Have you ever wondered what the best car for YOU is? Well, now you can find out!
This is the Shitbox Derby Run (SBR), a competition aimed at finding out what the best cars on the market are. This competition tests all aspects of the competing vehicles, from performance and handling to comfort and practicality.
A failing car review show gets told that it needs to either start over with something new, that people will actually watch on TV, or quit altogether. The people running the TV show immediately halted production of their current show and began brainstorming what show they could come up with to replace it. They realized that there was an overwhelming amount of vehicles on the market, and so they figured that they should come up with something to help determine which vehicles were the best in their class. In order to succeed, they would need a show that would challenge each car to show its strengths and weaknesses; but the show would also have to be fun and exciting. And thus, the Shitbox Derby Run was born; an action packed, fast pace TV show that demonstrates the qualities and quirks of the most popular vehicles (and some of the least popular) to give car buyers across the world the information they need to make an informed decision on what car to buy.
Round One takes place at the tail end of the 1960s. A competition is being held to see which cars were the best of the best throughout the decade.
Each round of the SBR consists of one decade of automotive history, and has a set number of challenges each car must face. All challenges will be done by me, in BeamNG.Drive with a full sim wheel setup (steering wheel, H-shifter, 3 pedals with clutch assist turned off).
Challenges standard to every round of SBR:
Challenges/Stages
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Australian Quarter
A 1/4 mile drag race done on the Australian drag strip map -
Highway Fuel Economy Test (H-FET)
Performed on Gridmap, each car will be given 2L of fuel. Each car will accelerate from a complete stop up to 70mph (at full throttle), where Beam’s Cruise Control app will be set. The car will drive until it runs out of fuel, Beam’s app to measure distance will be used to determine the number of miles driven. Using a calculator, (miles driven/0.53) = (average fuel economy in miles per gallon). 0.53 is 2L in gallons. -
Derby Run Classic
One lap of the figure 8 course on the Derby map.
Challenges that can be selected from random:
mixed stages, dirt stages, asphalt stages, hillclimbs, rally stages (no race tracks or explicitly “off-road” courses can be selected). Each course will have an assigned number, and a random number generator will pick the courses that will be used for the other challenges. (I may add more challenges to the pool, such as handling and suspension tests).
Rules for submission:
The goal is to have realistic cars (in both appearance and performance). The Shitbox Derby Run is designed for regular everyday cars of any variety; no performance cars, no trucks or utility vehicles. Wagons, vans, sedans, hatches, and non-sporty coupes are allowed. When designing your cars, look at numbers and appearances for real life cars; we don’t want 300hp kei cars or other unrealistic memes. I’d prefer lore vehicles, with a backstory wherever possible.
Rules/Guidelines
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Weight: keep it realistic, I’m pretty sure that budget vans aren’t made of carbon fibre; and I don’t think kei cars weigh as much as a tank.
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Engine Specs: again, keep it realistic. A cheap, every possible corner cut car won’t keep up with sports cars
But feel free to use whatever type of engine and fuel system you feel best suits the kind of car you’re going for, again keeping it realistic for the times (and the country it was made for). Hard cap values are hard to set, as the variety of car types and markets is too vast; but I will pay attention to what market segment you are aiming at, and reference real life vehicles of that segment at the time to determine how realistic it is. -
PU/ET: keep it as low as possible while still achieving the kind of car you’re going for; these are regular cars, so they should be fairly easy to mass produce. Hard capped values kind of depend on the era (and market), so I can’t really set hard values. Just keep your quality sliders in check and don’t use unrealistic materials/equipment; cars like these will be binned.
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Handling/performance: these cars are intended to be regular, every day machines; they can vary from complete shitbox to luxurious land yacht. Don’t give them sport oriented suspension or sport/slick tires, sportiness value is completely irrelevant; focus on driveability and/or comfort.
Minimum Driveability Score: your car needs to have at least a score of 38. -
Mods: mods are allowed, with some exceptions. Do not use the furry mods, lawnmower mods, sports bodies, truck bodies, and avoid race car fixtures. Also, no old timey bodies; you can use the old timey fixtures as long as they do not make your car look too dated.
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Model/Trim year: you are allowed to set whatever year you would like, as long as it falls within the decade the round is focused on (i.e. no 70s cars for a 60s competition). This applies to engines as well, however, you are allowed to have engines older than the specified decade; but they cannot be newer than the model/trim year of your car.
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Appearance: Make your cars look realistic for the era being focused on. Cars will not be scored on appearance; but cars that look too dated or too “ahead of the times” will be binned.
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Safety: Don’t disregard safety, these are everyday cars that average joe will own and drive.
Minimum Safety: A minimum score of 30. -
Cost: This is another thing that is hard to put a hard cap on, as it varies by market and era. Material cost doesn’t really matter, as I will be looking at the vehicle’s approximate cost instead. Your car can be as cheap as you like, as long as it meets safety requirements; and your car cannot be excessively expensive.
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Practicality: since these are everyday vehicles, they should have at least 5 seats (configuration does not matter), and a minimum practicality score of 50
all rules are subject to change
You can min/max if you like (still keeping to realism, of course), however it may not be very effective. Making a low powered hyper efficient car will only hurt you on time trials; but making a faster and more powerful car will hurt you on the fuel economy test. This competition isn’t about speed, but rather practicality and driveability; making a more balanced vehicle is in your best interests.
Scoring:
Vehicles will be divided into classes based on body type. This way, there can be multiple winners (best 60s hatch, best 60s sedan, etc). (Cars could also be divided into subclasses to weight their score; for example, a cheapo sedan can’t compete against a no-expenses-spared luxury sedan, so weighting the cheaper car’s score to better compete with others in their class. Whether or not this happens depends on results.)
Cars will earn points based how well they do in relation to other cars in each challenge. After all challenges are completed, a car’s score will be weighted by it’s fuel economy (15%, but is subject to change); the car with the highest score wins.
Currently I am looking at there being 8 challenges: the 4 set ones, and 4 random time trials (subject to change). Top 4 vehicles will earn points relative to their position, all other vehicles (except last place) will earn one point (subject to change).
Points and challenge results will be tracked in a spreadsheet, which will also be used to calculate the total score at the end. The same spreadsheet will be used for every round, to keep track of competition history and for consistency.
I will create a post in the thread, and link it here, for each round that gets updated as I complete challenges.
Submission:
Export your car from Automation with the following naming convention, and send it to me via DM on either the forums or Discord.
Model Name: (SDR - your username) Trim Name: (car’s name)
Engine Name: (your username) Variant Name: (engine’s name)
Post a picture and the name of your car in this thread, and it’s lore (if applicable).
(As of right now, you are allowed to submit multiple vehicles; but they must be of a different type, so that they can be classed separately. Same model but different body are not allowed, they must be different models.)
I will message you back if your car breaks any rules, once I have reviewed it. Depending on timezone/irl happenings, this could take a while. You can resubmit your car once you have resolved any issues.
Submission Deadline: N/A
Accepting Submissions: No
Submissions are currently closed
Challenge Results and Standings:
Round 1 - 1960s Official Scoreboard
Please ask if you have any questions or suggestions for improvement.
