Dragon Engineering

[Neon00]

Well I've been looking for a place to say hello, and being that I got the game today, I thought a good place to start would be by putting up some images of cars. Welcome to Dragon Engineering.



Why don't we look back to the beginning of Dragon, in a garage, with an engineering project. The year was 1967. It started with the building and tweaking of an old engine by two old friends, a German named Leon Von Baron, and an American named Arthur McLaine. This engine would be the start of a company that would build cars not for profit, but for passion. They would have the passion of an American and the engineering perfection of a German. What could go wrong?

The engine itself was a V8 made of the cheapest materials they could lay their hands on. It was rather heavy, but with the expertise of Baron, they managed to make an engine that was insane for the time, especially with the materials made. It had 307 horsepower, 433 ft-lb of torque, and a redline of 4000 rpm. This huge success inspired them to build a muscle car they called the Flame. This car was also relatively cheap, with the bare essentials being added. However, what came out of this was legendary. It was really quick with a top speed of 148 mph. This car certainly put Dragon on the map.








Now that I've introduced Dragon Engineering to the world, I'd like to throw some quick things out about the car and making it. It's a 1967 model, and I'm sure if I would've thrown some more cash at it and used Forge Works stuff I probably could've made the car cheaper and even faster. However, being that I wanted my first post to highlight the beginning of the company, I didn't want to use any fancy equipment that they didn't have. Also, this is also my first car I've made. Well, my first car that I didn't just strap a turbo on or something to make it as ridiculous as I could. I'm hoping to get a car up daily and maybe get a GT edition of the Flame up tomorrow, assuming that the community likes it. With that being said, I'd like as much advice and critique as possible, because I'd like to improve my car-designing skills.

[Oskiinus]

Nice muscle car to start.
BTW. It can be funny, but I probably met you on one forum... it was called minecraft-smp lol

[Neon00]

I probably did meet you on that one forum didn't I. Nice seeing someone I actually know around here. Now with the friend discussion over, let's discuss the new car.

Now here's a more modern car by Dragon, it's the 2015 Dragon Shock. It was made in competition to the increasing amount of modern hot hatchbacks being released, specifically to rival the other American hatchback, the Ford Focus RS. It's done a good job getting into the hatchback world, but it didn't actually do as well as was expected. The car was designed in late 2014 and built in rather recently, so it's fresh off the racks. You're probably wondering how it happened, and I have an answer. See, Dragon was doing good in the American market, but it couldn't keep up in the European market, simply because even with all the German engineering behind it, it was a car built for Americans by Americans. I mean, sure every few years they'd make a car that would do well in Europe but they never actually managed to get a hold in the European car market. The goal of the Shock was to make it change.

It's designed to be practical, yet sporty with a little bit of comfort to make it a good car for when you want to have fun, or get groceries. It's made of a cheap corrosion-resistant steel which is perfect, since it's not too pricy, but it's a good quality. The car itself is powered by a turbo-charged i4 that manages to crank out 235 horsepower and only 19 emissions, whatever that means. The body is light, only 2752 lbs, allowing the Shock to bolt right past the competition at a solid 163 mph. It gets from dead to 60 in an astonishing 5.9 seconds. It has the engineering perfection of a German car, the savage styling of an American car, the numbers of an Italian car, and the practicality of a British car.

However, one thing was truly missing that could've made this car legendary. It was the fun factor. Sure it had a turbo and sure it went quick, but it was still tame and boring. So what happened to fix that? It was handed to the Germans. Being that Germans are very boring, we put a few Americans with them to see what we could do. What happened? It got sports tires put on it, a race suspension setup, and a race turbo setup. This managed to make the car faster, with the horsepower reaching as high as 353 horsepower, the top speed reaching an astounding 188 mph, and fun factor actually being felt. The one issue was that the 0-60 time decreased to 6.1 seconds, which although bad, is the price that was paid to make it a better car.

Now that you know the facts, figures, and story, let's look at the most important number of them all, the price. 17000 dollars. That's all. You can have this big bundle of fun for that cheap. What's holding you up? What, you haven't seen the car? Well, here it is.








So, this car took me about two hours to make, not counting the mentioned post tweaking. I'd say that took about 15-20 minutes to do. Also, I'm hoping to get an extra car or two up today, but I can tell you neither will be the Flame GT.

[strop]

Hmm, the poorer 0-100 time has me curious. Would it be due to gearing, an altered power curve, or the changed tyre profile? Given you changed the compound, I'm thinking maybe it doesn't quite launch in the powerband.

[Spitfire599]

All I can say is, "wow." These are first attempts? They're great looking. My only complaint is that the Flame doesn't seem to have any exhaust pipes.

[Neon00]

spitfire:
Thanks for the compliment. I thought the Flame did have en exhaust pipe, but the picture isn't showing it. I'll have to go look at it to see if the picture was poor, or I was being stupid and deleted it.

Strop:
As for the tire change, that may have killed the 0-60, but I'm not sweating it. It's still rather powerful and can go like a stabbed rat so it's not like that two seconds should be too damaging. Besides, it smoked it's main rival, the Focus RS around the Top Gear Test Track with a time of something stupid like 1:23. I'd look it up but I'm working on my next car, a 1973 economy car.

As I just mentioned in my previous sentence the next car will be a 1973 economy car. I was working on one earlier that got about 30 mpg but then I accidentally deleted it. Whoops.

[strop]

I quite like the Shock, it's my kind of car and it definitely looks the part of a Focus beater. Just looking at the wheels and brakes though, I'm pretty sure I could squeeze out a few tenths more around the track to get the absolute most out of your car, that is, if you'd like.

(And also if you aren't adverse to the addition of a lip or two. They do affect things, as I didn't discover until the third car I attempted!)

[Neon00]

I knew I forgot to put something on there. It was the lips. I'll probably mess with it later and repost it as a 2015 Shock R with some visual tweaks, a V8 instead of the i4 and a few other modifications. Now for my next car. Funny thing is, when I went into this I was expecting it to be something that was absolutely insane like your Gryphon Gear yet it actually turned into something a bit more practical and realistic.

Here's another oldie from the Dragon team. It's the 1974 Dragon Swing. Unlike the Flame which was incredibly vulgar and a true speed-freak's sort of car, the Swing was a much more realistic car. It looked like a gentleman's car, had 5 seats, and was the response to an oil crisis sweeping the United States. It was just as economic as well. The story behind this one isn't exactly exciting or interesting, so I'll give you the brief version.

The Dragon Engineering team knew that they needed to get another car out before they were considered a one-hit wonder, with the Flame and Flame GT. The issue was, they couldn't go with their POWERRRRRRRRRRRR route they went with last time, for three reasons. One, the government had put regulations on the emissions. Two, there was a serious oil crisis, so they needed more than 17.9 MPG. Three, the amount of power they put in the Flame series had caused humongous insurance rates, especially with the increase vouched for by the government recently. The Americans stepped aside and let the Germans do their handy-work.

The Swing was a truly revolutionary car for it's time. It had 30 MPG. It was cheap, only 1,975 dollars (god the research I had to do to get that stat ;-;). It had a premium interior, premium entertainment system, all the driver-assists known to man, and safety equipment that was ahead of it's time. This car was a glimpse into the future of motoring, and outside of the lack of horsepower and speed, it was looking gorgeous. It was extremely civilized, and although that got them the big bucks, it was rather unacceptable in the long run.





So, this car was one of my quicker builds it would seem only taking 40 minutes instead of an hour plus like the previous ones. It's a lot blander than I had hoped, but I didn't know what to really do with it to keep it fresh but not too modern. This car was originally planned to be an attempt at a sporty-economy car that failed, but I was having trouble making one, so I went with more of a polished gentleman's car. Also I may start up a thread of just modded cars, but I don't know yet. It would be a division of Dragon called Radical Modding that would soup up old cars with today's technology, make some sportier, some classier, and some more luxurious. Tell me what you think of that and this car.

[strop]

I just so happen to be attempting to build a car with that same body right now... you're not alone when you feel a little restricted. It's the way the unique shape of the car lends itself to a very specific interpretation. You could go ahead and ignore it entirely.......... but it would probably just look completely wrong

I am a fan of modding cars with updated tech, so I would say go for it!

[Neon00]

I think that's the last car I'm going to get up today, but I'm going to work on another to get up early tomorrow before I start school. If it's finished early enough in the evening I'll post it today, but I doubt it will be.

As for Radical Modding I'm going to pick up a few contracts with some people and see if I can't get that started over the weekend. Although I'd love to get it started today, I'd like to let this thread grow a bit more before I do that, partially so I don't steal this thread's thunder and partially so I don't go getting a bit too far over my head.

Also I know what you mean strop. That would just be awful. However, in other stuff, I have a question a bit less related to the building and critique of my cars. How does it take you guys so long to make cars? I may figure out as I start building more intricate ones, but I can slam out a quality car in 3 hours or less, depending upon the body-style yet I see a lot of threads taking days to update their cars.

[strop]

Since I'm here I'll answer first, though keep in mind I'm an outlier and have a bit of an obsessive personality. Mileage varies!

I tend to spend hours and hours on my cars. And often, even once I think I'm finished, I don't release the car, and sleep on it, because I might retune it in a different way, or find a way to make it perform better (it's purely performance with me). Even the cars I've released and are a staple on my lineup, e.g. Mephisto, have undergone redevelopment four times, and I expect I will not be happy with it until the build in which all the balance is properly nailed down. So in my case, if it's a car for a competition, I like to style it right (tuning is a breeze compared to getting the fixtures in place) esp if it's a replica, so I'd say 4-6 hours on average, but if it's one of my own, it's more like......... several months...

Hence why I really don't have many original cars in my company lineup!

[Neon00]

Alright so, I've got a new car to give you guys that I promised for yesterday. It's the 1969 Dragon Flame GT.

The boys noted the success of the Dragon Flame, which was attributed to the radical concepts and power. When the boys finally got some downtime from the press coverage about a year later they started planning a new GT edition. After a year of planning, scrapping, and rebuilding, they managed to build something truly terrifying. If it weren't for the muscle car body, it probably would've taken the supercar world by storm.

The GT edition of the Flame was no joke. It was minimalistic, just the driver, and the car. The body was rebuilt out of a lighter fiberglass and the 9.9L Blitz from the original Flame was heavily modified into a 9.3L Blitz Unleashed. This new engine output a massive 541 horsepower, it's rather light too with the pistons being replaced with Forged pistons and the conrods being replaced with I Beam Steel. The car's even got a top speed of 171 mph, which allowed it to compete with high-end Ferrari's and Lamborghini's of the time. As for cosmetic changes? It got a wing. What else was really needed?





I'm going to upload a stats diagram later, but right now one of my friends is pestering me to play Terraria with him. Leave hate, love, constructive criticism or whatever.

[strop]

Niiiice. I was hoping you would do just that when I saw your giggle-inducing 606ci motor. This is comparatively more unhinged than the modern Hellcat, the car the American muscle era should have had but never quite got.

[Neon00]

Well honestly, I knew that engine would be a bit weak, especially considering the limits I put myself under. Either way, I am very happy with the GT edition of the Flame, it just feels right for something of that nature. Honestly I think it's really more unhinged than most modern muscle car, maybe even a few supercars. I mean, there are so many computers in supercars now that hinge you it's not even funny.

And I realized I started writing this an hour ago then got distracted working on a car...

[Oskiinus]

Maybe I'm too european, but this 9-litre engine seems to big for me.
Anyways, your new car reminds me Plymouth Superbird in some ways...