Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 78 Japanese Hero Nakajima Satoru

In the 130R curve, Chen Xiangbei entered the curve at an insane speed. The extreme lateral G-force of 260km/h directly pressed his body to the left.

Even though the mechanical quality of this Renault racing car is far superior to the CFR2000 at the Huasai base, it still cannot withstand the roll caused by such extreme speed.

Chen Xiangbei could already vaguely feel that the entire car was sliding sideways uncontrollably, and the tire grip had reached its limit at this speed.

Faced with this situation full of pressure and challenges, Chen Xiangbei still did not release his right foot on the accelerator. He firmly believed that his driving skills could control the "loss of control", just like the countless times he had taken thrilling turns on the track.

As long as you want to win on the track, there is no such thing as absolute safety. Even if you are smashed to pieces, you will never slow down. This is Chen Xiangbei's motto as a driver!
Everyone in the P room held their breath and watched Chen Xiangbei speeding through the 130R bend at full throttle. As the Renault car roared past the center of the bend, many people subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, which meant that the full throttle challenge of the corner was successful.

Seeing this scene, even the chief technician Watanabe Hideo, who disliked Chen Xiangbei the most, couldn't help but say, "Director Sawano, I think the Chinese rookie should have run under 2 minutes and 20 seconds this lap."

"No need to should, it must have run in."

Mizutani Sho gave a positive answer in advance, saying that there was no reason why this speed could not be faster than 1 second.

The 130R turn is the third to last turn at the Suzuka Circuit. Almost immediately after Mizutani Sho finished speaking, Chen Xiangbei's final lap time appeared on the computer screen.

2 minutes 19 seconds 336.

The Chinese newcomer really ran into the 2 minute 20 second mark!
At this moment, almost all the Honda Academy engineers watching the scene had expressions of shock on their faces.

Although this lap time is not the fastest of Renault cars at the Suzuka Circuit, which is 2 minutes 05 seconds.

But they knew in their hearts that the value of this lap time was almost as great as Kamui Kobayashi's dry track record.

Or put it in a more direct way.

陈向北能在雨天跑出2分19秒336的圈速，那么他就一定能在干地跑出接近，乃至于超越2分05秒641的圈速。

On the contrary, Kamui Kobayashi may not be able to do it on rainy days.

As a new Chinese driver who raced at the Suzuka Circuit for the first time, he was able to compete with the talented young men in the Japanese racing world. I'm afraid no one would believe this if I told them!
After passing the starting point on the track, Chen Xiangbei drove his Renault directly back to the pit lane. As soon as he parked the car outside the pit garage, professional Honda Academy technicians gathered around to perform maintenance and repairs on the car.

There was also a young technician who gave Chen Xiangbei a thumbs-up and said, "Xiangbei-kun, you are the strongest student I have ever seen!"

The strongest student?

After hearing this, Chen Xiangbei smiled and politely replied, "Thank you."

Coming out of the racing cockpit and undergoing physical training at the Huasai Base, his physical fitness has now become much stronger. At least he won't be exhausted after driving a few laps at high intensity like before.

However, facing the high G-force and pressure on the track, Chen Xiangbei still found it a bit strenuous. Physical training is a long process.

He took off his helmet and walked into the P room. More than a dozen pairs of eyes looked at him, with different expressions on their faces, but no one spoke.

This situation made Chen Xiangbei feel a little "weird" until Sawano Hiroki walked up to him, extended his hand and said: "Congratulations, Chen Xiangbei, Honda Suzuka Driver Academy welcomes you to join."

As Hiroki Sawano said this, warm applause broke out in the P room. This was not only a praise for Chen Xiangbei's skills, but also a tribute to his courage.

Taking the 130R turn at Suzuka Circuit at full throttle has always been a symbol of being a driver, let alone in rainy days.

"Thank you Director Zeye for your recognition."

Chen Xiangbei shook hands with a smile.

"You are special."

Hiroki Sawano replied that he had never seen any novice student be as calm as Chen Xiangbei in such a situation.

Coupled with Chen Xiangbei's superb driving skills in the rain and his incredible familiarity with the layout of the Suzuka circuit, it is clear that he is not an ordinary rookie driver.

Chen Xiangbei still smiled and did not give any explanation to Sawano Hiroki's words.

Seeing this, Sawano Hiroki didn't dwell on the question and asked, "Don't you want to know how long the last lap took?"

"Should have run under 2 minutes and 20 seconds."

This time Chen Xiangbei gave an answer, he was very confident in his lap time prediction.

"Yes, you ran the fastest lap of 2 minutes 19 seconds."

"not bad."

Is it just good?

A hint of deep meaning appeared in Hiroki Sawano's eyes. It seemed that he had to have a good talk with Shio Miyamoto who was far away in China to understand what the foundation of this Chinese boy was.

"Mizutani Xiang, take Chen Xiangbei to sign the student contract."

"Yes, Director Sawano."

Mizutani Sho responded, then led Chen Xiangbei to the conference room.

Looking at the two people's backs going away, Sawano Hiroki turned his head and fixed his gaze on Matsumoto Brown, saying expressionlessly: "Matsumoto, go to the principal's office to terminate the student contract."

"Director Zeye, I..."

When Matsumoto Brown heard this, he almost cried and wanted to beg for mercy.

To be honest, he had not fully accepted the reality until this moment.

He'd merely taunted a Chinese rookie, a common behavior among young people. Did he really have to quit the academy? Before Matsumoto Brown could finish his plea, Hiroki Sawano shook his head and interrupted, "Matsumoto, accept the loss. Only then will you have the dignity to win it back next time."

“As a driver, don’t be too picky about losing.”

Hiroki Sawano has no prejudice against Matsumoto Brown. On the contrary, he has always been optimistic about him and believes that he is a promising new student.

But losing is losing. Drivers who fail to keep their promises will not be respected by others.

Even if you want to wash away the shame, you should not stay in this way, but win it back on the track in the future!
After hearing this, and knowing Hiroki Sawano's rigid and serious impression, Matsumoto Brown knew that he had no room for plea, and his mentality changed from expecting to be "forgiven" to being angry and embarrassed.

He just turned his face away and walked away, not even bothering to pretend to have the most common hypocritical etiquette he learned in Japan.

Seeing this situation, even Hiroki Sawano, who was usually rather "cold", sighed secretly, and the disappointment in his heart was far greater than anger.

……

In the Honda conference room, Mizutani Sho took out a trainee contract and handed it to Chen Xiangbei, asking him to read the terms in detail before deciding whether to sign the contract.

Since the junior student contract does not involve the sharing of commercial interests, the content is actually very simple. It is nothing more than clarifying the rights and responsibilities of both parties. In theory, no one will refuse to sign it. It is nothing more than a formality.

Chen Xiangbei took a quick look and found that the contract stipulated that Honda would provide training funds and technical support, and what he needed to pay was that the Honda team had the priority right to sign him.

This is easy to understand. Honda is not a living Buddha. Isn't it spending a lot of money to train student drivers to provide reserve talents for the team?
And from the perspective of practical interests, there are too many people in the Formula One team and too few drivers, and the student drivers are eager to be signed by the Honda team.

After all, Honda has a brilliant record of six constructors' championships and five drivers' championships in F1 history, and it is a golden signboard!
Without any hesitation, Chen Xiangbei signed his name on the student contract.

"Congratulations, Mukai-kun. You are now officially a Honda Suzuka Racing trainee."

As the contract was signed, Mizutani Sho stood up and congratulated Chen Xiangbei again.

"Thank you."

"Based on the speed you showed today, Xiangbei-kun, only Hoshino-kun can match you."

"Who is Hoshino-kun?"

Chen Xiangbei asked back. He remembered that he had vaguely heard someone mention Hoshino-kun's name in the headset before.

"The academy's strongest driver, Yoshi Hoshino, is the champion of the Japanese F4 Championship, with a points lead over double that of the second place!"

"And Hoshino-kun only raced karting for one year, but he won the JAF Cup that year. Director Sawano believes that his talent surpasses Kobayashi-kun and is probably second only to Sato-kun."

When Mizutani Sho introduced Hoshino Yoshi, his tone was obviously excited, which indirectly reflected that he was very optimistic about this student.

【Hoshino Yoshi? 】

Chen Xiangbei pondered in his mind. In his memory, the only F08 drivers who emerged from Japan after 1, besides Kamui Kobayashi, was Yuki Tsunoda. He had never heard of Yoshino Hoshino.

Either he didn't escape, or the history of this world has changed.

"Is he in the academy?"

Since a master has appeared, Chen Xiangbei naturally wants to see the other party's strength.

"Hoshino-kun usually has a part-time job and only comes to the track for training in his free time."

If we only talk about the F4 championship results, Chen Xiangbei would not take it seriously even if Japan's overall strength is not weak.

But the other party can achieve such results with part-time training, so he has some talent or strength.

"Okay, let's get to know each other then."

"Well, I'll introduce it to you."

……

While Chen Xiangbei was signing the contract, in the office of the principal of Suzuka Racing Academy, Nakajima Satoru was listening to the reasons why Matsumoto Brown terminated the student's contract.

Although Honda Suzuka Racing Academy has the title of "Academy", it is actually very different from the school we know. There are no thousands of students. Including the youth training driver program, there are only a dozen people.

The termination of each student's contract needs to be confirmed by the principal in person. After all, the students who can come here to receive training are considered the best in the entire Asia-Pacific region.

The current president of Honda Racing Academy is former F1 driver Satoru Nakajima. His status in the Japanese racing world is equivalent to that of Senna in Brazil, or similar to that of Liu Xiang in the Chinese sports world.

Nakajima Satoru was the first Japanese driver to score points in an F1 race. He broke the racist remarks at the time that "Asians are not suitable for driving F1 cars" and became a "national hero" in the hearts of Japanese fans.

Since Nakajima Satoru was pushed into the F1 Williams team by Honda, the two sides have a deep connection.

After retiring, Nakajima Satoru became the chief test driver of Honda Group, and jointly tested and developed Honda's most powerful performance car, the Honda NSX, which was selected as one of the four kings of Japan.

This car was called the "Japanese Ferrari". At that time, the "Japanese God of War" GTR was just a little brother in front of it.

Later, Nakajima Satoru became the principal of Suzuka Racing Academy, and relying on the technical resources provided by Honda, he founded the "Nakajima Planning" racing company to participate in the Japanese F3 and Super GT events.

And with the financial crisis in 08, the Honda team announced its withdrawal from the F1 event, and Nakajima Satoru also began to think about participating in higher-level formula racing.

Of course, these are all things to follow.

Now Nakajima Satoru was even more shocked that the academy's potential driver was crushed by a new trial rider from China.

How could China, which has not even established a racing system, produce such a top-notch formula one driver?
(End of this chapter)