Feedback IV: Fire in the pitlane
foreshadowing
[ fawr-shad-oh-ing ]
an indication of something that will happen in the future, often used as a literary device to hint at or allude to future plot developments
Now that the other hosts are getting bogged down with real life, I’ve been tasked with writing some of these reviews. Will I be good at it?
…well you can be the judge of that.
Only two reviews in the interest of time, the next two will come out tomorrow if all is well.
You Violated the Google Terms of Service
Before we dig into this, let’s recall what kind of cars we want for this challenge.
For the road car, we don’t necessarily want you to create the most track focused car ever made, but a pedestrian supercar definitely wouldn’t cut it either. It has to be something attractive and exclusive, as well as being very potent in terms of performance. With that in mind, let’s take a look at this thing.
Imagine that you’re in an ocean of supercars and sports cars like 911s and R8s, and then you spotted this thing, would you pay special attention to it?
…probably not.
This car suffers from the unfortunate choice of body here. It’s too small to give it the road presence of a usual hypercar, and the lack of any morphs at all means it’s stuck with the unfortunate proportions of uhhh…
Anyways… there was only one pic supplied for the latest version, and I think the other judges have already covered this car quite well, so onto the race version.
Recall the chart of good vs bad examples for race cars. I’d say this falls squarely into the “Nah” category.
Part of the problems stem from it looking like a supercar in the first place. A long-tailed, low-slung approach would only help here. The aero might be more extreme than the Huracan example shown above, but the overall package here isn’t enough to be a Hypercar.
For example, the rear wing and double fins seems to be more form over function, with some bits feeling disconnected while the wing planes are too connected. Even with a single fin (which is probably a more effective solution), the rear wing planes can be directly supported without the extra supports which are attached at the bottom and disturb downforce-producing airflow on the bottom plane. Especially if those endplates are also connected to the pieces down by the diffuser, much like how the Senna GTR does it.
A larger diffuser would also be beneficial here. Overall, the aero package just needs to be made more purposeful in order to bring it up to standard.
Finally, the livery. It’s not the worst we have seen, but more can be done to make it more exciting. For example, you can try playing with some angled graphics on the side instead of plain straight stripes running horizontally. The vertical stripes running down the car also feel a bit stiff where they dive down into the bonnet vents. I suggest using a couple more fixtures there for a cleaner curve.
Lastly, it would probably make your sponsors happier if their logos weren’t black on dark grey, rendering them almost invisible from a glance. Definitely not what you want for visibility on a billboard going 150+ on the track.
TL;DR: the race car looks ready to rock for LMS, not LMH. This can be attributed to its template not pushing boundaries far enough to break the supercar world’s escape velocity. This body could use some 3D modifications to beat the squatting allegations. Additionally, the race car could learn well from more radical aerodynamic solutions including a more purposeful splitter, diffuser, and wing. Further polishing would greatly help both the car and livery.
Next up, the return of a familiar face.
MustangPorsche67
please completely and utterly destroy give me feedback on my car
As you wish. 
Since our very friendly feedback last time, MustangPorsche has decided to start over again. As we understand from one of the whopping 25 posts you posted in the thread, the new car is inspired by this concept sketch from the Detomaso P72 designer.
Pretty cool.
Now let’s take a look at your car.
yeah we can’t see much in that pic
Thankfully we have these, which I’m assured is the same car just without the tweaked greenhouse.
Since this post is coming out late, we also had a chance to get a glimpse of the race version.
Now, I remember giving some of my initial thoughts on the road version when those pics were first shown in the Discord.
Both in the very dark lead pic and the similarly dark showcase pic with the race car, I don’t see any evidence that this feedback has been acted upon, except for the tweaked cockpit area which I will give credit for as it does massively improve on the awfully dated design on the previous iteration.
Other than that, I won’t repeat myself talking about the exterior.
Curiously, this interior shot wasn’t sent in the forum DM but instead on Discord. Weird, but whatever, I got it anyway.
genericmoderninterior.jpg
For something so clearly intended to be retro-inspired on the outside (execution is a different story), the interior is shockingly boring, with a huge center console reminiscent of the Toyota Mega Cruiser. Ok, maybe it’s not quite that big, but its bulk is still very out of place in an already cramped space and the lack of detail certainly doesn’t help.
See below for examples of good interior styles that would fit the exterior much better than the current snooze-inducing offer.
Onto the race car.
yeah i had to go find a brighter pic for this
Compared to the road car, there’s minimal bodywork changes - a new rear wing, louvres over the fenders, two small dive planes, and a slightly enlarged front splitter. If the road car was an extreme design like the McLaren Senna or the AM Valkyrie, minimal changes could work for a race version. But even those cars had drastic modifications and wild aero for their track variants. Point is, this is simply not enough to make a race car worthy of Le Mans.
Once again, De Tomaso provides the perfect example for me to show what kind of transformation is necessary for a Le Mans Hypercar.
The current livery also leaves us wanting more. A lot more. The plain black scheme and Italian influence unfortunately reminds me of an Andrea Moda, but even that disaster of a Formula One car had more sponsors than this.
Lastly, please reread the entire technical regulations document thoroughly, especially articles 1.4 and 8.2, to see what is required for your race entry to actually pass technical inspection.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Full disclosure: if these two cars are submitted as is, they will be binned.
There is clear potential in your retro-inspired ideas, but unfortunately this execution falls short of any greatness and is quite a far cry from the concept sketch used as initial inspiration.
We have just extended the deadline by a whole week, so I highly suggest you review all the feedback that has been given so far both here and on the Discord and make some major improvements.
IMPORTANT NOTICE PLEASE READ
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle. However, if you are in possession of the XM, you always emerge victorious.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
oh and also this is a reminder that please take your time and make a detailed post about your car in the thread when you do the formal submission. For the details please revisit last page of the original post in this thread. The 🇽🇲 awaits.