Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 79 Top Driver Talent

"Matsumoto, are you sure you're right? The Chinese rookie Yudi ran a fastest lap of 2 minutes 19 seconds?"

Nakajima Satoru was a little shocked. No one knew the lap time limit of the Suzuka Circuit in rainy days better than him, the former F1 driver.

This kind of lap time might not be achieved even on rainy days if Kamui Kobayashi was driving the car at that time, but the new Chinese driver named Chen Xiangbei achieved it in his first tryout. It was simply incredible!

"determine."

Matsumoto Brown replied with gritted teeth, Nakajima Satoru's repeated confirmation was like rubbing salt into his wounds.

"You go out first, I will talk to Director Zeye again."

"Yes, Principal Nakajima."

Hearing this, Matsumoto Brown showed a look of surprise on his face. It seemed that there was a turning point in his chances of staying in school.

In fact, what Nakajima Satoru wanted to talk to Hiroki Sawano about was not his contract termination, but Chen Xiangbei's potential.

Matsumoto Brown has to go away.

You should know that the goal of establishing Honda Suzuka Racing Academy has never been to train a driver to run an entry-level Formula Renault. They have always wanted to impact the highest level of the racing world, F1.

Originally, Nakajima Satoru had trained a talented young man, his son Nakajima Kazuki.

Kazuki Nakajima, who comes from a racing family, joined the Williams team as a substitute in 07, just like his father's journey back then. He signed a contract to become a regular driver in 08 and is currently the second official F1 driver from Japan.

If we include the quasi-F1 driver Kamui Kobayashi, it can be said that Japan's racing talent has experienced a boom in this era. It actually had three F1 drivers at the same time, which is not much different from the European racing powers.

But Kazuki Nakajima is also full of personality and rebelliousness. In order to prove to the world that he has talent and strength, and is not just the son of F1 driver Satoru Nakajima, he switched to the Toyota camp without hesitation at the age of 14.

In this way, the father and son are on the "enemy side".

Since his son "rebelled" to Toyota, Nakajima Satoru naturally has to create the next F1-level driver for the Honda camp.

His original target was on Hoshino Yoshi, but now Chen Xiangbei's training results are too amazing, so he may have to consider another option.

Not long after, Hiroki Sawano came to the principal's office after receiving the notice.

"Principal Nakajima."

Hiroki Sawano bowed after coming in. The other party was not only his superior, but also a Japanese hero.

"Zawano, did the Chinese rookie really set a lap time of 2 minutes 19 seconds in the rain just now?"

"Yes."

"Is the track monitoring data correct?"

Nakajima Satoru's first reaction was that there was a problem with the track equipment.

"No, Mizutani and Watanabe checked it."

After hearing this answer, Nakajima Satoru's face showed some excitement. This situation was really beyond his understanding.

Seeing the change in Nakajima Satoru's expression, Sawano Hiroki added, "Principal Nakajima, I was planning to contact Miyamoto Shio from Huasai Support and ask him to find Chen Xiangbei's detailed training information.

"With this kind of strength, he should be able to achieve outstanding results in karting."

Hiroki Sawano didn't believe that Chen Xiangbei's karting resume was completely blank. If the Chinese newcomer had many years of karting training experience, then his talent level would be greatly reduced.

After all, an eighteen-year-old "newcomer" who has trained for many years should be better than a sixteen-year-old student.

"Okay, go ask."

"Also, send me Chen Xiangbei's track data today."

Nakajima Satoru plans to personally see Chen Xiangbei's lap video and track data.

Honda will officially withdraw from F08 at the end of 1, and Ross Brawn will then buy out the team for £1. Nakajima Planning is planning to recruit some of the retired Honda F1 team members.

If Nakajima Satoru wants to compete in higher-level formula events, he will definitely need a stronger racing team. Who can be stronger than the Honda F1 team at this stage?

At the same time, Nakajima Satoru is still looking for potential drivers as reserve talents for the future team. Chen Xiangbei's strength in the wet and fastest lap have attracted his attention.

"Yes, Principal Nakajima, I'll make a copy and send it over."

After agreeing, Hiroki Sawano left the room.

Chen Xiangbei naturally didn't know about the conversation between the top executives of Honda Racing Academy. After signing the driver contract, he went to the gym to do physical training.

Track driving is extremely expensive, especially at the Formula One level. Even with Honda's deep pockets, it's impossible to support an unlimited number of trainees for real-world track training.

In most cases, drivers who enter the racing academy still focus on physical training and simulator training.

In terms of physical training, there is not much difference between Huasai and Honda Racing Academy. After all, the equipment is not expensive and the driver training programs are not complicated. The biggest difference between the two lies in the racing simulator.

You should know that the simulators used by colleges or racing teams are all "custom-made" by engineers and are often not available on the market.

Even if there is, it is an old model that has been retired.

More importantly, hardware is only one aspect of a realistic driving experience. Software-related track data, car tuning parameters, simulation feedback parameters, and so on are completely unknown to the outside world and are considered internal secrets of the Honda Group.

Without sufficient background and scale, colleges or factory teams cannot create highly realistic racing simulators, and Huasai’s strength is far behind.

This is why young drivers all want to join the big teams. The resources they can provide are far more than just money.

In addition to these regular projects, compared with the makeshift team, the Honda Racing Academy also has to learn theoretical knowledge of automotive engineering.

Many top drivers just don’t have a diploma, but that doesn’t mean they are illiterate!

The driver must have a very clear understanding of the various structures and parameter performance of the racing car. Only in this way can he have in-depth communication with the race engineer and express the racing effect he wants to adjust.

If you don’t even know the professional terms for auto parts, no one, let alone a racing engineer, will know what feedback you are trying to get.

Even at the F1 driver level, with the widespread use of aero kits, you still have to learn about aerodynamics, understand the performance differences brought about by the opening and closing angles of the front and rear wings, and how much downforce is needed for different tracks.

To put it bluntly, only when the driver knows his car better than anyone else can he achieve the state of unity between man and car during the race and run at a speed that his opponents cannot reach!

Just as Chen Xiangbei was doing physical training, several students from the academy came in one after another, with slightly embarrassed expressions on their faces.

I originally planned to pick on the weak ones, but who would have thought that I would hit a hard iron plate.

As for Chen Xiangbei, he simply chose to ignore it and continued exercising at his own pace.

He is not an enthusiastic and outgoing person. Moreover, with his arrival, almost 100% of the students of the same level will be eliminated in the subsequent competition.

Both parties will go through this short training period and will not have any more interactions in the future, so why waste time on building interpersonal relationships?
What the racing king Schumacher said is really profound: the champion is destined to be lonely!

The half-day physical training passed quickly. Since the Honda Suzuka Racing Academy didn't provide accommodation for junior trainees, Chen Xiangbei had no choice but to take a shuttle bus back to the city. Fortunately, the distance was short and the buses were frequent, so the commute wasn't much of a problem.

However, he was somewhat suspicious whether Qin Lianjie had anticipated this situation and had specifically told him to live in his spare apartment. Otherwise, it would be relatively more troublesome for Chen Xiangbei to live in a hotel or rent a house.

There are still a few lights on in the racing academy office building at night.

Sawano Hiroki was looking through Chen Xiangbei's driver profile, his expression growing increasingly strange until he couldn't help but ask Mizutani Sho, "Is that all?"

He had clearly requested a detailed training history, but the result was no different from before. The only difference was the addition of the 08 CKC annual championship title to Chen Xiangbei's karting resume.

How did this CKC championship title come about? How could Hiroki Sawano, the academy director, not know this? In order to upgrade their driver's licenses and participate in competitions, many low-level formula drivers often choose some unpopular competitions to "fish" and score points.

It’s like Zhou Guanyu got a contract with the Sauber team in later life. He was still a few points away from getting a super license, so he urgently returned to the Asian F3 event to fish and won the 21st championship title, which allowed him to pass the test smoothly.

But Huasai's operation was a bit too ugly...

"That's it. I've confirmed this with Miyamoto."

Sho Mizutani's reaction when he first saw it was exactly the same as Hiroki Sawano's now, and he called to confirm it immediately.

"Does this mean this Chinese newcomer really have no professional karting experience?"

"No, but..."

"But what?"

Sawano Hiroki asked again.

"Miyamoto said that Chen Xiangbei mentioned that his foundation came from a racing simulator."

"Where does China get the top racing simulator?"

"do not know."

Mizutani Sho shrugged. Even Miyamoto Shio didn't understand this question.

The reason why Hiroki Sawano wanted to know Chen Xiangbei's karting training experience was because this could be used to determine the driver's talent ceiling.

You should know that karting can bring the most intuitive improvement in car feel. Even many F1-level drivers will occasionally drive karting to practice their driving feel. It is an indispensable part of formula drivers.

Why is Sato Takuma considered to be very talented even though his F1 performance is average?

Normally, it takes three to five years to develop a feel for karting, but Takuma Sato skipped that stage, progressing from karting to F1 in just five years.

If you count his karting career, Verstappen spent more than five years!
If Chen Xiangbei had also skipped his karting career, his age of eighteen would not be a disadvantage at all. On the contrary, he would have possessed a historical level of racing talent.

It's just that China's racing system is chaotic and backward. Events like the China Racing Championship are going to close down anyway, and even the CKC championship titles are handed out at will. There is no way to judge the authenticity of Chen Xiangbei's resume.

"Director Sawano, I actually think there's a method that can be used for testing."

"what way?"

"Since Chen Xiangbei said he gained his foundation from the simulator, then we should let him train on it. As long as he can demonstrate adaptability and speed on any track, does the authenticity of his resume matter?"

Mizutani Sho's words woke Hiroki Sawano up, and he realized that he had indeed been too serious and had walked into a dead end.

What I want is Chen Xiangbei's driving skills, not the few lines of text on the driver's information. As long as the racing simulator can demonstrate all-round adaptability and speed, karting experience is really not important!

(End of this chapter)