1992 Sports Truck Challenge [Finished]

Community Challenges & Competitions
1

A lot of people on my discord asked for a truck challenge of some kind, some wanted a luxury truck challenge (which I’ve already done years ago and will do again in the future), some wanted a sports truck challenge.

The concept of a sports truck was (and to some extent still is) kind of foreign to me as I couldn’t see any way that a big tall vehicle with the aerodynamics of a brick, a weight of usually 4000+ lbs and RWD with no significant amount of weight over the rear axle could ever be sporty. As one of my moderators, Sedan57Chevy, explained to me that when cars were starting to get taxed much more severely for having large powerful engines but trucks weren’t, people saw trucks as the opportunity to basically replace what used to be the muscle car, things started to make a bit more sense to me.

Before that, the first (and pretty much the only) thing that came to my mind when people said sports truck was the GMC Syclone which inspires this challenge.

GMC Syclone
GMC Syclone1920×1080 202 KB

Who could ever forget the legendary episode of old Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson in which this thing destroys a Lamborghini Diablo on the quarter mile?

And while I’d be surprised if one of the cars in this challenge manages to do 0-60 in 4.7 seconds like the Syclone with the given ruleset, I know there are participants who are far better at making cars than myself so I wouldn’t say it’s entirely out of the question.

As for what I’m looking for, fundamentally, a sports truck is still a truck, it just happens to be faster than most. Meaning it needs to have a usable rear bed, it has to be reliable and must be easy to drive for the average person. It can’t break the bank either, or else it won’t sell.

RULES
  • Year: 1992
  • Body type: Any truck/ute body
  • Front engine
  • minimum wheelbase: 2.7m
  • Chassis: Ladder or Light Truck Monocoque
  • Must use a solid rear axle (coil or leaf springs)
  • Engine type: 8 or less cylinders, no Boxer engines. V8s must be NA
  • No race intake/exhaust
  • Regular unleaded fuel (91RON)
  • max. loudness 45
  • must have a cat.
  • minimum engine reliability: 58
  • Drive type: RWD or 4x4
  • Tyre compound: no Sports or Semi-Slick tyres, 0 quality
  • max. tyre width: 255mm
  • no magnesium rims
  • no aero fixtures
  • max. rim size 17"
  • Interior: at least 2 full seats, standard interior or better, basic cassette or better, standard 80s safety or better
  • minimum drivability: 38
  • Price: up to 30.000$
  • Power:weight up to 1hp:6kg (166.66666 hp/1000kg)

Judging criteria:

  • Exterior Styling
  • Performance in BeamNG (West Coast Drag Strip, Utah Asphalt Hillclimb, Automation Hillclimb 2)

Scoring:
Exterior: 1-10
Race scores: 1st place 10 points, 2nd place 9 points, […] 10th place 1 point, 11th place and below 0 points
Overall score = Styling Score + Race 1 score + Race 2 score + Race 3 score

Send your submissions via my discord: Tom Henks Chillout by dragging and dropping your exported car file into the “community-challenge-files” subchannel
Only one submission per player, first submission counts!

Deadline: September 11th, 2021 at 5pm CEST
Race 1 & 2: September 11th, 2021 at 6pm CEST
Race 3: September 12th, 2021 at 6pm CEST

The races will be streamed on my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEazrZkjQcCxLaMmj79c62Q

4 Likes
2

Given the minimum engine reliability threshold, I’d expect most of the entries to run SOHC or OHV engines, although we may see some entries with DOHC engines. The blanket ban on aero fixtures of any kind, however, means that no lip, wing or spoiler fixtures can ever be used. And although magnesium wheels are not permitted, regular (cast) alloy wheels are. As for tire type and construction, I guess that radials are mandatory, although with most of the testing being done on tarmac, anything running off-road tires will most likely struggle to earn a top three finish.

3

Out of curiosity, why is there a specific ban on boxers?

4

Maybe it’s because real-life high-performance trucks weren’t powered by an engine of that configuration, and instead used turbo V6s or normally aspirated V8s.

5

They can’t be. But nothing will stop us Americans from stuffing giant engines and putting “sport” badges on anything that moves. :D

(And then there’s the Australian “Ute”, which is its own thing entirely…)

6

Australian utes were typically built on car platforms (which were unibody vehicles), in contrast to American pickup trucks, which used separate ladder frames (or light truck monocoque construction) instead. Given that no real-life full-size early-90s sport truck used unibody construction (as far as I am aware), it might explain the fact that the use of either a ladder frame or a light truck monocoque is mandatory.

7

Exactly. They possess the handling characteristics and mechanical underpinnings of a car, which means, among other things, that they can be upgraded like a car. They are far sportier than most trucks; almost literally making them sport trucks.

Edit: Yeah, the chassis requirement is a bit weird and unrealistic. But considering even many road cars still used ladder designs in this period (at least American ones did), it shouldn’t kill the Aussie’s fun too much. (:

1 Like
8

Boxers aren’t allowed because they weren’t used in sports trucks or really any trucks in the early 90’s, unless you count the Subaru BRAT which is hardly a sports truck

9

Exactly what I was thinking. Besides, boxer 4/6 engines are not as well suited to turbocharging as inline 6s (although the GMC Syclone shown in the OP used a single-turbo V6).

10

1992 Bakerfield Caramote VSR

Photo19
Photo191920×1080 91.9 KB

Photo18
Photo181920×1080 102 KB

4 Likes
11

Single turbo my friend, the 4.3 wasnt twin turbo.

12

Thanks for the correction. Said single-turbo V6 was also used in the 1992 GMC Typhoon, but that was a two-door SUV, not a pickup truck. Besides, this challenge is about trucks, not SUVs.

13

Kudos to Major Tom here for the ruleset by the way - just tried my to-be entry in Beam for the first time and it’s an absolute hoot to drive!

Maybe I just happen to hit a sweet spot, but I suspect the combination of power-to-weight ratio and tyre limitation works extremely well. I hope this translates equally well to driving with a controller…

1 Like
14

beam or automation weight? Bc more details on the Trug = more weight in Beam.
PS: Wings are not areos right? (for a frontspoiler)

15

I’m pretty sure he’s measuring Automation weight, just like last time. Since style is given a score, it’s actually a good test of how well you can make a car look without making it too heavy in Beam (imo).

2 Likes
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k thx bye, anyways i will work with few design parts.

17

My understanding of the rules is that no fixtures under wings, lips, spoilers are allowed.

1 Like
18

ye ya right

19

Automation weight, because that’s what I as the host can check much more easily on every submitted car. And “aero fixtures” means lips, wings and spoilers. Basically any fixture that increases downforce in Automation

2 Likes
20

Are spoilers made out of 3D fixtures allowed? (I would be shocked if they were, but worth checking)