Introduction
The Great Archanian Trek is an offroad endurance race through the wilderness of Archania, open to amateur and professional drivers. Professional teams can enter a regulation vehicle. Amateur drivers and manufacturers can enter with modified road cars or historical Dakar/Baja/Offroad vehicles.
The stages are long and of varied terrain, but generally accessible terrain. Offroad modifications are a must, but even modified production cars should be able to make the finish line in the amateur class.
Racing conditions
Dust, back breaking potholes,unclear paths, unexpected obstacles, unreliable logistics. Rather than speed or performance, the main determining factors will be reliability, economy, offroad drivability, comfort and engine drone - although of course actual speed will get you there faster when the terrain allows.
Competition
More a showcase than a race, I must admit. The best designs will be featered in The Mud Flap (a The Exhaust Note sub-publication) style article.
That means that aesthetics, character and lore matter. But race events and times will be reported in this thread itself. So even more basic builts will be given attention in the thread itself. The focus might be more on the showcase than the actual winning of the race, but there will be an actual winner of the race.
BeamNG will be used for flavouring and (some) screenshots - but it is not required that the cars are tested in BeamNG - or even that they work in BeamNG. Mild BeamNG editing (e.g. hide chassis) can be dicussed.
RNG will play a role, but in terms of engine high reliability, low noise and high efficiency will increase your chances. In terms of trim, high reliability, high drivability, high offroad, low fuel consumption will increase your changes.
It is a bust period for challenges - I will finilize the exact methodology when I see that there is actual interest in this challenge. But the basis is set out above.
Rules and Regulations
Professional Class
General
- Trim Year 2020
- Techpool: Anything from 0 to default. (+5) on everything
- Qaulity points: max. 7 quality points up or down per engine and per trim (max 5 per tab).
- Ground clearance: no part of the vehicle must touch the ground should put tyres on one side deflate (straight from the Dakar rulebook this - original language French, the French aren’t always that clear - this basically means that the side edges of your body work cannot go down lower than your rims.)
- Entries must have at least head lights; rear lights; front, rear and side blinkers; and reverse lights.
- Fuel: entries must run on Regular 91 RON fuel
- Seats must be sport seats
- Infotainment must be sat-nav
Trucks
- Minimum Weight: 1800kg
- Maximum speed (limited or through gearing): 140 km/h
- Transmission: free
- Suspension: no active suspension
- Seats: at least 3
- Wheels: free
4x4
- Minimum Weight: 1200 kg
- Maximum speed (limited or through gearing): 180 km/h
- Transmission: manual or sequential: max 6 speed
- Suspension: no active suspension
- Seats: at least 2
- Wheels: max diameter: 810mm; max width: 315mm
4x2 (two-wheel drive)
- Minimum Weight: 800 kg
- Maximum speed (limited or through gearing): 180 km/h
- Transmission: manual or sequential: max 6 speed
- Suspension: no active suspension
- Seats: 2
- Wheels: max diameter: 940mm; max width: 315mm
Historical Class
- Trim year before 2005
- Fuel: 91 RON or leaded 92 if trim year does not allow unleaded fuels
- Max. 7 quality points up or down per engine and per trim (max 5 per tab)
- Maximum speed (limited or through gearing): 180 km/h
- Ground clearance: no part of the vehicle must touch the ground should put tyres on one side deflate
- Entries must have at least head lights; rear lights; front, rear and side blinkers; and reverse lights.
- Be magazine-worthy
Inspiration
Some inspiration
Entry
Max. one per class per user.
(So a total of 2 per person is allowed - one professional, one historical)
Naming convention Model & Family: TREK22 - Your forum nickname
Naming convention Trim & Variant: free
- Send a PM here on Discord to me with the .CAR file; and background information on the brand, the car, and any additional lore about the drivers or the car you want.
- Create a short post in this thread with at least one picture
- Please also introduce your pilot and co-pilot(s).
- Indicate your driving style (see below) per stage.
Deadline
20 January 2023
Scoring and Role Play
The intent is this to be more of a showcase event, more than a pure competition - I respect that there as some that might not like that.
Stage times will be influenced by:
- Reliability (engine and trim) - influencing chance of breakdowns
- Drivability and Comfort - influencing chance of accidents
- Offroad - giving a bonus over tough routes, reducing chance of accidents
- Economy and engine efficiency - increasing chances of having to stop and wait for service trucks because of low fuel.
- Whether or not it looks the part (design and engineering - somewhat subjective perhaps, but I look at realism.
- Your choice of driving style: meticulous, balanced or gung-ho - influencing change of accidents, breakdowns and fuel consumption.
Stages:
Stage 1: Yelta - Sulinki
Mainly show case event (for the Archanian regime) with a route through the famous coastal city, past the party retreat, to the outskirts and then off to Ksulinki along the unpaved mudy mountain roads, over the infamous Yugo-Vostochny Khrebet mountains.
Stage 2: Sulinki - Elshan
The toughest stage of the Trek, with harsh rock desert and barely any decent roads. The paths are barely a better option compared to just gunning it in a straight line through shrubbery and sharp rock, all the way to the historical site of Eshan, the city of gold of the medieval trans-Archania trade route.
Stage 3: Elshan - Basara (Dalluha)
Following the age old trade routes to Dalluha, with sand dunes and sand desert as far as the eye can see. Rough on the cars if they are unreliable, and not the place where you want to run out of fuel, but otherwise quite fun to put the peddle to the metal - as long as you don’t roll. Expect oppulence once arriving in Basara.
Thys van Jaarsveld, a driver whom has 16 years of experience within Raid events, as well as experience in World Rally Championship and World Rallycross events.
Åge Solbakken, long-time Co-pilot to Thys, as well as occasional competitor in Motorcycle Raid events, with 14 years of experience in multiple disciplines.
