Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 222: My First Taste of Al-Rilma

Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 222: My First Taste of Al-Rilma

Today I did something unexpected for once: opt into the new Al-Rilma build of Automation (which eventually migrated from its alpha phase to an open beta one) far sooner than I had intended to. After all, I'd already entered a few more Discourse challenges requiring the Ellisbury stable release prior to this. But with the growing number of challenges being hosted on Al-Rilma, I chose to take the plunge - by creating a fully detailed build (complete with 3D-fixture interior) based on one of the new body sets that weren't present in Ellisbury. After several hours, I came up with this: the 1990 Mantle Torpedo.

Above, from top: The 1990 Mantle Torpedo, being my first fully detailed build of any kind in Al-Rilma, was based on one of the new body sets introduced for that build.

This mid-engined budget sports car, based on the mid-engined 2.45m wheelbase variant of the '86 Rosso (specifically, the tunnel-back body style), is powered by a turbocharged 200-horsepower iron-block, alloy-head straight-four with 16-valve twin-cam heads, mounted transversely and driving the rear wheels (16-inch cast-alloy items on this example, wrapped around high-performance tires) via a 5-speed manual gearbox and helical limited-slip differential. With a 150-mph top speed and a 0-60 mph time of 5.5 seconds, it can easily torpedo the aspirations of many heavier rivals with larger engines.

The Torpedo's galvanized steel chassis, clad in treated steel bodywork, uses strut-sprung front and rear ends to save space (and cost). However, careful suspension and brake tuning (for the ABS-assisted vented disc brakes), combined with a 1250-kilogram curb weight, ensure that it can be a giant-killer in the corners, even at an in-game price of $22,500 AMU (Automation Monetary Units), which includes dual airbags, variable-ratio hydraulic power steering, and a stereo sound system with a cassette tape player. It even comes with driver's side and hood-mounted camera positions for use in BeamNG, if anyone wants to test it there.

In addition to the '86 Rosso, there are many other new body sets new to Al-Rilma (such as the '75 Caravel, '80 Bento, '88 Copy Cat, '90 Kompetitor, '96 Kompakt, and '12 Tahara, among others), and there are multiple new forced induction types (such as supercharging, compound/parallel turbos, and twincharging, which combines supercharging with turbocharging). I would like to sample at least some of those in the future - which looks very bright indeed for Al-Rilma. In short, the Al-Rilma era has finally begun, and is definitely off to a promising start.