car… oh, no, he was on the radio.
“HORY SHEET! Reinforcements!”

Sumgit had the radio on, and it just so happens they were playing “Land of 1000 dances” by Wilson Pickett (about 20 seconds in) as he was passing a little black car piloted by someone who looked like a washed up F1 driver.

Dodging a tiny white hatch by using the footpath, which seemed to be the only surface that didn’t have randomly angled local traffic full of cursing drivers, Sumgit saw a horrid green thing disappear down a side street… then 3 more cars.
“When in Rome!.. or Casabermeja!!!”
A stab of the brakes, back to 2nd, and a violent jerk of the wheel, the Breezer flew into the alley. Into third and the car sneezed, the sound echoing between the walls, he had to laugh. This was going quite well… 8 whole minutes and 24Km. Maybe he shouldn’t be counting his chickens just yet.

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For those of you wondering what the hell this police Moia thing is…


1995 Cavallera Moia Sentinel, seen here, being used by the Spanish Civil Guard. It is a 4 door, 5 seat, AWD, 200hp 2L 4 cylinder turbo sedan that roams the roads of Spain chasing after (and losing to) your GAR cars.

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What’s the body material, out of curiosity? I’d like to know in case one of them bumps my fiberglass car.

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Chapter 3: (Timeskip 1, Málaga - Alicante).

(The Google Maps route can be found here).

(Music suggestion by @squidhead!)

With the police finally out of sight after the mountain pass, the racers started flooring it once they rejoined the A-341. During the first kilometres, the drivers could enjoy and test themselves in a few downhill turns, twisty, but not as twisty as the mountain pass. The road was narrow, and the pavement not as good as one would want it to be, but fortunately for the drivers the traffic was almost not present. With the Evo Rc in first place, and the Chaucer Brooklands slowly catching up, a battle started between the two as soon as they entered the A-92. As they entered Loja, the “Granada” sign was visible. The first province had already been left behind, and that was a good signal: their pace was consistent and fast.

However, as the highway section went on, the Brooklands burned through what was left of its tank of fuel quickly, having to stop to refuel. During the refuel, the Guivre passed him, the driver of the lime green wagon cursing as he finished refueling.

As the highway entered the mountains of Sierra de Huétor, the turns and more technical sections saw a battle for the 4th position between the Fatalita and the 333GT3. Thanks to a better fuel economy, the 333GT3 ultimately overtook the Fatalita.

A little further back, the Hummingbird and the Conquista fought for the position as well. The attempts of the yellow car were blocked by the muscle car, which could keep a faster average speed throught the highway. The kilometres went by quickly, and soon the lead racer made a choice: she opted for the b-road to reduce her cop visibility, just in case they were still on the lookout.

The road would soon become flatter and straighter. The highway became a test of top speed, and the 1000hp F219+35 started catching up, running out of fuel just before ovetaking the NRZ-986. The Dolphine and the Comet GT-R grasped this opportunity and started winning places, placing themselves just behind the Conquista. The battle between the Bushranger and the Chevallier, started in the mountain pass, would come to an end for now; the Chevallier drafted behind the Bogliq, finally overtaking it.

Another muscle car took place in the straight, between the Barracuda GT and the Montauk. A very close drafting battle, ultimately won by the Barracuda, whose driver showed the Montauk drivers the middle finger as he passed them.

However, the straights wouldn’t last for long. Soon, the road became twistier and twistier; as the cars entered the Mediterranean Highway, the turns became twistier and twistier. The Fahrzeug C1 was overtaken by the Grand 490, becoming the last car of the race. The Potatismos kept its place, with its driver taking the turns with expertise, tracing neat lines around them. As the driver of the Guardsman found himself forced to avoid traffic, and not following a good line, he was overtaken by the Communitasia of Karl and Lenin.

The cars finally arrived at what seemed to be the industrial areas of Alicante. They know they’ll have to enter the city, and they won’t be able to spend too much time crossing it; the police might be aware of the race and therefore, they could lock the city down as soon as they were reported.

The racers took the first entrance to the city, the onramp allowing them to enter the first streets of the industrial area. Some of the racers started drifting the 90º corners towards the city centre; others started gripping them.

However…it wouldn’t be long before those with a police scanner started picking up some worrying speech.

-A good patch of cars has been seen racing down the industrial area! Are they the street racers we’re looking for!?
-How many?
-More than 30!
-Lock the city down, we can’t let them escape!

To be continued.


Times spreadsheet:


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