4 - @TwistedUmbreon Tungsten 143R
Letâs be honest, this doesnât look anything like a 1920s race car. You say itâs an offbrand Bugatti Atlantic, but it looks more like a Talbot Lago T150 to me. Either way, both of those are from the mid to late 1930s, and the Tungsten looks tragic when compared to them.
This body has paint options to hide the fenders, using that and a bit of 3D sculpting, as well as removing the roof would have made it much closer to what itâs meant to be. 3D can be hard so I can understand why you didnât do it, but I have other two bigger complaints with this car.
First one is the chassis, it can be hidden easily using advanced settings. Second one is the wheels, they are absolutely massive, almost a big as what modern GT3âs use. Itâs a far cry from the thin tires that were used in this era.
Fun fact: this is the only car not using national colors.
3 - @Kobalt619 Wabrun Type G
Next up is the Walbrun. I criticized the Tungsten for being too anachronistic, this oneâs even worse in that aspect. It looks like something thar would have raced in the late 40s or early 50s at Le Mans or the Mille Miglia, specially with the spare wheels at the back.
So why is it in third then? Two reasons: It actually looks like a racecar (even if from the wrong era), and it has more effort put into it.
I have plenty of things to complain about though, so letâs get started. Thereâs a tube at the front that Iâm guessing is supposed to be a hand crank, some points for the detail, but itâs done much better in the next two cars. Keeping it at the front, whatâs with that bumper? Bumpers are usually the first thing that gets removed in a racecar, yet this purpose built machine has one. Finally, the wheels are bad, not as bad as the previous car, but still bad. Too wide and using slick tyres, looking at the reference pictures you can see that those werenât around at the time.
2? - @machalel A.G. FDS Grand Prix Proto
That question mark is not a typo. This is technically a bin, the wheelbase is 3.30m when the upper limit was 2.70m. I could let it slide if it was at like 2.80m, but itâs 0.6m over the limit. For reference, even the massive Auto Union Type C from the 30s is only 2.90m.
That being said, I love this car. It represents the spirit of early racing with the anything goes mentality. If someone thinks a racecar using airplane parts, go take a look at the Voisin C6, a 1923 Grand Prix car with a propeller, which I believe is the inspiration for the FDS (and maybe a bit of Bugatti Type 32 since those winglets probably generate lift lol).
Looking at the FDS itâs clear to see the improvement over the previous cars. First thing is that it actually looks like a GP car, with some well done details like the side exhaust going all the way from the engine to the rear end or the hand crank at the front. One fun detail is the gearbox on the right, almost hanging oustide of the car, because as the lore says, it can barely fit two people in the cockpit. And finally, we get some period correct wheels, including the possitive camber that these cars tended to use.
If this car wasnât binned, it would have probably won, the attention to detail and the originality of the design is great, and made me hope that the wheelbase had been changed with advanced settings, but unfortunately it wasnât the case.
1 - @Fayeding_Spray Viotti Serpente
Fittingly for this era, we find an italian car at the top, not an Alfa, but the Viotti Serpente. This is the smaller of the four cars, at with a wheelbase of 2.45m when every other car is almost at the limit or over it. At first I thought the cockpit was too small, but I checked and it can fit two people, maybe it would be a bit tight, but you canât ask for much comfort on a race car.
While the FDS had a crazier design, the Viotti goes for a safer aproach, but the execution is just as good. Some of the details I praised on the previous car are also here and done even better. The hand crank is there, thereâs a hand brake on the side of the cockpit, you can see the headers coming out of each cilinder (letâs ignore itâs actually a 6 cylinder, I said I wouldnât look at engineering). But my favorite detail has to be the wheels,
But my favorite detail has to be the wheels, theyâre so well done I thought it was actually a mod fixture I didnât know about, but itâs actually done with advanced settings. It also has that possitive camber thatâs so easy to miss if you donât look at cars of the era.
I donât have much else to say, itâs a bit of a safe design, but itâs very well done, and being myself familiar with 3D open wheelers I can apreciate the effort this took.
Bonus
Race Review
For the 1924 [INSERT COUNTRY] Grand Prix, cars from four different brands showed up: Viotti, FDS, Wabrun and Tungsten. Thousands assisted the event eager to see the new machines in action for the first time. The 57 lap race would prove to be a true test of speed and endurance for both drivers and cars.
Viotti took the lead at the start, with one an FDS following in second and the sister car in third. The other FDS meanwhile had a poor start, and battled with the heavier cars form Wabrun and Tungsten for a few laps before overtaking them and leaving them behind.
The two leading cars left the second Viotti behind, with the FDS unable to make a pass for the lead until on lap 22 both cars entered a corner side by side. The Viotti kept the inside, and the driver of the FDS starting to get anxious, tried a risky move on the outside. The larger car struggled to make the corner and crashed, breaking both the front suspension and the transmission ending the race for them, luckily no one was harmed in the accident.
Meanwhile, at the back one of the Wabruns had a puncture and lost a couple of laps to the leaders. The Tungstens had it even worse, struggling with not only punctures but also reliability issues, with one of their cars overheating and entering the pits on lap 37 but never getting back out again.
Turns out there was a reason why the second Viotti had been lapping slower. Early in the race a bad gear shift had damaged the engine and the car was down on power for most of the race. This meant the remaining FDS would pass it easily on lap 40 and the best of the Wabruns almost caught up to on the last laps.
9 laps latter, while the remaining Tungsten was battling with the lower placed Wabrun, a massive puncture sent it into a spin, taking out both cars in the process.
On the last laps, the FDS had been catching up with the leader, setting fast lap after fast lap. It would get within attack distance with 4 laps to go, but the healthy Viotti proved much harder to pass and having seen how their teammate ended up, the driver decided to keep it safe and came home in second.
Provisional results of the Grand Prix:
However, during the post-race inspection the FDS would be found to be breaking the rules, and both cars were disqualified from the event, giving a podium to the surviving Wabrun.
Final results of the Grand Prix:
This is a something I made up for fun and as writing practice for future challenges, it has no effect on the actual result of the challenge, but feel free to read it if youâre interested.
