International T/A Series [1971 Season] [Season Finished]

[VicVictory]

Good evening!

It's been a while since the third International T/A series ended. 1969 was an interesting year, with several races boiling down to hundredths of a second. While there was one top contender in each class, there was good movement and battling at nearly every level. Can YOU design the next championship car?

WAIT, WHAT'S THIS? 1971? WHAT HAPPENED TO 1970?

Long story short, there was little change in rules historically in T/A racing in those years, so I could drone on another year with lowering levels of interest, or I could skip to the next major year of rule changes.

International T/A Series

My objective with this is to roughly simulate the American Trans-Am series, now entering the "Golden Years" where AMC, Ford, and Chevy duked it out with their pony cars, as Datsun and Fiat battled in the smaller displacement class. Like those years, there will be two different classes with radically different engine designs. Participants may enter into one or both categories. Since T/A was eventually a manufacturer's championship, the car and the engine must be designed by the same entity -- no purchasing engines from other companies. Also, there will be valvetrain (and other) restrictions to stay in keeping with what, historically, were the competitors of the day. Of course, the competition bears a LITTLE bit of my own twist to it. Being the 1971 season, nearly every major American manufacturer pulled out of the historical series after the season concluded. Thusly THIS WILL BE THE LAST SEASON FOR THE TX CLASS. Also, the lower level "Two liter" class changed in this year, both in design and name.

THERE ARE SEVERAL RULE CHANGES THIS SEASON. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY.

So, here are the basics:

ALTERNATE TRANSMISSIONS ARE NO LONGER ALLOWED. YOU WILL BE LIMITED TO ONLY THE TRANSMISSION INCLUDED IN YOUR ORIGINAL ENTRY.

Year of Manufacture: 1971

Touring-eXtreme (TX) class:
Maximum displacement: 5000 cc
Engine type: pushrod V8 only
Aspiration: Natural, carburetors only. DCOE carburetors not allowed.
Fuel: Super leaded
Quality sliders: No negative points. Period. Otherwise unrestricted EXCEPT for tires (see below).
Reliability: Engine >30, Car >60
Tires: Semi-slick, max +4 quality, 205 MM max width, 60 minimum profile
Aero: Lips and rear spoilers allowed. No canards (front wings).
Safety: Standard 70's required
Brakes: 2 pot disc only
Exhaust: No bypass valves.
Body: Minimum 100 inches wheelbase (2540 mm), any number of doors. May NOT use 1940's sedan.
Maximum TOTAL cost: $10500
Maximum PRODUCTION units: 250

2.5 Liter (TF) class:
Maximum displacement: 2500 cc
Engine type: Inline 4 or 6 only, 2 valves per cylinder (any cam configuration).
Aspiration: Natural, DCOE carburetors REQUIRED.
Fuel: Super leaded
Quality sliders: No negative points. Period. Otherwise unrestricted EXCEPT for tires (see below).
Reliability: Engine >30, Car >60
Tires: Semi-slick, max +4 quality, 185 MM max width, 60 minimum profile
Aero: Lips and rear spoilers allowed. No canards (front wings).
Safety: Standard 70's required
Brakes: 2 pot disc only
Exhaust: No bypass valves.
Body: 82-100 inches wheelbase (2082-2540 mm), any number of doors. May NOT use 1940's small sedan.
Maximum TOTAL cost: $9500
Maximum PRODUCTION units: 225

ALL MODS MUST BE PART OF THE COMMUNITY MOD PACK DATED 6 FEBRUARY 2015. NONCONFORMING MODS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED.

Post-submission alterations:
The following settings MAY be altered between races (PM me the alterations by the race deadline and I will apply them for that individual race):

Suspension geometry (any individual setting except quality)
Aero front/rear inclination and downforce
Brake pad composition (but not size, quality, or caliper type)
Engine: fuel mixture and ignition timing ONLY (doubt anyone will change this, but...)

Races will be run 3-4 times a week until completed.

Car submission deadline: Monday Feb 23 10:00 AM PDT (UTC -8)
First race Tuesday Feb 24, deadline 10:00Am PDT (UTC -8). Track: Laguna Seca

The Courses (in run order):
Laguna Seca (Tues Feb 24)
Albert Lake F1 Circuit (Weds Feb 25)
Green Hell (Fri Feb 27)
Sonoma Raceway (Mon Mar 2)
Tsukuba Circuit (Tue Mar 3)
Circuit La Sarthe (with chicanes) (Weds Mar 4)
Mid-Ohio Sports Course (Thurs Mar 5)
Road Atlanta (Fri Mar 6)

NOTE: Any car that throws a .LUA file error while attempting to test on any given track will receive a "DNF" and be given 0 points for that track. So please make sure your entries load on every track!

Submit your car's .LUA file to me before the deadline. Please name your car within Automation with the following convention:

1971 ITA - (name) - (class)
example: 1969 ITA - VicVictory - TX.lua

I WILL NO LONGER ACCEPT ENTRIES WHERE THE FILENAME DOES NOT MATCH THE ABOVE FORMAT. (For those of you who have not run a competition yet and wonder why, it's because it's a colossal PITA to sort through all the entries when you name things all willy-nilly.)

I know you all like to name your cars. So do I. Don't name it within automation, send the following information with your .LUA file in the PM:

Username: (Your board username)
Car Name: (Manufacture/model name for your car, ex: Ardent Thrush GT)
Nationality: Nationality of your RACE TEAM (can be fictional if you so desire)

Cars that have been submitted and verified legal to race:
np1993 - Canada - PMC Collera (TX)
Sayonara - Japan - Miya 240GT K (TF)
NiuYorkCiti - USA - Ponni Armadillo T/A (TF)
strop - Great Britain / France - Armada Trident TX (TX), Renault R8-R (TF)
High Octane Love - Moldova - Bogliq Bastion ITA (TX), Bogliq Mouse ITA (TF)
Razyx - Spain - ManHell Atlas TX, ManHell 251B TF (TF)
Luilakkie - Netherlands - TX and TF entries
Ashleyblack - Australia - Black Wirraway TX
vmo - Spain - Montes 256 GT (TF)
F17Francesco - Italy - Scuderia Raziel TF2525 (TF)
LeSpass - Spain- AC TransAm TF (TF), AC TransAm TX (TX)
RaduST - Romania - Siret Putna (TX), Brasovia Sport (TF)
Leonardo9613 - Brazil - Baltazar Scorpion TA (TX), Baltazar Chinese Democracy TA (TF)
RedRiot - Hungary - Chrysalis Mirage 2500 CS (TF)
Rossriders - USA - Weiler Hardy TA71 V1 (TF)
Chipskate - Great Britain / Japan - Brooke Tourer GT-R (TX), Toyoko Corona RS (TF)

TX standings after 8 races:
1st - LeSpass - 80 pts
2nd - RaduST - 72 pts
3rd - Chipskate - 59 pts
4th - Luilakkie - 56 pts
5th - strop - 50 pts
6th - Leo9613 - 4 pts
7th - np1993 - 35 pts
8th - HighOctaneLove - 24 pts
9th - Razyx - 16 pts
10th - AshleyBlack - 8 pt

TF standings after 8 races:
1st - LeSpass - 109 pts
2nd - Chipskate - 100 pts
3rd - strop - 98 pts
4th - Luilakkie - 90 pts
5th - RaduST - 71 pts
6th - Sayonara - 65 pts
7th - NiuYorkCiti - 63 pts
8th - Leo9613 - 60 pts
9th - RedRiot - 52 pts
10th - HighOctaneLove - 49 pts
11th - Razyx - 36 pts
12th - F17Francesco - 22 pts
13th - Rossriders - 18 pts
14th - vmo - 8 pts

Any questions? Comments? Desires for me to take a flying leap? Post 'em.

[HighOctaneLove]

Are we able to use underbody aero? There is only the option of semi-clad but since I cannot remember if we were allowed to have this in the past I want to make sure it's OK two years later!

[VicVictory]

My only restriction on Aero is no canards.

[Leonardo9613]

You said that front wings are prohibited, mostly because of aesthetics, I assume. But if I hide my wing in some way, can I use them?

[RaduST]

I'm in

[VicVictory]

You said that front wings are prohibited, mostly because of aesthetics, I assume. But if I hide my wing in some way, can I use them?

No, they're disallowed as a matter of course.

[strop]

In that case, how far forward can the wing be placed? On the front of the roof? It may be an academic question but I'm interested, so thought I should clarify...

[VicVictory]

Trunk if sedan/coupe, as close to the rear of the roof as possible if hatchback (Don't remember if any hatch bodies were even available in that year)

[np1993]

Is my spoiler placement okay? I sent the .lua for review

[VicVictory]

I haven't looked at it yet. Reviewing the current submissions is on my plate for tomorrow.

[strop]

No problem. After many seasons of observing this enduring title, I'm prepping a car for entry!

(I then fell afoul of the "using certain characters in the name breaks the save and your file gets wiped too bad so sad" thing, and lost the entire car, and rebuilt it in five minutes and somehow it came out faster than the original...)

[HighOctaneLove]

Trunk if sedan/coupe, as close to the rear of the roof as possible if hatchback (Don't remember if any hatch bodies were even available in that year)

So does that mean my personal favourite method of wing placement (lip on front; lip on bootlid and small wing just above rear window) is now illegal?

This would make me sad as I do this for aesthetic reasons and it balances my car well without causing DNF's...

[VicVictory]

Yup.

(Blame strop... he made me answer the question.)

[AshleyBlack]

okay, I'm confused. The rule is one lip on the front and one wing or lip on the rear? or nothing on the front at all?
Also can we change the gear ratios for each track? or do we need to figure out some ratio we stick with and cross our fingers? Because at the moment my car will kick ass on Laguna Seca but will have its own ass handed to it on a track with some longer straights haha
At the very least allow us to change the final drive, yes?

[VicVictory]

The only thing that is out as far as aero is placing a wing on the front... and the position of the rear spoiler must be on the trunk lid (sedan) or top of hatch (hatchback).

As per the OP, Alternate transmissions are not allowed this time around. You run the one you submit the car with.