When one thinks “hypercar”, one generally thinks “ridiculous performance”. They also think “over a million quid” and “ultra exclusive” and “horribly difficult to produce”.
But why should only pop stars and obscenely rich wankers have access to this much power and hoonery when all they do is rub your faces in how they have more money than you’ll ever see in your lifetime? If you really want to see the world burn, if you really want to stick it to the man, why not make a Reasonably Priced Hypercar? A Powertrip for the People? Something that you could aspire to save and save and one day splash out without having to remortgage your house for the third time? If somebody somehow managed to do that, maybe the gene pool might thin out a bit from all the people wrapping themselves around trees, but then again, given what’s already happening on the hoon scene, maybe not.
The point is, fucking fast from the factory floor shouldn’t be a thing for the 1%. It wouldn’t be realistic to make it for the rest of the 99%, but one can at least try to cater to the masses. Think of the economic stimulus it might provide if you brought all the hype of a hypercar to the manufacturing pipeline of a regular sports car!
That was the line of thinking when the [color=yellow]Gryphon Gear[/color] executive board put their heads together and realised that if they wanted to spearhead the revival of local auto manufacturing, they needed to be a bit more inclusive than their all CF all race-grade physics defying machines that only oil barons and children of dictators could afford. The good news was their earlier projects had stirred enough of the hornets’ nest that it was receiving expressions of interest and serious offers to amalgamate. Thus 2016 was a year of organisational change, the building of a warehouse for a new factory, the establishment of a proper R&D and engineering office, and the influx of a whole lot of equipment and staff, in preparation for the next phase: world domina- haha okay maybe not. Proper production capability. It was fine to use their advanced factory parts for the internals, that was what made a GG car a GG car. But other things had to be common enough and replaceable, and the cars had to be put together in a reasonable amount of time, so they could make enough of them to make it reasonably priced.
This agenda couldn’t come soon enough: in the climate of rising performance, a number of other companies had already made cars that could go very nearly as fast for a fraction of the price. Not to mention the rise of the hybrid and the promise of even more stringent regulations in years to come would really put the squeeze on ICE only cars. The pressure was on to stay relevant and stay solvent!
Thus the stage is set for an emerging class of cars: city car economy, hypercar performance with a sub-100k pricetag… with a good margin.
#The Rules
Remember, anything not mentioned here is acceptable
- Car years from 2012-2017 accepted
- Final price MUST be no more than 100k, post-markup
- You MUST use unleaded fuel (maximum RON 98) and a cat meow
- Engine noise level MUST be no more than 50.0
- You CANNOT use semi-slicks, and the maximum tech level on the tyres is +7
- You MUST have sufficient cooling for the engine
- Safety is 40.0 MINIMUM (must be available to sell in Fruinia)
- The car MUST be able to make it around Green Hell in under 7:03 minutes (since it’s from a standing start)
##The Recommendations (for an everyday hypercar with road manners)
- Try to have a reasonable fuel economy, i.e. 10L/100km is good, 22L/100km is unacceptable
- I would personally prefer it if you kept the tyre sizes somewhat realistic i.e. maximum 345mm, but I’m not going to stop you from going wider if you need to. It may affect scoring.
- Aim for overall emissions under 100
- Aim for drivability of at least 50
- Aim for comfort of at least 35
- Aim for safety of at least 45, since these cars need to be sold in the 20s onwards
- Aim for both an engine and total reliability of at least 70
- Aim for PU under 300
- Aim for a markup of about 100%
##Scoring
This part I haven’t quite worked out. It’ll be a weighted metric that takes into account most of the parameters mentioned above, then multiplied by the markup and the price.
Things that will matter (in descending order of importance, provided the entry satisfies the essential rules):
- Price
- Markup
- Production units
- Time around Green Hell
- Prestige
- Comfort
- Safety
- Economy/Running costs
- Emissions
I will also display times around Airfield and other tracks if somebody else can convince me of their unique characteristics and global importance.
##Submission
I think it should be enough to post screenshots of all the relevant stats, but you can PM me if you want. I’ll keep a running tally on an Excel spreadsheet once I work it out.
