Good morning!
The 1968 International Trans Am season is done, so it’s time to start the design phase for the 1969 season. The previous season had a lot of action from start to finish. While there was one top contender in each class, there was good movement and battling at nearly every level. Can YOU design the next championship car?
There weren’t as many rule changes between 68-69 and the previous year, so not much as far as car construction will change. However, now that all the previous competitors have had a taste of their rivals’ designs, you know there will be significant adjustments to a number of entries. DON’T SIT ON YOUR LAURELS AND ASSUME THAT YOUR '68 SUBMISSION WILL REMAIN COMPETITIVE!
[size=200]International T/A Series[/size]
My objective with this is to roughly simulate the American Trans-Am series, now entering the “Golden Years” where AMC, Ford, and Chevy duked it out with their pony cars, as Datsun and Fiat battled in the smaller displacement class. Like those years, there will be two different classes with radically different engine designs. Participants may enter into one or both categories. Since T/A was eventually a manufacturer’s championship, the car and the engine must be designed by the same entity – no purchasing engines from other companies. Also, there will be valvetrain (and other) restrictions to stay in keeping with what, historically, were the competitors of the day. Of course, the competition bears a LITTLE bit of my own twist to it.
So, here are the basics:
Year of Manufacture: 1969
[size=150]Touring-eXtreme (TX) class:[/size]
Maximum displacement: 5000 cc
Engine type: pushrod V8 only
Aspiration: Natural, carburetors only. Race intakes allowed, DCOE carburetors not allowed.
Fuel: Super leaded
Quality sliders: No negative points. Period. Otherwise unrestricted EXCEPT for tires (see below).
Reliability: Engine >30, Car >60
Tires: Semi-slick, max +4 quality, 205 MM max width, 60 minimum profile
Safety: Standard 60’s required
Brakes: 2 pot disc only
Transmission: Design your own, but come up with TWO sets of settings (closeness and top speed). PM one setting in the .LUA file and the other setting as part of your message (see below for post-submission alterations). The PM’ed secondary setting will be considered your “alternate” gearbox. REMINDER: THE ALTERNATE GEARBOX SETTINGS MUST BE PMED WITH YOUR ORIGINAL SUBMISSION OR YOU WILL BE ASSUMED TO HAVE ONLY A PRIMARY GEARBOX, AND FORCED TO RUN WITH THOSE SETTINGS FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR. REMINDER 2: YOUR TOP SPEED SETTINGS MUST BE SENT TO ME IN MILES PER HOUR. I’M AMERICAN, DAMMIT, LET ME BE LAZY!
Exhaust: No bypass valves.
Body: Minimum 100 inches wheelbase (2540 mm), any number of doors.
Maximum ENGINE cost: $3000
Maximum MATERIAL cost: $8000
Maximum PRODUCTION units: 250
[size=150]Touring-Under 2 Liter (TU) class:[/size]
Maximum displacement: 1999 cc
Engine type: Inline 4 or 6 only, 2 valves per cylinder (any cam configuration).
Aspiration: Natural, DCOE carburetors REQUIRED. Race intakes allowed.
Fuel: Super leaded
Quality sliders: No negative points. Period. Otherwise unrestricted EXCEPT for tires (see below).
Reliability: Engine >30, Car >60
Tires: Semi-slick, max +4 quality, 185 MM max width, 60 minimum profile
Safety: Standard 60’s required
Brakes: 2 pot disc only
Transmission: Design your own, but come up with TWO sets of settings (closeness and top speed). PM one setting in the .LUA file and the other setting as part of your message (see below for post-submission alterations). The PM’ed secondary setting will be considered your “alternate” gearbox. REMINDER: THE ALTERNATE GEARBOX SETTINGS MUST BE PMED WITH YOUR ORIGINAL SUBMISSION OR YOU WILL BE ASSUMED TO HAVE ONLY A PRIMARY GEARBOX, AND FORCED TO RUN WITH THOSE SETTINGS FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR. REMINDER 2: YOUR TOP SPEED SETTINGS MUST BE SENT TO ME IN MILES PER HOUR. I’M AMERICAN, DAMMIT, LET ME BE LAZY!
Exhaust: No bypass valves.
Body: 82-100 inches wheelbase (2082-2540 mm), any number of doors.
Maximum ENGINE cost: $3000
Maximum MATERIAL cost: $6000
Maximum PRODUCTION units: 225
NO MOD PARTS AT ALL, PLEASE. ALL BODIES AND FIXTURES MUST BE FROM A BASE 1418 BUILD! (exception: I have finally installed PyrlixGrille4. That may be used. no other mods. I’m not downloading crap for the sake of your aesthetics.)
THERE ARE NEW COURSES BEING RUN THIS YEAR! RE-READ THE COURSE LIST BEFORE DESIGNING YOUR CARS!
[size=150]Post-submission alterations:[/size]
The following settings MAY be altered between races (PM me the alterations by the race deadline and I will apply them for that individual race):
Suspension geometry (any individual setting except quality)
Aero front/rear inclination and downforce
Brake pad composition (but not size, quality, or caliper type)
Transmission: may switch between primary and alternate gear box between races
Engine: fuel mixture and ignition timing ONLY (doubt anyone will change this, but…)
Tires: any setting except quality, as long as it meets the original requirements (again, doubt this will change, but…)
Races will be run on Thursdays and Mondays until the series is complete.
[size=150]Car submission deadline: Wednesday Dec 30 10:00 AM PDT (UTC -8)
First race Thursday Jan 1, deadline 10:00Am PDT (UTC -8). Track: Laguna Seca [/size]
[size=150]The Courses (in run order):[/size]
Laguna Seca (Thurs Jan 1)
Green Hell (Mon Jan 5)
Albert Lake F1 Circuit (Thurs Jan 8)
Sonoma Raceway (Mon Jan 12)
Circuit La Sarthe (w/chicanes) (Thurs Jan 15)
Tsukuba Circuit (Mon Jan 19)
Mid-Ohio Sports Course (Thurs Jan 22)
NOTE: Any car that throws a .LUA file error while attempting to test on any given track will receive a “DNF” and be given 0 points for that track. So please make sure your entries load on every track! (This is important – Last year one car got DNF’ed on 3 different races, and 7 cars got DNF’s on one particular track)
Submit your car’s .LUA file as well as your optional alternate gearbox settings to me before the deadline. Please name your car within Automation with the following convention:
1969 ITA - (name) - (class)
example: 1969 ITA - VicVictory - TX.lua
I WILL NO LONGER ACCEPT ENTRIES WHERE THE FILENAME DOES NOT MATCH THE ABOVE FORMAT. [size=90](For those of you who have not run a competition yet and wonder why, it’s because it’s a colossal PITA to sort through all the entries when you name things all willy-nilly.)[/size]
I know you all like to name your cars. So do I. Don’t name it within automation, send the following information with your .LUA file in the PM:
Username: (Your board username)
Car Name: (Manufacture/model name for your car, ex: Ardent Thrush GT)
Nationality: Nationality of your RACE TEAM (can be fictional if you so desire)
One last thing. I know we’re getting close to another major patch, but I’m not in the loop as to when that’s going to be. Best I can figure from what I’ve read is February. If the major patch rolls through sometime in the middle of the competition and the cars become incompatible or there is some other major malfunction that grinds this race to a halt, the season will end with the last-run race. If this patch occurs during the design phase, the entry deadline will be delayed, and the dates for the races moved.
[size=150]Cars that have been submitted and verified legal to race:[/size]
np1993 - Canada - Prato Stradista (TX)
HighOctaneLove - Moldova - Leeroy Bastion (TX), Leeroy Kitten (TU)
Hermann95 - Austria - LRT-2 (TX)
Ryan - Great Britain - Newlands Z4 (TU)
RaduST - Romania - Siret Putna (TX), Brasovia Sport 6C (TU)
LeSpass - Spain - AC Trans Am TU and AC Trans Am TX
chipskate - Great Britain and Japan - Brooke Tourer GT-R (TX), Toyoko Sundiamond RS (TU)
Drake - Canada - DMC Sprint 2000 GT-R (TU)
Paul - Australia - Fusil Motorsport Stretto (TX)
8bs - Portugal - TU and TX entires
TrackpadUser - Canada - NMC Cougar (TX) and NMC Lynx (TU)
[size=150]TX standings after 7 races:[/size]
LeSpass - AC Trans Am TX - 59 pts
Hermann 1995 - LRT-2 - 55 pts
Chipskate - Brooke Tourer GT-R - 51 pts
RaduST - Siret Putna - 45 pts
TrackpadUser - NMC Cougar TX - 35 pts
Paul - Fusil Motorsport Stretto Fastback - 28 pts
8bs - TX - 20 pts
np1993 - Prato Stradista - 12 pts
HighOctaneLove - Leeroy Bastion - 10 pts
[size=150]TU standings after 7 races:[/size]
LeSpass - AC Trans Am TU - 56 pts
RaduST - Brasovia Sport 6C - 48 pts
Chipskate - Toyoko Sundiamond - 43 pts
TrackpadUser - NMC Lynx TU - 32 pts
Drake - DMC Sprint 2000 GT-R - 27 pts
8bs - TU - 23 pts
Ryan - Newlands Z4 - 16 pts
HighOctaneLove - Leeroy Kitten - 7 pts
Any questions? Comments? Desires for me to take a flying leap? Post 'em.
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