Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 82: A Clash of Geniuses (5K)

"Principal Nakajima, I think Chen Xiangbei's strength has reached a level where there is no need for a tryout."

Hiroki Sawano calmed down his shock and offered his suggestion to Nakajima Satoru.

Honda Racing Academy recruits this group of new students, mostly to participate in the Renault Winter Tour and compete for the ticket to the European Formula.

But the problem is that the registration scope of this race covers the entire Asia-Pacific region. In Japan alone, there are several well-funded factory teams such as Toyota Racing Academy and Nissan Youth Training Program who want to compete for this ticket.

In addition, private teams such as Aguri and Mugen are eyeing the team.

According to the original plan of the racing academy, an internal selection competition will be held to determine the strongest driver among the students to represent Honda in the Renault Winter Tour.

Now it seems that there is no need for this, as Chen Xiangbei is far ahead in terms of hard power!

"Let's wait and see how Yoshi Hoshino performs."

Nakajima Satoru did not agree immediately. Unlike Hiroki Sawano, who was just a "coach", as the principal of Honda Racing Academy and the founder of the "Nakajima Planning" racing company, he had to take into account more commercial and political considerations.

If allocated two places, he would also prefer the stronger Chen Xiangbei.

But if there is only one, Nakajima Satoru will have to weigh the pros and cons.

After Kamui Kobayashi, the Japanese racing world needs to create a new successor!
On the other side, Chen Xiangbei ran a few laps of the Fuji Speedway and then stepped out of the racing simulator.

After all, this is a racing academy, not the F1 team's private simulator, and each student has a time limit for practice.

The last person to do the simulation training was Yoshi Hoshino. When the two exchanged glances, Chen Xiangbei felt a fighting spirit from his eyes.

It was obvious that his lap time had stimulated Yoshi Hoshino's desire to win.

But Chen Xiangbei doesn’t care. Come if you want to challenge him!

The steps leading to F1, the highest palace of racing, are climbed one by one by Formula One opponents or teammates. There can only be one winner.

Hoshino Yoshi was sitting in the four-axis cockpit setting his own driving parameters. Chen Xiangbei took a look and saw that this guy's tuning style tended to be oversteering, which is commonly known as drifting. It felt a bit like a rally driver or a drift driver.

The map for the first round was still the familiar Suzuka circuit. Just from the coordination of the accelerator and clutch at the start, Chen Xiangbei confirmed what Mizutani Sho had said before, that Hoshino Yoshi was indeed a top-notch talented master.

The other party's engine speed control is only less than 50 revolutions different from mine, and the starting power output is extremely close.

Yoshi Hoshino's line on the track is also very precise, far surpassing the previous Asia-Pacific Karting Champion Matsumoto Brown.

Remember, just because a championship title is big doesn't guarantee a high-caliber champion. Even in top-tier karting events like F2, for example, there are still plenty of fake champions.

For example, among the five F2 champions from 19 to 23, only Piastri of the McLaren team can be regarded as a qualified talented driver. The other four, such as de Vries, Mick Schumacher, etc., are too watered down to gain a foothold in F1.

Hoshino Yoshi ran out of speed in the first lap very quickly, 2 minutes 06 seconds 011, half a second slower than Chen Xiangbei.

But this was not Hoshino Yoshi's limit. He pushed forward more fiercely in the second lap, and it was obvious that he wanted to challenge Chen Xiangbei's lap time.

2 minutes 05 seconds 135!

Faced with this lap time, there was a cry of surprise in the hall.

This group of students never expected that they would be able to see two drivers driving simulators and break the lap record of the Suzuka Circuit in one day.

When did Kamui Kobayashi's records become a common item sold at street stalls?

Soon, Yoshi Hoshino entered the rhythm of the third lap. In this lap, he gave his all and put in 100% of his effort. He went beyond what he thought was his limit in every corner!
When the time 2 minutes 05 seconds 011 appeared on the big screen, Hoshino Yoshi felt his breath instantly deflated. He tried his best but was still 0.1 second slower!
At this time, all the students in the hall showed expressions of regret. If it were just 0.1 second, Hoshino would have regained the title of the strongest student, but now it is still occupied by a Chinese newcomer.

After running this lap, Yoshio Hoshino got off the simulator directly. He did not train at Fuji Speedway again.

The reason is simple. Yoshi Hoshino is not familiar with the Fuji Speedway, and his lap time will only be further behind Chen Xiangbei.

Besides, it has been confirmed that the host track for the Japanese F1 Grand Prix next year will return to the Suzuka Circuit, so practicing at the Fuji Speedway has become meaningless.

"Hasn't Xingye been able to outrun Chen Xiangbei?"

Nakajima Satoru looked a little embarrassed. He had thought that his brilliant collision of ideas would inspire Hoshino Yoshi's competitive spirit and potential.

In fact, this is indeed the case. Yoshio Hoshino broke his own fastest lap on the simulator.

But just when Hoshino Yoshi broke through, he was still unable to outrun Chen Xiangbei, forcing Nakajima Satoru to face reality.

That is, Japan's new generation of talented drivers may really not be as good as this Chinese newcomer.

"Principal Nakajima, have you noticed the difference between the two people's states?"

"Even if he runs faster, he will be overtaken by Chen Xiangbei in no time."

Hiroki Sawano shook his head and replied. Although his professional achievements were not as good as Nakajima Satoru's, he still maintained his pure love for racing after retiring and treated the two students with an absolutely fair attitude.

Hoshino Yoshi's performance has reached his limit, but Chen Xiangbei appeared very calm from beginning to end, and did not show any sense of crisis of being challenged.

Hiroki Sawano had only seen this state of absolute confidence in winners, which meant that Chen Xiangbei's lap speed had not yet reached its limit, and he was confident of winning!
In fact, there was no need for Hiroki Sawano to remind him. Nakajima Satoru had already seen that Chen Xiangbei had not reached his limit when he was running laps on the simulator.

The reason is simple, Chen Xiangbei always maintains the regular route!

This does not mean that there is a problem with conventional routing, but that there are no vehicle damage and safety issues in racing simulators. Practice drivers often push their limits, such as eating up all the curbs, etc.

In the video of actual running in the rain, Chen Xiangbei dared to go hard on the curb, but he didn't dare to do that when running on a simulator.

How could a driver of Nakajima Satoru's level not be able to retain his strength?

It's just that he was reluctant to admit it.

After a long silence, Nakajima Gocai said with mixed feelings, "Zawano, you should focus on training Chen Xiangbei during this period. If he can maintain this high level of competitive form, he will represent the Honda Racing Academy in the Renault Winter Tour."

Nakajima Satoru finally made a compromise. The Honda Racing Academy needs to provide opportunities for local drivers, but it needs stronger drivers to achieve good results.

When you are strong enough to defeat your competitors, nature becomes the only choice.

……

On the other side, Hoshino Yoshi returned to the student team and met Chen Xiangbei's eyes again.

This time he hesitated and said, "You are very powerful. I can't outrun you."

In the eyes of others, Yoshio Hoshino was only 0.1 second slower. If he had performed better, he might have won.

But only he himself knows how extreme this circle is.

In a sense, the lap time in Formula One is very similar to the 0.1-meter sprint. seconds is often an insurmountable chasm for the drivers!

What's more, Hoshino Yoshi could also see that Chen Xiangbei's limit was more than 0.1 second faster.

Originally, Chen Xiangbei was just a little curious about Hoshino Yoshi and wanted to know how strong this new generation of talented Japanese drivers was.

As the other party said this, he felt a little more appreciative.

This is not to say that the other party is praising oneself, but that most people in this world cannot afford to lose, especially when the lap times of the two are very close.

The fact that Yoshino Hoshino can admit defeat calmly shows that on the one hand he can afford to lose, and on the other hand it shows that he can understand the deep gap behind it.

Only by knowing where your opponent is strong can you have hope of catching up and surpassing him, which indirectly proves that Yoshio Hoshino has higher talent potential.

"You're good too."

Chen Xiangbei replied, and Hoshino Yoshi smiled after hearing it. He was actually not a talkative person.

The simulator practice continued. Before the second round, Chen Xiangbei found the competition engineer Mizutani Xiang and provided feedback on some underlying tuning parameters.

Miyamoto Shio, who was sent by Huasai, once said that the Chinese kid could adjust the car, but Mizutani Sho has always been skeptical.

It’s good enough that you can drive. You told me that the newcomer can adjust the car. Are you kidding?
Facts have proved that Chen Xiangbei really can do it!
After the second round of simulation practice, Chen Xiangbei set a lap time of 2 minutes 04 seconds on the Suzuka Circuit, improving the lap time by another 674 seconds and surpassing the real track record by nearly 0.3 second!
You have to know that Formula One racing has a theoretical limit, and the closer you get to it, the harder it is to break through.

Not to mention improving by 0.3 seconds, even a thousandth of a second would be considered a breakthrough. Furthermore, Mizutani Sho discovered that Chen Xiangbei's fastest lap time was already close to the ideal lap time calculated by the computer!

This means that all of his car feedback adjustments are valid parameters.

The emergence of this situation completely overturned Mizutani Sho's understanding. As a competition engineer, his understanding of car parameters was not as good as that of a newcomer who had just joined the academy for two days?
In fact, Chen Xiangbei can achieve this, but it doesn’t mean that he is really omnipotent.

Rather, the basic performance of Renault racing cars has not changed much. The performance of later simulators is much stronger than that of 08, and the data generated by the central computer is naturally more accurate.

On the other hand, Chen Xiangbei was a Formula One driver in his previous life. Due to his poor foundation and lack of money, the team did not provide many resources. Most of the time, he repaired and adjusted the car with the technicians himself instead of being a hands-off boss.

This situation of being a part-time maintenance technician was once a common phenomenon among Chinese drivers. His understanding of mechanical performance is no less than that of an ordinary engineer.

At this point, Sawano Hiroki is basically certain that as long as the weather improves and the track conditions are suitable, Chen Xiangbei will be able to run a lap close to or even surpass Kobayashi Kamui's time in actual racing.

At least the talented Asian-level drivers have begun to emerge!
After the morning simulator training, the trainees dispersed for lunch before continuing with the afternoon's physical training. Due to the weekend track open day, there were no race car driving practices today.

Because the Suzuka Circuit is not just an F1 track, it is actually a comprehensive scenic spot.

There are various racing experience activities here, allowing ordinary people to enjoy the fun of going to the track. In addition, there is a Honda Automobile Museum, which is crowded with car enthusiasts and tourists every weekend.

After lunch, Chen Xiangbei sat in the stands above the pits, watching the bustling Suzuka Circuit. This was a habit of his, a quiet escape from the hustle and bustle of the circuit to relieve the fatigue and stress of his job.

After all, humans are not machines.

Not long after sitting there, Chen Xiangbei saw a familiar figure. Yoshi Hoshino appeared in the maintenance passage with a backpack on his back, walking towards the exit of the track.

【Are you going home now?】

Seeing this scene, Chen Xiangbei was a little confused. Logically speaking, Hoshino Yoshi had good talent and should have worked hard to realize his talent.

This guy didn't show up yesterday, was late and left early today. Even the highest talent couldn't withstand such squandering. Furthermore, most of the true racing prodigies in this world were still frantically "refining Gu" in the European region.

Chen Xiangbei's intuition told him that Hoshino Yoshi was not the kind of person who would be lazy or arrogant, so he called out, "Hoshino Yoshi!"

Hearing Chen Xiangbei's shout, Hoshino Yoshi stopped, looked up and looked towards the stands.

After hesitating for a moment, Xingye Yi finally walked up the steps on the left, sat next to Chen Xiangbei and asked, "What's the matter?"

"You're going back now, don't you plan on training?"

"I have a part-time job in the afternoon."

"What about yesterday?"

"Yesterday was another part-time job."

Faced with such an answer, Chen Xiangbei was speechless for a moment. He really didn't expect this to be the case.

The contract content of Honda Racing Academy only covers the training and competition expenses of students, and there is no basic salary or sponsorship share.

After all, he is just a trainee, not a real Honda driver.

This means that the students have to bear the daily expenses not related to training themselves, such as Chen Xiangbei's commuting and accommodation expenses.

But then again, Yoshino Hoshino is a local and doesn't need to rent a house. If he only considers his daily expenses and commuting, he would have to work several jobs to make ends meet, to the point of affecting his training.

"Do you spend a lot?"

Chen Xiangbei asked back in confusion, Hoshino Yoshi's clothes were ordinary and there was no sign of luxury.

To this, Yoshi Hoshino did not respond, but just looked at the distant track with a complicated expression.

At this moment, several top performance cars drove into the maintenance lane, including the famous "God of War of Japan" GTR, Audi RS4, and the "Rotor King" Mazda RX7.

As Japan's top race track, you can not only rent a car here on open days, but you can also drive your own performance car here for fun, but the various insurance fees will be more expensive.

The car door opened and a group of men and women dressed very flamboyantly got out. This era happened to be the heyday of Japan's visual kei and China's Shamatte. Many strange costumes and even "monster-like" creatures could be seen on the streets.

Of course, this group of people is not that exaggerated, and they are somewhere between trendy and non-mainstream.

Chen Xiangbei had no interest in people, but these cars attracted his attention.

Especially the "Rotor King" Mazda RX7FC. In the movie version of "Initial D", Ryosuke Takahashi, played by Edison Chen, drove this car.

He also left behind a classic quote: "You can't beat my FC!"

But soon Chen Xiangbei saw a "familiar" face among this group of people. To be more precise, it was a head of purple hair that was too conspicuous.

Qin Lianjie's sister Qin Qiuyu was actually among this group of people.

After getting out of the car, Qin Qiuyu looked around the Suzuka Circuit with a hint of excitement on her face. Just as she looked up, she saw Chen Xiangbei, who was looking at her from the stands above the maintenance station.

Although the two of them had only met once in the corridor, since they had met not long before this morning, she recognized who he was.

Qin Qiuyu had no idea what Chen Xiangbei was doing in Japan, or perhaps she wasn't interested in finding out. If her brother hadn't specifically told her and told her to listen to his friend, the two of them wouldn't have had any contact.

When Qin Qiuyu saw Chen Xiangbei appear at the Suzuka Circuit, an expression of surprise appeared on his face. Could it be that his brother's friend was here to travel to Japan?
Just at this moment, a man with a flat head got out of another car and noticed that Qin Qiuyu was looking up at something, so he followed her gaze and looked over.

After seeing the two people in the stands, a mocking expression immediately appeared on the face of the man with the flat head. He was not targeting Chen Xiangbei, but Hoshino Yoshi who was sitting next to him.

"Hey, isn't this Hoshino-kun? What a coincidence."

When he saw this flat-headed man, Hoshino Yoshi's face instantly turned ugly.

"Do you know?"

Seeing this, Chen Xiangbei asked.

"I ran against him and lost."

Lost?

Chen Xiangbei was a little surprised to hear this.

The strength that Yoshi Hoshino showed on the simulator definitely puts him at the top level among his peers. How could he lose to such a Shamatte guy with a flat head?

Chen Xiangbei doesn't judge people by appearance, this guy with a flat head really doesn't look like a master.

"Well, the one who lost in the mountain race is called Hashimoto Ichiro, a disciple of Tsuchiya Keiichi."

Chen Xiangbei had heard of the name Keiichi Tsuchiya. He was the prototype of Takumi Fujiwara in "Initial D". He holds the title of "Drift King" in Japan and has won the All Japan Touring Car Championship and the runner-up in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

But Chen Xiangbei didn’t understand why Hoshino Yoshi, a Formula One driver, wanted to race on a mountain track with the other party.

Could it be that like many people in China, you are influenced by comics and want to become the "King of Driving in Akina Mountain"?
Seeing that Yoshi Hoshino ignored him and was talking to the boy next to him, Ichiro Hashimoto felt a little embarrassed and his face darkened.

He rushed up the stairs and rushed in front of the two of them, continuing to provoke: "Xingye, remember this, as long as I'm here, you won't get any prize money from the Yufeng Mountain Tournament!"

Hoshino Yoshi didn't want his personal affairs to affect Chen Xiangbei, which was considered very rude in Japan, so he said, "Sorry, Xiangbei-kun, I have to leave first."

After saying that, Hoshino Yoshi stood up and prepared to leave.

However, the more Yoshi Hoshino ignored him, the more furious Ichiro Hashimoto became.

He didn't know why his defeated opponent was so arrogant in front of him. At the same time, the result of that mountain road race had been questioned by many drivers, which became a knot in Hashimoto Ichiro's heart.

He simply blocked her path and shouted, "Xingye, don't say I'm bullying you with the mountain trail. Today, let's have a race on the track and make sure you lose!"

After hearing what Hashimoto Ichiro said, Hoshino Yoshi had not responded yet, but Chen Xiangbei couldn't help but burst out laughing.

What was going on in Ping's mind when he chose to race at his home circuit, Suzuka, with a Formula One driver?

(End of this chapter)