Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 243: Resolution Fulfilled

Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 243: Resolution Fulfilled

Having previously stated in my list of 2026 New Year's Resolutions that I had wanted to conclude the challenge I'd commenced at the end of the previous year, I managed to do just that. Admittedly, I took longer than expected, but still managed to do so without stirring up too much controversy. So here's how it went down.

In the Discourse QFC (Quickfire Challenge) prior to the one I recently hosted, I secured a top-5 finish on the strength of my engineering skills, even if my entry's exterior design was average at best. So, I decided to make plans for hosting the next round, just in case I got the chance - and I did, after the rest of the top 5 finishers passed on that responsibility. Looking to previous QFCs for inspiration, I eventually settled on a late 2000s setting, with the premise being that, having dreamt of driving through the European Alps in an open-topped supercar for a few decades, you, the client, had finally saved enough cash to buy one yourself and live that dream.

I started by defining a rule set with that particular premise in mind, before listing the client's priorities in descending order of importance. Exterior design, overall sportiness, and prestige sat at the top of the list, with safety, purchase price, overall running costs, and environmental resistance at the bottom, while I placed drivability, comfort, and reliability between these two extremes. In addition, I limited rear seating to +2 (if fitted), and made AWD an extra-cost option ($2500 across the board, except for advanced AWD, which costs $5000). With all the requirements and objectives set, I launched the round - but not before I adjusted its ruleset in response to user feedback.

Above, from top: All 24 cars I received and reviewed for QFC67, arranged into three groups of eight, with the best-placed car in each group qualifying for the final stage.

Over the next two weeks, I received two dozen cars, and the quality of entries was... a mixed bag, to say the least. Some were outright horrid and had no chance of reaching the top 3 (with one even being dismissed right off the bat due to rule violations, although in fairness, it would still have placed at the bottom anyway); others were decidedly average or turned out to be too inconsistent for further consideration. Within the top 8, however, the competition was particularly intense. It took a while, but I finally narrowed it down to three: the Mancini 538 Evo, the Bovos XBC Veloce Spider, and the Montiel Satra. As the highest-placed cars in each of their respective groups of 8 entries, they would face each other in the final stage of judging.

Above: The top three cars from left to right - the Bovos XBC Veloce Spider (orange), Mancini 538 Evo (cream), and Montiel Satra (purple) - emerged as the best entries in each group by fulfilling the brief better than their competitors. But which of those three would take the crown?

The Bovos claimed the bronze medal, being a strong contender in isolation but lacking the visceral appeal of the Mancini and the everyday usability of the Montiel. The Montiel, with the lowest base price among the top 3 cars, made a very strong case for itself, but with the heart ruling the head (rather than vice versa), I put the Mancini on the top step by a whisker. Even if the Montiel had a lot more quality and/or advanced technology invested into it (with a commensurate increase in price), it still wouldn't have finished first overall.

Above: A different spec of the winning car (the Mancini 538 Evo), with a blue exterior in place of the cream one the original entry had.

In the aftermath of the round's conclusion, I made (and shared) an Excel spreadsheet file (compressed to meet Discourse file size requirements) containing all the cars' vital stats. By that time, however, I'd already fulfilled my most important New Year's resolution for 2026: to show the Automation community that I could still host a Discourse challenge, and handle it better than I had ever done before. In short, this challenge was as enjoyable as I had hoped it to be - considering the next QFC didn't even have a third of the number of entries this one had, that's saying something.