ARM34: Keeping the Faith
Background
Having previously bought an SVP Bearclaw and had it restored to his desires, Keith Davis is on the lookout for a new project to turn his attention to. For years, he’d been eyeing a pristine example of a fourth-gen Morrison Kestrel GT, one of the Bearclaw’s main rivals. Produced from 1992 to 2002, this was a clean break from its predecessors, with sleek, curvaceous styling concealing an all-alloy V8 driving the rear wheels.
Even at launch, this was, by far, the best-performing of all the various generations of the Kestrel, and this became even more true later in its lifespan. Unfortunately, this generation would not be replaced at all after its discontinuation, nor is the Morrison nameplate being used today. However, both it and its maker still enjoy a good following, although they are slowly starting to become scarce.
Keith eventually tracked down a well-kept example, one that had miraculously survived the L.A. wildfires intact. And if there was any motivation for this to rise like a phoenix from the ashes, it’s this: even though its stock output of 275 horsepower (good enough for a 0-60 mph time of 5.9 seconds) was competitive when the car was new, it falls well short of what many modern sport compacts and even pure battery-powered EVs can manage.
Still, this leaves plenty of room for improvement for Keith, who seeks to improve its performance to help it better keep up with modern standards. Especially since its small size (by today’s standards) makes most modern cars seem oversized/and or overweight by comparison. Overall, it’s an even more promising base for his next project than the Bearclaw had been.
Priorities
Primary Priorities 
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Exterior Aesthetics: While a head-turner in its time, Keith wants to give his new car even more presence on the road - enough to make bystanders exclaim “Wow!” whenever they see it. A subtle yet faithful modernization of the exterior, or a more extroverted yet period-accurate bodykit, would work equally well, for example. Just make sure not to stray too far from the basic premise of the donor car. In short: if it looks right, then it usually is right.
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Performance/Sportiness: It’s not just the raw in-game stat that matters here. Straight-line speed (in terms of 0-60 mph and 1/4 mile times), along with 200m skidpad grip and braking distances (taking drivability/sportiness brake fade), are all key factors - the more the better. Again, if it goes right, then it most likely is right.
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Authenticity: Keith would prefer if the basics of the donor car remained intact, but were enhanced significantly from stock. Just don’t deviate too much from the classic pony car recipe of a front-mounted V8 driving the rear wheels exclusively.
Secondary Priorities
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Reliability: The less likely it is to break down on the road or at the track, the better.
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Value for money: Keith is willing to use as much of his budget as he can to get the best possible results, although he will go for a cheaper build if it does the same job just as well as a more expensive one.
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Drivability: This is no city car, but any improvements in ease of use would make living with it a little bit more stress-free.
Tertiary Priorities
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Overall running costs (fuel economy, service cost): These were not a strong point of the original design - just try not to increase them too much.
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Comfort: While not the most luxurious thing on the road at the time of its launch, a fancier interior and modern infotainment system would be appreciated here, for the sake of livability.
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Safety: Even a minor boost to survivability in the event of a crash would help, considering how much more performance the finished product would have.
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Interior design: Though not as important as exterior design, this is one area where any improvements will still yield a bonus. Any improvement, however slight, would be welcome.
General ARM Rules
- Clone the model and family simultaneously after importing the .car file by clicking on the Clone All button (highlighted in red) shown below:
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Set the model, trim, family, and variant years to 2020 (the latest one in-game) - I recommend that you exit the game, then start it again, after cloning and before changing those years.
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Maximum price of $50,000 AMU as shown in the Detailed Stats section of the Overview tab.
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No race parts (intake, tires and headers) allowed. No V16 engines (I don’t have the DLC). Semi-slick tires may be used.
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Retain the default techpool allocation of +5 in all areas (as used for the donor car).
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Use quality points sparingly. For example, a +15 interior and -15 body/trim quality will seem odd, to say the least. If you get too cheesy or min-maxy with your quality point allocation, you’ll be marked down.
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Current stable release (Ellisbury) required (not the Al-Rilma open alpha).
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You may ask the client two personal questions via DM regarding preferences that may influence your build. You may also ask as many questions as you wish regarding this challenge and its rules.
General Car Rules
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ARM is generally about improving a car’s stats - although a minor decrease in one stat may be worthwhile if the others are all significantly improved. Just make sure to avoid statistical downgrades as much as possible, though.
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98 RON super unleaded maximum. Lower grades of unleaded may be used, but they won’t help you at all.
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The donor car must remain road legal, according to common sense - the most important parts must be retained no matter what.
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Do not change the chassis type.
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WES 8 compatibility required.
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ATS (advanced trim settings) may be used in moderation for changes that cannot be made through engineering.
Extra-Cost Options
You must add the cost of these changes to your car’s estimated price (as shown in the Detailed Stats section of the Overview tab) if you choose to apply them. The prices of each option (in AMU) are as follows:
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Changing chassis material (not type): $2000
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Changing panel material: $1500
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Changing engine orientation: $5000
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Engine swap (defined as changing block material or engine configuration): $2000 (includes cylinder head changes for free; see below)
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Cylinder head change (defined as changing head and valves and/or engine material while retaining stock engine configuration, block material and family capacity): $500
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Changing body style: $3000
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Changing suspension type: $1000 (per axle)
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Drastic alterations to bodywork w/use of morphs and/or 3D or patchwork fixtures: $1500 (note that any alterations that can instead be achieved by changing body types, such as using negatape on the roof on a coupe instead of switching to a convertible variant, are not permitted)
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Changing drive type: $4000 (exception: if engine orientation is changed, then all drive type changes are free)
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Changing gearbox type (i.e. using any type other than manual): $500 (using a manual with a different number of gears will not incur this penalty)
Submissions
Rules discussion begins on 12:00 am (UTC+7) on February 6th, 2025 and ends on 12:00 AM (UTC+7) on February 9th, 2025, after which submissions will be open until 12:00 AM (UTC+7) on February 23rd, 2025.
The naming scheme for your ARM34 submission is as follows:
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Model/trim: ARM34 - (your forum username) / (your car’s name)
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Engine/variant: ARM34 - (your forum username) / (your engine’s name)
Donor Car
Click on the link below, then save the file to your CarSaveImport folder to store it:
ARM34-yourname-PLEASE_CLONE_-_Morrison_Kestrel_GT.car (98.3 KB)
Good luck, and have fun!