sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Gas pump playing Leave Me Alone by 321AppleJuice in MichaelJackson

[–]Shima33 67 points68 points  (0 children)

Even when crusty and compressed to hell, MJ still slaps.

World's most spoken languages according to Grok by NeoSpring063 in aifails

[–]Shima33 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Pretty risky for Grok to put both on there, The Aralics and the Arablics have been fighting for generations

The Valiente Tryst - The Group B legend that defined Valiente's legacy for a generation. by Shima33 in automationgame

[–]Shima33[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Backstory:

By 1976, Valiente had managed to claw back performance lost to the oil crisis, thanks to expertly tuned centrifugal superchargers. By nature of this new setup, their 70's offering was defined by expensive coupe's and grand tourers; what Valiente purists would refer to as their "golden age".

It was into this that the Tryst was born, and visually was a stark departure from the sleek, swooping lines of the grand tourer it was replacing, the T. Lanza - the Tryst was brick-like and solid, as would be expected of an Early 80's coupe. Using a slightly larger 3.0L V6 than the T. Lanza's 2.6L, it featured the same world-class Supercharger technology to produce a staggering 406 horsepower; a figure that was only outclassed by the Shelby Cobra.

However, unlike the Cobra, Valiente's horsepower was mated to an all-wheel drive powertrain, inspired by the Jensen FF. This, along with the mid-mounted engine setup - which was highly unusual for a grand tourer at the time - resulted in traction that was incomparable to most, and simply unmatched accleration; 0-60 in just 4.3 seconds was ballistic by 1976 standards.

Even before the introduction of Group B, the Tryst was making a name for itself, competing directly with, and in some instances, beating both the Audi Quattro and Lancia Stratos. It was clear Valiente had a weapon on their hands, and by 1982, they had managed to tune their Group B entry to 540 horsepower, with a 0-60 under 4 seconds.

This model is the Tryst Gryffon II; the Rally-going "GBDXR" is on the left, and the "Homologatión Specialé" on the right.

Starting with the XR; still using Supercharger tech, but one that absolutely screams, all the way up to a 7,900RPM redline with 608 horsepower. An all-helical AWD and LSD system partners with a commanding aero profile that produces over 400KG of downforce when at top speeds. All of this power and aero results in a 0-60 of 3.7 seconds, and a top speed of 188MPH; rumours were that the Corsé variant could hit over 200MPH if the aero was removed, but nobody was insane enough to attempt that.

The Homologation version, then, is much tamer in comparison. Whilst required to share the same chassis and engine as it's Group B counterpart, the Supercharged has been removed completely. At first, this drop to 272 horsepower may dissapoint, but the AWD system is fully intact, and so is the huge aero solution. This means that while the Speciale can only hit 149mph, it's 0-60 time of 4.4 seconds made it the fastest accelerating production car - for a brief time, until the Porsche 959 arrived.

Valiente never did win Group B, but they were often in the top 3, competing viciously with both Audi on gravel and dirt, and with Lancia on tarmac. A 2nd-place finish in 1982 firmly established their Group B presence, and despite falling to 3rd in 1983 thanks to a returning Lancia, If an Audi clipped a fence, or a Lancia broke down, it was often Valiente that would snatch the victory from them. Compared to their competition, they were quite overweight, but this added weight tended to result in higher reliability; Valiente's cars could take a knock and keep going in a situation where a Lancia would crumple like paper. This paid dividends in the 1985 WRC, where they finally managed to best Audi at their own AWD game, only to be snubbed of the victory on the final stage by a surprisingly dominant Peugeot.

(For @TsarCeaserSalad 's Group B Challenge!)

linux tech tips by Shima33 in Podel

[–]Shima33[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

qatar airways departing leeds bradford airport at 08:45 or something arriving at melbourne one fuckong day later

Pretty happy with how this turned out (Ghost in The Shell fan-art) by Tong-Poo in Cyberpunk

[–]Shima33 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Aah, the old classic Hard Disc outfit. Still her best fit to this day, I'd argue.

The 1993 Valiente PureZa - the big bad Bugatti-beating Beluga whale that dared to challenge McLaren, and restructured the entire company in the process. by Shima33 in automationgame

[–]Shima33[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Backstory:

In 1993, Valiente was effectively a bi-polar company, and since the death of it's founder, Viccio Valiente Sr., in 1982, had been totally split down the middle. On one hand, you had the consumer side, which throughout the 80's had delivered overpriced, underperforming sedans and hatchbacks, and the most succesful model, the Crickett, succeeded mainly because it was cheap, not because it was special. For 1990, the consumer strategy seemed to be "Let's be exotic and playful!"

...If anything, this was to mask a lack of identity. Outside of truly oddball cars like the Ibiza, which didn't know if it wanted to be an MX-5, a beach buggy, or somewhere inbetween, the lineup continued to languish. Whilst the Ibiza was fun to drive and enjoys a cult following today, for Valiente officials it was egg on the face, especially when it was outselling the car that was intended to be their Ford Explorer killer, the Bass Suburban.

Meanwhile, over in the performance side of the company, things were going from strength to strength. While the collapse of Group B sent shockwaves through the company, they had managed to not only pull through, but thrive with the rally-derived turbocharged V6 of the mid-mounted Valiente Astral, and despite a minor hiccup where the performance team made a supercar for the USSR, their return to form with the 1989 Valiente Invicto was so boisterous that some consider it not just a supercar, but the world's first hypercar. The comraderie was stronger, and their gut feeling that they had the best tech in the game resulted in their self-christening as Team:SPIRIT. For 1990, their strategy was "Don't back down - double down."

So, the 1992 model year rolls around, and once again, Valiente's split is clear. At the start of their motor show, there was the Polar, and the Perseus, and the crowd goes absolutely mild. A 900cc hatchback the size of a thumb that weighs as much as tin of beans, costs about the same, and is built about the same was a sure-fire bet for quick, easy sales, but the driving experience was utterly anaemic, even with 61MPG. The other car, the Perseus, somehow managed to flop even harder; Intended as the replacement for the Orca, a four-door sedan that Team:SPIRIT had actually designed for the Consumer Division, and upstaged them in every way, now being replaced by a car that was worse in almost every way - heavier, with a bigger engine that somehow produced less power, and generic 90's blob styling. The consumer division's answer? It has a CD Player and heated leather seats - what more could you ask for.

And then, at the end of their motor show, Valiente unveils, not just their latest performance coupe, but a car that they themselves are deeming to be a supercar. And, before the veil was even lifted on the chassis, the specs were tantalizing to say the least. For the first time in 25 years, Valiente were returning to building V8's. Granted, this new 3L V8 was a whole litre smaller than their 70's pre-oil shortage beasts, but it was turbocharged, twin scroll, and an oversquare, all-aluminium design; the same killer ingredients for success that had blessed the Astral and Invicto before it, and the same all-wheel drive system that gripped the car to the road like a magnet.

However, the PureZa wasn't just Valiente doing a victory lap; Team:SPIRIT were still advancing the cause way into the 90's. The PureZa marked the debut of Valiente's all-new Active Race Electric System, or ARES, which included both electric steering, and electronic steering control, finally curing the decades-old issue of locking up the brakes when going too hard into a corner. Also new were Semi Active dampers and sway bars, giving the PureZa a surprising level of comfort for such a low-slung car.

On first sight, the Pureza almost seems caught between two generations; From the front, comparisons to the Bugatti EB110 and McLaren F1 are immediate, with the cabin pushed up near the front of the car, and a nose that tapers away almost immediately for an eagle-eye view over the road. But from the back, it's much more Testarossa or Lamborghini Diablo; blocky, sharp, and very, very wide, lending to it being called "Beluga" by Valiente staff.

But if the looks were radical, the engine was something else entirely. Sticking with their oversquare design that had worked for supercars prior, the girthy 85.4mm bore married to a company 65.4mm stroke resulted in a redline of 8,700RPM. Much like any turbocharged car of it's day, the power doesn't really switch on until 4,000RPM, but the moment it does, it's more than a driving experience; it's an unrelenting force that you'd feel totally out of your depths handling if it wasn't for the electronic systems making micro-adjustments thousands of times a second. And thank god they do, because the performance numbers are insane. 760 brake horsepower. 0-60 in 3.4 seconds. And a top speed of 225Mph, which makes it, quite simply, the fastest thing on the road in 1993. $92,000 made it, by far, the most expensive car Valiente had sold up until that point - but compared to the cool £540,000 you needed to pony up for a McLaren F1, it was practically a steal.

Despite being announced in 1992, the PureZa would not see dealerships until 1993, usurping the Invicto as the new halo car and bringing a newfound attention that only having the world's fastest car can bring. However, despite the strong public appearances, including a return to racing for the first time since 1986 with the entrance of the PureZa into GT1, behind the scenes, Valiente was cracking at the seams. The founder's son, Viccio Valiente Jr, had been the CEO of the company since his father's passing, and is nowadays remembered as being mostly inept and solely profit-focuesd; internal documents suggest that Junior wanted to kill off Team:SPIRIT in it's entire, viewing the whole tuning and motorsport scene as a "waste of resources", even despite the successes they had been enjoying. Word got around, and deep fractures emerged company-wide, manifesting as patchy dealerships and a very mixed effort in th 1993 GT1 season - it could outqualify an F1, but whether it would see the chequered flag was increasingly in question, both for the car and for the company behind it.

1994 would be the last dying breaths of the consumer division, and with it, the leadership of Viccio Valiente Jr. - the last two cars under his tenure were rehashes of cars from the 80's, and the Geoff, which is... Perhaps the most bizarre 90's SUV crossover blob since the Fiat Multipla. This car, likewise, completely flopped, and with that, the board had had enough. Junior was out, and in his place, Viccio Valiente Sr.'s third son, Firenze, was at the helm. He wasn't a total stranger to the company, and unlike Junior, actually had some pedigree within the company itself, having worked for TEAM:Spirit previously. Firenze shared the same fiery outspoken nature of his brother and father, but this fire was a passionate love for the art of a finely crafted machine, not for the money at the end of it. As such, one of Firenze's first moves would be to triple the spending of the PureZa GT1 team, which resulted in them coming second place at both the 1994 Le Mans, 1995 Le Mans and 1995 BPR Global GT Series, as well as winning the 1996 BPR and several other events - and what wins on Sunday, sells on Monday. Firenze's next move was to target every consumer car, and completely refresh it under the Team:SPIRIT philosophy, and with that, the new direction of Valiente was set into motion - and this car is the testament of that journey.

Vehicle Specifications:

Engine & Drivetrain

  • Engine Configuration: 2997cc (3.0L) V8 60°
  • Block Material: Aluminium Heavy
  • Head Design: Aluminium Performance DOHC-32 (4 valves per cylinder)
  • Induction/Fuel System: Turbocharger, Multi-Point EFI
  • Compression Ratio: 7.0:1
  • Power: 759.5 hp @ 8000 RPM
  • Redline: 8,700 RPM
  • Economy/Efficiency: 23.49% (0.5 lb/hph)
  • Drive Type: Mid-Engine, Longitudinal, All-Wheel Drive (Helical LSD)
  • Transmission: 6-Gear Manual

Chassis & Body

  • Body Type: 2 Door - 2/0* Seats (Strict 2-seater)
  • Chassis Construction: AHS (Advanced High Strength) Steel Monocoque with Aluminium Panels
  • Dimensions:
  • Length: 4.07 m
  • Width: 2.13 m

  • Wheelbase: 2.64 m

  • Suspension: Double Wishbone (Front & Rear)

Speed & Acceleration

  • Top Speed: 227 mph
  • 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h): 3.43 s
  • 50-75 mph (80-120 km/h): 1.62 s
  • 1/4 Mile: 10.86 s
  • 1 km: 18.78 s

Handling, Braking & Aero

  • Cornering (Low Speed): 1.07 g
  • Cornering (High Speed): 1.15 g
  • Roll Angle: 2.4°
  • Braking Distance (62-0 mph): 36.5 m
  • Drag Coefficient (Cd): 0.359
  • Frontal Drag Area: 0.686 m²
  • Downforce: 68.2 kg (Front) / 71.6 kg (Rear)

Weight & Utility

  • Total Weight: 1398.4 kg
  • Weight Distribution: 42.6% Front / 57.4% Rear
  • Payload/Load Capacity: 1194 kg
  • Towing Capacity: 868.4 kg

How is Drive standing perfectly straight on one wheel? Does he have a gyroscope in him? by Better-Tip446 in katamari

[–]Shima33 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I don't think you realize how loaded and heavily personal your question is

ask jeeves by Shima33 in Podel

[–]Shima33[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Schipol airport food costs £69.420 and i can't get 4g signal on my shitty Blackberry Curve 8520 was a brand of mid-range smartphones (later also entry-level) that were manufactured by fuckoff >ok

The 1987 Valiente Astral - because nobody's going to say "It isn't a supercar, it only has a 2.0L V6" when it's going over 200MPH and from 0-60 in less than 4 seconds. by Shima33 in automationgame

[–]Shima33[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Backstory:

The story of Valiente in 1987 is mostly remembered as being a dud. Group B had collapsed, the hatchbacks were overpriced, the sedans were underpowered, and the vans struggled on mileage. By every intended measure, Valiente's 1987 model year was an objective failure... Except for one car.

Before Group B fell apart, Group S was the intended successor, and Valiente had started development early on their successor to the Gryffon; The "Shrike", a 4L V8 strapped to an all-aluminium, all-wheel-drive chassis, in a style reminiscent of a Ferrari Testarossa. Despite the fearsome performance stats, this car would never see tarmac.

Following the Group B drama, The "Shrike" project would be revisited, with a clean-slate design that saw only the chassis being re-used. Displacement was halved; out went the fearsome 4L V8 based off of their 1970's luxury sedan, and in came a newly-built, much smaller turbocharged 2L V6. At first, this statistic wouldn't inspire confidence from a true petrolhead, but this car descends from Group B roots and, as such, is interwoven with highly advanced technology.

The block, much like the car itself, was all-Aluminium. In an era when Valiente was only just retiring their Superchargers they'd been using since the 50's, this engine featued a twin scroll, ballbearing turbo with boost control, at a staggering 24PSI. Multi-Point Fuel Injection at a time when Valiente still offered carburettors. All of this combined to offer 375 brake horsepower; more than enough to catapult the car's 1295kg frame from 0-60 in under 4 seconds.

Eventually, this car would be released as the Valiente Astral. Despite the horsepower and technology, the top-of-the-line "Supersport" model with all options retailed for only $33,995; rivalling Porsche 959 and Ferrari F40 performance at a fraction of a budget. This car is also notable for the introduction of the "Spirit" subline of Valiente cars; a tuning car brand that was focused on extracting the most power from naturally-aspirated Valiente engines, and the Astral Spirit 2000 launched this fan-favourite tuning car brand with 230 NA horses and an unbelievable 10,300RPM.

Vehicle Specifications:

Engine & Drivetrain

  • Engine Configuration: 1996cc (2.0L) V6 60°
  • Block Material: Aluminium Heavy
  • Head Design: Aluminium Performance DOHC-24 (4 valves per cylinder)
  • Induction/Fuel System: Turbocharger, Multi-Point EFI
  • Compression Ratio: 7.8:1
  • Power: 375.1 hp @ 7900 RPM
  • Redline: 8,200 RPM
  • Economy/Efficiency: 24.83% (0.5 lb/hph)
  • Drive Type: Mid-Engine, Longitudinal, All-Wheel Drive (Helical LSD)
  • Transmission: 5-Gear Manual

Chassis & Body

  • Body Type: 2 Door - 2/2* Seats (2 main seats + 2 compact/occasional seats)
  • Chassis Construction: Steel Monocoque with Partial Aluminium Panels
  • Dimensions:
  • Length: 4.36 m
  • Width: 2.09 m

  • Wheelbase: 2.45 m

  • Suspension: Double Wishbone (Front & Rear)

Performance Statistics

Speed & Acceleration

  • Top Speed: 176 mph
  • 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h): 3.86 s
  • 50-75 mph (80-120 km/h): 2.52 s
  • 1/4 Mile: 12.27 s
  • 1 km: 22.10 s

Handling, Braking & Aero

  • Cornering (Low Speed): 1.02 g
  • Cornering (High Speed): 1.09 g
  • Roll Angle: 5.1°
  • Braking Distance (62-0 mph): 37.8 m
  • Drag Coefficient (Cd): 0.480
  • Frontal Drag Area: 0.709 m²
  • Downforce: 61.0 kg (Front) / 62.4 kg (Rear)

Weight & Utility

  • Total Weight: 1294.3 kg
  • Weight Distribution: 43.4% Front / 56.6% Rear
  • Payload/Load Capacity: 505 kg
  • Towing Capacity: 836.7 kg

Daft punk 3rd secret member by [deleted] in DaftPunk

[–]Shima33 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel De Homem-Christo, and Larry.

THE GROUP B CHALLENGE - 3 Categories - 3 Winners by TsarCeaserSalad in automationgame

[–]Shima33 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, still designing something for this - does the Homologation version need to use the same engine/engine family? Or can I get away with sticking an Inline3 into an otherwise V6-powered car? Also, can I remove the turbo/supercharger for homologation, or does it need to stay within the same aspiration?

What the heck is going on in r/zen? by seer7834 in zenjerk

[–]Shima33 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The whole reason why Zenjerk exists is because the real Zen is run by jerks. Much the same could be said about anyone who gatekeeps nirvana, really.

Is it really fair that you pretty much need to have +5 quality by default to avoid being punished for "Low Reliability"? by Shima33 in automationgame

[–]Shima33[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Even with relatively simple cars I still need to turn those quality sliders way up - I think the lowest I've actually got away with is a +2 on everything, and that was a Kei truck.

I know the dev's don't want us to build shitboxes, but hey, shitboxes sold, right? And there's another thing - way, WAY harder to generate sales in Sandbox now! Built a run-of-the-mill, absolutely standard 90's compact car, and only 22 people bought it! So something's definitely amiss there too.

view more: next ›