Roulette Runner [FINAL RESULTS]

[conan]

Team POD (Prince of Darkness)

The Crew
Trevor Simmons: He’s currently the editor of Driver’s Edge magazine. Living in Berkshire, England. This 57 years old guy is famous for founding Driver’s Edge Magazine in 1992. And now famous for having an automotive channel call “Simmons’ Garage” where he show off his usually unusual cars. He decided to do the race for fun. Mostly.

Ivor Derr: A 46 years old from Oregon. He used to work for Axle Hopper Magazine before it’s closure in 2014. Nowadays he has a Youtube channel call IvorDoAuto, which host many different automotive content. He also occasionally write for web iteration of Driver’s Edge magazine. He was invited to do the trip by Simmons.

Jimmy Monnet: A 47 years old automotive journalist from Wiltshire, England. He’s a writer for Driver’s Edge magazine. Simmons chose him personally for his exuberant writing and driving. He once flipped over a Mitsushita during a review and thus been call The Wiltshire Flipper ever since.

Rory Kensington: This 67 years old dude used to work in the R&D department of Conan Cars PLC in Surrey, England. Right until he quit about 4 years ago. He now owns a repair shop specialised in Conan. A personal friend of Trevor Simmons.

The Car

Oh yeah, this is a beaut right here. A 1967 Platts Special Siskin 1750 Automatic Mk.4. This car is very rare in the United States. But the crew insist on finding an example in ANY sort of condition.

Platts was founded in the late 1800’s. Based in Coventry, England. The company survived until 1986 when it was bought by a French company who subsequently phased out the marque. This particular model is call Special Siskin. The name plate ran from 1934-1969. The Mk.4 was built from 1964-1969. This example is the Special Siskin 1750 Automatic. They were powered by Vanquist made B6 Series from 1750cc to 2200cc. Couple with either 4 speed floor mounted shifter manual or 3 speed automatic. As the name suggested, this is a Bork-Warwick 3 speed Auto.

The Special Siskin was marketed during the time USA didn’t have stiff import rules and safety regulation, from 1960-1968. The car didn’t sell very well for obvious reason.

The car was found in a shed in Oregon. Bought for 300$. The tag suggested that the last time this was on the road was in 1989. The engine’s missing, and the rust is pretty bad. These weren’t the pinnacle of rust proofing. But with enough welding the car was deemed good enough. The engine’s been substitute with a B6 2200cc Twin Carb unit from a 1975 Vanquist 622 TC originally made 95hp. But that’s not good enough for the day. So Rory strapped on some turbocharger unit. They didn’t even know what it came off. But it’s blowing through original SU Carburettors at 6psi nicely. So it’s now Dyno’ed at 123hp. With the infamous British made electronics. Will this car survive? Probably not.

Other than that the car is BONE STOCK. This, my friend, is the ultimate autoshite. A quasi-luxury British made model from the 1960’s, using 1950’s technology. The car is made of rust and shorted circuit. And it’s run by a group of cantankerous middle age men and an OAP.

The Prince of Darkness is ready to unleash his wrath.

(And oh yeah, this car featured crank start).

[JohnWaldock]

#Team All-Brit

The Crew

Ieuan Jones: the 26 year old Welshman at the helm. noted soft drink aficionado and lover of quirky cars.

Dominic Choudhry: the 24 year old British-Indian mechanic. highly skilled pool player and can jump onto a 5 foot ledge backwards, apparently.

Isla McCormack: the 23 year old Scottish navigator and electronics whiz. concert grade pianist and master of bad puns.

Titus: the 3 year old Samoyed. contributes nothing to the team, but he’s a good boy.

The Car

The team sourced out a pretty tidy 1992 JHW Forte GTi-S for £250. it hadn’t run for 10 years or so and needed a service and MOT badly, but nothing super serious. and, all things considered, that was a bargain for a tidy little hot hatch with over 150bhp

[VicVictory]

I love it! Love the variety and creativity. Keep it going, guys.

(will process more entries tonight after work)

[DeusExMackia]

#1993 Erin Berlose(Mk 2) Lex 2.7
Click for larger images

The Car
A 1993 Erin Berlose Mk 2, in standard mid-range affair. The car that defined Erin’s 90s renaissance; sadly not its V8 powered, AWD stablemate, but still the smooth bodied executive saloon that has become a favorite among those buying second-hand Erin’s.

This particular one, UK registration L480 NDA, rolled off of the production line in Wythenshawe, Manchester, on September 18th 1993, and has since done close to 150,000 miles. Almost all of the original documentation is still with the car, including a tattered pamphlet entitled “Your New Erin…” that would have been given to the first owner upon collection of the car. The Sundried Red paint is looking a little faded, and premium upholstery hasn’t been maintained at all, but the black plastic detailing has survived and almost all of the car is still working.

Most of the time, that is. The 2.7l i6 is a bit down on power, probably due to a dodgy oil change a few owners back that has left the camshafts covered in gunk. The starter motor is seeing its age, and the exhaust probably ought to be replaced. It occasionally makes a very distinctive ‘pu-pap-pap-pap-pu-pap’ sound, but only sometimes…

Interior electronics aren’t all up to scratch. Could be down to a few blown fuses, but that doesn’t explain why the driver side electric chair only reclines so far before just sort of stopping. Nor way if it gets above 25 degrees outside, the air conditioning simply cannot keep up. There are also quite a number of rattles. In fact, a lot; one of the previous owners seems to have used this thing as a family run-about and the kids were evidently keen on playing with everything.

Still, as a car to do a rally in, it offers great comfort with good driving dynamics, decent acceleration and (hopefully) sturdy reliability. The team bought the thing for £499 - this being a world where £=$ - and so far, on the few road tests they’ve done, it’s driven without a fuss. Speaking of the team…

#Team ‘Southend Or Bust’
Three third year university students from Cardiff University who fancied spending their holidays not getting shitfaced on VKs and bottles of Echo Falls.
[ul]James Hurley - 21 year old actually named after the Twin Peaks character by his mother, and not even for a joke. Your stereotypical CarThrottle fan. Wishes they were doing the rally in a BMW, has a thing for Emma Stone and can make even the most mundane food taste amazing.

Seb Anitolo - 20 year old Spanish student studying in the UK. Has been known to attract both women and men with his thick black hair, which he keeps perfectly maintained via a kit-bags worth of products. Studying Geography, not for any particular reason, but it has earned him the position as team navigator.

Martin Deenham - The only one with proper mechanical experience, and very, very particular. Spent 4 weeks just researching which engine to go for, let alone the car itself. Secret but undying love for The 1975. Very non-secret hatred of sleeping in a tent.
[/ul]

“TSOB” as they’ve nicknamed themselves have done a bit of work on the car; it’s had a good clean with a jetwash, Martin sorted out some off-roading tires and wheels to fit them (via his mate Terry from the local garage) and the boot has been converted into a storage space for all the beer they’ll need on the journey.
Plus some practical things like some extra fuel cans and a tool box.

Aux cable and iPhone dock setup on the dash, extra pillows packed for Martin and car running fine (at the moment); Team ‘Southend Or Bust’ are go.

[BobLoblaw]

I’ll have to whip something up for this one.

[Hshan]

#Team Viking

###The crew

Ivar Jastrzyn - 38 year old Polish-Danish engineer living in Poznań and designing engines for some Polish car company. Son of a famous designer Paweł Jastrzyn. Loves tinkering and can repair almost anything, be it mechanical or electrical, if only it is a part of a car. Doesn’t like “small talk”, very patient with cars, very impatient with people. Not a bad driver, but not the best either. He is on his month holiday in the US. Participation in this rally was mostly his idea.

James Tornquist - 33 year old American manager working at Zavir USA in Bridgeport, CT. Trips around USA are one of his passions - the other being playing a guitar. Surprisingly nice for a manager but often talks too much. Like, way too much. But he can drive pretty good and cook even better, and also can be a navigator, but only in emergency situations. Oh, and his grandparents came to the US from Norway, so he sort of counts as a Viking. He and Ivar know each other since 2009 when they met in Kraków during James’ trip around Central Europe. He inspired Ivar to participate in this rally.

Aina Vinter - 29 year old Swedish car interior designer working for Edler, but currently at Zavir USA on a cooperative ZETA project, where she met James. She got to know Ivar by their friends at Nordesign Studio, where she worked for a moment a few years ago. She loves camping, hiking tours and stupid cars. That’s why she decided to participate in this, having not much better to do during her short holiday, why she will be the team’s navigator and why she insisted on buying…

###The junk… car

1995 Zavir Squalo IV in a basic Veloce trim with a then-innovative 3.6 TCV engine (as seen here)…

…ruined by its 5 owners, 2 years of standing in the bushes and 586 134 miles on the roads. The two biggest surprises about this car were that it runs and it’s story is known. It was bought in New York as a company car, and it served as such for 4 years. Back then the car was in elegant metallic Dark Olive Green. Then a sales representative bought it with almost 200 000 miles on the odometer and still in perfect shape; he owned it for just 2 years, but driven another over 100 000 miles in it. During the next 7 years it served well as a family car. After that it was a taxi for 5 years and then… came the catastrophe. It was bought by some young idiot, tempted by a 3.6 turbocharged V6, RWD, premium interior and relatively low price. He obviously had no idea that the turbos were there only for economy, RWD was quite useless for fun with the car’s suspension tuning and power/weight ratio, most of the gadgets in the interior didn’t work after all these years and the attractive price didn’t came out of nowhere. After realising these things he decided to repaint the car in a bright retina-burning green, put some “cool” alloy rims on it, give it a bad look, rear wing and a bonnet scoop. Oh, and a bigger turbo with a bigger intercooler… Which eventually ruined the tired engine - even the legendary S42E isn’t indestructible. As he - quite obviously - didn’t have the money to repair it and couldn’t sell it, he abandoned it on his grandfather’s farm. After two years our team came there and bought this thing for just 500$. Condition just after they’ve bought the car:

• blown head gasket on the left bank
• oil leaks everywhere on the engine
• 3 of 6 cylinders running (only the right bank), but without turbocharging (unknown reason at first)
• active suspension not being active at all - stuck at the softest setting
• veeery loose steering
• very worn out brakes
• bent rims
• lots of dents on the body
• rear left power window not working, front left working sometimes, central lock not working, left taillight not working, A/C only heating, many gadgets not working properly or at all
• missing fog lamps and front badge
• incredibly faded paint
• dirty, shabby leather interior

Things done:

• engine rebuilt
• stock turbos fitted, but with the old aftermarket intercooler - it’s more effective
• steering fixed
• new brakes
• new wheels, with steel rims and hard tyres
• suspension electronics replaced with an aftermarket chip (way cheaper)
• rear wing removed
• front window mechanism cleaned (which fixed it), replaced wiring in the left side of the car (which solved the problems with the central lock and the taillight), cleaned and refilled A/C (now barely, but also cooling)
• thoroughly washed interior

Will this old and tired “premium beater” soldier on with our team of Vikings? Or will it give up and die in the middle of nowhere? Only time will tell

[DeusExMackia]

Half a million miles, eh? Is this a Lexus or something?

[Hshan]

This, my dear Deus, is what we call Zavir Quality
Edit: And for the first 18 years of it’s life the car was really cared for and kept in good condition (except some electric gadgets), only in the last 4 it wasn’t well maintained.

[Leonardo9613]

#Team Clockwork Orange

The main driver will be Damon Walker. A failed prospect racing driver, he spent most of his life chasing an objective, which folded when his money ran out. At 21 years old, he seems to be going through a late adolescence, deciding to rebel, go against the system and connect with nature - whatever that means. Having started studying economics, after 6 months working as an intern in a consulting group, he decided he had had enough.

He convinced his high school friend, Patrick Rourke, who everyone called Packie. Born in Scotland, he is in his last year of mechanical engineering, however, his mechanical capacities were severely limited. He did know a lot of concepts and understood how an internal combustion engine worked inside out, however, couldn’t hold a spanner for his life. Maybe his theoretical knowledge will be helpful, if not he’ll help push the car and put some banging tunes in the 8-track.

In order to actually finish the rally, the pair decided to ask an older friend of theirs. Pete Davies, 41 years old, had worked for nearly two decades as a mechanic at the dealership of a budget mainstream Italian car company with an unpronounceable name. He said he would love to give it a go, because those basic cars are pretty much the same underneath, aren’t they.

###The car

Introduced in 1974, the Mk1 Baltazar Quark helped the firm mantain its share of the market, by being more modern than its ancient EP1 city car and smaller and cheaper than the new Quasar. As such, it was offered with a range of engines, with the 850 cc engine directly related to the one used by the EP1 since 1947 and a brand new family of modern inline 4 engines, with 8-valves and SOHC, offered in 3 different sizes, 1250, 1650 and 1700. For the 1979 model year, the car got a facelift and the engines were subtly tweaked. Due to the introduction of catalytic converters as an option on some markets, the engines were changed to 1400 and 1700 cc capacities.
The car shown here is a facelifted 1979 Quark 1700GT. It produces a whopping 100 hp, enough to take this 844 kg car to 100 km/h in just 8.9 seconds and onto a top speed of 175 km/h. Inside the car has 5 seats, lined with a mix of cloth and velour and a basic 8-track radio. Sculpted 14 inch wheels and a host of subtle tweaks to the outside mark this as the sporty car of the range.

This particular car was bought for just $450. Aparrently, it was the family since 1987 and treasured for nearly 30 years by a caring owner, but after his death the family had decided to sell it on.
However, this does seem like bullshit salesman speak. Sure, there is very little rust, with mild bubbling of the paint around the arches - actually quite impressive for a 40 year old car with no kind of galvanization on its panels. But the tyres aren’t the original high performance (for the era) models, instead being fitted now with some long lasting, hard-wearing tyres originally used on the base level car, and the exhaust system seems have been modified, with one of the mufflers removed and no catalytic converter in sight, hard to tell if it was removed or if it didn’t come with one from the factory to begin with, as it was an optional extra at the time. At least the wheels are standard, and the engine runs smoothly and with no worrying noises from the electronic injection.

[Deskyx]

I would join but this mod restriction is kinda annoying.

[titleguy1]

#Team Yokai
Crew Bios

Ram (@ramthecowy) - Hi, I’m Ram, a young Norwegian with quite a passion for cars and metal. I love amateur racing and hackjob construction - as you’d expect I go racing in the youth rallies in Finland as well as in folk racing in Sweden with my trusty collection of old beater Saabs - since 16 actually. There’s no car I hate, from JDM to classic American muscle what makes me love it is the attitude of people around it.

Evan (@titleguy1) - Hey, my name’s Evan, and I’m 16 from New York. You might know me for my graphic artwork, but to be honest I’m not too familiar around working with cars. I can identify parts and their functions but I’m not great at actually piecing the cars together. I do, however, really enjoy all and every type of car. As a New Yorker I might not seem like the friendliest person at first but I assure you I’m not a total dickhead. At home I’m either playing games or drawing but I’m very excited to participate in this competition.

We’d known each other through an online forum before, so we were very excited to meet up together.

#The car
(Written by Evan)
The car we purchased was a 1990 Kimura Arctos SX4i 3.5 with 2 owners and 275,000 miles on the clock. Ram and I love a good sleeper and drift vans are fun too. Here’s some background info.

The Arctos hits both points of our criterion; first, an AWD option was available and is fitted to our car. The Arctos also has an easily modifiable and rather potent 3.5L FB635 V6 engine shared with other Kimura’s of the era. This produced, when new, around 195 HP and over 200 lb-ft. The Arctos we were looking at even had a rather rare manual transmission of which only around 6,000 were produced. However, because of the strange appearance of the Kimura, it didn’t have especially strong numbers; thus, the replacement was more conventional.

The Arctos in question was bought in New Brunswik, New Jersey but it was a difficult purchase a multitude of reasons; for starters, the alternator and battery were shot. The ECU was also screwed as well when we saw the water damage done. The trunk latches also didn’t function. Thankfully, the car wasn’t too rusty since Kimura had at the least decent rust protection back in the day. The paintwork was dirty but it’d probably look decent with a wash. A few nicks and dents don’t completely diminish the look of the Arctos. However, the drab interior screams “90’s Japanese shitbox,” even if the interior itself isn’t too dirty. The exhaust system was also in shambles; we’d go on to fix that later. Altogether, Ram and I walked away $390 poorer.

Here’s a picture of the Arctos, in it’s glorious 90’s Pacific Coast Aqua.

Here’s a list of what we are aware of that needs to be done. Anything that was already done is checked off… More problems may arise. Post will be updated with more details over time.

• Fix the ECU.
• Replace Alternator and Battery.
• Fix the exhaust system.
  The exhaust was taken from the cat back and replaced with a full straight pipe. The car sounds especially fruity now.
• Repair trunk latches.
• Give the car a good clean inside and out.

[VicVictory]

YESS! Someone used the not-Silhouette body!

[8bs]

Question about the negative/positive sliders: are they optional? Do we really have to use them?

[cpufreak101]

I didn’t use any due to the lore of the car, so I’m pretty sure they’re optional

[Madrias]

I had a few positive sliders, but didn’t use any negatives, and it looks like mine’s been accepted.

I think the only ones you may have to use are the ones that are stated for the 80’s and 90’s cars.

[DeusExMackia]

@szafirowy01 correction
Half a million miles, eh? Is this a Zavir or something? Wait that’s just stating the obvious…nevermind…
I’m frankly amazed its still here if it was used as a taxi… Cars in that job take a serious beating, at least here in the UK anyway.

@Leonardo9613 Yeeesss! Can I just reaffirm how much I love the Mk1 GT? Just looks so of its time, it’s absolutely gorgeous.

@titleguy1 Dammit Evan could you stop being so good at photoshop please? Thanks

[VicVictory]

cpufreak and Madrias are right about sliders - they are optional, except the specific required positives in the 80s and 90s.

[8bs]

Hobo Team

Crew

Hobo - Hobo 34 years old, amateur racer, runned away from home, was last seen in 2015 somewhere near Germany border with some bits and bolts of his old car Testis… He was working on the countryside as a gravedigger to pay the booze (Ginnnnnn). Crazy for cars and good-times, he worked some extra hours, and found an old 67 funeral van… 450 bucks and there it was! His “supersonic sleeping bag” perfect for sleeping and cruising, with his hobo girlfriend and their hobo dog. That’s their way of living. No responsibilities, f@ck the system… well sort of.

Hobo girl - She’s 34, love mechanics, and work in a small town repair garage, where she use to service local cars including the mortuary vans. She met Hobo in an small town and fell in love immediately. After buying the van they adopted a small dog found aside the road…

Hobo dog - He loves to bark at his own tail, and loves to tear apart all plastics and rubbers from other people cars.

The Car

1967 van, from an extinct manufacturer called KingVans, produced this model exclusively for ambulances and police cars. This one, was adapted for carrying coffins and for local service at the morgue going regularly from town to town. The odometer indicates only 98.947 km, but there are only 5 digits in it…wich means that at 99.999 it goes back to zero again. Since the usual morgue driver passed recently and there are no records of it anywhere, they don’t actually know how many km’s the van has. The paintwork is ok (recently painted) the chromed metal is rusty. It’s powered by an L6 2.3L and 89hp from another manufacturer (Fuentes Motors), and adapted by KingVans for this model. All these vans (from 67 to 70) were known for having a slight overheat and braking problems. This van (when new) was fitted with some nice extras like: black fake leather 3 seats, power steering, head rests and lap-sash seatbelts and a 4 speed gearbox. The car was upholstered a few years ago. Apart from the oil, filters and brake change, nothing more was known about the van maintenance…so big surprises could be coming their way.

[Mikonp7]

Team Riot Uncontrol

The Crew:

Hi! We are two brothers from Germany which came here to make our vacation a bit more interesting!

But first a bit more about us:

We both come from a farm so we now a bit about dirt driving and fixing stuff.

I am Paul Jäger , 26 year old and the driver. My task on the farm is to drive the machinery through the dirt.
On of my hobbies is dirt racing. So it was easy to decide who should drive our car.

My Co-Pilot and Partner in Crime( heheheh ) is Aaron. On the farm he maintains the machines and fixes them up. If it not to mayor. He will also handle everything technical because i am not really keen with my smartphone and other devices.

Now the car !

We got this 1980 Police Riot Van !
We spend around 430$ at the Police auction.
And it is a quite nice Van !
If you don’t look at the bullet holes…
Or the 400k miles this car made.
And the … lets say “Natural Weight reduction” the ladder chassis has

But it runs fine ! Most of the time at least. At least these Police grade parts are bit more durable.

To-Do:
-Get Duct Tape for Holes
-Replace Glass with something
-Throw everything, more or less usefull we find at junkyards, in the back

[DoctorNarfy]

###Team “Science Guys”

Nicholas Justinian. Age 23.
The Navigator, and Mechanic.
Nicholas, a 23 year old with an over the top personality. He is arrogant, and stubborn beyong measure. Believing his way is the best way, and the only way.
He’s quite sarcastic, and rude.
That said, He has quite the mind for engineering, although the entirety of his experince has been pen and paper knowledge, rather than experince leanred from
working on cars in real life. Although he would argue he’s played Car Mechanic Simulator and taken enough courses to work on a car with no difficulties.
His first car was a MK3 Shromet Radiant, purchased by his father.

Agustus Biffle. -29.
The Driver.
An accomplished account, and a race driver simply for hobby. Agustus became friends with Nicholas due to their shared passion for Nascar and Rally.
Agustus can best be described as an American Kimi Räikkönen. Brutally Honest in his few words. His reaction times leave a bit to be desired,
and he has nowhere near the engineering mind that Nicholas has, but he is calm, collected, focused under pressure, and can follow orders to the T.
His first car was a 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass.

Steve Justinian. -19.
The helper.
Nicholas’ younger brother, Steve did not even graduate High School. He got his GED, much to the annoyance of his parents. He is a cheerful younger brother,
whom everybody seems to like. So, begrudgingly, his Older brother allowed him to accompany him. He is not a car expert by any means, or really a very big enthusiast.
He is more an enthusiast of camping and excitement.
His first car was a 2003 Jeep Wrangler.

###The Car.

A 1999 Nickel 4 Spec. Debuted at the company’s debut of full production cars in 1993, The Nickel 4 spec was
dated when it debuted, hoping to appeal to classic luxury consumers as well as more modern ones.

It was a body on frame car, with rear wheel drive, and came with a 5.4 liter V8 developing 210 horsepower and 300 pound feet of torque. (Although Nicholas Belives it may have lost one or two since then…)
However,given the car’s smaller interior versus the competition of the Lincoln Town Car and Buick Roadmaster. This, and the preistablished
foothold these cars had in the luxury market that Shromet could never grab onto lead to it’s eventual discontinuation just
just a few years later.
As for this particular 4 Spec, it was purchased at city auction, as like the other body on frame American sedans of it’s time, was very
popular as a utility car. It’s exact use is obviously classified information, but Nicholas believes it was used as a detective’s car,
given the odd color. It was a car that did not have many anxious buyers after it, and was purchased for only 384.87$.
Whatever it’s duty, it’s service life was spent almost entirely in the northeast reigon of the United States, where road salts and snow
run wild. The body has seen much better days, but the frame is held together well, so it managed to pass inspection. The car also needed many
new suspension components, as it’s service life was cut short after 178,406 miles, due to taking a jump too hard.
The team did all their repairs themselves, however, given their less than ideal experience, several corners were cut. The final car rides harsh,
but they firmly believe it can make the journey without faults… If it doesn’t get stuck, that is.