Oh no! the police have to outsource their car production 
. I gave it my all.
Well thatâs amusing to know that I got myself the highest top speed. My initial target for the competition was 240kmh, but fell short. 
Fastest off the line means you close up to the bad guy sooner. Too bad that wasnât all we had to do. I definitely put too much of an emphasis on get-up-and-go and not enough on the weighted statistics⌠but I had fun with this car. I guess this car would serve as a decent âpursuitâ cop car. I guess I was thinking about this en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Mustang_SSP when I should have paid attention to the details. All-in-all, Iâm pleased with what my car is capable of and I think sheâs well rounded and plenty fast.
[size=150]Top 3 reviews/report HPC78 Challenge[/size]
Out the twenty entries that were submitted to the Californian Highway patrol, many were deemed to be an improvement. All cars were faster, had more acceleration and provided more comfort for the highway patrol officers. However, only one company would get the full fleet order of providing the Californian Highway Patrol with a new batch of patrol vehicles. Three contenders finally stood out from the crowd: The Ignis Stella Contender, the BAM G3800 PRC and the Baltazar Basil Magnum Interceptor.
To ultimately determine the winner, the highway patrol board asked instructors Dave and John to write an extensive report of these three top contenders. Dave and John were respected; they both had over 20 years of in field experience, so if anyone knew what would be important in a patrol car it would be them.
Dave and John started with the Ignis Stella Contender, a Columbian import that proved to be a good consumer car. They started with inspecting the chassis. John walked to the Ignis and started to look under the car. âLook Dave, this car has a double wishbone in the front and rear, have you ever seen that in the patrol cars we used to drive?â, John asked. âNo, I have never seen that before, I only heard many of those European import cars have that fancy stuffâ, Dave replied. âDo you think this will make a reliable suspension?â, John asked. âNo, I donât think so, this is what you get if it ainât Americanâ, Dave replied. âLetâs look at those other cars Dave.â The both walked towards the BAM G3800 PRC. John shouted: âWhat the hell is that? It looks like a family car! Well at least it should provide plenty of space. The suspension is also just like on the other car! It does look sturdy thoughâ. âAgain double wishbone suspension. I hate all this European stuff. Where are the leaf springs and Macphersons, like proper cars have!â Dave shouted. âI donât know Dave, letâs have a look at the third car here and letâs see whether it is any betterâ. The two grumpy old men now walked to the Baltazar Basil Magnum Interceptor. âNow thatâs a proper American carâ, lots of chrome, just the way I like itâ, said Dave. âIndeed Dave, but it also have double wishbones on both endsâ, John replied. âTrue John, but this one has a proper ladder chassis, I always like it if they keep things nice and simple and sturdy. This car might be Brazilian, but at least it was inspired after proper American carsâ.
Baltazar Basil Magnum Interceptor
Now Dave and John went forward and opened the hood of the Baltazar. âLook Dave, this one has a straight four engine. What a puny engine, this must be bad!â John now walked towards Dave and observed straight four engine. âWhere is the V8? This is just for kids!â, John shouted. Dave entered the Baltazar and started the engine. âWell, do you hear that! This small engine can rev!â Dave now put his foot on the gas pedal. âIt does have some decent torque, this thing might not even be half badâ, John replied. John now walked towards the BAM and opened the hood. âLetâs see what this engine can doâ, he exclaimed. Dave noticed John was excited about the BAM as John was looking under the hood. âThis thing has a straight six Dave! No V8, but this will do. At least it has more cylinders than the one that you are playing with.â John noticed that the engine was using a direct acting overhead cam with two valves per cylinder. John now closed the hood and opened the door and started settling himself behind the wheel. He started the engine and tried to rev the engine while in neutral. âThis car has some decent torque as well similar to that Baltazarâ. âReally John?â, Dave replied. âOk, I think it is time to look at that third car again.â Dave moved away from the Baltazar and walked towards the Ignis. Whilst walking towards the Ignis he constantly turned his head to look at the Baltazar. Dave was now standing in front of the Ignis, whilst John was still sitting inside the BAM. âWhat does the Ignis have for an engine Dave?â, John asked. Dave opened the hood and saw to his amazement that there was no V8 in this car either. âWell, it ainât a V8. I think it is again a straight six.â He noticed however that this one did have more modern technology than the BAM. âIt looks like an overhead cam with two valves for each cyclinder.â Dave now closed the hood and started testing the engine in idle gear, as he had done in the Baltazar. âWow! This engine runs smooth and has a beautiful soundâ, Dave exclaimed. Dave clearly noticed that a lot of attention was put in the engine. He also noticed that the seats and the carâs interior were nicely done. Sure it was not the nicest interior he had ever seen, but it did have details he could appreciate. It was for sure a bit nicer than the Baltazar, but only a bit. âHow does that BAM look from the inside John?â, Dave asked. âIt looks simple and pretty standard, but nothing to complain about Daveâ, John replied. They both agreed that the interior of the Ignis was the best in terms of quality finish, but all three cars did not differ a lot from each other.
âI think we need to take these cars for a spin together to see how the respond and drive Dave. After all that is what counts the most for usâ, John said. âI agree John. Ok, letâs start with the Baltazar.â They now both walked away from the BAM and the Ignis. Dave settled himself behind the wheel, while John moved to the seat next to him. Dave started the engine and put the car into drive. âAlways nice to have an automatic, ok, here we goâ, Dave said. The Baltazar now drove from the compound to the test track that was just in front of them. Dave and John noticed that the Baltazar was a bit slow, but on the other hand it was definitely fast enough and it was quite comfortable too. âI like these seats and the suspension does its job very wellâ, John remarked. âYes, the seats are nice, in fact the suspension works indeed very wellâ, Dave replied. Dave now started to put his foot down on the throttle. The engine clearly had some difficulty getting up to speed, but in the end it got there. âDecent performanceâ, Dave remarked. âI wish it would have been a bit more responsive though.â They now moved towards one of the first corners of the track. It was a fast corner, so the car should have no difficulties there. Dave now clearly had difficulty to keep the car on the track and had to slow down a bit to keep it on the tarmac. âThat was closeâ, Dave said. He now started pushing the engine again. âAlso this car rolls quite a lot I must say Daveâ, John replied. âWell, it ainât that much different from the cars Iâm used to, so wouldnât say it is worst at thatâ, Dave responded. Dave now started to test the car on high speed with fast and slow corners. The Baltazar struggled, but Dave didnât seem to have difficulties in controlling the car. In fact, the car constantly responded quite predictable. âDriving this thing isnât so exciting, but at least it is easyâ, Dave remarked. âIt is very important that the car is indeed not difficult to control. Otherwise we lose more cars due to damage and bad handling than due to ageâ, John replied. Dave was starting to like the car more and more, the engine was still a concern, as was the performance, but provided an easy and comfortable ride. âNow for testing the brakes!â, Dave mentioned vividly. Dave started to drive around 60 mph and suddenly pushed in the brakes. The brakes made neither a sound nor fuss. The car stopped well within 40 meters. âWell, that is goodâ, John remarked. âYes, it is much better than the car I am driving myself at home. I think we have seen enough of this car for nowâ, Dave replied. Dave drove the car back to the compound. They both agreed that the car was good enough performance wise, but it would have been nicer if it would have been a bit faster and more responsive. There were things that they both did like very much. The amount of comfort was good and the amount of gas used was also less than expected. Furthermore, the car was quite forgiving if a mistake was made. Good brakes and easy handling made up for the lackluster performance the straight four gave.
Ignis Stella Contender
They now walked towards the next car they would be driving, the Ignis. John was going to drive and ran towards the car. âOkay, letâs get this show on the roadâ, John exclaimed whilst opening the door as if he wanted to beat Dave to the car. John started the engine and put the manual gearbox into first gear. âRather like that this one has a manual gearbox, but it could become rather annoying whilst driving through townâ, Dave said. John drove the Ignis off the compound and to the test track. John started slowly and increased the speed to 60 mph. âOk, first corner. Letâs see whether this one handles corners a bit betterâ, John remarked. The wheels screamed as they went through the corner, just like the Baltazar, the Ignis had troubles getting through corners at high and low speed. âThatâs a bummerâ, Dave said. âI hoped this one would fare better than the previous car, but doesnât seem to be the caseâ. John was slightly disappointed, but still convinced that he would find some spots were the Ignis would fare well. âLetâs see how fast this baby will go from 0-60 mph.â John put all his weight on the gas throttle and the car screamed as it went forward. Wheels were spinning, and into first gear, then into second and over 60 mph in 9.1 seconds. âThatâs much faster than the Baltazarâ, John said. However, when John was talking to Dave about the speed of the car, he suddenly had difficulty in keeping it on track when doing high speeds. âItâs a powerful car, but a bit difficult to control. I have to keep correcting the wheelâ, John remarked. âThat is not good, indeed you seem to struggle. The Baltazar seemed tamer than this one. It is nice though that we have all these extra safety features on the car though, that is also worth somethingâ, Dave replied. John continued to a stable speed of 60 mph for the brake test. The car stopped barely within 41 meters. âA bit worse than the Baltazar, but again it does slightly outperform in terms of raw speedâ, John mentioned. John and Dave now decided to go back to the compound. They had seen enough of the Ignis. It performed well when accelerating and provided sufficient top speed. Cornering behavior was just as bad as with the Baltazar and also fuel consumption proved to be much higher with this car. On the other hand the additional safety precautions were welcome and it provided enough comfort.
BAM G3800 PRC
John and Dave parked the Ignis and looked at the German BAM further down the parking lot. âI canât stand the looks of that car. Why would we need a station wagon?â, Dave remarked. âI donât know Dave. However it is for sure handy when it comes to bringing more equipment to set up speed cameras. We for sure do not need an additional van nowâ, John replied. John and Dave now left the Ignis and walked towards the BAM. Dave refused to drive, but John was happy to give the car a try. âDonât ignore this car Dave, you might not like the looks, but all that matters is that it offers the best total packageâ, John told Dave. John settled himself behind the wheel and started the engine. Dave was still clearly annoyed, but his duty was to make sure all the cars were tested so he had to get in. John put the car into first gear and drove off the compound towards the test track. Once there, he started pushing the throttle all the way down to see how fast it would accelerate. The BAM didnât protest at all, there was no wheelspin and the gearshifts went smooth and achieved 60mph in just 10.1 seconds. âI like this car alreadyâ, John said. Dave didnât say a word; he was clearly impressed but would not want to admit that he could be wrong about the BAM. John now started to drive towards the first high and low speed corners to test the handling. With over 100 mph he went through the first high speed corner, though the BAM had some issues in handling the force, it managed to do quite well. Then the low speed corner arrived. John braked and took the corner beautifully. âWell, after driving those other cars, I must say that this one does better in the corners and still provides enough speedâ, John said. âIt is still uglyâ, Dave remarked. However Dave was clearly impressed by the cornering performance of the BAM. Then all the sudden John pushed the brakes as hard as he could and under the noise of screaming tires the BAM halted just within 38.4 meters. âNow those are some brakes!â, John exclaimed. Dave was however with his hands against the dashboard. He never expected the unannounced brake test and was clearly shocked the BAM could brake that well. âYou can notice this car has ABSâ, Dave said after recovering from Johnâs sudden action. âThis car has all the nice safety features just like the Ignis has and still handles well too!â, John said whilst returning to the compound. John and Dave now got out of the BAM and started talking about the BAM. Dave started to reconsider his early biased opinion: âEven though I do not like its appearance, as a wagon, I cannot argue that it handled the best out of all the cars test and still provides decent fuel mileageâ. âI agree Dave. Furthermore, it also showed to consider just as much safety as did the Ignis and provides the same comfort as the Baltazarâ, John replied. âI think I need to reconsider my earlier impression Johnâ, Dave confessed. âI still do not like the looks, but I think this is the best car out of the lot we tested. We should start recommending this oneâ. âAgreedâ, John replied.
The final report from Dave and John was clear. The Ignis was the fastest, but handled badly. The Baltazar handled very well, but was just a bit too slow and didnât consider safety as much as the other two. The BAM was on the other hand clearly the best middle of the road car, it handled well, had good performance in the corners, albeit a bit slower in acceleration than the Ignis and it provided good safety and decent fuel mileage. Out of all the contenders they decided to recommend the BAM G3800 PRC as the upcoming patrol car for the Californian Highway Patrol. Congratulations to BAM and Der Bayer for winning the HPC78 challenge.
Any comments/remarks concerning the review? Please post them. This is the first time I tried a narrative report/review, just to do something else for a change. Please tell me whether you liked it or whether you prefer a more traditional review next time.
Anyway I hoped you all like the challenge and had as much fun participating as I had organizing it.
Yay, I really like your challenges! 
Seems like I was lucky at finding an average approach without major flaws. Iâll try to work more on the design side in the future though 
The people at BAM will celebrate the successful introduction of the model on the American market with some beers!
The review was very nicely written, I enjoyed it a lot! Thank you for hosting, Iâll definitely join the next challenge.
Good job Tycondero, the reviews convey the important bits in a different approach over the others Iâve seen so far. The dialogue between the characters comes off a little rough though, mostly due to some minor grammar, and syntax errors. I would consider having it proof-read prior to posting if that is an option.
But overall it was a good read, you were able to get the important parts across and I would be more than willing to enter into your next competition.
On a side note I still personally feel that Utility was way under rated for this event, but that is just personal opinion. I look forward to the next one.
Well, the Ordures V8 finally did what the original couldnât: Place last in the competition. (I intentionally made the original Ordures in Lordredâs 8 track V6 competition as bad as possible, and it placed 18/20th)
Iâm not a native english speaker (in case you havenât noticed), so no doubt there will be some issues there. About proof-reading, well I do not know whom to approach for that in future. Would you be up for that? This is the first time I ever write something like this, Iâm only used to writing formal english scientific text, so this is actually a bit out of my comfort-zone. Still, I tried to see how it worked out and Iâm not too unhappy about the outcome, besides that it sometimes might be a bit more difficult to read due to the compression of the text.
EDIT: Especially the first bit about the chassis was a bit rough imo. Not too happy about that part yet, but didnât want to leave you guys waiting for too long.
You may ask me to do so in the future if you wish, I did the proof-read and edit for Leo on his Sell on a Monday win on a Sunday economy results. In turn I had asked him and Pyrlix to take a quick read over my review for the WHALES to see if they could find any grievous grammar infractions.
PS: Yes I do know you are not a native English speaker/reader, and I applaud that you are multi-linguistic. Myself, only knowing English, am lazy, and American.
Second, again. This is quite an annoying trend. Anyway, congratulations to Der Bayer for, yet another, great car.
About the review, this format was interesting, but not optimally executed, as Lordred pointed out. Also, I think a bit more context/scenario description would have been nice, to help the readers situate themselves. But again, that might be nitpicking, as Iâm not a huge fan of 3rd person narrations, especially one that needs to accomplish something at the end, therefore being, in essence, a journalistic report. With that being said, I too am planning on changing a bit the writing for the hot hatch section of my challenge. The eco review was purposefully boring, in order to reflect the nature of the cars, the sporty ones should get something more interesting, but I havenât got that figured out just yet.
I can feel the heartbreak from here⌠No Americans, no v8s, no MacPherson and axle, and cruisers that look like family wagons⌠The Americans must be dying inside 
Point in fact, the MacPherson front suspension was never used on large american cars. They all use a double wishbone suspension up front.
MacPherson gained popularity when the front wheel drive cars started being common.
I once read an article, about the origins of the McPherson system on the 30s. And it clearly stated that ladder frames werenât rigid enough to provide the mounting points for that kind of suspension, therefore it only became common when monocoque, FWD cars became the norm.
Iâm with you there. I would have never imagined that the challenge would have turned out this way, but you live and learn.
Well, it is all for learning and trying some stuff out to see what people like. Every review type/style will have lovers and haters no doubt. Perhaps next time I will again try something else. Did you like the style of the Out of Africa challenge review more? That was more descriptive journalism I would say.
That one was more normal, shall I say. Maybe a bit boring. But as I said, it is more my personal preferences, I prefer descriptive narrations, with very little on the way of dialogs, which is exactly the opposite of yours. The out of africa challenge had a very analytical, very cold writing style to it. My eco reviews, maybe, were a bit more communicative with the reader, but still pretty bland and boring. Lordredâs Whale review was a lot more intimate, with more writing flourishes and with a first person touch. You see, just different styles of writing. I would say that you accomplished the Out of Africa style better than this one, but keep trying! I mean, thatâs why you did this, right? To keep trying different stuff and I salute you for that
LOL, might have done better if this challenge wasnât moving as fast as it did lol, Iâm working on mine currently to see where I went wrong. I will admit even though I wasnât in the top 10, for being 14th in my first challenge. Iâm really impressed with myself going in with no knowledge on cars and whipping one up. If another one like this rolls around, Iâll be back, donât worry
I just realised I HAD THE POWERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR