Akina/Haruna Downhill

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...okay I lied, I couldn't resist throwing something together so here's a little something to rev up the competition!

I should first declare that I have played around with the chassis text file to achieve the look, but this in no way interferes with how the car adheres to regulations.

This is the '97 Mesos Touge Edition (pronounced Meh-zoh):

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Its format and styling inspirations include the likes of the Lancia Stratos (hence the name, get it? ), Mazda RX7 FD3S, and Honda NSX. (Dragawn you'll be pleased to note that the aero layout is mainly aesthetic and I used only 1 wing and 5 lips ). This particular example is designated the Touge Edition, for it sports a carbon skin over its steel frame, semi-slicks, a dual-clutch 5 spd transmission driving the rear wheels, and a '97 3.6L DOHC EFI Turbo 30v i6 limited to 360hp for tournament purposes (to give it a power/weight ratio of 325bhp/tonne).

I know OP wanted to limit the torque to prevent these ridiculous torque curves, but he didn't, so... :P

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It comes equipped with superlight racing seats, standard entertainment, standard safety, and a full complement of driving assists. All in all it provides all the thrills of a true competition compact sports car in a package accessible to the everyday driver.

On the downside, fuel economy in this edition suffers mainly due to gearing and the extreme turbo tuning.

On the Haruna downhill, it achieves a 4:52.88:

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I'll note that not unlike the situation that faced me in the BRC, in this simulation I can easily knock off a second if I remove the front sway bar entirely and make the car ride on the bump stops, but that's just plain weird and probably not supposed to happen, so I resisted the temptation and left it around the default.

I am more than happy to provide files upon request, if anybody wants to verify anything.

[Dragawn]

Well played guys, I didn't expect such a fast FWD car
And ohgod, the torque abomination has struck Loving the styling on the mesos by the way Only two questions: Where are the exhausts? And did you edit the lips hidden?
Am I wrong to say that the fast track time of the Nightfury is mainly due to the downforce? 2 tonnes of frigging downforce. I'd like to see a time of it with half the power

It was time for me to get serious, so here's a facelifted version (still '92) of the Blitz (since in the BRC I just did something to have a platform ) adjusted to the challenge:

Which comes with these values:


Featuring the same engine design with slightly more stroke than the Slit, which, to be honest, is my weapon of choice for this challenge, an i4T with VVT/L, 0.95 bar of boost (decreased from 1 bar to meet power/weight limitations), with a mere tameness penalty of 5.7%, giving it easy-to-use power for the downhill. Oh, and it only needs regular unleaded.


Coupled with a dual clutch awd 6 speed on a monocoque of steel and carbonfibre panels, this resulted in a time like this:


To my surprise the fuel economy ended up pretty damn good for a sportscar of its time.

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Wow that's very impressive Dragawn. And it goes even further to prove that raw power is clearly not everything on the touge! This will take some real wits and balance. I shall have to come up with a suitable answer in the coming days, though I suspect my chosen platform is at a disadvantage because the wheelbase is longer... there's the tiny 70s coupe body, wonder how that'll do...

Also LOL damnit I can't believe I forgot the exhausts on the Mesos... that's just embarrassing man. The front lip is indeed 3 lips, to balance out the skewed aero on the rear, but as I was to discover, even 100kg of downforce may actually be too much.

And yeah that FF car pulling 4:53, that's fully... saico!

[Pleb]

May I ask how you used the text files to achieve a certain look, and how that couldn't be done in-game?

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Check your PMs pleb!

@Dragawn: also, I actually think if I reduced the power on the Nightfury TDS, it might actually take the Haruna downhill faster (but only if I also reduce the drag), but I don't have a clear idea. It's times like these I wish we had the option of a power limiter device!

[ElSaico]

...uh guys?

I think I've just shaved off a second and a half with a more track-specific setup.

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Wow ElSaico, I bow to the king of FF hot hatches on this track! Unless I really put my head down and take my own hot hatch apart, but I just don't know if I have that in me as my hatch is a 2014 so I'm super impressed!

Since Dragawn is getting more serious, I suppose I better do the same, and release an upgraded version of the Mesos, now in AWD! Interestingly enough it has exactly the same engine, only now it has fully equipped advanced FIA approved racing safety in case you want to enter the car in some events. The added weight also helps the car comply with the power:weight ratio of 310bhp/tonne.

Now with visible exhausts!

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Contrary to expectation (and just like what happened with the Nightfury TDS), I was happily able to find a superior suspension alternative to removing the front sway bar. It now has a very sporty firm suspension setup that gives it sharper responsiveness on the road without sacrificing grip.

And it goes faster down the pass, putting in a time of 4:49.11.

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All this said, this is a car that goes a fair way to ekeing out the extra few fractions. In a comparison with Dragawn's car, it'd be a fair bit harder on your hip pocket for arguably only a little difference, or perhaps the little extra that counts the most... which reflects the differences in our company approaches. Furthermore I don't expect to stay ahead for very long at all, as the shootout continues!

[EnryGT5]

I made a crazy 350BHP thing weighing 600something kilos for the Unlimited Class (Yes, i used the super tiny 70's one), managed 2.4s 0-100, 1.47g and 230kph top speed, runs in around 275s if i remember correctly, any tips for making a decent track setup?

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Haha I was going to so that next! I'll go and make one soon so your model won't be lonely next to my attempt at world domination.

A good track setup actually balances the load on your front and back wheels against the turn in of the car (softer front sway bars and stiffer rear sway bars tend towards oversteer), such that the wheels maintain contact with the ground. Stiffer dampers and springs will improve responsiveness but may make the ride twitchier and obviously more prone to skittering over bumps (may not affect simulation) but also reduces overall grip if too extreme (will affect simulation!) Negative camber on the front also improves turn in but does happen much off the track because it increases tyre wear, and must be balanced by camber at the rear. Lower ride height improves stability and increases downforce but reduces space for wheel travel.

That's just the suspension! Most of that info can be found on the crash course thread...

...I have also learnt how to lighten the car further! It's to do with reducing the torque, so next up is playing with that and emulating the lovely flat torque curve dragawn has in his engine...

[RobtheFiend]

IIRC the weight of the transmission components scale with the torque, so less torque = lighter gearbox/diff/awd stuff.

In a 600 hp supercharged hotrod you can use a light automatic gearbox (30-40 kg), in a turbo diesel pickup (250-300 hp) with a towing rating ower 7 metric tons, the auto gearbox might weigh 100+ kg.

So the transmission mass should also scale with the size/max weight of the vehicle. Maybe something for the developers to think about.

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Der Bayer actually just explained this in another thread! The transmission in Automation scales for torque and nothing else. I'm not sure that it'd be that relevant for this simulation to scale transmission to size, since the size differential between models isn't all that huge.

(Post edited: I can't read apparently LOL)

[Dragawn]

Ugh, I've only been able to get 0.5 seconds off, seems like my car can no longer fight the torque abomination
I've managed to get the tameness penalty down to 4.1% even, and 5% for a production version of the engine, but they weren't any faster due to somehow being 0.2s slower for 0-100.


I've been working on a 1.9L and a 2.4L with a...quite odd torque curve though
This is the 2.4L:

Whilst weird, it achieves a tameness penalty of just 11%, which I'm quite satisfied with considering it spools 1.6 bar of boost

Probably not gonna find its way into this competition, but I'll be keeping these around for when mid-engine placement finally comes out

Edit: whoops, I forgot, the mtbf with proper cooling is 67k

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And here I was thinking that performance could be improved if I evened out the torque curve I could get a slightly lighter car with a more progressive power band and maybe that might improve overall performance. But I see you knew well where this was going dragawn

Nonetheless I'll give it a shot and see if we can come up with the best of both worlds!

[RAHayesJ]

Here's my attempt. It's tame, heavy for the power it has, but I've taken taken it from 320 seconds to 310 with some tuning. Note the G's with medium compound tires. And it's still comfortable!

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As promised I retuned the engine so it didn't have quite as heinous a torque profile. As a result I was able to make the car significantly lighter. The torque curve now strongly resembles the curve used in the WRT Turbo engines, though tempered slightly by the power:weight restriction.

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After stripping the car slightly to meet the power:weight ratio of 310bhp/tonne, the Mesos HeadHunter now puts out 337hp but with a lighter chassis, it goes around the corners just that little bit quicker. As predicted, I actually gained over a second on the downhill run!

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So there you go, guess it's not all about having the maximum HP all the time!