Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 83: Funky Fresh

Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 83: Funky Fresh

After two iterations of CSR themed around the search for a used car, the latest one brought something quite different. For starters, it was a period piece set in 1972, when big and bulky muscle cars and land barges were still all the rage throughout America. The premise was that an undercover police officer was looking for a new car after his previous one had been trashed during an intense pursuit through crowded city streets. I took a while to read the rule set carefully, and began designing my entry once I had finished.

After a few hours of designing and building an entry, I eventually came up with the MAD Corsair GTE. Powered by a 7.0-litre overhead-valve V8 driving the rear wheels via a 4-speed manual gearbox, its slab-sided design and separate-chassis construction (with a live rear axle) were typical of American cars of the era. However, I only settled on submitting it after finding out that the similar test cars I made using other bodies turned out to be inferior.

From the front, the Corsair GTE exudes a blend of elegance and aggression.

While some entrants chose to make decidedly extrovert designs for this challenge, I went for something subtler... but not by much. Although its dark red metallic paintwork, vinyl roof and chrome trim reminded me of a contemporary personal luxury car, it had a prominent hood scoop and sporty alloy wheels - two features more commonly found on high-performance muscle cars.

Now that's a rear view you will end up getting used to...

The engine was also typical early 70s muscle car fare, with a pair of four-barrel carburetors and plenty of displacement. However, for economy's sake, I used a lean air/fuel ratio and a mild cam profile, as well as a standard intake, dual reverse-flow mufflers and short cast-iron headers to keep noise levels down and the fuel consumption above acceptable levels, - an important feature given that the maximum loudness rating for this round was set at 35 instead of the more usual 40 or more, while real-life contemporary muscle cars seldom returned anything more than single figures in terms of miles per gallon. The result was a highly tractable, reliable engine with lots of torque in the lower rev range - ideal for daily driving.

There were other reasons why I decided not to go overboard with my car's engine: freer-flowing tubular headers cost more to make, thereby adding to the car's overall cost, and take up more space in the engine bay, which leads to increased service cost. A larger engine would have had a similar effect, but with the added disadvantage of more weight and thirst. I also decided not to spend too much on a more luxurious interior (and sacrifice some reliability in the process), even though it was possible to do so while remaining under budget.

In keeping with the Corsair's remit as a comfortable cruiser with a bit of sportiness mixed in, I went for a fully premium interior and 8-track player, plus 4-wheel disc brakes and a sporty suspension tune, to ensure that it wouldn't be left behind by other contenders. However, I forewent a locking differential for the sake of reliability and comfort. Even so, the Corsair didn't have too much wheelspin, and was still capable of reaching 140 mph flat-out.

Considering that many other users would opt for a more extrovert approach with their entries instead, I entered this round with some trepidation. However, much to my surprise and relief, some of the entries which were submitted turned out to be ineligible due to rule breaches (although, in fairness, most of these also had at least one other fatal flaw), and were consequently ignored. Mine wasn't among them, and in fact it managed to sneak into the top 10.

Unexpectedly, the Corsair managed to finish second overall in the final reckoning; in fact, the only car it couldn't beat turned out to be just plain faster and more aggressive-looking - just the ticket for the client. Overall, though, I could hold my head high, knowing that I had delivered my best performance ever in the long history of this challenge.