thanks. it’s actually just a ‘facelift’ version of the Scela Moto entered in the compact challenge. that one was a 1985 car. this is a 1990. both are RWD only though
hee, I’m kind of excited, more for the review than anything.
I’m probably one of the first ones out, hahaha. wagwag
I have gotten cars from the following:
@TR8R
@abg7
@doncornaldie
@Madrias
@stm316
@LilRedRhyder
@yurimacs
@Mikonp7
@HighOctaneLove
@koolkei
@Dragawn
@AirJordan
@KLinardo
@Leedar
@laffinghyena
@JohnWaldock
@thecarlover
@strop
@stoppingpower
So 19 cars in all. If you haven’t posted an add yet, do it as soon as possible.
6 Likes
Very late ad, for a very slow car.
Will the fuel-sipping turtle beat the hares? Will it be a turtle?
The Notamaro is already feeling sad.
6 Likes
late ad
tiny engine. lots of power and only 1200 kg heavy.
fuel economy 10 L/100 km
7 Likes
It’s adorable!
Now that i noticed it… I dunno how it escaped me, but i turned in a 4 door sedan in a 2 door cars competition. So that’s how i could’ve lost some weight. 1198kg is not light
1 Like
When was the last time we had fewer than 20 submissions for a given round of CSR? I was expecting more than this relatively low number.
Sorry for the late submission. You could say that the tardy arrival of the specs of Armada’s latest entry into Touring Car racing was due to the fact that our engineering took precisely 1/100th of a month longer than expected (approximately 8 hours).
Armada Motors is an archetypal British based “born in a shed” company, one that has always been involved in motorsport, from grassroots to Rallycross to Touring. They’ve made a bunch of quirky ‘will probably kill you if you look at it wrong’ sports cars loved by a small cult following (see: 1975 Talon, 1984 Feltram Evo X) of survivors (I’m sure the others loved them too, but they can’t tell us). It became quite clear from their motorsport results that small and punchy was the name of their game, and so in the late 80s when the push came to the shove and it was time for the money to be made or disappear into ignominity forever, they responded by jumping on the Hot Hatch bandwagon and released their own family-friendly rocket, the Fore (see: VicVictory’s Best In Class 1982 sports engines). The Fore has remained a staple ever since, exploding onto the scene particularly in the early 90s with the coming of the Gen.II. Rated as one of the top value budget sports cars of the 90s (see: Leonardo9813’s SOMWOS for reference), the trim list and options for the Fore proliferated and, riding high on commercial success, pretty soon it was being developed in various guises for as many Touring codes Armada could think to support.
The following year, this guise was homologated, with a de-stroked version of the original engine and forged internals, in what would prove to be the enduring “Superlite” trim series: the track focused car with zippy handling to rival a stripped EG Civic.
note: when geared appropriately this car can return a 0-100km/h time of 3.8s, but this is the optimal gearing for racing on ATT
This version here is the ATTC, pretty much a silhouette racer since while it retains the partial alu panels, it has a newly developed AWD drivetrain and fully independent suspension in order to make the minimum weight (if anything it overshot a bit). But this oversight proved to be a boon, as the engine was an all-iron 2.5L i4 affair. The turbo tuning was fairly straightforward as Armada had been developing that since the 70s, but with a more aggressive setup, it packed a fair wallop.
Thus, despite being eminently drivable and not that thirsty, it returned some rather quick times in testing.
Armada thus hopes that despite the noted dislike of hatches from one of your team, that you will consider this as a strong contender for racing.
(p.s. I will not be available to host the next round)
8 Likes
After a couple of month of going through the specsheets and looking for fitting offers, the JET-team finally got to check the first cars out.
The first car to be poked and prodded is the Torrent XX from @LilRedRhyder.
John: I opened the hood first thing as I couldn’t care less about looks. If it doesn’t have a decent powerunit, it wont go anywhere. So… The Torrent XX has V8 flatplane vid Multivalve DOHC. Hmm, not really my thing, this. I have to start it up and hear it. Wait… what… It sounds choked, and feels reigned in by the redline. Now, this really needs work
Eric: Ohh, nice :), and almost my favorite shade of blue, too. Nice looks out of the way, it seems a little low to the ground for my taste. And wait, is that drums in the rear? Ah well, lets give it a spin.
(a couple of laps later…) Yeah, this really needs work. Apart from the standard seats, the low ride doesn’t help when riding curbs, it kills my lower back. The lack of powersteering and ABS doesn’t help the experience any but it sure gives you immediate unwanted feedback. Damn, you have to wrestle this thing.
Tom: Taking in the whole picture and listening to my crew, this car doesn’t seem like a good fit for the JET-team. An engine and tech we’re not familiar with, coupled with a lot of safety and driveability issues, such as brakefade, lack of powersteering and ABS couple with an overly lowered car, makes me say no.
So, we have to pass on this one.
The Second car up for inspection is the Taikan A-spec from @abg7.
John: Ah, this feels more like it. A Straight-6 with a turbo. No frills, just a good, sturdy powerunit. It sounds right and feels smooth, with a hint of spoolup time.
Eric: Nice and clean, not flush to the ground and discs both front and back. Seems promising.
(10 laps later…) This is really nice. It has some unbalanced body roll, and it wouldn’t hurt with wider tires to get more grip in the corners. But the gearing is spot on. Not even a hint of wheelspin either.
Tom: Seeing this car on track, and getting the input from the others on the team, it seem like we got ourself a candidate for further inspection and tryouts. I really like the fact that they’ve put some work into the safety and made it driveable for longer periods of time. And it’s rather economic too.
We’ll be seing you around.
The next car up for scrutiny is the GW-Stamford from @STM316.
John: Another I6 turbo. Hm, Iron block and alu-head… risk for problems. And this time around they’ve gone for a SOHC config, interesting… And 3 valves per cylinder. And single point injection. Definately no hightech here. A slightly choked exhaust tho. This needs to be changed.
Eric: Nice and tight from the front, but what’s this bubblebutt good for? Really needs a redesigned rear. Ah, well. It it drives well, i could live with it. Now let’s see. Magnesium rims, Discs front and back, not too low to the ground. And good sportseats too.
(5 or so laps later…) A nice ride, tho it suffers from uneven bodyroll, and what feels like an open diff. The gearing is a little high for the track, and the brakefade… the first few laps were fine, but then the brakes just disappeared. I got a good heartexercise at least.
Tom: Good to see an almost oldfashioned engine. They’re often more easy to work with and find parts to. But for the other issues. The suspension should be easy enough to handle, and fitting bigger brakes are nothing new. The engine could be a liability and a new differential and a new gearbox would be expensive.
We will have to pass on this.
And the 4th car up is the EcaMobile RaceboxIII from @Mikonp7
John: Well, what do we have here… Another turbocharge I6 with VVT this time. And pretty high boost to boot. It’ll be interesting to see Eric throw this around. It seems well built and has good quality all around.
Eric: It’s a hatch! And forrest green… Well, not my kinda thing. And the panelfitting seems off, and not the best quality materials in the chassis. I’m sceptic. But it has discbrakes all around, which is nice. I hope they don’t die on me as the others did. I have to take it slow to get the feel for it.
(7 laps later) GAH!!! Another car where the brakes overheats after an allout run, isn’t this supposed to be a racecar? Ah, well…let’s recap. The setup is a handfull with unpredictable bodyroll and both over and underdamped at the same time and without the powersteering you feel it right away. They’ve at least fitted the car with a decent rollbar 
Tom: It accelerated great and looked stable on the straigh, but it seemed Eric had a handful with it in the corners. We can try to workout the suspension and brakeproblems as it seems promising, with a good engine, AWD and pretty good economy. But the adaptive dampers are pretty hard to get right, and no powersteering will make it cumbersome to drive after a while.
We have to pass on this car.
The 5th car to get a runthrough is the Dynamite Nitro from @Madrias.
John: WOW!! This is something i haven’t seen in a while. A DAOHC Inline 4 with a high-boost turbo… to be honest, i actually NEVER seen one before Well, won’t knock it before trying it. I may surprise me.
Eric: Hmm, it looks like a standard car. A sleeper maybe Steelrims hiding disc-brakes… Seems to be of decent size too. Oh, and a fully clad undertray. Nice. And they’ve really gone overboard with the safety in this one. Oversized rollcage, Oversized X-bars, Double sidebars… Better safe then sorry, but it may hamper the performance.
(15 laps later…) This is a nice ride. Sure, it’s slightly overdamped, but predicably so and the balance is really good. And finally a car you can push without having to fear for the brakes. Broader tires would be nice tho.
Tom: Another AWD, and a good one at that. Eric seemed at ease with the car, and John was amazed by the seemingly oldschool/newschool engine churning out that amount of power. The only gripe i have with the car is the fueleconomy, but it’s manageable.
We’ll keep in touch and meet in a couple of days again.
The next car up for inspection is the Bolgliq Coyote Turbo from @HighOctaneLove
John: I’ve heard of Bogliq, they make good, sturdy, blue cars if i remember correct. And this engine seems pretty good, though i don’t like aluminium heads on iron blocks, they tend to cause trouble in racing conditions.
Eric: Bogliq blue, and on a nice enough car too. Let’s have a look… Magnesium rim, good tires, Vented discs front and back. Good. A solid rear axle? This doesn’t bode well for the ride.
(3 laps later) MEDIC!!! Damn, my back is killing me. The suspension is rockhard, and every little bump in the road gets soaked up by your body, instead of the chassis and suspension. Damn. And without both powersteering and ABS, this car is a right beast to drive.
Tom: This car is not exactly what we asked for. Sure, it got decent mileage, but we have to make a whole new suspension-setup, as well as keeping an eye on the engine. And it could have been good having some driving assist at least.
We have to pass on this one, too.
7th car up for inspection is the FTi Hellcat from @TR8R.
John: The Hellcat has a good powerunit with an aluminiumblock and head, so it’s light. And VVL makes for good power at high rpm and economy. Forged internals gives it durability and a journalbearing turbo is the sensible choice here
Eric: It looks like a green, mean musclecar I like it. It has too big rims though, and way to slim tires to get the power down properly. And I am guessing that the grip will be suffering too. Nice sporty interior and a padded rollcage with strengthened X-bars. At least i’ll be safe.
(10 laps later) Mm, i kinda like it… the grip is suffering as i guessed and the lack of tractioncontrol doesn’t help, but the ride is nice. It seems as the power doesn’t really have free reign, so upping the redline would probably do good. But setting this one up properly will be hard
Tom: Apart from having to change the rims and tires, this car shows promise. I like that they’ve made some effort in the safety department, and the fueleconomy is superb. But having both active sport suspension and semiactive dampers, makes it hard to setup, and if it fails it will take hours to fix.
Sadly we have to pass on this car.
8th car up is the Zast R422 from @Yurimacs
John: Ok. This one has a cast iron I6, but it’s a small car, so weight reduction isn’t really necessary. And DOHC with both VVL and VVT makes for a both powerful and economic powerunit. It runs smooth.
Eric: Yes, finally a small convertible The ride seems kinda flush tho, so it’ll probably be bottoming out. Discbrakes all around is nice. But the rear brakes seems overpowered. The interior seem like it came from a really low budget chinese factory a couple of decades ago. Cheap plastic and bad fittings galore 
Not nice.
(2 laps later) No, no, no… I wont drive this car! The powersteering is of the cheap sort and i have no feedback whatsoever, the ABS seems to work overtime, partly due to the overpowered rear brakes, and the tractioncontrol actually slows the car down, like a lot. And the ride is awful.
Tom: Listening to John and Eric, you’d think they talk about two different cars. But it seems like the company paid alot of attention to detail in the engine, and skipped the setup and interior completely. Sure, its a powerful engine, but the lack of quality on the interior and setup means we have to pass on this one.
9th car up for scrutiny is the Scela Moto Super R from @Koolkei
John: A good old, no frills, cast iron I6 in this one, and no VVL or VVT makes for easy work. The economy may suffer some, but it runs smooth and nice.
Eric: This one looks the part. A wide stance, wing and lips, and yeah, pure race. High quality tires, discbrakes all around, but they’ve seemed to have passed on the interior. It has a good rollcage and oversized x-bars, tho, so i’ll be safe.
(12 laps later) I really like it Its precictable, and really nice even without good seating, and the only thing i could complain about is a tad too much wheelspin when accelerating out of slow corners. The setup is nice, but a slight inbalance in the roll kept bugging me.
Tom: Between John and Eric, this is the best car yet. I’m mostly concerned by the rather thirsty engine, and the fact that it consumes tires rather rapidly, and with the quality tires fitted it would get rather expensive to own and service.
But we’ll keep in touch and meet up later.
Next one up for inspection is the Bobcat from @KLinardo
John: Another Aluminium I6 with forged internals, VVT and pretty low boost to help driveability. Seems to be good quality through and through. And it runs smooth too.
Eric: Another musclecar, this one in blue. It certainly looks the part, and god good quality tires, and discs all around. They seems to have skipped on the seating but the instrumentation and the safetymeasures seems solid and good.
(15 laps later) Now this is more to my liking. A little overdamped, but the ride is miles ahead of most of the competition so far. No brakefade, good grip, awesome acceleration… it feels eager.
Tom: Hearing the words of both John and Eric, this one seems like a keeper. And given the safety and fueleconomy, it sure seems like it.
We’ll keep in touch.
That concludes the first 10 cars, more to follow…
15 Likes
Y’know, looking back at my design I really made some obvious mistakes. 
(Well, things that some would consider mistakes; there was reasoning behind almost all the choices.)
So far, my strategy of building an older, simpler car for this round is paying off…
It and its engine were designed in 1985, and as such the latter could never have been fitted with VVT or VVL, which kept the engineering time down, even with the alloy block and heads.
And I even managed to install ABS and power steering… It was a struggle fitting them in, though.
Plus props to @gridghost for keeping the reviews honest and blunt!
neat. another refurbished car that is competitive in another challenge.
even with handicaps. like the extra 2 doors. and the weight of an oversquared 3L I6 on the front while only displacing 2.5L (+turbo ik. but still, downsized) and can’t use AWD because it was already on the limit.
so all the complaints written, is as expected, it was a bit of a struggle to keep them to a minimum while still getting good power output.
1 Like
I’m not surprised for my poor showing. I expected a lot of things to get shot down.
What I don’t understand is how 7.2 inches of ride height is considered low on a track car? GT cars ride as low as 3 inches.
Yea drums on the back and steel wheels to save on engineering time. I also couldn’t sort out enough grip to keep them from locking up at the back, which I had to plan for when skipping the ABS. Still managed a braking distance of just 94 feet.
Narrowing the exhaust raised comfort by lowering noise, and improved torque and squeezed down the octane requirement. Lowering the redline from 8500 to 8200 improved reliability a LOT.
It was designed to be a brute of a car. More apt to 10 lap sprint races than anything. Still proud of my terrible car XD
I learned, I’ll do better next round!
1 Like
Ah, this is a common misunderstanding with the suspension, IIRC. I think it should really read “suspension travel”, although that too isn’t exactly correct but the bottom out penalty isn’t actually about how likely the bumpers are to scrape on the ground, but how likely the car’s suspension is to bottom out on the bump stops and makes the handling jarring.
1 Like
I have a hard time quantifying a lot of the metrics, I clearly understand them differently than other people. Which means I’m wrong lol. This game could really use a manual/better support explanations.
I’m surprised my wildcard made it past the first round of cuts, to be honest.
There’s the tool tips which should be on by default but can be found by highlighting the heading. That said they don’t give you a full rundown of everything, that probably needs polishing.
1 Like
nods there is no help on the suspension settings though.
I always find the line graphs difficult to interpret.
I’m much better at making family cars for the lite campaign than anything else XD
I kind of wonder how the dev team came up with ‘comfort’ values. Is there some generally recognised average baseline and comfort scale for body travel when going over a bump?