Speed of the car? It’s explicitly era-weighted. Speed of the challenge? Well, that’s what the original QFC talks about, and note that I’d be happy to extend the deadline if people want it. I expect quick-fire concepts, not detailed masterpieces.
I can vouch for this. '30s builds are not something that can really be thrown together, especially anything streamlined like 540 K. Interpreting them for other eras speeds things up a bit, but you’re still making a high end car. On that point, $80 mil TP cost limit is woefully small for this challenge. Brands like mercedes would be spending upwards of 150 mil on R&D, which TP is supposed to emulate.
Techpool lowers costs much more than IRL R&D would, implying it’s also a general manufacturing-streamlining and tooling optimization budget in regards to sandbox. 150M of techpool would make it crushingly difficult to get to AM$60K with a two-seater car, especially in earlier eras where there isn’t any Carbon Fiber or the like
Just to say, because I´m not sure if it might have come across that way, but it was never meant as an insult or accusation toward the host, and I regret that it might have done so. I can´t presume to know your politics, but I certainly know mine, and can´t help but call out or criticise something that so boldly embodies the cruelty and excess of the nazi regime.
Also, dismissing what i said as “turning things political” and a “kneejerking shitpost” isn´t ok either. When it comes to the nazis, “fuck them” is articulate enough.
3 Likes
I was able to create a competitive mid-engined '90s hypercar mule that fit the brief (in the sense that it could have had the visual inpact with a properly designed exterior) using the $80M total techpool cost application, but only by setting turbo techpool to 0, which allowed me to redistribute the rest of my budget elsewhere.
I was extrapolating based on just how limiting the 80 mil limit is in CSR and how the devs intend stuff like mercedes and bmw to have larger amounts of TP and quality usage. like they expect the +5 tp across the board, if not more.
It’s itching in my fingers to write a novel but I try to resisit the urge to make it not worse…
Increasing techpool is more realistic, but practically differs little from a budget increase, and that level of detail isn’t quick-firing. QFC23 had higher TP at 80k, so how about: stay at 80M TP, price soft cap 80k, and leave it at that?
The total techpool cost cap of $80M should remain as-is, but the soft price cap should be increased to $80k AMU - so I agree with your suggestion. However, there is no mention of a hard price cap (i.e., an absolute maximum value we must not exceed) - but with the above changes in mind, should there even be one, and if so, how much?
I’ll leave it vague. Stats and price are secondary considerations at best, anyway.
The challege is officially open. I added a few details about the car’s mechanicals in historical context. Haul ass.
If this showed up in my mirror, I would be scared to ever drive on the Autobahn again.
7 Likes
AUTOBAHNKURIER II BY LMJ DESIGN
It is 1969. LSD is good for you, someone is walking around on the moon and, unfortunately, neoclassics are an emerging trend, which could not escape LMJ design that did an interpretation of what a modern Autobahnkurier could have looked like.
On an all new chassis, a handcrafted aluminium body, borrowing styling cues from the then actual W108 and W114 models, as well as the old 540K Autobahnkurier, was mounted. Suspension parts was nicked from a W114 while the W108 280SE 3.5 was the donor of the engine and gearbox.
For maximum comfort, though, the steel springs were replaced with hydropneumatic units. Inside, you were surrounded by the finest quality wood- and leatherwork.
OOC: This was a fun car to make. While the brief did indeed sound like a challenge, I came to think about the reinterpretations Virgil Exner made in the mid 60s of Mercer, Stutz and Packard, as well as how the 60s was the early era of the Neoclassics with brands like Excalibur taking off, as well as for example some GM cars harking back to the days gone by when it came to styling cues. So, since I already had the W114 ambulance from ARM as a base for something that had 60s Mercedes styling, I started off with that one, and kept playing until it looked more and more like a 60s interpretation of the Autobahnkurier.
I still think that QFC wasn’t the right place for such a narrow and challenging subject, though, it has a lot of flaws (as @AMuteCrypt said in his latest ARM, “Automation type jank”) because it had to be rushed, but it was fun to play with. However, I have thought things over a bit. Could it maybe be nice to combine this QFC with dashes of CSC and ARM? I have emerging plans now, for a possible challenge series if people like the pilot round, that is about reimagining classics, so possibly I may pull that off at the beginning of next year. In that case, it will mostly be a design challenge though.
And yes, the rear seats and floating Mercedes star in the pictures are mistakes, they will be corrected in the final version I send in. Don’t bother to reshoot the pics just for that, I have done enough on this now.
12 Likes
2012 Tercio Matanza 6666
Do money and traffic laws mean nothing to you? Do you need to go over 420 kph on a regular basis? Do you like
Then consider this spanish supercar, and its 6.66 liter V12.
Is the front plate annoying? Don’t worry, it retracts when airspeed exceeds 210 km/h.
It also has active aero to help you stay cool and grounded. Very functional and not a gimmick.
Leaving critical thinking at the door and just having fun with an existing fixtureless shell is also a way to make it Quick. Interesting idea @Knugcab .
5 Likes
Submissions are due today. More specifically, by the time I wake up for tomorrow, roughly 24 hours from now.
Full entries:
@Ludvig
@Knugcab
@Mausil
Ad but no .car: nobody
.car but no ad: nobody
2 Likes
With one exception for technical difficulties, submissions are closed.
1972 Somervell Condor
A/N: I write a lot in my various descriptions about Arlington Automotive’s hits. This was a glorious, unbelievable miss.
The Somervell Condor had been a staple of the American sports car landscape throughout the entirety of the 1960s. Appearing as a small, nimble unibody coupe in the late 1950s - and having under its belt many innovations, such as fuel injection and automatic hidden headlamps - the Condor was a symbol of “touring” luxury. But times changed: By the end of the 1960s, cars that were both larger and exclusive ended up ever more in favor - and as mainstream American luxury marques, such as Arlington’s own Warren, were challenged by higher-price European competitors, Somervell sought to leapfrog them with a new Condor so exclusive and so excessive, it would shift the momentum of culture itself.
Enter the 1970-1972 Condor. A huge 2-seater coupe endowed unmistakably with abbreviated, sleek styling of the decade, it blurred the line between extreme performance and extreme plush. A bespoke unit body, stiffened by both its thick gauge and a total absence of rear trunk or hatch, was painted invariably in two tones; it was kept aloft by a unique air-ride system, with fully independent suspension, weightless magnesium wheels and innovative radial rubber all contributing to ride quality downright unachievable by the old stick-axle model. Inside this cell of power was kept an interior made of crushed velour and dyed leather, with three-pointer belts, steering wheel-mounted automatic speed control, and three-ratio automatic transmission all pointing to a comfort direction for the sports car. This all did not, however, erase the fact that under the car’s hood sat a 517 cubic inch - yes, 8.5 liter - engine tuned not for cruising, as with many other Somervells, but for (as it seemed) literal space travel. When Arlington switched to net ratings in '72, it was still deemed capable of 450 horsepower. Between this engine, a ‘firm’ setting of the air ride and the massive bias-belted or radial tires, it was clear that the Condor was not going to get any slower. In fact, it was engineered to be the fastest car on planet Earth, its 2.41 final drive allowing for speeds in excess of 170 mph - and one capable of bringing you to a stop after, what with the ridiculous heat-adduction vents on all four corners servicing all vented disc brakes.
A world-beater it was, but Somervell was fatally mistaken in positioning it as a Condor replacement. The older car was small and full of playful character; this one, large and intimidating to both its driver and its surroundings. The old one came with cloth and carburetors for whoever wanted it so; this one, only the massive fuel-injected monster and with an interior so pricey, nobody could really afford it. The allure became the affront, and many long-time Condor aficionados straight up turned and left the showroom; By 1972, the small craft center assigned the job of building Condors was somehow pumping out more than there was demand for. A failure, then, and an impactful one - the lack of payoff resulting from Somervell’s push for higher pricing and the ridiculous new engine resulted in Arlington corporate subjugating Somervell to austere ol’ Warren in the chain of command - but there’s an upside to the story. The upside is the Condor existed… And the ones never sold tended to be kept very, very good care of. You can find one, you know.
8 Likes
Any updates on the judging? Not that i have a dog in this fight, but interested in the outcome.
Rankings done, will post soon.