Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 22: The Hope of Chinese Racing (More Updates Please Read)

Looking at Dong Yuanxi's leaving back, Chen Xiangbei also smiled. He didn't expect that the little girl wearing a mask that year would be her.

But at this moment, Chen Xiangbei had no time to sigh about the wonder of fate. He picked up his schoolbag and ran towards home. He had to seize the time to do his physical training.

A day passed quickly, and as the voice-over of CCTV Sports congratulated Hamilton on getting the pole position, Chen Xiangbei came to Liang Chi's repair shop.

But as soon as he entered the store today, Chen Xiangbei smelled a strong smell of alcohol, which made him subconsciously frown.

You should know that except for a few drivers like the Finnish "Iceman" Raikkonen, who likes to drink a glass of wine to calm his nerves before racing, the vast majority of drivers or racing practitioners will subconsciously keep a distance and restrain themselves from alcohol.

After all, the racing industry requires an extremely clear mind and agile thinking. If alcohol paralyzes one, it is very likely to cause unpredictable and serious consequences.

Uncle Liang usually only smokes and basically never drinks, so why does he smell like alcohol today?
With this doubt, Chen Xiangbei came to Liang Chi's room. He was sitting on the floor with a few wine bottles scattered beside him and in front of him was the design model of the CFR2000.

"Uncle Liang, what's wrong with you?"

Hearing Chen Xiangbei's voice, Liang Chi looked up at him, his eyes bloodshot.

He replied in a pained tone, "I knew this CFR2000 wouldn't be a success during the test run, but I didn't expect it to fail so completely on its debut at the Donghai International Circuit!"

"The last hope of the Chinese Grand Prix is ​​gone, and so is the hope of Chinese Formula One racing!"

History eventually took its course, with the CFR2000 losing its wheels on its F1 Chinese Grand Prix debut, becoming the straw that broke the camel's back.

Preparations began in 03, and the factory was officially built for research and development in 05. Liang Chi has invested a lot of effort in this CFR2000, which also carries his dream of China's formula racing taking off.

Now that his dream has been shattered, he can no longer pretend to be nonchalant.

"The last hope for the Chinese Grand Prix is ​​indeed gone, but the hope for Chinese Formula One cars will always be there."

"Uncle Liang, people must learn to look forward."

Chen Xiangbei calmly comforted him, saying that even if he didn't fall at the threshold of the F1 paddock, there would be a driver named Zhou Guanyu in the future who would successfully sit in the cockpit of an F1 car and create a new history for Chinese racing.

As China's auto industry develops, Chinese racing will only get better.

Liang Chi didn't refute Chen Xiangbei's words, but only smiled bitterly. He knew that the current foundation of China Formula One was not conducive to being as optimistic as Chen Xiangbei.

Seeing this, Chen Xiangbei did not offer much comfort. The middle-aged man did not need such hypocritical words.

"Uncle Liang, give me the car keys. I'm going to run a race with Qin Lianjie tonight."

"It's in the flowerpot next to the warehouse. You can keep the car keys for yourself from now on."

"So generous, you're planning to give me a car?"

"Think beautifully!"

Even though his Daoist heart was shattered and he was drunk, Chen Xiangbei was still thinking about plucking the whole sheep away. Even if Liang Chi drank ten more bottles, he would be able to sober up instantly.

"If you can beat Qin Lianjie tonight, I'll give you the right to use this car for a year."

"No problem, today I will make sure Qin Lianjie can't see the taillights."

Liang Chi then quickly added, "You have to add the oil yourself!"

"As expected of you, Uncle Liang."

Chen Xiangbei never thought that he could get any advantage. After saying that, he turned around and walked straight towards the warehouse at the back.

Looking at Chen Xiangbei's leaving back, Liang Chi's eyes were a little blurred, and he murmured: "I wonder if this kid can become the hope of Chinese racing." As the rolling door opened again, the Subaru Impreza, which used to be in "Champion Blue" color, has now become blue and black. The front hood, surround and other covering parts have all been replaced with carbon fiber material.

Not only that, Chen Xiangbei also noticed that even the front wheels were replaced with new forged alloy wheels, and the interior was treated with a "hollowing out and lightening" process to further reduce the weight of the front of the car.

Chen Xiangbei is not an expert in RV modification, but he can roughly guess that by replacing these parts, the overall weight of the front of the car can be reduced by 30-50KG.

Don't underestimate these dozens of kilograms of weight. For a racing car, the handling will be greatly improved, and it can also reduce the pressure of braking on the front wheels.

If there is enough time to fine-tune the suspension and shock absorber systems, perhaps the head-pushing problem caused by the weight increase of the eighth-generation Subaru Impreza can be completely solved.

Just as Chen Xiangbei was admiring the Subaru Impreza, Liang Chi was already standing behind him.

"The car's nose-pushing behavior has been improved, and the front-to-rear power output ratio of the four-wheel drive system has been adjusted to 1:9. Coupled with the low center of gravity of the EJ20 horizontally opposed engine, high-speed drifting and cornering precision should be quite good."

"The disadvantage is that the engine has not been modified. The exhaust manifold at the bottom is too long, and the turbocharger is located at the top of the engine. In this way, the exhaust gas has to go through a long channel to reach the turbocharger, which inevitably causes turbo lag."

"The acceleration out of the corner will be affected, so you have to find a way to overcome this shortcoming, or use the fast-in-slow-out approach commonly used by rear-wheel drive cars when entering the corner."

After all, as a racing engineer, Liang Chi is very familiar with the characteristics of this car and his explanation is very professional.

"Yes, I know."

"Also, Qin Lianjie's Civic Type-R has been modified. Don't be too confident, kid."

Finally, Liang Chi gave another reminder that Qin Lianjie spent a lot of money to tune up this Civic Type-R according to his own driving habits. Whether it is power output or steering direction, everything has reached the level of being able to be controlled as if by one's own arm.

Liang Chi didn't want to undermine Chen Xiangbei's confidence in victory, but he still had to make him understand that winning was not that easy.

"understood."

Chen Xiangbei was as calm as ever.

There is a famous saying in later generations: Don’t use your hobby to challenge my profession.

No matter how talented Qin Lianjie is, no matter how well he modifies his Civic Type-R, he is ultimately just a racing enthusiast on the threshold of becoming a professional.

Although they are both driving cars, the difficulty and effort that professional drivers have to put in, as well as the professional level of professional training, are far greater than those of street racers.

Even if he drove Fatty Wang's Corolla down the mountain, Chen Xiangbei had absolute confidence that he could defeat Qin Lianjie, not to mention driving a Subaru Impreza that had a racing pedigree and had been preliminarily modified.

In a sense, Liang Chi's reminder was unnecessary.

"Since you know everything, go ahead."

Liang Chi said no more and stepped aside to make way for the Subaru Impreza.

Chen Xiangbei sat in the cockpit, turned the key and the engine started with a "buzz". The horizontally opposed EJ20 engine actually has another advantage, that is, the four-cylinder displacement can produce a sound that is extremely close to that of a six-cylinder, which is something that other models of engines cannot match.

However, due to the shortcomings of the horizontally opposed engine, such as high cost, difficulty in repair, and high maintenance costs, it has gradually been eliminated from the market like Subaru cars, and the lower-cost V-type engine has become the mainstream.

In the end, only Subaru and Porsche were left, still stubbornly insisting on using horizontally opposed engines.

The iconic "tear eyes" of the eighth-generation Subaru were lit up. After Chen Xiangbei honked the horn to signal, he stepped on the accelerator and rushed out of the warehouse, heading towards Nanyun Mountain.

Liang Chi stood there looking at the taillights of the car that were getting farther and farther away. How high this kid's racing talent was would depend on tonight's race.

PS: The extra updates are released together, and there will be a third update at noon. Also, I would like to wish all my brothers a happy new year in advance.

(End of this chapter)