Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 34: A Car For A Hero
CSR66 was one of the most enjoyable rounds of CSR that I participated in. The backstory, design process and reviews all made it very compelling indeed, but the sheer depth of the competition (a very large field with a wide variety of submissions) gave me extra motivation to enter the challenge. Even though the final results took longer than anticipated to be released, it was well worth the wait. So without further ado, let's begin with a brief rundown of the basic premise of this contest.
The story for CSR66 is as follows: Back in 1975, a TV producer in southwestern England is looking for a fast, sporty and affordable car model to be used in their new action series, Fuzz Boys. The production crew want something stylish, agile yet still reasonably easy to drive, reliable and easy on the wallet. More specifically, their new car should cost no more than $10000 (without markups) to buy, with a recommended maximum of $1000 in service costs.
The crew had other requirements too. The trim year had to be set to 1975, and the body used for the submission could not be unlocked before 1960. Also, the car had to be street-legal, with a maximum loudness value of 60, and the engine had to run on super leaded petrol. Finally, the producers wanted something with a good reputation, and to that end, it had to have a minimum competitiveness score of at least 80 across three different markets in Fruinia.
After reading the rules, I finally went ahead and started work on my submission. My first idea was a two-door sports coupe with a straight-six up front, but when I found out that it would be too expensive, I decided on a smaller coupe with four seats and a straight-four under its bonnet. The resulting car, the Morton M20 Twin Cam, was given a two-tone red and white paint scheme to complement its sporty look.
It was what lay underneath that really made the opposition stand up and take notice. With fully independent double A-arm suspension at each wheel, and dual overhead cams operating four valves per cylinder, the M20 was one of the most exotic small coupes entered in the competition. Yet despite its modest 120-odd horsepower, its weight - or rather, the lack of it - made it one of the best-performing cars of the bunch, since it weighed less than one metric ton. With careful suspension tuning, I was able to make the M20's handling entertaining without being too tail-happy.
As time went by, other users sent in their submissions, which left me concerned due to the fact that mine was clearly lagging behind in terms of power, at least when compared to a few entries. Many of the other vehicles in the contest looked the part, but not all of them had the performance and/or handling to match, as my Morton did. A few were even aesthetically challenged, which defeated the point of considering them. None of this, however, would be made certain until the first few stages of judging commenced.
Speaking of which, when the shortlist of cars to be tested was finally announced, my little coupe easily qualified on account of its strong performance. Many others made it to the next round for the exact same reason. But if it didn't look right, felt too slow, cost too much, and/or was not likely to sell well, then it was out on the spot. Anything that wasn't sensible enough also ended up in the discard pile. Naturally, this led to the elimination of quite a few promising contenders, but there were still many entries left to evaluate in the second round. And as expected, things would only get tougher from there.
In the second round, each of the remaining cars would be test-driven. Again, it was up to the host to decide if a particular made the cut, and once again, anything that looked good on paper only to fall short in one way or another would be rejected. Not surprisingly, many of the cars which made the first cut fell by the wayside for this reason, although much to my relief, my Morton was still being considered. Then again, I expected it to be a finalist, given that it was a great all-round performer.
The last part of the reviews was a fitting climax to what had been an enthralling round, for this was when the finishing order of the last few cars (six, to be exact), would be posted. When they finally came up, I was filled with a sense of pride; even though the little Morton only finished fifth in a field filled with more powerful and/or cheaper cars, it acquitted itself very well during the test drive. As for the top three, they proved harder to separate. In third place was the BAM Paginza 622 - attractive in isolation, but not quite as fast as its key rival, the Armada Talon 4S. The Talon was even more of a looker, with performance to match; only its relatively high price held it back.
And so the win went to the cheap, yet cheerful Znopresk Z217 Sport. This sports sedan had much simpler underpinnings than its rivals (front-wheel-drive, live rear axle) but undercut them considerably on price and matched them in terms of outright performance. Small wonder, then, that it barely managed to beat some serious opposition by earning the producer's favor; he procured several of them for use in Fuzz Boys. With that, one of my favorite CSR rounds finally came to an end. But the CSR train never really stops, and more rounds would be held in short order. In the meantime, I'll switch my focus to a similar contest on these forums - but with many more possibilities for submission.
The Morton M20 Twin Cam - light, agile, lively and quick.
It was what lay underneath that really made the opposition stand up and take notice. With fully independent double A-arm suspension at each wheel, and dual overhead cams operating four valves per cylinder, the M20 was one of the most exotic small coupes entered in the competition. Yet despite its modest 120-odd horsepower, its weight - or rather, the lack of it - made it one of the best-performing cars of the bunch, since it weighed less than one metric ton. With careful suspension tuning, I was able to make the M20's handling entertaining without being too tail-happy.
As time went by, other users sent in their submissions, which left me concerned due to the fact that mine was clearly lagging behind in terms of power, at least when compared to a few entries. Many of the other vehicles in the contest looked the part, but not all of them had the performance and/or handling to match, as my Morton did. A few were even aesthetically challenged, which defeated the point of considering them. None of this, however, would be made certain until the first few stages of judging commenced.
Speaking of which, when the shortlist of cars to be tested was finally announced, my little coupe easily qualified on account of its strong performance. Many others made it to the next round for the exact same reason. But if it didn't look right, felt too slow, cost too much, and/or was not likely to sell well, then it was out on the spot. Anything that wasn't sensible enough also ended up in the discard pile. Naturally, this led to the elimination of quite a few promising contenders, but there were still many entries left to evaluate in the second round. And as expected, things would only get tougher from there.
In the second round, each of the remaining cars would be test-driven. Again, it was up to the host to decide if a particular made the cut, and once again, anything that looked good on paper only to fall short in one way or another would be rejected. Not surprisingly, many of the cars which made the first cut fell by the wayside for this reason, although much to my relief, my Morton was still being considered. Then again, I expected it to be a finalist, given that it was a great all-round performer.
Fantastic fastbacks: BAM Paginza 622 and Armada Talon 4S
The last part of the reviews was a fitting climax to what had been an enthralling round, for this was when the finishing order of the last few cars (six, to be exact), would be posted. When they finally came up, I was filled with a sense of pride; even though the little Morton only finished fifth in a field filled with more powerful and/or cheaper cars, it acquitted itself very well during the test drive. As for the top three, they proved harder to separate. In third place was the BAM Paginza 622 - attractive in isolation, but not quite as fast as its key rival, the Armada Talon 4S. The Talon was even more of a looker, with performance to match; only its relatively high price held it back.
Cheap, but not nasty: a Z217 Sport pointing down the road at night
And so the win went to the cheap, yet cheerful Znopresk Z217 Sport. This sports sedan had much simpler underpinnings than its rivals (front-wheel-drive, live rear axle) but undercut them considerably on price and matched them in terms of outright performance. Small wonder, then, that it barely managed to beat some serious opposition by earning the producer's favor; he procured several of them for use in Fuzz Boys. With that, one of my favorite CSR rounds finally came to an end. But the CSR train never really stops, and more rounds would be held in short order. In the meantime, I'll switch my focus to a similar contest on these forums - but with many more possibilities for submission.
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