Offline Series General Chat

[stevenmerzlak]

I've been going back and forth on if I want to add more manufacturers to ISCRA. With the eventual departure of Buick and Oldsmobile in the 90s, I'd like to have new manufacturers to fill their spots, but I feel that things might get too cramped.

The two manufacturers I've seriously considered to replace Buick and Olds are Mercedes and BMW somewhere within this timeframe:



(I'm not tied to these specific manufacturers either - other companies like Nissan, Subaru, Volvo, VW, etc. would work just fine in the same spot.)

Here's my line of thinking:

- Starting in 1979, we have a full-blown 8 manufacturer lineup - AMC, Buick, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, Mercury, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac. I'm working on 1984 right now, so this is where I'm at canonically. Things seem to be balanced well right now - AMC has a factory team and a few stragglers, and Mercury is basically backmarkers only since this is the last year the body is legal.
- Mercury leaves after 1984, and AMC leaves after 1988, leaving us with 6.
- Toyota joins in 1991, giving us 7 again, but Buick and Oldsmobile leave after 94/95, leaving us with 5.
- A few years after that, BMW and Mercedes join, taking the former slots of Buick and Olds, giving us 7 again.
- Honda joins in 2000, giving us 8, and then Pontiac leaves after 2010, leaving us with 7 again. Way off in the 2020s I've considered reviving AMC with a Dodge Challenger-esque car badged as a Hornet. That would bring us back to 8.

The only way I've decided that this will work in a balanced way is to make any one of BMW, Mercedes, Honda, or Toyota a full-fledged factory effort, with a few backmarker stragglers using their old stuff. It would be like Dodge near the end of the COT era, when they only had Penske, the Robby Gordon 7, and the 92 whenever Brian Keselowski showed up.

7 seems to be the cap before a team gets properly left out, but maybe 8 could work if it was strictly a two-car factory team with nothing else? I'm not really sure. It's a completely different thought process for stock car racing, almost more like IMSA. Thoughts?

 

[RuralKadoodle]

I've been going back and forth on if I want to add more manufacturers to ISCRA. With the eventual departure of Buick and Oldsmobile in the 90s, I'd like to have new manufacturers to fill their spots, but I feel that things might get too cramped.

The two manufacturers I've seriously considered to replace Buick and Olds are Mercedes and BMW somewhere within this timeframe:

View attachment 5271

(I'm not tied to these specific manufacturers either - other companies like Nissan, Subaru, Volvo, VW, etc. would work just fine in the same spot.)

Here's my line of thinking:

- Starting in 1979, we have a full-blown 8 manufacturer lineup - AMC, Buick, Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, Mercury, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac. I'm working on 1984 right now, so this is where I'm at canonically. Things seem to be balanced well right now - AMC has a factory team and a few stragglers, and Mercury is basically backmarkers only since this is the last year the body is legal.
- Mercury leaves after 1984, and AMC leaves after 1988, leaving us with 6.
- Toyota joins in 1991, giving us 7 again, but Buick and Oldsmobile leave after 94/95, leaving us with 5.
- A few years after that, BMW and Mercedes join, taking the former slots of Buick and Olds, giving us 7 again.
- Honda joins in 2000, giving us 8, and then Pontiac leaves after 2010, leaving us with 7 again. Way off in the 2020s I've considered reviving AMC with a Dodge Challenger-esque car badged as a Hornet. That would bring us back to 8.

The only way I've decided that this will work in a balanced way is to make any one of BMW, Mercedes, Honda, or Toyota a full-fledged factory effort, with a few backmarker stragglers using their old stuff. It would be like Dodge near the end of the COT era, when they only had Penske, the Robby Gordon 7, and the 92 whenever Brian Keselowski showed up.

7 seems to be the cap before a team gets properly left out, but maybe 8 could work if it was strictly a two-car factory team with nothing else? I'm not really sure. It's a completely different thought process for stock car racing, almost more like IMSA. Thoughts?

I think the idea you have here is a really well thought out one, and I fully think you should do it,
Having that many manufacturers allows for a good mix of cars running different models with many different ranges for support and speed from the manu, so I would fully go for it ))

 

[stevenmerzlak]

I think the idea you have here is a really well thought out one, and I fully think you should do it,
Having that many manufacturers allows for a good mix of cars running different models with many different ranges for support and speed from the manu, so I would fully go for it ))

Thank you! I love having the variety of manufacturers. It provides way more unique ideas for future cars and pieces of lore. Doing all the templates isn't fun, but it's going to be worth it.

I think I've got the timeline down:
- Toyota replaces AMC
- Honda replaces Buick
- BMW replaces Oldsmobile
- Mazda replaces Pontiac



Also considering replacing Chevrolet with Cadillac, depending on how things go with the phaseout of the Camaro. We'll see what happens in real life first.

 

[RuralKadoodle]

Thank you! I love having the variety of manufacturers. It provides way more unique ideas for future cars and pieces of lore. Doing all the templates isn't fun, but it's going to be worth it.

I think I've got the timeline down:
- Toyota replaces AMC
- Honda replaces Buick
- BMW replaces Oldsmobile
- Mazda replaces Pontiac

View attachment 5298

Also considering replacing Chevrolet with Cadillac, depending on how things go with the phaseout of the Camaro. We'll see what happens in real life first.

Good!
Having that variety really helps spice the silly season up for sure, and allows for some very interesting connections to be pulled if you pull in European manufacturers.

and speaking of Cadillac, in my sim I have it so in 04 a major shift is happening where I have Ford bringing in Lincoln, Chevrolet bringing in Cadillac, and Dodge bringing in Chrysler(with Pontiac most likely leaving). Where the top teams get the luxury manufacturers and the mid to lower teams getting the more normal manu's etc etc.

so definitely for sure do that and i cant wait to see the fruits of your work ! )))))