I will see if I can actually take part in the next round! No promises but a straight up hotlap shootout can be good fun.
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I know, that’s why I thought I’d create this competition. I only didn’t enter the last round as I was having issues with swanson, but I should be in the next round.
Oversteer yes indeed ;p
How to reduce that? Didn’t get a faster time with more adjustment of the suspension and gearbox. And of course no wings or lips on body.
Looking forward to the next round!
Well, there are many ways to counter oversteer without having to resort to aero. First, you had staggered wheels with wider threads in the front… most cars have equal width wheels or in case of MR or RR cars, wider threads in the rear. Second, and this is in regard to FR cars, if you stiffen the front swaybar and loosen the rear you will get less oversteer. And third, if you up the camber in the rear, or lessen the camber in the front, you also will get less understeer. And forth, if you have done all of the above and still have oversteer… check the suspension and see if you can stiffen the front and loosen the rear. It’s a balancing act.
I did the changeup on your car and ended up with a time in the high 3:01’s 
2 Likes
Well, a turbo wasn’t enough to get the Dolphin into contention… I so want to crack this body’s engine code but I never seem to have much success with it! (no offence to the modder who made the body, I’m just not that good at building cars, lol).
Maybe the Dolphin will wow the crowd next round?
Stay tuned to the AEC for these answers and more!!!
AEC Round 3
The year is 1994 and international motorsport is in a bad place. With the cancellation of the IMSA GT series, Group C prototypes and Group A touring, viewership is nearly halved. Many large manufacturers have dropped or curtailed their programs and sponsors are pulling out faster than a nervous prom date. Something needs to be done promptly or there will be a whole ‘lost generation’ for drivers and fans.
To build up a feeder league that provides new teams and new faces a financially-viable portal to higher level competition, the AEC proposes to fill in the gap left for traditional door-to-door circuit driving. As an incentive for privateers looking to curb spiraling development costs and limit boring blow-out events, Key Engines provided a batch of 4 liter power-plants focused on durability and efficiency. They’re enough to keep the racing spirited but not so much as to overwhelm rookie operators.
With the hopes of attracting skeptical advertisers, the AEC heads set up a publicized demonstration at the famous Laguna Seca track. If this first showcase goes well, the goal is to expand to a full season and build up links to the top tiers of the sport. Organizers are expecting a large field with fast laps, and are depending on this event to establish a positive reputation for the fledgling series.
So what are we actually making here?
According to Appendix J, Article 251, Section IV, ‘car’. It really takes them that long to describe what a car is for car racing.
There’s a lot of fiddly stuff that’s outside what Automation covers. For this challenge, here is what you will need to know:
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Trim year is 1994.
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Minimum weight is 900 kilograms.
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Chassis is capped at 100 Engineering and 100 Production.
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Chassis material and engine placement are free.
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Any 2 driven wheels, front or rear.
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Tires are semi-slicks, with a maximum width of 305mm and no quality sliders. Wheel diameter and material are free.
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Suspension configuration is free.
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Gearbox and differential are free.
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Brake material, pad type, and composition are free (edited).
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Minimum cooling is 330 kilojoules. Maximum is unrestricted. Please do not recreate Peugeot’s convection-welding experiment.
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One aerodynamic lip. Placement is free.
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Any undertray is permissible. In all instances downforce must be set to 0.
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Minimum of 2 seats, standard interior. This is to simulate the presence of on-board race equipment not provisioned in the game.
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Traction control is prohibited. All other driver assists are free.
The important stuff
Minimum drivability is 30. Your clean driver underpants supply is minimum of 1.
Minimum safety is 30. Just look at how much insurance for these events costs.
The total cap on slider use is 15. This includes both positive and negative increments. The maximum alteration to any one feature, positive or negative, is 5.
The engine is a sealed specified unit here AEC Round 3 Engine.zip (10.8 KB). It is the product of 15 minutes years of racing pedigree.
The course is the most recent revision to Laguna Seca (courtesy of CobaltGirl). The direct link is https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B53Wp7zr_9DJdlNpQVF0W
The forum link is Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca (flying lap). Make sure you get the updated version.
That is a lot to read! Note that all the general contest rules in the first post still apply. Once you have read the brief, please put any questions you have prior to entering as replies to this post. The deadline for entries is Midnight US PDT, August 27.
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I’m assuming wings cannot be used at all (if they could, they would have to always be mounted on the rear and never on the front, for aesthetics’ sake). But what about braking hardware? Specifically, are there any restrictions on the type and size of brakes we can use, and their pad type?
No wings, one lip.
Brakes are however you like them. The original post is edited to include that. I didn’t list it specifically, but if you want to ballast your entry with a CD player or power massaging seats, that is also permissible.
The Engineering team at Scarab took the 90’s Aurora and ripped out the 2.5l turbocharged V6 and replaced it with the AEC crate engine for round 3 of the engineering challenge and after some welding, tinkering and fidgeting got the car to a rather decent time around the Lacuna Seca. Hopefully it’ll be good enough.
6 Likes
For the laptime, does the full time count or just the flying lap?
Lets Get Ready… To Rumble!!
The LLA Bullet. A British take on the muscle car, but this one actually goes round corners, and not just left ones!! Available for only $14,900
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Flying lap. The cars would warm up and circulate for a while, then run a qualifying-style fast time. Don’t forget to smile for the cameras.
Just to double check I’m not missing anything, there’s no max price for this round, right?
There’s no dollar limit. However, the engineering/production caps for the trim will keep things reasonable. Remember to thank your sponsors in all those interviews.
MY94 Leeroy Pythagoras 400R
Factory Bogliq tuner/race team management, Leeroy Racing, were looking for a competition to enter their bespoke concept coupe, the Pythagoras.
Based of the Bogliq Slyde of the same year, the svelte body also showcased innovative new production techniques such as aluminium panels and a pushrod rear suspension system.
The plan was that, should the Pythagoras be successful in the AEC, there would be a road going “homologation” version, priced at $20,990 driveaway. Otherwise a suitable Bogliq engine will be selected and the 400R prototype will join the concept car on the museum podium, gone but not forgotten…
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Introducing the McKeown Automotive/Aeronautics GT-C
(hopefully not infringing on someones copyright there…)
The GT-C serves as a development platform for the upcoming GT road car.
Featuring a revolutionary new air dam, the GT-C cuts through the air like a sharpened knife…
Contact McKeown: Customer Racing on +27… to request a test drive.
Drive Yours permanently from only $19 305.
Just to clarify:
Our new MTQ-5-X powertrain shall be in the GT road car, but not in -C racer as that would be unsporting considering that it makes 320 kW compared to the regulated 300kW from the Racing 4 Liter Crate Engine.
{The GT road car was entered in the Car Shopping Round 47, set in 1995.}
2 Likes
Sunday, 28 August 1994. Monterey County CA.
A modest crowd, mostly journalists and industry insiders, has gathered at the venerable speedway. Four marques have presented new designs, hoping to form the back-bone of a new racing league (sponsored by Tasty Gasoline and Pallbero Cigarettes).
The Bogliq Leeroy Pythagoras is a fairly conventional low-slung coupe. The suspension is slightly unusually configured, keeping the car planted but not especially steady [1]. With no driver assists and inexplicably narrow tires, it is a handful through the lower speed sections, but the biggest problem is that it outweighs the competitors by one sumo champion. The brakes are gargantuan, aero lift is untamed, and it really only makes up time on the straights.
Looking like it just graduated from an Ed Roth drawing, the LLA Bullet uses a traditional front-rear layout and a lot of steel. The gearing is more aggressive, but the tires are set up almost for a drag circuit [2]. There’s an impressive show of sparks when it bottoms out following the corkscrew, yet it seems much more composed around the rest of the course.
There’s an interesting chicken-and-egg question about the McKeown GT-C. Is it a track car escaped to the streets, or a road car just waiting for the application of numerous stickers? It looks the part, all brushed aluminum and it is one of the two sporty mid-engine entrants. Around the course, it shows plenty of pace but needs some nerves to really reach the top end. Even with electronic minders, the unconventional brakes [3] command a degree of cautious respect too.
After late nights, extra coffee, and using the Precision Mallet, Scarab Automotive produced a modified Aurora just in time to enter. There’s no doubt about this one, it was always intended to be a racing project. Brake pads are abrasive enough to host their own morning radio show, while the gears are configured just for Laguna, hindering it to the lowest top speed by far. However, once the Aurora got into its groove there was no catching it [4] and Scarab would be flooded with prospective buyers in the coming months as it came with a very agreeable price-tag too.
[1]Springs, dampers, and camber are identical front to rear. The drivability score is significantly behind.
[2] Front tires are about 3 inches narrower than the rears, with no offset. Brakes are again tank turrets.
[3] Solid fronts that are slightly larger than the rears, which have running cleats for pads. Potentially load oversteer.
[4] About 4.5 seconds ahead of the next closest entrant, and within 0.2 of the test car I made. Congratulations.
The winner of Round 3 is @GridGhost !
That isn’t the whole story though. The best racing if not the fastest times were between the Bullet and Pythagoras. The bright orange retro-racer edged this out by six hundredths of a second.
6 Likes
aw, shit, I ran out of time. Next time then!
Damn, this completely slipped my mind, I had an entry ready to go! Just out of interest, what was the fastest time?
I suspected when I submitted that my car would be un-competitive… I tried to get a small enough body but I had no idea if anyone was attaining the weight target or not; clearly they were!
I really like the addition of notes regarding our cars setup. I thought my suspension was well set up so any pointers you can give me would be gladly accepted!