Welcome to the Quotex’ Design Challenge (QDC), a Design-oriented challenge that will put your Automation design skills to the test. The challenge focuses heavily on authenticity and period-correctness, but encourages originality in design aspects where it’s allowed. You will be given more time than in regular Car Shopping Rounds (Roughly a month) to ensure that you have enough time to go as crazy as you’d like with your design.
QDC - Round 1 - “Back to basics”
Gallia, the city of Teischelberg, November 1983
Liane Brabander recently got a job as an automotive journalist for ‘Auto & Motor Maandblad’, one of Gallia’s new automotive-oriented magazines. Her boss called her early this morning to attend a meeting to discuss the contents of next month’s issue…
The Prologue
Read the prologue
Liane walked into the large concrete office building of the ‘Teischelbergsche Courant’. the publisher that owns ‘A&M Maandblad’. She walks up to the front desk and asks the receptionist for directions as she’s not sure where to go.
“Hello, I’m Liane Brabander, I got a call from my new Boss, Mr. Van Emst.?”
Liane greeted the receptionist friendly before handing her some paperwork and her ID. The receptionist is trying to untangle some of the cords of the phones on the desk. And glances over the paperwork Liane provided.
“Ah yes, Ms. Brabander, you’re early, you can take the elevator to the 11th floor. And then it’s the first door on the right. I’ll let them know you’re here.” she points at the elevator down the hallway as she picks up one of the phones and dials upstairs.
Liane thanks the receptionist and walks down the hallway, she steps into the elevator and just as the door is about to close, an arm reaches for the door. A young man with a goatee and a suitcase worms himself through the opening as the door reopens.
“Just in time, Going to the 11th as well?” The man asks.
“Yep, first day on the job.”
“Good, you must be our new Journalist, the name’s Devlin, Devlin Verhorst, I guess I’ll be your colleague then.”
“Ah, nice to meet you, I’m Liane Brabander.”
As they arrive on the 11th Floor the doors of the elevator open up to a narrow hallway with a lot of doors.
“First door on the left, that’s us.” Devlin says, as he picks up his suitcase.
They both walk up to the door, a sign next to the door reads “Auto & Mobiel Maandblad”. Devlin opens the door, a decent-sized office is behind it, a few desks are in the center, and large metal archive cases line the wall to the left, with a coffee machine and a sofa on the right.
“It’s not a lot, and the coffee is pretty shit, but we’ll be spending good time on the road testing cars, so that kind of makes up for it.” Devlin puts down his suitcase and grabs a pack of Marley’s out of his suit jacket.
“Want a smoke?”
“Sure.” She takes one of the Cigarettes and pulls a lighter from her pocket.
“Let’s go outside, the boss doesn’t want us smoking in the office.” Devlin opens up another door that leads to a balcony. He grabs a set of plastic chairs and puts them near the entrance before sitting down.
“So, I’m guessing since you applied for the Job you must like cars? Do you own one yourself?” Devlin asks as he’s lighting his cigarette.
“Yes, I have a GMF Trend, it’s nothing special.”
“The RX2 isn’t that bad right?”
“Yeah, but it’s just a 1.3 GLS from 1979, The RX2 is brand new and way out of my budget.”
“Ouch, that doesn’t make a whole lot of power. Not that I have anything to brag about, I don’t even own a car. Parking is pretty tight in my street so It’s not really practical, I cycle here every day, but I do enjoy cars.”
The two continue their conversation as the door to the balcony opens again.
“Mornin’” A man comes outside, It’s Lars van Emst, the owner of A&M Maandblad, he grabs another plastic chair and sits down with the two.
“Morning Lars, Coffee?” Devlin replies.
“No thanks, I’ll grab one later, I want to discuss the subjects for our next issue.” Lars sits down and before Devlin has a chance to reply, Lars, anticipating Devlin’s suggestion, continues.
“No Devlin, I already have van Gaal and Herweijer working on the sports car column” Lars adds.
“Darn, Shane and Fahim always get the fun jobs” Devlin looks disappointed but not surprised. He puts out his cigarette and opens up his suitcase, grabs a pile of folders out of it and puts them on the table.
“I figured you’d say that, so I’ve got some other stuff in here that we can work on. Liane, just pick a random Folder.”
“Uh, ok.” Liane looks at the pile of folders and spreads them out across the table before picking one.
“This one.” she hands it over to Lars.
Lars looks through the folder, which contains large amounts of clippings of brochures from cars that were featured at the recent Teischelberg Autoshow, an annual event that has recently had it’s biggest visitor count yet.
“Middle-Class Commuters? That’s fine with me.” Lars hands the folder back to Devlin.
“Yeah, I wanted to go to Fruinia and seek out a whole bunch of them. Educate the consumers about the latest and most stylish vehicles they can buy for under 7,000 Ducats.” Devlin looks excited about the task, even though Middle-class commuter cars aren’t exactly impressive, Technically and Aesthetically.
“And Economical as well right, Fuel prices have doubled over the last 10 years because of this damn oil crisis.” Lars Replies.
“Uh yes, sure… Liane, would you mind helping me out on this column?”
“Sure, how can I help?”
The three go back inside. Devlin grabs a Large phone book and a stack of newspapers.
“Here, look through these newspapers and see if you can find any interesting ads for new cars while I look through the brochures. We’re looking for any medium-sized car that’s offered for 16,500 ducats or less. It doesn’t have to be brand new, as long as it’s a recently Introduced model it should be fine for our comparison test. Oh and no Terrain vehicles and Pickups.”
The Objective
Liane has been tasked with finding Medium-Sized commuters cars for a large comparison test, after narrowing the search down a bit she’s come to the conclusion that the lower-mid D-segment cars will be perfect for this challenge. As not everyone will be able to afford the most expensive trim level of a large car.
This is where you (the designer) come in to play, you must design a car that is aesthetically pleasing to the eye and fits within a certain engineering ruleset. Since Liane and her colleague will be looking through Newspapers and Brochures, an ad is required, though it doesn’t play a major part in the final judging of the design.
Rules & Guidelines
NAMING FORMAT
To have a valid entry, you must PM me your design with the following naming format:
- Car Model Name: QDC-R1 [Model name of your car]
- Car Trim Name: [Trim name of your car]
- Family Name: QDC-R1 [Family name of your engine]
- Variant Name: [Variant name of your engine]
GENERAL RULES
- You must provide an Advertisement to present your vehicle in a reply in this post, this can be done after submission is closed, but MUST be done before Judging the vehicles begins.
- YOU CAN ONLY ENTER ONE CAR, but it can be a car from any previous forum challenge if you want to, as long as it fits the market and is built in the correct year. Entering multiple cars will invalidate all your entries.
- RESUBMISSION IS ALLOWED ONCE as long as it is done BEFORE the deadline passes.
DESIGN GUIDELINES
Below are a few design aspects that your design will be judged on:
Market Appropriateness
Your design must fit the needs of the Fruinian Market, a European design is the go-to choice, as are Japanese Imports. An American design is allowed but is not very popular amongst Gallian Consumers.
Period Correctness
Your design must look the part, from fixture choice, to color choice, to wheel size and tire choice. Everything must resemble the early 1980s as best as you can. For inspiration, be sure to check out some of the listed examples below.
Detailing, Detailing, Detailing
A well thought out car with a lot of detail will easily get a higher score than a simple “x-fixture wonder”. It doesn’t have to be the most exciting looking thing in the world, as long as it looks the part it will do just fine.
Proportions and Placement
Aside from the small details, a lot of focus will be put on how well the fixtures are placed and what the proportions are.
Mandatory & Optional Equipment
For the Low-to-Mid budget consumer car, a lot of optional features are out of reach, so try not to overdo it on the exterior luxuries if your interior selection is on the low end. Otherwise, the Journalists will start to wonder about the overall build quality of the vehicle and how they were able to offer all of the equipment for the low pricepoint.
Gallian laws also require you to equip your vehicle with a rear foglight (either as Auxilary light or worked into the taillight cluster) and a Front and Rear License plate in the Fruinian standard formats. (You can use either a Wide EU plate or a Square US plate if the design does not fit a wide plate, as long as it is a Fruinian plate.)
ENGINEERING GUIDELINES
You are expected to use common engineering choices for a low-to-mid budget family car from Europe in the 1980s, Turbochargers are mostly for high-spec Luxury and Performance cars so should be avoided on your build.
Your IRL competitors will primarily have Inline engines, mostly with carburetors and mechanical fuel injection and the displacement will range in between 1,451 and 1,999cc. Common drivetrains are Rear Wheel Drive, and the increasingly popular Front Wheel Drive, coupled mostly to Manual 4 or 5 speed transmissions. Power Ratings are usually around the 100 horsepower mark.
ENGINEERING RESTRICTIONS
Body Limits:
- Unlock year of the body shell must be 1978 or older (to take into account development time)
- Additionally, the Mercedes 190 body (BodyEditor_80s_190, Pictured below) will also be allowed to enter:
- Wheelbase must be in the following range: 2.35-2.84m, you are aiming for the D-Segment in size)
- SUV, Utility, MPV, Convertible, Van Body Variants not allowed.
- Car Model: 1983 or older.
- Car Trim: 1983 ONLY
- Engine Family: 1983 or older.
- Engine Variant: 1978-1983.
- Must be Road Legal in Gallia (Laws explained above in Mandatory Equipment section)
Engineering Limits:
- Engine PU: 27.5 PU Maximum
- Engine ET: 90 ET Maximum
- Trim PU: 100 PU Maximum
- Trim ET: 100 ET Maximum
- Fuel: 95 RON (Premium Unleaded) ONLY.
- Minimum Displacement: 1,451cc (1.5 Liters)
- Maximum Displacement: 1,999cc (2.0 Liters)
- Allowed Engine Configurations: Inline, V (60 and 90 Degree), Boxer (up to 6 cylinders)
- Safety: Minimum of 22 Safety is required to conform to 1980s Fruinian Safety Ratings.
- Noise: 35 Maximum
- Catalytic Converter is not mandated.
- Budget: <=16,500 Gallian Ducats (Which translates to an ingame estimated cost of 16,500 $ Maximum)
Banned Parts:
- Race Intake.
- Race Tubular Exhaust.
- Any Part that Limits Mass Production.
- Semi Slick Tires
- Multi Point EFI
IMPORTANT STATS (In order of importance)
- Styling
– Reliability
– Expenses (Cost and Running/Maintainance Cost)
– Handling & Performance (Test track results)
– Fuel Economy
— Drivability
— Comfort
— Safety
— Practicality
UNIMPORTANT STATS (In order of importance)
- Prestige
– Sportiness
— Off-road
Inspiration
Example Cars (Your competition)
Audi 80
BMW 315
Citroën BX
Fiat 131
Ford Sierra
Mercedes Benz 190E
Opel Ascona
Renault R18
Saab 900
Toyota Carina
Volkswagen Passat
Spotify Playlist:
RESUBMISSION IS ALLOWED ONCE as long as it is done BEFORE the deadline passes.
Submissions will open on the 9th of November @ 10:00 (GMT +1)
The Deadline is Thursday, the 21st of November @ 00:00 (GMT + 1) (TIMER)
Good luck and have fun! 
