Astronaut Magazine - Revitilization

[Starfish94]

Glad you love my cars , anyway you spelled Saminda wrongly , supposed to be Saminda not Samdina

anyway looking forward for your magazine

[Vri404]

5 REASONS WHY: You should Start buying cars from the '90s

REASON ONE: Parts

These things are generally easy to find parts for.

REASON TWO: Style

These things generally look better than their modern counterparts.

REASON THREE: Mods

Many of the '90s cars, especially those from japan, are quite easy to mod.

REASON FOUR: Price

These things are so cheap currently, which I find good. GET BUYING

REASON FIVE: Rarity

Certain cars are becoming rarer and rarer, and I mean they're getting more expensive. Like I said Before, GET BUYING

[TheTom]

Yeah, but there's one thing you didn't consider: it can be hard to find a car in good condition, with low mileage and no major flaws. Plus, at least in Europe, japanese (and american, for that matter) sports cars are very rare, and if you happen to find one, 99% of the time it's rusty. And rust is like caries: once it's there, you can only slow it down a bit but never fully get rid of it.

[Vri404]

AMWEC IS COMING

So, A new Endurance series is coming. The Automation World Endurance Championship is set to be the premier Endurance trophy for the next few months. This 10 round series features three classes, Automation Prototype 1 (AP1,) Automation Prototype 2 (AP2,) and Automation Grand Touring Endurance (AGTE.) Currently (At time of writing) there are 5 AP1 cars, 2 AP2 cars, and 2 AGTE cars.

AP1

The AP1 cars are the premier and higher grade cars, being allowed to stretch the limits of technology. These are purebred racers share little in common with production road vehicles, but some might share a name or even an engine.

AP2

The AP2 cars are just smaller, less powerful AP1 cars, generally. Being allowed to run twin turbo setups on smaller engines, these cars might share an engine with a road car, but that's about it. The AP2 category will produce some epic racing. These cars are cheaper to run, and buy, so Private teams generally run here.

AGTE

The AGTE class is for production derived cars. Some cars in this category are purpose built for the AGTE class and are just sold as they are. This category has the most production derived settings and parts.

ROUNDS

The 10 rounds take place from December 6th 2015 - February 7th 2016
They are:
Round 1: 24hrs of Spa (December 6th)
Round 2: 6hrs of São Paulo (December 13th)
Round 3: 6hrs of COTA (December 20th)
Round 4: 12hrs of Sebring (December 27th)
Round 5: 6hrs of Melborne (January 3rd)
Round 6: 6hrs of Fuji (January 10th)
Round 7: 6hrs of Shanghai (January 17th)
Round 8: 12hrs of Nürburgring (January 24th)
Round 9: 6hrs of Silverstone (January 31st)
Round 10: 24hrs of LeMans (Febuary 7th)

Rounds 1 and 10 seem as if they are going to be the more difficult ones to over come, but we'll see how the cars (and drivers) hold up come December 6th

TEAMS/CARS

At the time of writing (10/11/2015) there are 9 cars entered, 5 for AP1, 2 for AP2, and 2 for AGTE. Here is a small run down

AP1:
Kraft Haus Technik Project Sepang, from Germany
Team Yinzer Spidar, from the USA
Fox Manor/Syron Motorworks Galadante, from Canada (being run by Fox Manor Grand Endurance Team)
Meliora Automotive M128, from Mexico
Montes RRSX-R, from España

AP2:
Fox Manor/Syron Motorworks Novotek, from New Zealand (being run by Syron Motorworks Factory Racing)
Meliora Automotive M8-R, from Mexico

AGTE:
Echo Motor Co. Banshee, from Serbia (Being run by ERD)
LMT Motors LMT 90, from the UK (being run by LMT Racing)

INTERVIEWS

Coming soon will be interviews with Drivers, Companies, and even (hopefully) the Head himself, Sillyworld.

More infomation is here, including if you wish to enter: http://automationgame.com/phpBB3/viewto ... =39&t=8291

~Vri404

[Vri404]

Here is our First interview with some of the competition, this one is with head of Kraft Haus Technik, Gerhard "Squidhead" Wagner.

This interview was conducted over email.

1) What do you think your chances of winning are?
We at KHT tend not to thing about our chances, but about the potential to learn and expand on our experience. Competition improves the breed, and that's what we are in this for.

2) How awesome is the Project Sepang?
It is pretty awesome. One of the better chassis we have built, and due to the limited nature of the build we could actually afford to build our own engines for this. Natrually the street version will not share the same engine, but it will share the spirit of the Sepang, and bring it to the streets.

3) Any tracks you're worried about?
Circuit de la Sarthe, actually. There are a few reasons, which, if I were to explain, could reveal some of our car's shortcomings. But they are there so we could excell in other areas. Le Mans will not favour us, I am afraid.

4) Who looks to be your biggest threat currently?
We are our biggest enemy. Natrually big name teams like Fox Manor and Meliora are a force to be reckoned with, but if we missed a beat anywhere, we'll be the main cause of our problems. Looking at our junior engineering team trying and failing constantly to build a reliable and fast AGTE class Adelaide to spec, fills me with nervousness, since we've been very quick to finalize and build the Sepang. In all honesty, I think we'll cause more problems for ourselves than any other team can ever do.

5) Any plans on entering any of the other classes?
Naturally, as I said, we're planning on an AGTE Adelaide, and we are currently looking at a potential engine supplier for the Sepang AP2. Both projects are still undecided upon, since the AP2 needs an engine and we don't know if anybody would even give us one, and the Adelaide keeps melting the pistons.

6) Any final words to everyone?
Good luck, have fun, and lets have an interesting championship

Kraft Haus Technik can be found here: http://automationgame.com/phpBB3/viewto ... =35&t=8275

[Microwave]

Solstice is another massive company, with massive car line-up. If I was to own a car, I'd probably take Solstice.

Thanks for mentioning my company here, although our current lineup only consists of two cars, actually! However, two more are coming soon...

[Vri404]

Here is the Interview with Reeve509, owner of LMT Motors.

1) What do you think your chances of winning are?

As of now, LMT Motors is staying modest and we are going to say our chances are not great. This is the first time LMT Motors has had the pleasure of participating in an endurance event, and although our engineers and testers have worked overtime to produce our car, even the model upon which our racer is built is still very new to the market, and relatively untested.

2) How has the development of your racing vehicle gone/is going?

Well, as mentioned in the previous answer, our engineers used all of the resources and time they had for this project to build out production and race car, so the result was a very smooth, very efficient development program. We only experienced small hiccups when it came to making our race car fit regulations.

3)Are you thinking of entering any other class/classes?

As of now, no. The AGTE class is perfect for LMT Motors. Racing a modified production car further brings across the message of the sporting potential of all of the cars in the line-up. As well as this, racing modified production cars allows us to bring down any revolutionary engineering feats from our racers into our everyday production cars.
4) Any tracks you're worried about?

Le Mans. 24 hours. New car. 'Nuff said. I can't even stay awake for that long.

5) Who looks to be your biggest threat currently?

Currently the ERD racing team from Serbia. They entered the AGTE class very early on, which leads us to believe that they perhaps have had a design in the works for a very long time or that they know very much about the class in which we are racing.

6) Any final words to everyone?

I would say, stay focused throughout the all of the races, have fun, don't corner cut like Hamilton and whoever wins in each class is buying the beers.

Next Interview is with iRaptor.

[Microwave]

Thread is kill?
I liked this magazine to be honest

[squidhead]

AFAIK Vri404 is busy with being... away from his country or... something similar. He made a comment on it back in the AMWEC thread. I'm sure normal service will resume once he has the time

[Speedemon]

My magazine might seem dead too, but I just don't have any time either. I am pretty young, so I am busy with stuff like school and going places with my family.

[Vri404]

Yeah, I've been away, but I was able to get internet through my phone, so only a few posts of limited size were able to be done. I should be able to start getting back to work in a few days, I just need to adjust a bit more.

and fix my automation...

I will post that iRaptor Interview though.

[Vri404]

Here is the Interview with iRaptor, owner of Sirrocco Motors (Or what ever the name is.)
I am changing up the format to make it seem more of an interview.
Note: This Interview took place on the 14th of November 2015, so some info is out-dated.

iRaptor: First of all, hello there. Really glad I can take part in this. Been a bit busy these days but I hope I'll be back to normal activity. Anyway, no time to be lost, let's go straight to the questions!

Vri: What do you think your chances of winning are?

iRap: Well, we are not aiming for a win. We have absolutely no ideas whether our car will be performing well or not. Our racing car is designed for an endurance race and we will not look forward getting the fastest lap times out there. This, alongside the Hot Hatch Cup, is our very first entrance in the automotive world. Out company has been launched for a few months, but we are now able to properly participate in what we want to do.

Vri: How has the development of your racing vehicle gone/is going, also what is it's name?

iRap: It has been really hard for us to make the car going around the weight limit. Being in AP2, we had limited costs over AP1 trims and we had issues making it the way we wanted to. This was sorted after a few days of brainstorming, and we went to fix our drivability issues after that. Being at 8, it was obviously going to give us huge issues, and while we have very talented drivers, there would be no way to prevent any issues that aren't driver-related. Our first engine was a V8 turbo one at the limit of the rules. We had a low-RPM spooling engine, which was giving some very nice low-middle-end torque alongside a rather flat curve. The engine was not only giving us these weight issues, but also had an impact on drivability. We switched to an I4 one that had a much lower displacement. Spooling was done a few hundreds RPM later, but the drivability was similar. However weight was a lot better and we were quite happy by the results. Our current engine is a whole lot different. Our friends from Zytek Engineering helped us designing it, and every issues were solved. While it is very similar to the real life counterpart, it is made to suit the rules, and we couldn't be happier by our tests. We still aren't sure by the name of it though. More will be known on our space that is all about Scirocco Global. The development of our AP2 gave us a huge amount of insight, so we'd advise you to be prepared for some very good news.

Vri: Which class/classes are you wishing to enter?

iRap: Our AP2 entry is almost ready. It is within every rules and only few tweakings are needed. We are considering an entry in AP1 aswell. However, it doesn't make sense for us to have a more powerful car in a class that is supposed to be slower than the top one. An AP1 model will only need some few changes in our build, so both cars would probably look very identical. An AGTE entry is not out of question either. I am sure some people who will read our interview will jump on questions as soon as they read the former sentence. Our answer is very quick. Make sure you read the previous paragraph.

Vri: Any tracks you're worried about?

iRap: Le Mans definately. Our car will probably not be suited for the huge straights and we are aware of that. But Le Mans isn't only made out of straights right? Fuji might be even worse in all honesty. Top speed doesn't mean anything though. We aren't doing a drag-racing competition as far as I know. We are hopeful on the F1 venues so that should be good for us.

Vri: Who looks to be your biggest threat currently?

iRap: There are 3 AP2 entries for the moment. We are hoping for more entries in this class. The more the merrier they say? Our main aim will be about not finishing last. Be it in whichever class we are racing in. I wouldn't say we have threat, because we are not taking the competition as something where we must be winning at all cost. Being our first challenge as we said before, we will not pretend to be battling with the top teams, not until the first couple of races are done at least. These two events should be defining pretty much the whole season, as it combines a very fast track alongside a twisty one.

Vri: Any final words to everyone?

iRap: May the best win. But make sure you have a look at our innovative rear bumper design first!

Next Up: The Cars of the AMWEC: The Zeus.

[Speedemon]

You can interview me before next AMWEC season if you want.

[strop]

If you need any information on the GG part of the development of the Zeus or a closer inspection, I'm available for comment. I think NormanVauxhall may also be poking around but can't speak for him!

[NormanVauxhall]

I'll be available for a double interview.