I finally decided to revisit your Zephorus Tornado, took the +15 quality spam out of it, and reworked it from the ground up. However, after realizing some problems with the current revised rule set, I made it into a road-legal base model for a potential race car variant instead.
Specs:
- Galvanized steel ladder chassis/treated steel body panels
- Dual wishbone front/leaf spring live axle rear suspension
- 300-bhp/289lb-ft 5000cc heavy alu/silicon block OHV 16v V8 w/alu/silicon heads, forged internals, twin throttle bodies, cast mid headers, and 3-way cats, requiring 91 RON regular unleaded
- Longitudinal RWD layout w/5-spd manual gearbox and viscous LSD
- 17in alloy wheels wrapped in sports compound radials (225/60 front, 245/55 rear)
- 4-wheel vented disc brakes (2-piston 345mm front, 1-piston 205mm rear) w/ABS
- 2-seat standard interior & cassette stereo
- Variable hydraulic power steering, traction control, and standard 90s safety
- Sport-tuned suspension with progressive-rate springs, monotube shocks, and passive swaybars
I know it won’t be eligible as-is, or even be competitive, but it costs $20k AMU all-up. It would, however, make far more sense if the rule set were more strictly controlled; to that end, my idea for a rule set for the road car (or rather, truck) would be as follows:
- Trim/variant year of 1992 (model/family year must both be no older than 1972)
- Both the body and chassis must be made entirely of any kind of steel (no partial aluminum, full aluminum, fiberglass, or carbon fiber panels)
- Ladder frame chassis and solid axle rear suspension required.
- Max capacity for NA engines increased to 5000cc; all V8s must be OHV and 2v.
- 91 RON regular unleaded and 3-way catalytic converter required.
- Manual gearbox and RWD only, no race LSD or manual locker.
- No cross-ply, off-road, all-terrain, utility, or race tires, but max. rear tire width reduced to 285mm; all tire sizes must end in 5, not 0.
- Minimum of 2 seats; maximum of 3 and 6 seats for trucks with provision for 1 and 2 rows of seats, respectively.
- Standard 80s safety minimum.
- Standard or progressive springs only; no adaptive, semi-active, or active suspension components allowed.
- Default techpool values (+5 in all categories) are required.
- Quality range of between -3 and +3 inclusive.
The race car ruleset would be similar to the above, but with the following differences:
- Medium race tires required, with front and rear diameters of up to 240mm and 280mm respectively.
- Clutched race LSD required.
- Race interior with 1 seat and no entertainment at 0 quality required.
- ABS (but not TC+ ABS or ESC) allowed on race cars.
- Advanced 90s safety with weight slider set to 0 required (for simulating a roll cage and other required safety equipment)
- Weight distribution slider must be set to 50.
Those rules would best be reserved for another challenge, but I’ve provided them anyway as an example of what could be done (and used as a reference point) with a more logical approach.