AUTOMATION RESTOMOD CHAPTER 33: NOTHING IS SACRED!
FIRST ARM
LATEST ARM
WHAT IS ARM?
BACKSTORY
Ah, who would not love a classic Ferrari? In this case, a 308 GTBi from 1980. How do you improve on perfection? The answer is, you probably don't.
Unfortunately, if we take the rose tinted glasses off, the 308 is far from the definition of perfection seen by the standards of today. Especially this US model, an early fuel injected one, before the Quattrovalvole made things a little bit more exciting. 205 hp might have been respectable when the “muscle cars” of Detroit suddenly was pumping out 100-ish figures, but today there are hot hatches beating it for performance. Not to mention that they are easier to live with on a day to day basis by far… So not even Ferrari escaped the malaise era, especially since the beautiful Pininfarina styling was somewhat interrupted by chunky rubber bumpers and brick like side markers.
Our client prefers to be anonymous. Which might have something to do with his preference that “he wants it engineered to be able to cope with some fast long distance driving, with both the car and occupants still being in shape afterwards”. Yet being streetable even for more normal occasions. But, a channel is open for questions, in case that was a bit to vauge…
PRIORITIES
AESTHETICS
This is not like pimping out some riced old Civic, though. The 308 is one of the most beautiful cars in the world, and modifications should show the original some respect. Yet, imagine this would appear in a sea of factory stock Ferraris, our client still wants it to stand out. If it is by subtle modifications, by some wild but period correct bodykit, or by making it look modern but still retaining its heritage...well, he is not sure, just make it work. But a lowrider on gold wheels or a monstertruck with hoodpipe probably isn't the answer...
PERFORMANCE
Pretty much a no-brainer. Keep in mind that even sportiness/driveability brake fade, braking distance, cornering Gs and overall behaviour will be taken into consideration here, so just crunching Automation stats for things like driveability and sportiness won't work if the numbers are still meh.
SPORTINESS
Brr sports car go wroom, do I need to say more?
AUTHENTICITY
Yes, the more that can be kept of the original, the merrier, as long as you can make it good. Sure you can put a japanese 4 cylinder turbo in it, and a fiberglass body (yes, the early 308 was fiberglass, this one is not) on top with the roof cut off and....oh, maybe even make it better at the same time, but wouldn't it kill a lot of the soul the car has, even if it did?
RELIABILITY
For some sketchy reasons, it would be good if it held up when driven hard over long distances...
PRICE/VALUE
Of course money is not the main object in this case, but how the money is used will be of higher importance, and if something cheaper can do stuff just as well it's a no brainer. Use the budget if you want to, just don't waste it.
DRIVEABILITY
Doesn't need to become a modern city runabout, but an improvement would be welcome.
FUEL ECONOMY
Maybe more for range than for the sake of money...
COMFORT
Yeah, some long distance driving should not feel like a session in a torture chamber....
SAFETY
It's expected to have some serious performance after all, so it would be good to have a chance if something goes wrong.
INTERIOR DESIGN
A somewhat inspired by the original interior is included (an exact copy was impossible). Unlike the exterior, you can't do much wrong here. It will not be a drawback scoring wise if you mess up. If you manage to improve, you can get a bonus, though.
SERVICE COSTS
I have understood that they can be bloody on mid engined Ferraris, and Automation may underestimate them in this case. You probably don't care too much if you buy one. Just don't put it at a meme-like level.
GENERAL RULES
- Clone both the imported model and engine family before you start modding. Nowadays this can all be done with one button of the Car Designer tab in Automation - the one circled red in the photo below.
- Set all dates (model year, trim year, engine family/variant year) to 2020. It is highly recommended to exit the game and reopen it after cloning it and before updating the dates.
- Maximum price (as shown in the Testing tab, Detail Stats section): $45,000
- No race parts (race intake, race tubular exhaust, racing tyres). Semi slicks allowed. V16s allowed.
- Default +5 TP everywhere, as the car was originally made with.
- A reasonable use of quality. I don’t want to see, for example, +15 on turbos and then -15 on safety. I am not sure that I want to set any hard limits here, but overly cheesy use of it WILL have its consequences in judging.
- Stable version of the game.
- You’re of course allowed to ask an unlimited number of questions regarding the challenge in itself and its rules etc. - but also, you’re allowed to ask (privately, via DM) the client two personal questions about preferences that might affect how you want to build your car.
CAR RULES
- The general rule of ARM is to not make a car worse. Now, a very marginal drop in one single stat if it really bumps up the others will not instabin the car, so this is a very soft rule indeed, but still, try to avoid it at all costs.
- Unleaded super fuel. Sure, lower grade unleaded won’t be a bin but it won’t help you either.
- The car should appear street legal and useable without too much struggle. Just use common sense there. I won’t bin anyone for “this turn signal sits 2 cm too low” but the most important parts has to be there still.
- No change of chassis type
- The car should be able to pass WES8.
- ATS is allowed in moderation if the change can’t be done via engineering.
COST PENALTIES
- Chassis material can be changed for a $2000 cost penalty.
- Panel material can be changed for a $1500 cost penalty.
- Changing engine orientation will give a $5000 cost penalty.
- Changing suspension type will give a $1000 penalty per axle.
- A complete engine swap will give a $2000 penalty.
- Only a cylinder head change will give a $500 penalty
- A swap of body type will give a $3000 penalty
- Using morphs/3d/patchwork that radically alters the look of the car will give a $1500 penalty. But if it can be done with a body swap, it is not allowed. For example, negataping the roof instead of using a convertible body.
- Changing drive type will give a $4000 penalty.
- Changing type of gearbox to anything else than another manual will give a $500 penalty.
SUBMISSIONS
SUBMISSIONS START
14th of january, 6 PM CET. Until then, everything is preliminary during the rules delib.
SUBMISSIONS END
31st of january, 6 PM CET.
NAMING
Car model/trim: ARM33 - Username / The name of your car
Engine family/variant: ARM33 - Username / The name of your engine.
FILE
ARM33_-Yourname-PLEASE_CLONE-_Ferrari_308_GTBi.car|attachment (97.0 KB)
