Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 84 New Track Record (6K)

"There's something wrong with this kid called Xiangbei!"

Ichiro Hashimoto's accompanying drivers raised doubts. They were all engaged in underground racing, so naturally their understanding of vehicles and driving skills was far greater than that of tourists who came to visit the Suzuka Circuit.

The coordination between the accelerator and the clutch is the most basic thing for a driver, but also the most difficult to master.

Not to mention ordinary drivers, even at the level of F1, there is still a clear difference between the good and the bad.

It's like Norris of the McLaren team in 24. He has good strength in all aspects and drives the strongest championship car in the second half, but he can never threaten Verstappen's championship status.

One of the main reasons is that even if Norris starts from the front row, his shortcomings in starting and grabbing the line will cause him to fall to the back.

In the top showdown, the drivers in the front row are like gods fighting each other. If you lose position, it will be extremely difficult to overtake them, not to mention that your opponent is the real hexagonal warrior Verstappen?
Chen Xiangbei, using a car with inferior performance, managed to achieve the same acceleration as a modified GTR. Either Hashimoto Ichiro made an operational error, such as burning out the tires, slipping, or shifting too slowly, or his throttle and clutch coordination was a notch ahead of his opponent.

Judging from the situation on the scene, it is more like the latter!
"Yamamoto-kun, what do you think of this kid's level?"

The young man driving the Audi RS4 asked the driver of the Mazda RX7.

As an underground mountain racer, Ichiro Hashimoto came to the Suzuka Circuit today more to accompany the driver named "Yamamoto-kun".

His full name is Naotaka Yamamoto. He is a disciple of the Japanese racing legend Kunimitsu Takahashi. The famous Japanese SUPER GT event was created by him.

Yamamoto Naoki also possesses incredible racing talent, and is a track driver who specializes in both Formula and touring car racing. He has won the Japanese Super Formula championship titles in 13 and 18.

The Japanese Formula Championship title is extremely valuable. It is second only to Formula One in speed and even faster than F2 (GP2). Many famous F1 drivers, including Schumacher, have won it.

At the same time, in 2018, Yamamoto Naoki partnered with F1 world champion Jenson Button to win the Japanese Super GT Drivers' Championship, truly standing at the pinnacle of Japanese circuit racing.

In 19, he was strongly pushed by the Honda Group to run the practice race instead of Red Bull driver Gasly. If it weren't for his old age and the crash, he might have been able to grab a seat by relying on the advantage of factory sponsorship.

However, these achievements are future history. Currently, Yamamoto is still preparing for the Renault European Tour. This ticket to the top level is what every Asia-Pacific driver wants.

"Very strong, at least professional level."

Yamamoto Naoki looked very serious when he said this.

He originally thought that this would be an entertaining way for Ichiro Hashimoto to bully the weaker players. After all, all the top Japanese players of the same age have competed against each other in karting or touring car competitions.

In the Honda Racing Academy, the only one who caught Yamamoto Naoki's eye was Yoshi Hoshino.

Now a kid appears out of nowhere, and the strength he showed at the beginning is at least not inferior to Hashimoto Ichiro. No wonder Hoshino Yoshi said that he is bound to lose.

Thinking of this, Naotaka Yamamoto looked at Yoshi Hoshino on the other side of the stands and walked over.

On the other side, although Chen Xiangbei did not fall behind at the start, when the two cars drove onto the track side by side, the gap between them immediately widened in the full throttle acceleration section.

Chen Xiangbei's G35 has a maximum horsepower of 275. According to Yoshi Hoshino's description, the opponent's GTR has a minimum horsepower of 350 or more, not to mention the difference in gear shifting response and modification optimization.

The 75-horsepower difference is enough to give the GTR a run for its money on the straights. After all, everyone knows how to throttle, and it's more about the physical properties of the vehicle than the driver's skill level.

At this time, Ichiro Hashimoto's GTR entered the corner first. Although he is a professional mountain racer, due to the status of Suzuka National Circuit, any Japanese driver is familiar with it.

Ichiro Hashimoto was very skilled at cutting corners and his speed far exceeded those of the entertainment enthusiasts on the track. Theoretically, Chen Xiangbei had no room to catch up.

With this confidence and pride, Ichiro Hashimoto looked into the rearview mirror after coming out of the corner, wanting to see how far he could leave his rookie opponent behind.

As a result, this one glance almost made him doubt his life. He happened to see Chen Xiang Beiji's smooth cornering line, and his speed in the corner was far superior to his GTR. He caught up in an instant with the distance he had opened up on the straight at full throttle.

[Nani, so fast? ]

Ichiro Hashimoto couldn't believe his eyes. Even when he was running on the track with Naoki Yamamoto, he was not so shocked by the other party!

Naotaka Yamamoto in the stands was in a similar mood to Ichiro Hashimoto at the moment. He had already seen the technical level of Chen Xiangbei's cutting through the corners, which was the standard way a Formula One driver used the curb.

If Ichiro Hashimoto continues to run on the mountain road, he will only be crushed.

The shoulder is like a "drainage ditch" in a mountain road, which is equivalent to using the widened road area to gain more routing space and faster cornering speed.

Unless a mountain road driver is a particularly familiar "local tyrant", he generally does not dare to use the drainage ditch to turn. Who knows whether the grille cover above is strong enough? If he drives over it and it breaks, he will be dead.

Their long-term driving memories have made them accustomed to driving within the white lines, especially at the first turn they encounter.

This is just like what Ryosuke Takahashi said about Kyoichi Sudo in the comic "Initial D". When professional riders go to race on mountain roads or streets, they will instinctively leave some space every time they take a turn.

Because there are no oncoming vehicles on the track, professional drivers will instinctively consider whether there will be a third-party vehicle on the opposite side when crossing the line and driving in the opposite direction, subconsciously leaving themselves room for reaction and control.

But the problem is that once you leave too much margin, it is equivalent to giving the car behind you the opportunity to overtake. Habits like this are often difficult to change all of a sudden.

"Xingye, this is the driver named Xiangbei, the new student at the Racing Academy?"

Yamamoto Naoki sat next to Hoshino Yoshi and asked.

The two of them had no prior grudges and were not very familiar with each other. At most, they had met a few times at competitions.

"Ah."

"How about I compete with you if I have some strength?"

"Much better than me."

Hoshino Yoshi stared at the track intently. He could now better understand why Principal Nakajima urged him to come and run the simulator. It was because Chen Xiangbei's actual track skills were more amazing.

Upon hearing this, Yamamoto Naoki widened his eyes.

Drivers are often a bit arrogant, and unless the gap in strength between the two sides is particularly large, it is difficult for them to frankly admit that they are not as skilled as their opponent.

Are newcomers so good?

Soon the scene on the track gave Yamamoto Naotaka the answer.

At Turn 2 of the Suzuka Circuit, Chen Xiangbei took advantage of his speed out of the corner to launch a head-on attack on Ichiro Hashimoto's GTR.

However, due to the high acceleration of the naturally aspirated car, it could not beat the twin-turbocharged "Japanese God of War". Chen Xiangbei's car only caught up to the front wheel position before being left behind by the opponent with its acceleration advantage.

However, the appearance of this scene has shaken Ichiro Hashimoto's confidence.

What does it mean to launch an overtaking attack directly in two corners when the performance is absolutely inferior?
Even if he is running on a track he is not good at, in Ichiro Hashimoto's mind, anyone who can do this must at least be a Super Formula or Super GT level driver.

He had never met Chen Xiangbei, which meant that this guy was just an unknown figure in the Japanese car world.

Is it possible that any newcomer that appears now has such exaggerated strength?
Ichiro Hashimoto couldn't believe it, but he was unwilling to admit defeat!

Even if the G35 is faster than itself, it is impossible to overtake it. The GTR can completely block the opponent's overtaking route with its performance advantage.

In addition, due to the open day, there were other performance cars running laps on the track, and these vehicles also became obstacles for Chen Xiangbei to overtake.

Faced with Ichiro Hashimoto's subsequent tough blocking of the overtaking line, Chen Xiangbei showed a smile.

Next is the continuous S-bends of the Suzuka Circuit. In Formula One racing, it is difficult to overtake in such low-speed bends, unless you seize the opportunity to overtake on the intersecting lines.

It is far inferior to the normal overtaking section, where you can overtake by sucking in the tail wind and ejecting, or by turning on DRS in a more simple and crude way in later generations to overtake your opponent.

But for drivers who are used to running on mountain roads, the continuous S-turns are similar to "five consecutive hairpin turns". The huge lead in cutting corners and taking lines will make Ichiro Hashimoto unstoppable here!
At this time, Chen Xiangbei began to speed up and braked late before entering the corner, making an action as if he wanted to overtake.

Upon seeing this, Ichiro Hashimoto immediately changed lanes to block the outer curve, leaving Chen Xiangbei no room to overtake. The two cars entered the curve almost head to head.

However, when passing the center of the corner from the outside to the inside, Chen Xiangbei downshifted and added gas to change lanes. The speed difference between the front and rear wheels caused by the explosive torque even caused the rear wheels of the G35 to burn out and drift.

At this moment, Ichiro Hashimoto was at the lowest speed at the center of the curve. He could only watch the front of Chen Xiangbei's car follow the outer side of the S-curve, and move from the rear wheel position to the front wheel position little by little, until the entire car body completely overtook him.

Being overtaken?
Looking at the taillights of the G35 in front of him, Ichiro Hashimoto's eyes were full of disbelief. The vehicle with inferior performance was forcing the outside of the vehicle to overtake the inside. This was a scene that could only appear in movies.

Before Ichiro Hashimoto could figure out what was going on, he saw Chen Xiangbei using an astonishing line speed to instantly leave GTR behind in a series of S-curves, leaving him no chance to catch up and overtake!

After only six turns, one-third of the Suzuka Circuit, and in less than a minute, the two cars had already decided the winner according to street racing methods.

Even if he ran according to the track rules, Ichiro Hashimoto's single lap speed could not be faster than Chen Xiangbei.

Several mountain road racers traveling with Hashimoto Ichiro were all stunned and stood there. They could feel that Chen Xiangbei was very powerful and it would not be easy to win this duel.

But they didn't expect that Ichiro Hashimoto would lose so quickly.

Even if F4 champion Yoshio Hoshino were to run in person, he might not be able to beat Ichiro Hashimoto.

This rookie who just sat in the stands to join in the fun and didn't even have a car, actually managed to crush Ichiro Hashimoto!
"It seems like it's just for fun."

Hoshino Yoshi repeated what Chen Xiangbei said with an emotional tone.

He was initially worried that Chen Xiangbei would take it lightly, but now Hoshino Yoshi understands that this is the confidence that comes from absolute strength.

The gap between the two is almost at the level of amateurs challenging professionals.

"Is he a student participating in the Renault Winter Championship?" asked Naoki Yamamoto.

"Ah."

After hearing Hoshino Yoshi's answer, Yamamoto Naoki's expression suddenly became serious.

Soon he will be competing against Chen Xiangbei on the track, and he will probably become the strongest opponent of this session.

After completing a lap in just over two minutes, Chen Xiangbei drove the Infiniti G35 directly back to the rental parking lot.

For him, this is the intensity of an after-meal exercise.

Back in the maintenance stand, everyone looked at him with complicated expressions. Hashimoto Ichiro had lost like this, and anything they said seemed like a joke.

Chen Xiangbei had no interest in mocking him, or perhaps he could say that even mocking an opponent of this level would lower his status when competing on the track.

He simply looked at Qin Qiuyu and said, "Go home and stop getting involved in underground racing."

In fact, it is not only this era. Even more than ten years later, the circle of rich second-generation international students still cannot avoid the extravagant life of playing with cars, watches, parties, etc.

Qin Qiuyu wasn't very old, and the fact that she'd been worried about him earlier proved she wasn't a bad person. It was simply a lack of discipline at home, coupled with a rebellious teenage pursuit of excitement.

Many people have gone through such a period of being young and naive, as long as they don't continue to go astray.

"I……"

Qin Qiuyu subconsciously wanted to argue, but the words didn't come out of her mouth.

The scene of Chen Xiangbei overtaking just now shocked her greatly. It turned out that the mountain drift driver who thought he was very powerful and cool would be so vulnerable on the track.

It was not until this time that Ichiro Hashimoto returned to the maintenance lane. He rolled down the window and said to his companions with a pale face, "Go back," then started the GTR again and drove directly away from the Suzuka Circuit.

This was the first time since Hashimoto Ichiro learned to drive that he was defeated without any chance of fighting back. He no longer even had the courage to face Chen Xiangbei.

When the others saw Ichiro Hashimoto's appearance, they knew that he was mentally broken. As his friends, it was impossible for them to stay at the Suzuka Circuit for fun, so they could only get in their cars and leave with him.

"Xiang Beijun, I'm going to work part-time."

Yoshi Hoshino picked up his backpack and stood up to go to his part-time job.

However, after taking two steps, he thought of something and turned back to remind him, "Xiangbei-kun, the driver of the Mazda FC just now is called Yamamoto Naoki. He is also a driver participating in the Renault Winter Tour."

"The driving skills you displayed on the track just now have already attracted his attention. He will definitely study your driving habits and running style. Be careful when the time comes."

Every driver has his own habits and style. Take the still-vintage "Big Brother" Alonso as an example. He is a rare driver who likes to understeer. His cornering style is to turn the steering wheel sharply and often prefers a "wide" running method that covers the entire outer shoulder.

If you want to overtake him, the cornering defense line must be biased towards the outside instead of sticking to the APEX point at the center of the corner.

Yamamoto Naoki?

When Chen Xiangbei heard the name, he felt a little familiar, but he couldn't remember who it was.

"Well, I see."

After saying this, Hoshino Yoshi turned and left, and Chen Xiangbei returned to the college gym.

……

In the following period, Chen Xiangbei's professional training can be said to be the same, or it can be said to be very different.

Since Nakajima Satoru and Sawano Hiroki have already confirmed his status as a core student, and coupled with the overwhelming leading strength demonstrated by Chen Xiangbei, he actually has no competitors for the qualification for the Renault Winter Tour.

Hiroki Sawano chose to give him a one-on-one special training before the game started!
You should know that although Chen Xiangbei reached the quasi-F1 driver level in his previous life, he did not receive systematic professional training in his early years, which resulted in his poor foundation and many rough details and flaws, which became the ceiling that limited his improvement.

Hiroki Sawano found many problems by repeatedly studying Chen Xiangbei's racing videos and the data fed back from the simulator.

He needs to use the standards of a top driver to correct Chen Xiangbei's roughness and flaws.

The Renault racing car was speeding on the track, and the Honda racing engineer in the P room was staring at the data changes on the screen. This time there were no other students present or interfering, and it was a complete limit test for Chen Xiangbei alone.

"Director Sawano, the excessive corrections to Bei-kun in Turn 5 are gone."

"I had a habit of sliding sideways while taking the line at Turn 9, but it's much better now and is within a controllable range for recovery."

“There is also the problem of heavy braking into Turn 12, which causes great damage to the tires.”

Sho Mizutani reported the track data to Hiroki Sawano over and over again. This was the last driving training before the start of the Renault Winter Tour and would determine Chen Xiangbei's final lap time.

As for Kamui Kobayashi's track record, no one mentions it now.

The reason is that as early as ten days ago, Chen Xiangbei became the record holder for Renault racing at the Suzuka Circuit with a lap time of 2 minutes 05 seconds!
"Director Zeye, I think this lap will break Xiangbei-kun's own track record."

As Mizutani Sho uttered these words, all the Honda team members in the production room turned their gazes toward him. Breaking the track record twice in just two weeks, his potential had already surpassed everyone's imagination.

"This lap was perfect. It's normal to break the course record."

Hiroki Sawano was much calmer. Chen Xiangbei not only had amazing potential, but also had a very high learning ability.

To be honest, many drivers have habitual flaws that are difficult to correct even if they know about them, or it takes a long time of repeated practice to change their instincts and muscle memory.

During this period, Chen Xiangbei corrected many of his braking habits and cornering methods, achieving an astonishing consistency in lap speed stability.

As long as the track conditions are good, it is normal to break the record again and improve.

Is it normal?
The expressions on the other team members’ faces when they heard this were amazing.

It's almost five years since Xiaolin-kun set the track record, and Chen Xiangbei hasn't seen anyone break it before...

As he whizzed out of the last corner, Chen Xiangbei's final speed for this lap came out.

2 minutes 05 seconds 135, compared with Kamui Kobayashi's original lap record, it was improved by 0.5 seconds!
When this astonishing figure came out, even many people in the knowledgeable college team in the P room couldn't help but gasp.

If there is no qualitative change in the performance of Renault racing cars, will anyone be able to break the track record set by Xiang Beijun in another five years?
"Xiangbei, collect the car and come back. You've already run a lap time of 2 minutes 05 seconds 135."

Hiroki Sawano announced this through the team voice, and one could sense his efforts to suppress the excitement in his voice.

When Chen Xiangbei heard this number, his emotions fluctuated rarely.

In F1, Kamui Kobayashi is considered a lower-tier driver, with his best finish being 1th in the championship standings. His GP2 performance before F was even worse, finishing th, almost at the bottom.

Imagine that in the future, even the F2 champion cannot guarantee a seat in F1. With Kamui Kobayashi's achievements, if there were no Japanese car manufacturers pushing him hard behind the scenes, he would probably have no hope of racing in F1 in his lifetime.

But he is an F1 driver after all. His weakness is only compared with those top talents in the paddock. If he were put in other competitions, he would still be killing people.

Being able to surpass the track record by up to 0.5 seconds, this result is enough to ensure that Chen Xiangbei can go to Europe to participate in competitions and face those potential F1 drivers with a fighting capacity.

Driving the car back to the maintenance lane, Chen Xiangbei adjusted his mood in a short time and returned to his usual calm demeanor.

Hiroki Sawano came to the racing car and helped unbuckle the seat belt while saying, "Xiangbei, you ran very well. That's all for today's training."

"Go back and have a good rest and prepare for tomorrow's Renault Winter Tour."

To be honest, the fact that he was able to break the track record on the last day of training is enough to demonstrate Chen Xiangbei's strong psychological quality.

If it were other students of the same age, they would not train to such an extreme, but would leave themselves space to relax and adjust their mindset.

For this reason, Hiroki Sawano did not conduct post-match analysis with Chen Xiangbei this time and let him go home to rest.

"Ah."

Chen Xiangbei took off his racing helmet, nodded in response, and then went to the driver's lounge to change into his racing suit.

Looking at Chen Xiangbei's receding back, Mizutani Sho finally spoke to Sawano Hiroki, "The only thing Xiangbei-kun lacks right now is racing experience. Judging from the race list, the only ones who can pose a threat to him are Yamamoto Naotaka of the Guoguang Racing Team and Ishiura Hiroaki of the Toyota Racing Team."

Mizutani Sho is not worried about Chen Xiangbei's strength at all. Coupled with the home advantage of Suzuka Circuit, his single lap speed has reached a level that no one can challenge.

But the competition is not a duel between people and tracks, but a competition between people.

Chen Xiangbei has a blank racing resume. His first competition was the difficult Renault-level tour, so it was questionable how much of his strength he could perform in a single lap.

"We'll find out tomorrow."

Hiroki Sawano didn't say much. He always had a feeling that this kid looked like a veteran on the track.

On the other side, Chen Xiangbei took the bus back to his apartment in downtown Suzuka. Since it was still early, he also bought some things to prepare lunch.

He entered the password to open the door, but the scene in front of him made him stand still. Liang Chi and Qin Lianjie were standing at the door, looking at him with teasing smiles on their faces.

(End of this chapter)