Released American 80's Fullsize Series 2.1

Yeah just less points of failure, irl there are a lot more modifications people do to these that I'm not including in the mod because they are not too significant visually or wouldn't work well physically in game. Like pre-bending some parts and cutting notches in them to bend in specific directions when hit, for the same purpose adding some angled bars to the roll cage, relocating the alternator and coil pack, cutting out certain sheet metal parts on the interior, welding steel bars inside the doors, reinforcing bumper insides or just completely cutting the bumper into pieces and re-welding into a more optimal shape, or manufacturing replica bumpers that look identical to real ones but are much stronger, adding transmission coolers, replacing the wheels with forklift ones, using solid rubber airless tires, or very tiny tires sometimes to prevent any metal bending in a way that blocks them, adding exhaust stack protectors to prevent them from clogging, cutting little tunnels in engine bay for the radiator hoses to go in when hit, mounting the radiator on semi flexible straps to prevent shock fracture, replacing the rear axle with a truck one wirh a more reliable locking diff, separate little cages for the fuel cell and batteries, there's also a lot of stuff specific to certain vehicle models... Every derby has a huge list of regulations about which of these is allowed and which not and it differs a lot even between derbies in the same class, can also depend which state of the US it is held in, also some vehicle body styles or models can be banned due to being too strong, swapping bumpers from specific vehicles too, engine swaps can be limited to the same manufacturer or brand... It's all really complex and it's often about doing the most possible allowed modifications to have a chance at winning, so cars that are supposed to be "bone stock" end up looking so modified you can't even tell what car it used to be lol

 

Yeah that is a thing but most derbies don't allow that from what I have found, they state in the rules specifically that the radiator must remain in factory position, just can be soft mounted. A lot of derbies don't even allow protection bars for the radiator. It is just one of the most common failure points, and makes the derbies a lot shorter if it fails early, which some organizers might want