Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 38: Dyeing for Beauty
CSR70 was one of those rounds I enjoyed quite a lot, because it allowed me to make the most of a somewhat limited budget by utilizing a host of creative design and engineering choices, and my decisions paid off handsomely, for my car ultimately emerged as one of the top 5 finalists; even though it didn't win, it acquitted itself very well in testing. Buoyed by a strong finish in the previous CSR round, I approached the next one with great enthusiasm. This time, the budget was considerably larger ($25,000 without markups, as opposed to $18,000 previously), and the required trim year was 2001 instead of 2005. In addition, the client was looking for a sports car instead of a family car. Not surprisingly, I set to work on my CSR71 entry almost immediately after the rule set was finalized.
Thus was born the DiMarino Imperia 325. This two-door sports sedan was powered by a gutsy straight-six engine driving the rear wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox and a mechanical limited-slip differential. With a high-quality premium interior and advanced safety systems, this was clearly a daily driver meant for true enthusiasts. Incredibly, after all was said and done, the resulting car cost just $20,500 before markups are factored in. In short, the Imperia 325 was incredible value for money, but there was one caveat: I had to use up nearly all of my allotted production units and engineering time for the trim to get the result I wanted. Even so, all that wanton spending seemed worth it - or was it?
The Imperia in question. Its predecessor (which I plan to make later on) is no oil painting by comparison; this one, in contrast, looks as fast as it goes.
In the days leading up to the initial judging phase, I calmly waited for other users to submit their entries, which allowed me to compare my approach to designing an entry with theirs. The entry list consisted of everything from mid-engined two-seaters, front-engined hardtop coupes (most of which were rear-wheel-drive), and several convertibles. There was even an SUV, whose presence in this particular round left me wondering: Why on earth did someone submit such a huge behemoth in a contest meant for sports cars?
That question would not be answered until the last part of judging. In the meantime, I began contemplating the consequences of what the client thought of my entry. It quickly became apparent that, out of all the possibilities I could come up with, this was one that made sense to me more than any other. The choice of body for the Imperia 325 was mainly down to age more than anything else; in the UE4 version, many of the other coupe bodies available by 2001 were unlocked in the 1980s, and although I could get my entry to look, feel and drive as good as I wanted with them, I felt they were still too old to be worth using.
A week after the round was launched, the judging process finally began. To begin with, the client would reject anything that felt too old, or didn't look (or feel) good enough. This led to many promising entries falling by the wayside. However, the Imperia 325 was definitely not one of them. Even so, with so many other entries still in the running (and highly competitive ones at that), determining the top five would be a thankless task.
Finally, the moment of truth had arrived. Which of the remaining cars would the client pick? Certainly not the Imperia 325, much to my regret; the client thought its rear-end styling was too odd, to say the least. Nor did the many cars which, despite leaving somewhat promising first impressions, turned out to fall short in at least one key area (such as comfort or sportiness) after the client gave them a more thorough examination. So, after the next round of cuts, just five cars were left, exactly as the client had planned. There was, however, one car (or rather, SUV) in particular among the semifinalists which the client chose to keep: the Enactor Land Roamer Estate, which would become the client's next daily driver.
And so it was time to rank the finalists. These last five cars made a very strong case for themselves, but only one of them would be the client's new weekend car. The Mosport Arrow Y2K, Erin Tauga Coupe 3.0L and Ninomiya XFR SSR-T (6MT) could have won, but for whatever reason, didn't quite win the client's heart over. So there were only two cars left: the Keika Twist 2.2+ and the Falcon Dynamo S+. In the end, the Dynamo's practicality, superior safety and higher performance won the day, and the client snapped it up.
A week after the round was launched, the judging process finally began. To begin with, the client would reject anything that felt too old, or didn't look (or feel) good enough. This led to many promising entries falling by the wayside. However, the Imperia 325 was definitely not one of them. Even so, with so many other entries still in the running (and highly competitive ones at that), determining the top five would be a thankless task.
Finally, the moment of truth had arrived. Which of the remaining cars would the client pick? Certainly not the Imperia 325, much to my regret; the client thought its rear-end styling was too odd, to say the least. Nor did the many cars which, despite leaving somewhat promising first impressions, turned out to fall short in at least one key area (such as comfort or sportiness) after the client gave them a more thorough examination. So, after the next round of cuts, just five cars were left, exactly as the client had planned. There was, however, one car (or rather, SUV) in particular among the semifinalists which the client chose to keep: the Enactor Land Roamer Estate, which would become the client's next daily driver.
The aforementioned SUV. Its practicality ensured that it would sit happily in the client's garage next to something else... but what would that car be?
And so it was time to rank the finalists. These last five cars made a very strong case for themselves, but only one of them would be the client's new weekend car. The Mosport Arrow Y2K, Erin Tauga Coupe 3.0L and Ninomiya XFR SSR-T (6MT) could have won, but for whatever reason, didn't quite win the client's heart over. So there were only two cars left: the Keika Twist 2.2+ and the Falcon Dynamo S+. In the end, the Dynamo's practicality, superior safety and higher performance won the day, and the client snapped it up.
The 5 finalists of CSR71, from top to bottom: Ninomiya XFR SSR-T (6MT), Keika Twist 2.2+, Mosport Arrow Y2K, Falcon Dynamo S+, and Erin Tauga Lex 3.0L
The user who created the Falcon Dynamo S+ was kind enough to share it with other users after the conclusion of CSR71, and I immediately downloaded the corresponding files for it, eager as I was to find out why it won. But I had other things in mind for it - and those will be described in my next post.
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