The year is 1965 and Blomozvakia is in the throes of an economic crisis. Any historian or economist worth their salt would call that the natural state of Blomozvakian economy, but this time it is serious.
The largest local car manufacturer Gnoo Motorki, who has recently undergone a significant factory expansion to tackle the global market, is being hit hard by the turmoil and struggles to stay afloat.
Help comes from an unexpected source.
Howler Automotive, with their headquarters more than half a continent away, has been wrestling with the concept of making budget automobiles for the developing world without tarnishing their image as a builder of premium quality cars.
Rumors suggest there is a search going on for good factory sites in countries with suitable economic conditions, probably under a newly created brand name.
It is with some surprise that the board of Gnoo Motorki receives an offer from Howler to acquire a significant stake in the company and inject some much needed funds. However, the offer comes with a condition.
In order to prove that Gnoo deserves the investment, and that cheap does not necessarily mean crappy, Howler has challenged Gnoo to an endurance race. They have to put forward a car in time for the 1965 Dalnit Auto Show near the Howler headquarters in Rokonia, that would then drive back to Gnoo’s own offices in the village of Prezdulbu in Blomozvakia (near the capitol Bralka) together with something from the Howler lineup. If the pace and reliability of the Gnoo is found worthy, the deal can move forward.
A map has been sent along with the proposal, indicating a route roughly five thousand kilometres long. Remarkably, it does not follow any of the major roadways. Instead, it twists and thrashes through thousands of kilometers of snow drifted back roads, rough gravel and dirt tracks, sandy shores, bumpy hillsides and a couple of riverbeds. A major challenge for any car separates the cold northern shores of Rokonia from the sunny southern coast of Blomozvakia. This is not going to be easy.
To make matters more difficult, the route passes through the small country of Turul, where some rather peculiar limitations have been imposed on road legal vehicles. Following these rules is therefore part of the
challenge.
Preparations begin immediately. Gnoo Motorki is not without racing pedigree and the best minds in the company are called upon to prepare a suitable model from their lineup for the grueling task.
Somehow, the story gets out. Blomozvakian newspapers herald it as the first sign of better times returning, the international press spins it into a sensation and Howler’s management find themselves bombarded with
requests, nay, demands to turn the race into a public event.
That doesn’t seem like a bad idea, really.
#Welcome to the 1965 Dalnit-Bralka Rally
Before you read any further, be warned that this challenge has a significant influence from random events. While you can improve your odds by building the best car, that does not guarantee victory. You also need a bit of luck. Maybe a lot of it. If you believe that would ruin the fun for you, you are welcome to observe from the sidelines or just ignore the challenge completely.
I will be running two cars of my own, one Howler and one Gnoo as part of the companies’ back story. They will take part in all the events, but WILL NOT be awarded any championship points from any of them. They are in this for their own business, as outlined above.
Event list is as follows:
1.) QUALIFICATION.
Entries are open until 08:00 (am) GMT on 14.08.2016. I will accept the first 30 cars and run them around a flying lap on the Automation Test Track. These cars’ Engine Reliability, Overall Reliability, 1/5 of their Comfort and 1/2 of their Offroad will be subtracted from the time (in seconds). The cars will then be ranked according to the score with lower obviously being better.
2.) SCRUTINEERING.
I will start scrutineering from the top of the qualifications list and move down until I have fourteen (14) valid contestants. If your car is illegal, then you’re out and I will move on to the next one. Realistically, if you show up to the start of a race with an illegal engine or something over budget, you won’t have time to re-engineer and rebuild
it on the spot. Check before you submit.
3.) DALNIT AUTO SHOW.
The successful contestants will be posted with a short blurb and picture. There will be a poll to determine the crowd’s favourite cars. These will be considered to have fans cheering for them for the rest of the event and receive a bonus to all driving (not repair) times as follows:
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1st -1% -
2nd -0.65% -
3rd -0.35%
This may not seem like a lot at first, but consider that 1% is more than a second per lap on the ATT with these cars, so it is quite significant.
4.) SPRINT AND ENDURANCE EVENTS
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There will be six sprint and six endurance events, alternating between the two, on the way to Bralka. These will take place on various surfaces, some more destructive or dangerous and some less. Sprint events will be simulated in-game and time modified in excel. Endurance events will happen in excel between sprints and pose a significant threat to the state of your car. Everybody will target a speed of 100km/h due to the terrain, but there are lots of random modifiers which will affect your time. -
Based on the drivability and comfort rating of your car, and roughness of the terrain, your driver will become fatigued (the co-driver will not be any better off), drive slower and be more likely to
crash.
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Based on the roughness of the terrain, your offroad rating and the current state of your car, its overall reliability will deteriorate. Crashes can have a minor or major additional effect. Your time will be affected. Engine reliability does not change. -
Based on engine and overall reliability you can have additional “minor” troubles, which will not damage your car, but can cost a significant amount of time. -
When your car runs out of fuel, the drivers need to stop and refill it from canisters. There will always be support cars around to replenish your supply, but the stops will still take time. -
Endurance event winners will collect half points, Sprint event wins are worth full points. If your car breaks down during an endurance event, you will not be awarded points for it and will barely be able to patch up your car to run the sprint. Your sprint time will therefore also be affected. -
After every Sprint event, there will be some time for your drivers to rest and repair their car. Nobody else is allowed to put hands to the car, so they may not have time to do everything. Given infinite time, they could only repair up to 90% of original reliability in the field.
5.) 24 HOURS OF NUTSORING
This is the finale of the rally, at the legendary Nutsoring race track in Blomozvakia. This will be simulated in excel lap per lap, based on the flying lap time from the game. The longest distance wins, or if several cars complete the same amount of laps then the shortest time to do so. Here (and only here) tire wear is taken into account and there are driver swaps. There is a minimum pit length of 60s for a tire/fuel stop and 180s for a driver stop. The Nutsoring event is worth double points.
6.) THE WINNER IS DECLARED
#RULES
1.) You can submit one car. You are enouraged to paint liveries or numbers on it, post back story or make olde timey posters or such. DEADLINE 08:00 (am) GMT on 14.08.2016.
2.) Build Year 1965.
3.) Model name to be DBR65-Username
4.) Engine name to be anything but “Family …”
5.) Market Price $10000 (no markup).
6.) The race passes through the small country of Turul where V8 engines are outlawed in an attempt to promote safety. They haven’t thought to outlaw V12s yet, so those are fine if you can afford one and are willing to live with the weight/cost.
7.) Maximum engine capacity:
- 1800cc for SOHC and DOHC
- 1950cc for Direct OC
- 2100cc for Pushrod.
8.) Qualification score will be ATT flying lap time minus Engine Reliability, minus Overall Reliability, minus 1/5 of Comfort minus 1/2 of Offroad.
9.) Maximum tire quality +3, max tire width 145mm (!).
10.) Minimum Standard safety.
11.) Negative quality points down to -5 allowed. Including safety.
12.) The Porsche 35X, Healey Bugeye and MR supercar bodies are banned. The aero coefficients are OP and supercar stuff doesn’t mesh with the spirit of the event. Do let me know if anything else is disproportionately good so I can ban it.
13.) Regular Leaded 92 fuel.
14.) Fuel tank size in kg is 30 +2% of your car’s weight. If your car weighs 812kg, your fuel tank will be 46.2kg. I have fumbled something together using Packbat’s formula for the fuel consumption, so ingame consumption is irrelevant.
15.) Stable Steam build.
16.) Steam workshop stuff – No Barth Bodies. No Added Engine Slots bodies.
17.) When submitting your car, specify a name for your racing team and two drivers.
I’m considering making this a recurring event. As such be aware that contestants who passed scrutineering in an event will receive a minute “pedigree” bonus in the future. This will not be cumulative if you have entered several times.
#FORMULAE
There is a massive excel file I have been developing on-and-off that is full of formulae. I’m not going to post them all because of the volume, and I am not going to share the excel file because that would take the magic out of the event. If you enter Paris-Dakar in real life, you don’t get an excel file with your chances neatly outlined. However, I will provide printouts of this excel file for all competitors after the event has finished. And before the event I will to my best to clarify how the mechanics work in principle and provide general guidance.
I have uploaded a printout of a random, fictional car here, so you can get a basic inkling of what is going on.
File
Guidelines:
1.) Drivability is very important. Benefits cut off at 40 so there is no point in pushing further except for ingame benefits. It will affect driver fatigue, chance to crash (both through fatigue and separately) plus a direct effect on your time.
2.) Engine reliability benefits cut off at 40, except the added effect it has on your overall reliability. Chance of engine
trouble per 5km is as follows:
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40 - and above 0,2% -
30 - 0,8% -
20 – 2,0% -
10 – 3,6%
3.) Overall reliability is crucial. On endurance effects, based on the difficulty of the terrain, you will lose some reliability
every 5km. If you drop below 40 you start to get time penalties (for all events you take part in in that state) and on endurance events your car will deteriorate further rather quickly. Crashes will take chunks out of your reliability – usually 5-12 points, but more is possible. I would recommend aiming for 55-65 reliability, but if you can do better that’s more buffer for you.
4.) Off road rating will have an effect on your time on Gravel and worse terrains.
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40 – 0.0% -
30 - 0,3% penalty -
20 – 1,0% penalty -
10 – 2.3% penalty
I’ll be stunned if I see any 40 offroad cars. Even 30 seems very high. Offroad stat between 5-30 will reduce endurance stage distance-based damage by up to 60%.
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30 - 60% -
20 – 30% -
10 – 6.3%
5.) Comfort up to 25 will reduce the speed at which your drivers gain fatigue. The effect is slightly greater per point than
drivability.
6.) Tire choice matters. Modifiers as below:
#TRACKS
I will release the sprint stages when entries close, so you wouldn’t agonise over the times too much. I will release Nutsoring immediately because there was a bug where the game would crash if your car reached high speeds on an incline. So before you submit, SAVE AND EXPORT and then test your car on Nutsoring. If it crashes, you need to gear for a lower top speed (that is, don’t take the max gearing too far beyond the theoretical top speed). Keep in mind that the second half of Nutsoring is very fast, but the rally stages are generally quite slow and twisty.
