So. That was interesting, wasn’t it? What on earth do we do about this?
We are presented with a rather unique dilemma this year. In previous years where we’ve been, for lack of a better word, “trolled” by drift truck forum troglodytes and the entire nation of Poland, it was actually pretty easy to see what was going on. We could look at the server logs and see that, for instance, some network admin decided to game the system, and we ended up with 1,200 votes from a server farm, each with an IP address that was one number off of the previous vote. That’s pretty easy to see, and pretty easy to filter out. And as we’ve said before, when we see blatant cheating, we just disqualify that candidate.
In this instance, the people who actually built one of the nominees had a huge following, and they mobilized their fanbase to come and vote for their creation. Let’s be honest, that’s kind of awesome to see, because it’s good for Hooniverse — something like 6,000 people who had never been to Hooniverse before came and explored, and some even took the time to comment about how much they liked the place — and it’s kind of awesome to actually see involvement from the car’s creators.
At the same time, though… is it really a fair representation of which car most deserves to win? Well… yes… and no. Because part of the fun of HCOTY has always been the fact that there is campaigning, there is strategic voting, there is some friendly animosity and rivalry between the contributors to drum up the vote for their own candidate. There is healthy debate, there is some good-natured arguing. It’s all just a bunch of fun. But we have to also recognize the Hooniverse loyalists who are here for the other 364 days of the year.
This time, as well, the car that won… is actually freakin’ awesome, unlike that Polish thing. Sorry, Kamil.
So what do we do? Well, it’s taken a lot of discussion behind the scenes, but since there was a little bit of gaming the vote, we’re going to game the results a little bit too.
Yes, by every conceivable measure, the NasCarlo won, by… a few votes. And yes, the NasCarlo is awesome, and honestly does deserve the win. But, at the same time, the NasCarlo… is wrecked. So technically speaking, it’s not really a car right now, is it? I mean, sure, the Beast won once upon a time, and that was wrecked as well, but even as we announced the winner, there was no secret made of the fact that it was already in the shop being rebuilt. Speaking at least for myself, I haven’t heard even a peep that the NasCarlo was in the process of being rebuilt.
So yes, we’re giving the win to the NasCarlo… but not right now. The NasCarlo’s win is being held in proxy, until such time as it’s up and running again. And then the builders can drive it to the Hooniversal Galactic Central Command, and pick up their participant ribbon gleaming HCOTY trophy.
Until such time, we’re letting the S600 hold on to the win, as the equally-worthy-but-not-as-well-campaigned-for-because-Jay-Leno-never-responded-to-our-messages runner up.
Okay, let’s be honest, we’re mostly doing this because we want to try and encourage them to rebuild the NasCarlo, because it deserves to live again. But we also think that the runner up deserves a nod, because without the traffic bump that was incredibly obvious, the votes were actually pretty close for the two front-runners.
So, just like that Kindergarten teacher who gives out prizes to everyone because every child is a precious snowflake who deserves to be cherished and made to feel special, we’re giving two awards today. We have a winner… but only if they come and get the trophy. Until they do that, we’re letting the runner up get the date with the cheerleader.
And, it deserves to be said, thank you to the Hooniverse community for being so much fun about the whole adventure, and proving why we have the greatest automotive community on the internet.
HCOTY 2015 – The Votes Are In!
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34 responses to “HCOTY 2015 – The Votes Are In!”
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I can abide. For the reasons stated, and also because we’d do the same thing for one of ours in a different competition. It ties the whole community together, does it not?
https://a4-images.myspacecdn.com/images03/34/e442fa8f4c414c27bc0caf116a69bff3/300×300.jpg -
You know, if the 60 Euro Polo had won, I would have had to ship it to the States to claim the trophy. So it’s kind of a relief it didn’t… Or I missed out on a hell of a road trip.
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I’d have given AT LEAST the purchase price of the car to a kickstarter for that to happen.
In fact, I think you need to do that anyway. I’ll give you TWICE the purchase price of the car if I can drive it for a while.-
I would give some too, esp. if it’s PoloCoast2Coast US road trip. I’d be interested also to ride along some part (and pay for the gas) of above trip as I’ve never been to ‘flyover country’.
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And I’ll give you FOUR times the purchase price AND free accommodation if you can get it to NZ.
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Millioniverse, almost.
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I would chip at least one full purchase price as well. Also free accommodations on The Island That Rust Forgot. (I mean, if you can get it to Bradley’s place, I’m only another 4-5 hours down the road.)
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That, if nothing else, is the definition of a near miss!
Love it.
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Genius. I mean, you could have just disqualified the NasCarlo, but obviously it is awesome and they just happen to have a rabid fanbase. You can’t fault them for that. However, enticing them to rebuild and get it to
Jeff’s houseHooniverse HQ is genius. Because then a feature can be written about it. Then those 6,000 people will come back. And maybe stay a while.
Congrats to the S600 winner! Make sure to stay out of the nudie mags until after you’ve passed on the crown.-
Since Dearthair is in charge of HCOTY (and apparently little else based on the minimal new AT content), I think the prize should be picked up at his place, not Jeff’s. It would make for a much more interesting episode of Roadkill to — instead of a quick trip across Southern California — drive the NASCarlo across the border without getting it confiscated, and then navigate around all the mooses in his driveway.
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I’m up for that!
Especially since the proceedings would more likely within driving distance for me!
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No disagreement there, but you’re young enough to have recently gotten your license (congrats, BTW). All of Canada is within driving distance for you. The trick is to have somebody pay for your gas.
For the next few years, whenever there is an opportunity to help a friend move someplace distant, or deliver a car to Frisco from Denver, or drive a Ranchero to the ice races in Alaska, take the opportunity. Soon enough, work and family will get in the way.-
I could never hope to offer you better advice than this. Every road trip I have taken is one of those cherished memories that I think back on from time to time. And it is SO hard for me to find a way to take them very often anymore. Take them when you’re young, I’ve never met anyone in their 50’s who has said, “Gosh, I wish I hadn’t travelled as much when I was younger.”
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” Soon enough, work and family will get in the way.”
Sigh.
That’s my life too.
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I think you have come up with the best outcome possible. Thank you. Now, Roadkill, please rebuild it.
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what I find stupid it was Nominated and accepted in the list of car and then when it won they removed it? how is that a Good outcome, just not mention it.. IMO a black eye on the meaning of a award since the car ran in 2015 and lived up tot he roadkill history of ” maybe not running at end of video “
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I think you really need to read the article again, and see if you can get the joke this time. This time, instead of reading the article as anything pissy, read it as some good-natured ribbing between friends, and see if it makes more sense. This is all done in good fun.
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“But we have to also recognize the Hooniverse loyalists who are here for the other 364 days of the year.”
Yes, I imagine it’s easier to keep an eye on them if they’re recognizable.-
Some of them resort to camouflage. They purchase personalized license plates to trick people into thinking their car still belongs to a prior owner.
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In my case it was more a matter of wanting as much leverage as possible for my upcoming attempt to bluff my way into the next All British Field Meet with a Dutch Volvo.
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An all British field in the Pacific Northwestern United States? That’s going to be hard to bluff into. Even if they dug up a field, shipped it over and reassembled stateside like London Bridge, it would be hard to say it’s ALL British, once it has been intermingled with American soil.
Still, maybe you could exploit your PhD in Geography to convince them that the atlas is wrong.-
It’s not so much that they ship the whole field, they’re allowed to consecrate it for the event with a jar of dirt, gently sprinkled in the field. Then they have an Anglican Priest and a couple Jaguars with leaky crank cases (but I repeat myself) finish the process.
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It’s simpler than that: There’s mountains of British stuff right next door.
http://www.canada-maps.org/british-columbia/thumbs/british-columbia-map.gif
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And there’s so few?
Bravo, nicely done.
To all the regulars who got the humour of this, thank you. There have been a very few, very vocal, very butthurt Roadkill fans who have missed the joke completely. Let’s face it, Roadkill won, hands-down. I thought my Kindergarten teacher comment made that pretty clear, but it’s also pretty clear there were a lot of people who didn’t actually read the article. It’s all good-natured fun, thanks for getting it.
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The Roadkill posted a good-natured reply on Facebook, and a couple butthurt fans weighed in. They replied calmly and in a way that showed they got it. Also, it’s not like NasCarlo isn’t awesome in a way this community loves. (I voted for WeeWoo, but there were a bunch of deserving cars on the list. Including NasCarlo and the S600.)
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Such is life when you cross over to something with a broad audience on the internet. I’m not sure how all those folks type while holding a torch and a pitchfork, but they’re everywhere just itching to use them.
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The genius in your strategy is that it provides a built-in filter. Those who get it might want to stick around, and those whose heads it flies over would probably be better served at some other site.
Going to be Nit Picky about the car of the year #1 it ran in 2015 and #2 how do we know that S600 still has Gas in the tank? How do we know its running.. /rant
Check out the whining over at Roadkill,they are not happy,even though they gamed the system.
Yay. So pleased to not revisit the ugly driftruck episode.
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There’s nothing stopping Roadkill from rebuilding the NasCarlo as a drift truck….
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Particularly since the last attempt at controlled sliding ended so well.
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