Monday, March 16, 2020

Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 86: The Transporter's Final Mission

Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 86: The Transporter's Final Mission

For the second time in my tenure as an Automationeer, I was given the (un)enviable task of judging entries for a round of the Automation TV and Movie Car Challenge. This time, though, it wasn't my responsibility initially, and I only decided to take over the reins after the original host could not complete the round as intended due to a hardware malfunction, and no other user who had entered it wanted to assume hosting duties. Fortunately, the turnout for this challenge was very small, at just nine entries in total, but this was still a fun round to co-host nonetheless.




Close, but no cigar: three of the four finalists (above from top: Knightwick Solace Royal, Turból Loncil TTR and Marksman-Garrison Broadsword) in round 5 of the Automation TV & Movie Car Challenge looked good enough to win on paper, but all of them would ultimately be rejected for falling short in at least one key area.

Three entries turned out not to be eligible due to rule violations; two of the remaining six did not demonstrate sufficient aesthetic quality to reach the final round of judging, although all five of those submissions would have failed to make the final cut anyway based solely on objective statistics. This left a total of four cars: the Marksman-Garrison Broadsword, the Knightwick Solace Royal, the Turból Loncil TTR, and the Lacam D80 S. First to go was the Knightwick. It was the best-looking car in the final four, but was simply too soft and not sporty enough to threaten the podium. The Broadsword was the next to fall: it was the slowest of the finalists, and its cargo volume barely exceeded the minimum standard. The Loncil claimed second by virtue of being the sportiest, as well as being one of the flashiest - in a good way. It was not comfortable enough for the film crew's tastes, though.


Who would have thought that the subdued Lacam D80 S would take the top spot by virtue of being the best all-rounder of the four finalists?

And so, after a brief period of deliberation, I decided to award the win to the Lacam D80. It had most of its competitors' strengths and few (if any) of their weaknesses, making it the best all-around choice of the bunch. Thus ended a short, but still highly enjoyable, installment of the TV & Movie Car Challenge.

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