Well, I am not a fan of everything having to become a continuous challenge series, and I think that I have said that before. It takes a lot to make a challenge series survive, to keep up interest in it, and maybe you should think twice if anyone wants to host “Taiwanese minivan with a coffee maker and teddybear wheels challenge 2” after you have posted part 1.
However, what I have realized is that right now, I am not really in a phase where I have lots of inspiration to make cars, meaning less cars for challenges and in the end, less chance of being passed down the hosting of one. What I do like (at least sometimes, lol) is hosting, though, and as you know I have hosted some standalone challenges every now and then, and I see no reason why I would stop doing that. I like doing them, I usually get a fair number of entries so I guess people like making cars for them too, and I know some people have said that they miss, for example, Doot’s occasional stand alone challenges, so I guess there is a place for them.
The thing is that putting them all under the same label means that it will be easier for me to keep track of what I have done earlier. It will also mean easier naming, since they will simply be named “Knugcab Stand Alone Challenge” (number) and then I can get creative with the naming of the actual part of the actual KSAC, without having to think that it should work for file labeling, for giving an accurate description of what the challenge is about.
So, everything named “KSAC” will be hosted by me, and there will not necessarily be a red thread that every challenge will follow. I might do something that has an actual buyer, actual backstory, detailed car buying process etc. like this time. The next time it can as well be “make the best 1998 pickup truck” and nothing more, and the third time something totally weird. So. you don’t need to put many thoughts behind what KSAC is, honestly. I just felt a need to explain now when the first one is hosted.
The february day was cold, but beautiful, as the sun was starting to set at the horizon, spreading its orange glow through the slightly fogged up sky. The snow was crunching under the boots when Annika was loading up the last pieces of gear on the roof rack of the red Lada. 12 year old Henrik and his younger sister, 9 year old Hanna, was standing, looking at the beautiful sunset. After a long day of skiing, they were all tired, but satisfied, and now it was time to head home.
“Mom, I hate this car”, Henrik said as he climbed into the frosty, red station wagon.
“Oh, really?”, Annika said while waking the engine to life with a sputtering sound. “You know, I have never said that you aren’t allowed to walk home? It will be healthy and build character”, she said with a smile.
Henrik rolled his eyes, watching how the air from the defroster vents started to slowly heat up the fogging windshield. “Mom, really….”, he sighed. “Why can’t we have something cool instead? Or at least just a normal car. Not something like this. It’s like riding in some old Russian tractor or something….”
Hanna chuckled a bit from the rear seat. “I think this car is funny…”
“Oh come on”, Henrik said. “You know nothing about cars anyway…”
“So, what if I reveal a secret, then?”, Annika asked. “Maybe we ARE going to get a new car soon.”
“Say what?”, Henrik said with his jaw almost dropping through the front seat. This was largely unexpected. “What, when???”
“In a couple of months, maybe”, Annika answered. “Your father and I have been talking about it for a while, and we have more or less decided on it now…”
“WOW! But please, please, can you promise that we will get something cool then?”
“No. We will first of all get something practical. Something that makes sense for our family. It’s not like if we have won on the lottery or something…”, she sighed. “We need something safe, something that we can trust and that won’t ruin us just by keeping it running.”
“Fine…”, Henrik answered pretending to be annoyed. But in fact, he wasn’t as annoyed as it seemed like. Maybe the next car would not be as flashy as he had hoped for. But whatever it was, it would be an improvement over the old, red, soviet tank, he was pretty sure. Hanna, on the other hand was absorbed within her own thoughts, trying to scribble things in the frost on her side window.
The sun had almost disappeared at the horizon when the Lada rolled up in front of the cozy rural home of the family, settling next to the behemoth from the other side of the cold war that was its companion. It now was time for Annika to look a bit more in depth on what really was on the market, together with her husband Roland…
Annika is at the moment driving something that is more or less seen as a temporary solution for a car, a 1991 Lada 2104 that is getting on its last legs. Good enough for what it did cost and it has served its duty for a while, but getting something better has always been on the horizon.
There is already a 1996 Ford F150 belonging to the business, that will fulfill the heaviest of duties, so there are multiple reasons why a behemoth won’t be needed, and not wanted either, since Annika isn’t all that keen on driving the Ford, preferring something more agile and car like.
Yet, that does not mean a sleek sports coupé, since it still has to be practical over everything else. Transporting the family AND goods is not really viable at the same time in the single cab Ford (no, this challenge won’t go for the brief to replace both vehicles with a crew cab, so forget that already now). We’re talking an active family, always up to something, may it be physical activities or being creative, space is needed and so is a bit of “offroad” performance, being able to tackle bad and to an extent unplowed roads, but it should also be kept in mind that is where the ambitions does end, there will be more or less zero use for things like chunky offroad tyres or manual lockers, so if you build an offroad monster, it probably won’t get you all that far. Also, keep in mind that a somewhat nimbler package is also preferred……
Since I feel that there are multiple solutions to this problem, it could maybe lead to a somewhat interesting challenge. Just keep in mind that I am not new to this game, so my nose is rather good at identifying a yellow dairy product by now….
RULES
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Stable version of the game
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Trim and variant year 2006, Model and family might be older.
SUV, MPV or Station wagon body. 5 doors. No hard limits on size but a Jimny or Suburban is just wrong, at the opposite ends of the scale. Legacy bodies not allowed. Since nobody asked for it, I am NOT going to download that package again. -
No billet, titanium or race parts in the engine.
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The engine should be able to pass at least WES 9.
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Premium unleaded fuel.
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At least one muffler required.
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No manual lockers.
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No special gearbox preferences in this case. Client can drive manual but does not necessarily prefer it. The stats you get with your choice of gearbox does matter more.
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Radials with widths ending in “5” only. No race tires. Should be all terrain, utility, hard or medium compound. Staggered tires unrealistic on the cars we are looking for, and hence not allowed.
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At least five full seats. A higher seat count is allowed (but not cared for all that much) and the remaining seats may be “+” seats in that case. Some realism is expected here, a larger MPV should probably have 3 rows as an example.
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ABS is required, ESC recommended but not mandatory.
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At least standard 00s safety
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Max combined techpool costs car+engine $45M. No negative techpool.
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Max price $32500
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ATS allowed in moderation for things that can’t be done via engineering.
No hard limits on quality, but keep it sane, not +15 interior paired with -15 safety for example, that’s something that will fall under the “engineering realism” clausule.
SUBMISSIONS
Engine family/variant: KSAC1 - Username / The name of your engine.
INSPIRATIONS
