Top Gear Series 16 Challenges

Scores

	70°F	Music	Windows	Tire Pressure	Game Presence	Final	Total
Cory	33	40	60	60	87	0	280
Dom	50	10	34	66	103	0	263
Ward	35	50	56	64	49	0	254
Anton	37	30	62	54	58	0	241
Aaron	46	0	40	69	81	0	236
Frank	50	20	47	39	25	0	181
Chris	24	0	20	43	43	0	130
Marcella				64	49	0	113
Padraic	48	0	24			0	72
Lauren		0		64		0	64

Challenges

Challenge 1: 70°F

You are invited to watch Top Gear at Cory's house
at 7pm on Monday, January 24th, 2011.

This season, we will find out whose car is the best.
This week, the best car is the one with the best climate control.

Your challenge is to arrive with your car's interior's
surface temperature at a comfortable 70°F.  You will be given
50 points for participating and lose one point for every degree
Fahrenheit you are away from the target temperature
upon arrival.

Each person's car was measured with a cheap infra-red thermometer in three places: the passenger seat back, the most central passenger-side dashboard air vent, and the side of the steering wheel at 3 o'clock. The three samples were measured, and each person received the difference between 70 and that average, rounded to the nearest integer.

It was in the ballpark of zero degrees Fahrenheit outside while measuring the results of this challenge.

Challenge 2: Music

You are invited to watch Top Gear at Cory's house
tonight at 7pm on Monday, January 31st, 2011.

You will be given points for the size of the music selection
available in your car.  Before arriving, count (or estimate,
if necessary) the number of audio tracks available to play
through your vehicle's speakers at any one time.
Assume your nation's leader has disabled all means
of Internet access.

The five people with the biggest collections get 50, 40, 30, 20, and 10 points, respectively.

Challenge 3: Windows

You are invited to watch Top Gear at Cory's house
tonight at 7pm on Monday, February 7th, 2011.

Your vehicle's "windows up" grade will be determined
as follows:

score = 10 * (number of windows)^2 / (seconds to close)

We will measure how many seconds it takes to close some
number of windows in your vehicle.  Sun roofs and any other window-like pieces of glass you choose count as
long as you can operate them from inside your vehicle.
Timing will start with your selected windows fully open
and end once you have fully closed them.

Challenge 4: Tire Pressure

You are invited to watch Top Gear at Cory's hous
tonight at 7pm on Monday, February 14th, 2011.

Maintaining proper air pressure in tires is important for
safety reasons.

Pick one tire and measure its air pressure (in psi) using the
provided pressure meter.  Double it.  If your tire pressure
warning light is on, subtract 20.  This is your score.

Challenge 5: Video Game Presence

You are invited to watch Top Gear at Cory's house
at 7pm on Monday, February 21st, 2011.

Whose car is best-represented in a video game?

Acquire a screenshot of a vehicle similar to yours in a video
game as well as a photograph of your car that demonstrates
the similarity.  Images will be judged subjectively on both
similarity and aesthetics and awarded points.

You will receive further instruction on what to do with
the images later in the week (most likely where to upload
JPEGs), but they must be received by the 21st.  You have
one week.

Further instruction included included just a link to a webapp to upload images with the restriction, "Images are assumed to be 640x480 JPEG images."

Challenge 6: Potpourri

You are invited to watch Top Gear at Cory's house
at 7pm on Monday, Febrary 28th, 2011.

The final challenge will depend on the contents of the episode.

If someone uses a flappy paddle gearbox, lose points equal
to the number of forward and reverse gears your car has.

If the Stig has his vehicle's radio on, receive 10 points if your
car has a radio.

Receive ten points if Jeremy hurts himself, if you have a
med kit in your car.

If Jeremy uses the phrase, "in the world," we will order our
cars, by any means we can agree on, from fastest to slowest
and assign 50, 40, 30, ... points in that order.