by @Texaslav and @debonair0806
The Full Prelude
Outskirts of Chicago, September 20 1986, 1 AM
It’s a sausagefest down at ‘The Bunker’ tonight - seven guys and - being that Jerry left with his girlfriend at a more reasonable hour of the night - no women to speak of. Then again, it’s not exactly a surprise.
Let’s take a step back. “The Bunker” is just a monstrously uncool name assigned to a large-ish house just outside Chicago, and it serves as the headquarters of a local metal band who call themselves Ruinous Revolt. The drummer of this band - David - got the place as inheritance from his late father, and offered it up for the band because out here, there’s nobody to place a noise complaint - and if anybody did, there’d be nobody to answer it. This made the inconspicuous domicile the perfect place to turn alcohol and other substances into idealistic philosophical ramblings they could hopefully turn into music.
Even without any company from the fairer sex, it’s a happy Saturday night for the four members of Revolt and their free-rider friends: they’d been on a roll lately with local gigs, netting them a whole bunch of bank on top of the four’s day jobs. The cause of their get-together was that in just 16 hours, Ruinous Revolt would open for a much more prominent band at a legit show, with many thousands in attendance - fertile ground to grab the attention of record execs and the like. Being men barely into their twenties, the only thing on their mind was: what to spend all the dough on.
David, the aforementioned drummer, was at peace about it, planning to save or invest his share. John, the guitarist… You already know what he was planning to get, let’s be honest. And that dimwitted bassist, Luke, was probably thinking of going on a spiritual journey or something of the sort. Crazy what certain plants do to people’s psyches.
But Robert, the thunderous vocalist whose crowd-pleasing antics arguably (at least in his head) paved the way for Ruinous Revolt’s success? He wanted both an outlet for his need to show off and a cause for the adrenaline rushes that always gave him lyrical inspiration. Robert wanted a new, capable sports car, something capable of giving him a physical rush.
Of course, Luke immediately started rambling about the futility of worldly possessions. David pointed out that if Rob got a car that handled well, he could have fun on country roads without even breaking the speed limit… To which John, a Kentucky transplant whose uncle was an actual moonshine runner, immediately snapped that nothing could be further from the truth, and that jaw-dropping acceleration - as well as the threat of getting arrested - were essential to getting good thrills out of a fun car.
The above, of course, meant that Rob had gotten no help at all, rather his options remained wide open: he didn’t know whether he wanted a car that handled or a car that just up and went, and whether or not he could get both without breaking the bank. And speaking of the bank, Rob - boisterous as he was - had not been wasteful with his money prior to his band’s big break, and could be sure that he could spend up to around fourteen grand on a new ride… though the upper end of that was pushing it somewhat.
Some would say - an in fact, David did say - that Robert could just wait until things worked out for sure, then buy himself a Pantera or something. Yeah, right, sounds glam. But after four years of rattling along in a Chevette gotten nigh-on for free, it was high time for a change.
TL;DR: member of up-and-coming band needs a new car to show off and to get in the zone. As the band isn’t far along on the up-and-coming curve, the budget is limited.
- Years: Model Year - unrestricted; Trim Year - 1987.
- Body: Sedan, Coupe or Hatchback all allowed. 2 doors or more.
- No Legacy Car Bodies - if you mouse over a body and it says “Legacy Car Bodies” in the Mod Name tab, it’s banned.
- Suspension: For balance reasons, I am prohibiting the use of Rear Multilink.
- Wheels: Radials required.
- Interior: 2 seats or more.
- Safety: 80s or newer, any grade.
- Price (as per Detailed Stats): No more than AM$14,000
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Exterior Features/Fixtures: As seen below, design and realism are both high priorities. Breaks from convention or minor hickups like missing a third brake light won’t earn a bin by themselves, of course, but they may decrease your entry’s competitiveness. If you’re literally missing taillights? Yeah, that’s a bin.
Properly lighting categories (e.g. taillights, brake lights, reverse lights that light up separately) are not required and won’t be considered in judging.
Headlights of all types are allowed: Sealed-beam, composite, hidden headlights in either an open or closed position are fair game.
Engine
- Years: Family Year - unrestricted; Variant Year - 1987.
- Architecture: No V16s.
- Aspiration: Boost limit may not exceed 10.88psi/0.75 bar, inclusive. Twin-scroll turbos not allowed.
- Fuel System: No Race intake. Unleaded fuel required.
- Exhaust: Catalytic converter (any three-way) required. At least one muffler required. No Racing Tubular or Turbo Racing headers.
- Loudness: 50 or less.
Techpool
All entries start with 2 techpool in each area, except for turbo - where you start with zero. This makes for 30 points in total. You may add 45 points on top of that, for a total of 75 techpool. Each techpool area is limited to a maximum total of 7 points. I advise every entrant to double-check their techpool before submitting - as this time, there will be no re-submissions.
If your installation of automation has exported the wrong techpool values in the past, you may send a screenshot of your techpool screen alongside your entry, in the same DM. In all cases where such a screenshot is sent, I will double-check your submission’s values with those on the screenshot, and correct if necessary.
If you do not use this feature and the techpool ends up wrong - or if the techpool sum on your screenshot is invalid as well - you will be binned.
Advanced Trim Settings
- Visibility: Unrestricted
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Wheels: Wheel Width, Diameter, Camber banned due to the fact you can change those in the car’s actual engineering. The rest of the settings, such as Wheel Offset are allowed in reason and moderation; if the car looks straight out of Wacky Races, God rest your soul.
Tyre diameter, tread width banned; sidewall and tread curve allowed in moderation - whether to make them more period-correct or to make one of Aruna’s dang whitewall/writing tires look good. -
Body: Front & Rear Ride Height must sum up to a value between -4 and 4. This means you can have, say, 2 on each side to raise the body up a bit, or -1 and 5 the front and rear respectively - either to correct unwanted rake or to make some of your own… But do go easy on that prospect. Visual bins may well be a thing otherwise.
Chassis tunnel size unrestricted.
Body Z offset banned.
Track width allowed.
Wheelbase offsets allowed to correct wheel arch fitment. - Engine: Allowed to fix clearance, not allowed to make the drivetrain look like something it isn’t.
Interiors are not required and will not be judged in this CSR - as usual.
THE CRITERIA
Design
Hey, it’s still the 80s. Whether you still think everything is “radical, man” or if you’re with the program and embrace a more brutal worldview, style is important. Especially in a sports car driven by a young rockstar.
Performance/Sportiness
Rob wants his car to be capable, rather than all show and no go. It can be fast in a straight line, or it can be masterful to handle. Could be both, too - but Rob would be happy with one party trick.
Realism
You don’t have to be very concerned about specific layouts and all that - the 1980s were a time when many a route to performance was tried, after all. However, you should look at performance cars of the time, what sort of power they made, stuff of the sort - and I guarantee you that you won’t get far with a cleverly cut-rate Lotus Esprit V8 Twin-Turbo just because, say, it nails the performance requirement.
Value
Now, while Rob is willing to spend all of his 14 grand if need be, cheaper is obviously better while the band’s trajectory is uncertain and most of its routine earnings are spent on alcohol. Would it look good if everything fell apart and he had to show up on his dad’s doorstep flat broke save for a shiny sports car?
Reliability
It would be embarrassing to have the best ride in town but never being able to take it out because it’s sitting in the shop. It would also be damn boring: not only is a flimsy sports car embarrassing, but it’s also something you can’t properly enjoy. No, this thing needs to be built to last.
Practicality
While Rob does like the idea of a serious out-and-out sports car, it’d be better if the car wasn’t useless. In his busy social life, carrying around people, stuff, or just somebody’s forgotten guitar are realistic concerns.
I will not judge the in-game stat; instead, I will look at door and seat counts, the car’s size, and the shape and size of its supposed cargo areas.
Service Costs
A complex car is one that causes hassle: The mechanics take longer to fix it, and mending it on the side of the road would be a dubious proposition. Rob knows that at least some form of warranty will be offered regardless of what he purchases - but if a car has a reputation for being expensive to fix, it’s because it’s hard to fix, and that wouldn’t sit well with a guy who lacks patience.
Environmental Resistance
Rob would have been fine buying an old Trans Am or something of the sort, but the local weather has ruined most of them - and left the rest expensive. The frontman would prefer his ride to last, even in Illinois.
Drivability
Thrill-seekers Ruinous Revolt may be, suicidal they are not. A car that’s too hard to drive, park, hoon and so on and so forth is useless to Robert.
Prestige
Does it need to be said again? Rob is a show-off. And while it’s more important to dazzle people with the car’s looks, he would not want his style cramped by some magazine-reading know-it-all calling his vehicle cheap.
Fuel Economy
The fuel crises are gone for now, but there’s no telling when things might change - and besides, if Rob were to buy a single-digit mileage car Luke would be on his ass asking to “please let his Mother Earth live”.
Comfort
You know how young people are, they think themselves to be indestructible. However, having driven a half-dead Chevette with a jerky converter lockup, Rob knows that there’s a level of discomfort he simply will not tolerate. Plus, headbanging with a damaged spine isn’t fun.
Note: If a stat or aspect of the car is not listed here, that’s no reason to dump it to salvage the other stats. Eventually - and doubly so for the finals - the cars will be judged holistically, and any shortcomings your cars may have will bubble to the surface. You all have been warned.
INSPIRATIONS
Toyota MR2
Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS
BMW 325
Shelby Charger GLH(-S)
Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z
Porsche 924S
Pontiac Fiero
SUBMISSION RULES
- Submissions open on July 4, 2023, 11:59 pm CDT (UTC-5)
- Submissions close on July 21, 2023, 11:59 pm CDT (UTC-5)
- The naming scheme is CSR156 - (forum username) for the car model and engine family. Trim and variant are free.
- A complete submission includes a .car file sent to either of us - @Texaslav or @debonair0806 - via Discourse PM between the opening and closing of submissions, as well as a post in this thread with at least one picture of the car no later than 12 hours after the round closing.
CHANGELOG
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07/03: Allowable suspension types changed
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07/04: added techpool safeguard allowance; clarified style rules. Good luck!