PHLS#19
Ferrari#1:21.701
Here is a link for some new challenges on fh5
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Attention racers,
Event 19 is over, and here are the abridged results:
Full results and more on the event sheet.
PHLS#20 officially starts now, and the people voted for a selection of 90s European and Japanese sports cars. Well, that’s what you’ll get, and we’ll be battling on neutral ground, at Kyalami.
This is a versus event, with Team Europe versin Team Japan. You can enter a time for either or both teams, and may the best win.
See full details, past results, polls for events 21 and 22 (and 23?) in the top post.
And now, the 1990s in car, or more information than you really need, or likely want, to know
In August 1990, Iraq invades Kuwait. In response, a UN coalition led by the United States is deployed, and what followed would be the first war that the world could watch happen live on television. The images of the war had a big cultural impact, and one of the undeniable stars of the war was a military vehicle, wide as a tank, originally designed as a replacement for the Willys to serve in the Soviet tundra. Pushed notably by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Humvee would make the switch to civilian life as the Hummer H1.
This would be indicative of a larger trend in the US. Throughout the 90s, manufacturers would exploit a loophole left in US Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to promote pick-up and SUV sales. Utility vehicles originally meant for construction, farm work, or overlanding were pushed to the streets, becoming increasingly more common but also increasingly less capable, a trend which, unlike pogs, wouldn’t die in the 90s.
Another big shift in popular culture happened in 1994 and 1995, this time coming from Japan. There were earlier attempts to bring the compact disc to home consoles but, propped by a devilishly effective marketing campaign, the PlayStation would carve a space on the market and become the new dominant player in the console war, beating Nintendo, and eclipsing Sega.
With the CD format came video cinematics, better sounds, bigger games, and high-fidelity graphics. The PlayStation brought a lot of classics, and among them games like Need for Speed II, Gran Turismo, or Colin McRae Rally helped popularise car culture to an entire generation, showcasing the best cars of the era on the road, on the track, and in the dirt.
The US auto industry was hit hard by European and Japanese competitors, who often offered higher quality or more reliable products. It wasn’t all doom and gloom though, Chrysler did give the US perhaps its first true supercar with the Dodge Viper, a car cool enough to get its own TV show and to win Le Mans.
In Europe, the fall of the Soviet Union threw over 250 million people out of a planned economy without competition and into a free market. This was devastating for most Eastern Bloc companies, as the ex-Soviet middle class was yearning to upgrade from their old Ladas, most of which was still based on 1960s mechanical and visual designs, and as the new Russian elite would turn in mass to German premium brands, becoming a major market for the G-Wagon and S-Class.
Western brands signed a number of strategic partnerships to gain access to the cheaper labour of Eastern European countries and more easily reach those markets. Volkswagen, after consolidating its stake in the Spanish Seat, set its sight on the Czech Skoda for that reason. This was all part of VW director Ferdinand Piëch’s strategy of diversification, which would then lead him to aim much higher, snatching Bentley from the grasp of BMW, and sweeping Bugatti and Lamborghini in the late 90s.
Speaking of Bugatti and Lamborghini, the nineties was also a decade of supercars, from the Viper and EB110, to the Diablo and the XJ220. But for many, it’s also the beginning of something more. When it hits the road, some feel the McLaren F1 is one step above the competition. It’s a new breed of sports car: the hypercar.
The oneupmanship wouldn’t stop there. By the late 90s, manufacturers wishing to fight it out in FIA Group GT1 all released homologation specials in extremely limited numbers, from the 911 GT1 to the CLK-GTR, from the TVR Speed 12 to the Toyota GT-One, all pushing the limits of road-legal performance to absurd, sometimes patently unsafe, levels.
Others, like Bugatti, started to work on what would become the most superlative car of all time, while a newcomer named Horacio Pagani unveiled his own carbon-made secret weapon. The hypercar arms race was only just beginning.
In more reasonable budgets, Europeans makers would concentrate on small family compacts and sedans, and for fun turning these models into road missiles. Porsche would help Mercedes and Audi, developing both the Mercedes 500E and the Audi RS2, two interpretations of the perfect 90s Autobahn car. The French would continue to take on the Golf GTI, with creations like the Clio Williams or the 306 S16, that would both be successfully derived into rally kit cars.
And for others, the 1990s is the golden age of Japanese tuners. Helped by the videogames and movies of the late 90s and early 2000s, cars such as the Miata, Supra, RX-7, GT-R, or Silvia gained huge popularity outside of Japan, even in markets where they weren’t sold.
Of course, a lot of these cars, from the compacts to the supercars, found a pendant in motorsports.
After a few titles wins in the early 1990s, Lancia would retire definitively from rallying in 1993. Ford would continue on with mild success. The 90s in WRC would be the decade of Japanese manufacturers, giving Toyota, Mitsubishi and Subaru a massive publicity boost in Europe. In the late 90s though, the Japanese dominance would be tickled by French manufacturers, culminating in 1999 with two wins for a front-wheel drive 2-Litre car ahead of the 4WD WRC cars.
Meanwhile, Mazda, the last manufacturer to still believe in the Wankel engine, would give the rotary the best advertisement it could dream of with the victory at Le Mans of the quad-rotor 787B in 91. Peugeot would have its turn with a couple victories. Then came the GT1s. From 1994 to 98, the GT1s would challenge the prototypes for the win, with the Dauer/Porsche 962, McLaren F1 GTR, and Porsche 911 GT1 all claiming the top spot on the podium.
The 90s marked the return in due form of Mercedes-Benz in competition, after a hiatus of over thirty years following the deadly crash of a 300SLR at Le Mans 1955, coming back to Formula One, Le Mans, and DTM. The Mercedes 190E Evo ended the dominance of the M3, before itself being challenged by the Alfa Romeo 155. Meanwhile, Porsche, Nissan, McLaren and Toyota would sweep the Japanese touring championship with race versions of their flagship 911, Skyline GT-R, Supra, or F1.
And then there’s Formula One. 1990 was the last big year of rivalry between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, cooling down afterwards and eventually ending with Prost’s retirement in 1993. The following year, at the infamous San Marino GP, Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna would die in two separate accidents during qualifying and during the race itself.
The death of Senna and Ratzenberger in the same weekend would lead drivers to reform their union, demanding swift safety improvement, pushing the FIA to improve its crash safety standards and eventually pushing the adoption of the HANS device.
Without Senna, the field was left wide open for Michael Schumacher to take his first two titles in ‘94 and ‘95, before moving to Ferrari, with success eluding him for the rest of the decade. The 1990s would also mark the last victories of Williams, and the first victories of Renault as an engine supplier, and the first victories of Mercedes since the 1955 incident.
And finally, a bridge to the future.
In 1997, Toyota launched the Prius in Japan. Originally met with circumspection, the unparalleled fuel efficiency was contrasted by a high price and truly terrible performance. But Toyota stuck with it, and would ultimately prove prescient with the introduction of a (modern) hybrid powertrain on the market, which have now been adopted by virtually all manufacturers, more or less willingly.
The 1990s also saw a big push for EVs, in part encouraged by California’s Zero Emission Vehicle mandate. While big automakers lobbied successfully to kill the resolution, the idea survived. AC Propulsion released the tZero, an electric sports car which, along with the demise of the GM EV1, would later inspire Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning to found Tesla, using the former as the technical basis for the Tesla Roadster, and consequently serving as an inspiration for the current generation of electric vehicles.
In other news, 25 is a nice round number, and 25 weeks is about 6 months. This is the perfect time for a season change. Season 1 thus will end after event 25, which should be on May 1st.
Two key points:
- Season 2 will start immediately, with event 26 following 25 as normal.
- Season 2 will come with a global leaderboard wipe. All the scores and result history will of course still be available in the event sheet.
It will also be a good time to reevaluate the format if you have any feedback or grievances, about the format, about the polls, about the car selection, about the event sheet, or about anything else.
Hi. Why is my result not in the table?
I see the issue, there was a space after the #
Correcting it now, updating in a moment
PHLS#19 Bluebird#1:25.524 PLAYER#@PresentDisc7227 LINK#969 OVERRIDEDEADLINE#
Thank you! Glad to join your competition!
Welcome on board
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By the way, I don’t see Comrade with the nickname TBAR1980 in the table either
Right, same issue
PHLS#19 Mustang#1:21.482 LINK#972 PLAYER#@TBAR1980 OVERRIDEDEADLINE#
PHLS#19 Bluebird#1:22.225 LINK#968 PLAYER#@TBAR1980 OVERRIDEDEADLINE#
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Ok no spaces
Congrats on the win this week!
Thanks
Kayalami is hard track to get any rhythm on
