Pocket Rockets! [REVIEW POSTED]

[VicVictory]

Pocket Rockets!

***PLEASE BE AWARE, THIS IS A COMMUNITY MOD PACK FRIENDLY CHALLENGE. IF YOU HAVE NOT DOWNLOADED THE COMMUNITY MOD PACK, PLEASE DO SO. PLEASE REFRAIN FROM USING MODS THAT ARE NOT CONTAINED WITHIN THE COMMUNITY MOD PACK AS THEY MAY RESULT IN REJECTION/REDESIGN.***

It's 1978 again. Sportiness has definitely changed over the last decade. While the 60's saw the boom of the pony and muscle cars, the early 70's spelled their near death knell. Droves of consumers ran screaming from gas-guzzling V8s to boring, but sensible, alternatives. This of course gave a rise to a whole new breed of 2+2 sports cars.

But what of those who couldn't afford the newest, slickest model? Or people who occasionally needed that third seatbelt in the back? Buy a completely sedate economy model? Nope, there were always compromises, and these bargain budget models gave a great mix of pulse-quickening performance and feasibility as a commuter vehicle.

There is a secondary prize, beyond bragging rights in this thread. The top 2-4 (depending on total number of entries) competitors will be written up in a head-to-head, magazine-style review!

RULES AND GUIDELINES:
Year: 1978
Body: Any with a 100 inch or lower wheel base, must be 2 or 3 doors. **NOTE: If using the not-Golf body, CANNOT use the version that has the built-in aero coachwork, only the basic version.**
Interior: must have a minimum of 4 seats.
Tires: 0-quality, no Offroad or Semi-Slicks.
Fuel: Regular Unleaded Only
Exhaust: Must have a catalytic converter and muffler(s). (read as: street legal)
Engine: Inline configurations only. Reliability >0, of course.
Aero: No lips or spoilers at all
Total cost: less than $6000. See important note in the score weights section about cost penalties.

Everything else is fair game!

SCORE WEIGHTING:

There will be a calculation formula similar to the last competition I ran. Weighting will be different this time around, simulating potential buyers' preference for cheap but sporty transportation.

**Emissions is no longer weighted at all. As long as you have the required exhaust equipment, they should be "reasonable enough" for these purposes.

Undervalue weight: Prestige (moderate), Practicality (heavy), Utility (heavy), Offroad (extremely heavy)

Average weight: Safety

High value weight: Drivability (moderate), sportiness (moderate), comfort (slight), reliability (moderate), cost-to-own (slight, amalgamation of fuel economy, service cost, and total cost)

Cost Pentalty: For every $100 increment over $5500, there will be a manual .2% deduction from your final score. Alternatively, for every $100 increment UNDER $4700, there will be a manual .2% BONUS added to your final score. An increment will be defined as anything exceeding the initial threshold and up to the next threshold. Ex: anywhere from $5500.01 to $5600.00 is a .2% deduction. $5600.01 to $5700.00 will be a .4% deduction. $4600.00-4699.99 will be a .2% bonus, etc.

.ZIP the 4 LUAS and send them to me. Naming format must be as follows:

(name)-Cars-Models, (name)-Cars-Trims, (name)-Engines-Families, (name)-Engines-Variants
Also, please send your company, model, and trim names in the PM with it, as well as nationality.

Examples: VicVictory-Cars-Models, VicVictory-Cars-Trims, VicVictory-Engines-Families, VicVictory-Engines-Variants
1978 Suzume Hane GS, Japan

Attached is an example of how to PROPERLY name files (Thank you, Packbat):

howtonameyourfiles.jpg (103.4 KiB) Viewed 7931 times

**ENTRIES WITHOUT A COMPANY AND MODEL NAME WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED, AS PART OF THE PRIZE FOR WINNING IS BEING WRITTEN UP IN A REVIEW**

REJECTED ENTRIES MAY BE REVISED ONCE IN ORDER TO CORRECT THE REASON FOR REJECTION. PENDING OR ACCEPTED ENTRIES MAY NOT BE REVISED.

Side note for the top 4 from the last competition: You may enter. If you get in the top 4 again, you will be reviewed, but you will not be allowed into the next 2 competitions, just to give others a fair shake.

ENTRY DEADLINE: SUNDAY APRIL 26, 9AM PDT (UTC-7), OR UNTIL 24 VALID ENTRIES INCLUDING BENCHMARK HAVE BEEN RECEIVED, WHICHEVER COMES FIRST

Pending Entries:


Accepted Entries:
BlastersPewPew - Japan - Desert Motors Z260
VicVictory - Japan - Suzume Hane GS (Benchmark only)
HighOctaneLove - Moldova - Bogliq Butterfly Touring
conan - England - Tishillyman Tapana 2.0NB
Packbat - USA - PAW Murina XC
Montoya86 - Germany - Hakone GT RS-T
SeriousSimon - USSR - Romanov Raketa
Corvette6317 - Australia - NMC K-Type Rallye
nialloftara - USA - Centauri Puck Turbo
oppositelock - USA - GSI Mosquito
yurimacs - Italy - Mactori Genetima Olde
strop - Great Britain - Armada Talon
titleguy1 - USA - Rennen Angelus 2.0 Sports Coupe
NiuYorqCiti - USA - Ponni Olympus Luce 2.5l
NormanVauxhall - Italy - ŽM Gorizia 2.2 Sprint
jdripke - USA - RAI Skipper A
EnryGT5 - Japan - Seishido Achernar 1.8PS
Chipskate - Japan - Toyoko Sundiamond Mk II T16
nerd - USA - Rado IV GTS
Zabhawkin - USA - DMA PR78C
Urbanliner - Japan - Daiki 700L
Leo9613 - Brazil - Baltazar Quark FR445 US-Spec
JasonPoland - Poland - PolMot Nuevo P
Manche - Uruguay - FMU Colibri


Rejected Entries:
8bs - Portugal - Fuentes Bagel S - Unresolvable LUA file error - Entry withdrawn by submitter (no revisions allowed)

[Spitfire599]

Sounds awesome! Prepare everyone, for Spitfire Motor Company's first entry in an Automation competition! I'm aming for not last, which will be pretty tough

[Zabhawkin]

Desert Mountains Automotive's engineering staff is currently out of town right now hopefully learning how to build sporty cars...


In short I will start mine when I get back as my laptop isn't beefy enough to run the game.

[Leonardo9613]

Wooohooo! Turbo lag entry coming soon!

Also, I wish I could write that well, considering the pick-up challenge now, and that quickly. I just can't churn the words out at any considerable pace while keeping a decent level of quality.

[titleguy1]

Rennen Automotive is preparing their first-ever cheap, affordable 2-door sedan... With a 2.0L inline-6 and over 110 HP!

[BlastersPewPew]

Sounds awesome! Prepare everyone, for Spitfire Motor Company's first entry in an Automation competition! I'm aming for not last, which will be pretty tough

Take my advice, just have fun What I build tends to never come in the top tier but I enjoy playing and seeing how it does

EDIT: I also think carbs are WAY underrated for efficiency, every time I try to use them I cant get out of the teens for MPG when IRL cars got into the 20s-30s with the same (or similar) setup, then again it could be this price point...........

[VicVictory]

What Blasters said about having fun is so true. I had fun making my benchmark car last time (and will again this time). Wasn't all that competitive, but it was fun to figure out how to work things for the criteria.

And from the perspective of the guy running it, it was also very fun to see all the creativity that the contestants put into their entries. I'm hoping for a strong response, just like last time.

[Spitfire599]

Yeah, absolutely. I'll start work on the car tonight. The name is: Spitfire K400 GSR. Look for it near the bottom of the pack, as this is the first car I'll actually post on the forums.

[strop]

After their moderately successful showing at the Trans Ams earlier in the decade, Armada return with another elegantly styled classic that promises to put the Rocket in Pocket Rocket! (About everything else, though, I'm not so sure...)

[jdripke]

Ripke Automotive Industries was ashamed by their near to last place finish in the half-ton truck market, and are fully invested in providing an inexpensive and exciting small car to bring RAI to the top. Or middle. Just not last.

*updates:*
First attempt: is miserable. Engineers have been sacked.
Second attempt: looks promising until price is revealed. Financial planners have been sacked.
Third attempt: management come to decision that this small car MUST include a 4L V8 Engine or it will fail . New financial planners scramble to find budget space.
Fourth attempt: management is convinced that the 4L V8 is not enough, adds Turbochargers. Entire financial division quits. Test drivers claim that the car can be effective and sporty with smaller, more responsive engine. Management fires test drivers. No applicants. Production halted temporarily. Future appears bleak.

[NormanVauxhall]

This challenge seems tailored on the Znopresk-Marlin group. Znopresk will rationalize the car and BMMA will take care to make it sporty.

Tonight I'll work on it.

[VicVictory]

*updates:*
First attempt: is miserable. Engineers have been sacked.
Second attempt: looks promising until price is revealed. Financial planners have been sacked.
Third attempt: management come to decision that this small car MUST include a 4L V8 Engine or it will fail . New financial planners scramble to find budget space.
Fourth attempt: management is convinced that the 4L V8 is not enough, adds Turbochargers. Entire financial division quits. Test drivers claim that the car can be effective and sporty with smaller, more responsive engine. Management fires test drivers. No applicants. Production halted temporarily. Future appears bleak.

I hope you're not going to submit something with a V8... because the rules state "Inline configurations only"

[HighOctaneLove]

here is my entry for this competition, I'm hoping European charm can see my entry on the podium this time around!!!

Bogliq Butterfly - Flutter-1.png (1.41 MiB) Viewed 7219 times

Bogliq Butterfly - Flutter-2.png (1.38 MiB) Viewed 7219 times

It is the 1978 model year Bogliq Butterfly Touring so fingers crossed!!!

[conan]

Last time was fun! Now, here is my entry.




1978 Tishillyman Tapana 2.0NB, Naturally Aspirated 106hp 2-litre engine. The first of the Tishillyman Tapana that never went out of production until 2003.

[nialloftara]

Centauri is preparing a entry! this is a interesting challenge for us, but we feel ready to try something new.