Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 92: Meet at the Top

When Hiroki Sawano said that he would be the race engineer, not only Keiichi Tsuchiya and Aguri Suzuki were surprised, but even Chen Xiangbei looked at him in disbelief.

After spending some time together at the Honda Racing Academy, Chen Xiangbei wholeheartedly recognized Hiroki Sawano's character and coaching ability.

Although Hiroki Sawano was taciturn and serious, and seemed difficult to get along with, he was actually rigorous, professional, and fair, and never treated any student differently, including himself, a new Chinese student.

During the training, Chen Xiangbei also received a message from Mizutani Sho.

The reason why I was able to come to Honda Racing Academy was that Hiroki Sawano went against everyone's opinion and gave me a trial opportunity!
Without Hiroki Sawano's persistence, there would be no Chen Xiangbei today.

Or to put it another way, without Hiroki Sawano's "insight", Chen Xiangbei would have to go through many twists and turns if he wanted to successfully enter the real Formula One system and get a ticket to European racing.

At the same time, as Chen Xiangbei turns 19 after the Chinese New Year, his age increases, and in the eyes of the outside world, his "shortcomings" become more and more obvious, so he will not be easily given the opportunity to sign or try out, and to some extent he will fall into a vicious circle.

However, it was precisely because of Hiroki Sawano's professional competence that Chen Xiangbei never set his sights on him as the team member.

The reason is simple. Think about it, why would the director of Honda Racing Academy, a former Japanese Super Formula and Super GT champion, serve as a race engineer for one of your students?
It would be fine if he could run out of results, but if he fails, Hiroki Sawano’s efforts and rewards will be completely disproportionate.

Chen Xiangbei chose the lowest point in Japanese racing to take advantage of the opportunity to form his own racing team. There were many unrealistic ideas in it, which could be called a gamble.

But in other respects, he can be considered pragmatic.

At least Chen Xiangbei knew his own limitations and only wanted to get Liang Chi and the others in as low-level maintenance technicians, then slowly work his way up in the future. He had never dreamed of an "engineer" level career, let alone a technical or management level.

Now Hiroki Sawano has taken the initiative to give the opportunity!
"Zawano, are you sure you want to be the competition engineer for the Chinese students?"

Keiichi Tsuchiya asked in disbelief.

Although the ARTA team, like Nakajima Planning, is a member of the Pan-Honda camp.

The Honda NSX-GT used for racing is technically supported by Honda, and one of the major sponsors is Honda's own modification brand.

Even the F1 Super Aguri team used Honda engines and was known as Honda Team in the paddock.

But the ARTA team is not the Honda Group after all!

Hiroki Sawano chose to join the ARTA team and serve as a race engineer for a junior Formula One driver. He is definitely the type of person who tends to move to a lower position.

"Yes, I am sure."

Hiroki Sawano nodded expressionlessly. He had already thought about the hesitation and considerations on the way here. Now all he could give was the answer!
After hearing this answer, Keiichi Tsuchiya and Aguri Suzuki looked at each other with complicated expressions on their faces.

They had all worked with Hiroki Sawano before and were very familiar with his personality and abilities. To be able to make such a decision, this newcomer named Chen Xiangbei must have something extraordinary.

Is just a Renault Tour title, plus breaking Kamui Kobayashi's track record, enough to cooperate with the ARTA team?
Suzuki Aguri hesitated for a long time, then exchanged glances with Chen Xiangbei and Sawano Hiroki. He seemed to see the same thing in the eyes of these two people: desire and trust.

Aguri Suzuki's career was not smooth. At that time, Europe was full of discrimination and distrust towards Asian drivers. Even though Nakajima Satoru created a scoring history, there was still no major change in the overall situation.

In the first two years of his entry into the F1 paddock, he only appeared in the team once, sat on the bench for two years, and watched the water dispenser for two years.

Aguri Suzuki at that time, just like Chen Xiangbei today, hoped that the team would give him a chance to prove himself.

It was precisely because of this experience that Aguri Suzuki defined the founding purpose of the ARTA team as pointing the way from the bottom to the top.

Aguri Suzuki hopes that through his help, those young people who are talented but struggling to find an opportunity can reach the pinnacle of Formula One racing!
“I have never forgotten my original intention of rising from the bottom to the top.”

After that, Suzuki Aguri stood up, extended his hand and said, "Chen Xiangbei, the ARTA team welcomes you to join!"

Aguri Suzuki finally made his choice, and there are two reasons to support him.

The first point is that Chen Xiangbei was well prepared for this conversation. He specifically asked Hoshino Yoshi to meet him in the parking lot of the Capital High Road, hoping to use a sudden "attack" to disrupt the Chinese guy's deployment and witness the most realistic on-the-spot reaction.

Facts have proved that Chen Xiangbei accurately perceived his original intention and regrets, and his performance was excellent with neither arrogance nor servility.

In addition, there is the help of Hiroki Sawano. As an old colleague, he believes that the other party will not make a mistake in choosing people!

The second point is Suzuki Aguri, who is unwilling to let the Super Aguri team's years of hard work go to waste.

A complete withdrawal from the European Formula One paddock means that except for a small number of people who can return to Honda or be taken over by the ARTA team, most of the European team will face layoffs.

If you want to reorganize in the future, the cost and price you pay may be ten times what it is today!
Aguri Suzuki wants to maintain a small team to keep the foundation, but now Japan's most talented young drivers have basically been taken by other teams, and the remaining potential is obvious.

He originally wanted to push Yoshi Hoshino to go to Europe to maintain the racing team, and also take him as his apprentice and train him vigorously.

But the problem is that this guy is burdened by his family background, and his arrogant personality makes him unwilling to accept too much help. He always wants to solve problems on his own, which has affected the development of his career.

Now that Chen Xiangbei has appeared, Suzuki Aguri has seen a replacement candidate.

After all, Hoshino Yoshi was defeated by him. At the same time, the racing data sent by Nakajima Satoru showed that he was not inferior to Kamui Kobayashi at all. If all goes well, there is a great hope for him to reach GP2 (F2).

The only regret is that Chen Xiangbei is not Japanese.

But Super Aguri's failure also made Suzuki Aguri understand a truth.

That is, only successful people are qualified to be selected, and losers will only be eliminated.

The prerequisite for developing a Japanese driver development plan is to gain a foothold and succeed in the F1 paddock.

Otherwise, if there are no F1 teams, what will be used to slowly train Japanese drivers?
"Thank you, Suzuki-senpai, I will try my best!"

Chen Xiangbei stood up and shook hands, his tone filled with undisguised excitement.

Most of the time, he tends to be indifferent to breakthroughs and achievements, because Chen Xiangbei had approached or achieved these things in his previous life.

Standing on your own shoulders, success is a matter of course.

But in his previous life, Chen Xiangbei couldn't even dare to think about this matter!
In the American Liberty Media era of F1, only super factory teams are qualified to compete in it, and the drivers' capital has gradually become ineffective.

Only at the time of the 08 financial crisis did we have the last chance to qualify as a weak contender.

Just like Huali would choose this time to swallow up Volvo!
“Work hard, from the bottom to the top!”

Aguri Suzuki patted Chen Xiangbei on the shoulder, then asked Keiichi Tsuchiya to leave.

It is an open secret in the Japanese motoring world that both of them have run on the Wangan Line and the Shuto Expressway.

Or to put it more bluntly, among Japanese professional cyclists, there are only a handful who have never participated in underground competitions, and this has even reached the point where they do not even try to hide it.

The producer and technical director of the "Initial D" manga is Keiichi Tsuchiya himself, who once joked about "autobiography" in an interview.

But now that I'm older, I don't really race anymore unless I come to the Capital Express for a special occasion. Just like the glory days of Japanese cars in the 1990s, this generation of drivers is also aging.

The two of them walked out of the Japanese-style room, and the drivers present bowed very respectfully until they watched the Honda NSX drive away.

It was not a simple matter for Hiroki Sawano to drive away with Aguri Suzuki and form a team to go to Europe to participate in the Renault event.

A detailed plan and complete contract details need to be worked out, and both parties need to negotiate slowly.

In Hiroki Sawano's eyes, Chen Xiangbei, at his age, clearly lacked the skills and experience to pull this off. Since he had chosen him as his race engineer, the two parties had, in a sense, become a community of shared interests.

In addition, due to the long-term friendship between Hiroki Sawano and Aguri Suzuki, many business negotiations are much easier.

Just as Chen Xiangbei was about to chat with Hoshino Yoshi during their meeting, a Metropolitan Expressway driver came over and nodded at him, saying, "Hey, are you interested in a race?"

The underground drivers of the Capital High Heel Bay Coast Line have always been casual. Anyway, the streets are often "random challenges", so why not find this stranger in front of you and run a few laps for fun.

To be honest, many people at the scene were curious about Chen Xiangbei's identity. In theory, anyone who could be received by Boss Suzuki should not be too bad.

It is precisely because of this that some people want to try out Chen Xiangbei's "skills".

Hearing these words, it was like a reverse replica of the scene at Suzuka Circuit when Ichiro Hashimoto shouted at Yoshino Hoshino.

This time, Chen Xiangbei didn't react much, but Xingye Yi laughed, which was rare. "Xingye-kun, what's wrong?"

The driver was a little puzzled as to why Hoshino-kun was suddenly laughing.

"Taro, have you seen the recent Suzuka Circuit Winter Tour?"

"No."

The driver named Taro replied casually.

Japan's automobile racing system is very complete. A competition of this level, Formula Renault, has the advantage of an inertial atmosphere when held at the Suzuka Circuit, which is why there are nearly 10,000 spectators on site. However, this does not mean that this type of competition has a great influence.

Most underground drivers only care about the level of the competition, at least at the level of Japanese F3 or GT300, and have never heard of Renault.

"Xiang Beijun, he is the Reno Tour champion."

"Just a Renault Tour title?"

Taro had a strange look on his face, and many of the drivers nearby who heard Hoshino Yoshi's introduction also showed unintentional contempt.

Capital High is different from other underground racing events. There isn't much else here, except for a lot of professional racers.

There are countless drivers in levels such as Le Mans P3, Super Formula, Super GT, and German DTM, and there are several former F1 drivers.

Or to be more precise, at least more than half of Japan's F1 drivers have experience running on the Wangan Line and Shuto Highway. This was an open secret in the s, but it became much less common after .

A Renault Tour champion is just a small fry in the capital!

Seeing the attitude of the drivers around him, Hoshino Yoshi shook his head helplessly and said, "Taro, driving a Formula One car on the Suzuka Circuit, I'm at least 0.5 seconds slower than Kita-kun per lap."

"As for that mountain trail master you admire, Hashimoto Ichiro, he raced against Xiangbei-kun in a saloon car. In the GTR versus G35 showdown, he didn't last a minute before being overtaken."

"How long do you think it will take for Xiangbei-kun and I to run across Capital Highway before we're left behind and can't even see the taillights? One minute or 1 seconds?"

After hearing what Hoshino Yoshi said, Taro was stunned and stood there.

Although he mostly races in the capital, he really wants to be the "God of Racing in Akina Mountain". His idol is Ichiro Hashimoto, and he also hopes to become a disciple of the "Drift King" Keiichi Tsuchiya.

But his idol couldn't even last a minute on the track against the kid in front of him?

Even a top Japanese Super GT driver might not be able to do it.

Taro was not the only one who felt incredulous. The other Metropolitan Highland drivers present also had expressions of shock on their faces.

Soon they turned their attention to the person present, Ichiro Hashimoto, who was arrogant and often boasted that he was a disciple of Keiichi Tsuchiya.

If Yoshi Hoshino tells a lie, he will immediately deny it angrily!

But the result was contrary to expectations. Ichiro Hashimoto said nothing and his face was so gloomy that water could drip out of it.

He never expected that what happened at the Suzuka Circuit would be revealed by Yoshi Hoshino in such an occasion. How could he show off in the Metropolitan High School in the future?
Seeing the change in Hashimoto Ichiro's expression, the drivers present understood what was going on. Their expressions changed from suspicion and contempt to full shock.

When will a Renault-level champion become this strong?

Chen Xiangbei didn't pay much attention to the surprise of others. He didn't come here to run underground racing.

Instead, he pulled Hoshino Yoshi aside and asked, "Hoshino, you have Suzuki-senpai as your mentor, and you've also shown talent and strength on the track. Why do you insist on staying in underground racing? There are many other options in professional racing."

Chen Xiangbei knew that Yoshi Hoshino must have played a significant role in his meeting with Suzuki Aguri. He always believed in giving sincerity to others and that helping others was a mutual act.

If he had not stood up for Yoshio Hoshino and left a good impression on him at the Suzuka Circuit, he would naturally not have received the "reward" for his matchmaking today.

On the other hand, since the two are already friends, Chen Xiangbei really doesn't want to see Hoshino Yoshi become addicted to underground racing.

This thing is fine for fun, and many professional drivers race it from time to time, but it can't be used to make a living.

"I know, but I need the money more now."

At this point, Hoshino Yoshi had completely concealed nothing from Chen Xiangbei.

His purpose in running underground racing was very clear, which was to get more money to treat his mother's illness.

At this moment, there is a cruel reality in the racing world of China and Japan, or in other words, the entire Asian racing world. That is, the vast majority of middle and low-level professional drivers earn far less than underground drivers.

China's late start in the automotive industry meant it hadn't developed a systematic racing system, and its drivers lacked fame and influence. As a result, even the top CCC champions only received a mere 500,000 yuan in prize money.

You have to know that the entire CCC season is almost a year, and the championship only earns 500,000. After taking into account various losses and not counting sponsorship income, the drivers are essentially running at a loss.

So much so that even a famous person like Han Han often has to wait for his royalties to buy tires.

On the other hand, thanks to the rapid development of the economy and real estate, those who can afford racing in the underground are often a group of rich second-generations.

They have more spare money and don't care about spending it, as long as it makes the master happy.

As a result, there is an inverted relationship between professional bonuses and underground appearance fees. You can earn more by just being a gun for a show than by running a professional for a month.

This has led to a common phenomenon of professional riders participating in underground races.

The situation in Japan is just the opposite. Their racing system is too developed, and there are too many drivers emerging every year. There are too many people and too little meat, so the attention is concentrated on the "top stream", and naturally no one cares about the middle and lower levels.

It's like an advertiser looking for a sponsorship or a spokesperson, and they just pick someone from the professional world. They'll want a Super Formula title, a Super GT title, or at least a Super Endurance Championship title.

You are just an F4-level champion, but that really doesn't give you enough honor.

Yoshi Hoshino really needs money, especially after coming to an international metropolis like Tokyo. Only the income from underground competitions can allow him to maintain the expenses of himself and his mother.

Hearing this, Chen Xiangbei fell silent.

A penny can make a hero fall, not to mention that Yoshi Hoshino has reasons to do so.

"Hoshino, Principal Nakajima told me that he is helping you apply for the Honda Scholarship. This money will greatly relieve a lot of pressure."

"Even if it's still not enough and you still need to participate in underground competitions, I hope you won't give up professional training completely. Maybe we can meet again in the future."

Feeling the sincerity in Chen Xiangbei's words, Xingye Yi nodded solemnly and said, "Okay, I won't give up my career. I hope we can meet again in the future!"

The two men bumped fists to make an agreement, and Chen Xiangbei turned around and got into the Toyota Supra. He needed to rush back to Suzuka city overnight to inform Liang Chi of the news of the cooperation with the ARTA team.

At the same time, contact the members of the Donghai Huasai base as soon as possible to ask for their requirements and opinions on joining the new racing team.

After confirming everything, a formal contract was reached with Aguri Suzuki.

The Toyota Supra was driving on the highway on the return journey. This time, Qin Lianjie was driving, while Chen Xiangbei leaned back in his seat and looked at the night view of the city outside.

"Xiangbei, you are really amazing. I didn't expect you to make it this far."

Qin Lianjie said with great emotion that he watched Chen Xiangbei grow from a high school student to today's cooperation with the ARTA team. It was simply the birth of a miracle.

"It's just luck."

Chen Xiangbei replied with a smile, he did not take credit for himself.

"How can I be so lucky? No one else could have done it."

If someone else had said this, Qin Lianjie might have actually believed it. He witnessed Chen Xiangbei's efforts and persistence with his own eyes, and he admired him from the bottom of his heart.

"By the way, Xiangbei, the cost of self-funded racing is very high. Have you considered the source of funds?"

"If not, I can help."

(End of this chapter)