F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 17 The world of racing is a game of "If you don't eat me, I'll eat you."

The track is very large, and with relatively few participants, traffic congestion is rare. This means that everyone has ample time to set their fastest lap within the qualifying time limit.

Louis started lapping before there were many people on the first track. Shu Long didn't rush out because another guy in the club who was eyeing the track wasn't going out either.

It seems my initial feeling was right; this person definitely has other ideas and might be planning to sabotage me in the ranked matches.

With the time for the ranking matches dwindling, Shu Xiong grew impatient and couldn't help but urge Han Li with his eyes several times.

no solution anymore.

Some ideas were ultimately just Shu Long's unfounded guesses. Even if he was confident that he could set a satisfactory lap time in one or two laps, it was understandable that Shu Xiong felt uncertain since the steering wheel was not in his own hands.

After warming up his tires at the starting gate, Shu Long kept an eye on the waiting area out of the corner of his eye and noticed that his friend from the club had disappeared without a trace.

Could it be that you've misunderstood them?
The reason he didn't want to start early was because it's not that difficult to interfere with opponents in a qualifying race. The simplest way is to "just happen" to come out of the starting grid when others are about to push into the flying circle and give them a surprise.

Once you're on the track first, you've essentially given away the initiative in making your choices.

But it seems that everything is fine now. Wu Xu probably doesn't have the courage to risk everything to drag others down with him. He probably wants to take back what should belong to him through his own performance.
No way! If that were the case, wouldn't all the groundwork have been laid for nothing?

As its name suggests, the Shenzhen Speed ​​Circuit is a high-speed track with a very high average speed. Most of the curves are relatively smooth obtuse angles, and even the U-turns have a very large arc.

In other words, this track actually tests a driver's ability to control the throttle and steering more than braking.

When everyone is going very fast, whoever can press the accelerator harder without losing the car's balance in the corners will basically win the race.

High-speed tracks mean that the slipstream effect will have a greater impact on performance, but for these drivers who are on average the youngest in the field, sucking in slipstream is not a very good option.

Most people haven't been involved in go-karting for very long, and having to follow another car while avoiding being distracted by the car in front is not an easy task for them.

During a race, it doesn't matter much since everyone is affected by the cars around them to some extent. However, during qualifying, most people prefer to race alone without any distractions in front of them. At least that way, there won't be many uncontrollable factors affecting their performance.

But someone doesn't really care.

Shu Long's progress on the "Eagle Eyes" entry has reached 77% after half a year of practice. This entry represents not only his unique dynamic vision, but more importantly, the speed at which his brain processes the information captured by vision.

Some people may have a physiological basis for rapid reaction, and their bodies can make emergency reflexes in a very short time.

It's like suddenly asking a question like 1726349+9190515, and someone answers at lightning speed, "It equals 10!" Forget about whether it's right or wrong, just tell me how fast it is!

However, their brains are unaware, or rather, unable to promptly recognize, the meaning represented by the information they receive, let alone make the right choice after careful consideration and judgment.

Shulong, on the other hand, does not have these troubles.

The fact that the unlock rate of the "Reaction and Recruitment Speed" stat was as high as 71% when it appeared shows that even without specialization in other stats, the Shulong's base form is inherently outstanding in terms of reaction.

If reaction speed represents the rate at which the brain receives and processes signals, then the significance of this recruitment lies in enabling Shulong's body movements to keep up with the signals output by the brain. In his view, many unexpected situations that catch ordinary people off guard are slowed down by about 10%.

Unsure of his opponents' actual lap times, Shu Long slowed down slightly before the starting straight, intending to catch a car that was taking a flying lap and follow behind to get a taste of the slipstream.

Just as he was about to accelerate, a bull suddenly appeared from behind and cut him off between the car in front and the car in front.

Who else could it be? You can tell it's Wu Xu just by looking at the helmet.

Okay, I guess you have guts!

Shulong's rhythm wasn't disrupted, but the long-awaited east wind was ruined. However, seeing that Wu Xu had also entered the advancing rhythm at almost the same time, he simply changed the target of the tail current.

But Wu Xu's antics are clearly far from over.

Wu Xu's ability to consistently rank among the top three in club matches is far superior to that of a mediocre player like Gao Yang. Not only is his defensive vision and awareness better, but his car control skills are also sufficient to help him conceal his ulterior motives.

Unlike Shu Long, who was experiencing the Shenzhen Speed ​​Circuit for the first time, Wu Xu, a native of Guangdong, often runs to this circuit, which is not far from his hometown, to occasionally change things up. He has accumulated a lot of experience on this circuit.

This experience refers not only to methods for improving lap times, but also to the mature techniques accumulated from repeated experiences of being annoyed or annoying others on the track.

For the first three turns, Wu Xu at least looked like a normal person, but during the transition from turn four to turn five, Shu Long was caught off guard and found that the distance between him and Wu Xu suddenly shrank.

"That son of a bitch!"

In order to maximize the effect of the wake, Shu Long was already very close to Wu Xu. Fortunately, his current 89% [reaction, fundraising] attribute allowed him to respond almost immediately.

But the moment he stepped on the brake pedal, Shu Long immediately regretted it.

In the end, I still suffered from a lack of experience!

Turns 4, 5, and 6 are three consecutive large-arc "double apex" structures pointing to the right. Wu Xu released the accelerator at the point where he was about to grab the apex of Turn 5, which was the moment when the car was still spinning but the acceleration was at its most intense.

If you suddenly slam on the brakes at this moment, even just a little bit, fishtailing is almost inevitable, and Shulong is no exception.

The entry for "[Friction Control]" is actually clickbait.

While it's called control, it only means that the dragon can fully utilize the friction force when its perception of friction is accurate to the millimeter, but it cannot change the physical rules of this world.

However, it wasn't entirely without a way to salvage the situation. The instant the vehicle veered sideways, Shulong began to counter-steer in an attempt to regain traction by coordinating with the throttle.

However, the car's spin was too violent, and before Shu Long's remedial measures could take effect, the angle of rotation had already exceeded ninety degrees. At this point, the delayed power and the counter-rotating front wheels became the culprits that caused the car to continue spinning. In an emergency, a person's perception of time slows down significantly. In that brief instant, many thoughts raced through Shu Long's mind. After quickly filtering out a series of completely worthless emotions such as anger, regret, and relief, he soon returned to a brief state of calm.

He didn't blindly step on the brakes, nor did he haphazardly shake the steering wheel.

Shu Long maintained the angle of the counter-attack and let the race car continue to spin. When it reached about 270 degrees, he suddenly slammed on the accelerator and then, just as it was about to straighten out, he used his right foot to push off and press the steering wheel back.

The race car spun as it passed the shoulder of the fifth long turn, and just as the car straightened, Shu Long grabbed its neck and twisted it into the apex of the sixth turn.

"Haha, a whirlwind dance!"

Shu Long shouted excitedly inside his helmet. The sense of accomplishment he felt from saving the car was no less than winning a championship.

This is the most unscientific racing stunt in the recently released animated series "Lightning Speed."

When Yu Mujie pulled him to watch it, Shu Long scoffed, feeling that the things in the animation were complete nonsense. He thought that by the time they had made the race car spin, everyone else would be almost at the finish line.

But just now, he almost completed a similar operation, and the sense of accomplishment was completely different from when he played with a remote-controlled car!
He's handsome, he's really incredibly handsome!

But this spinning around wasted about two seconds, and Wu Xu had already pulled far ahead.

Row!
This round was basically over. After the sage state ended, Shu Long spent a lot of effort to calm himself down.

As soon as he started pushing forward on the second lap, he noticed that Wu Xu's car in front of him deliberately held back after turning one. Then, at turning three, he pretended to make a mistake and deliberately avoided the kerb, taking a huge arc and managing to get right back in front of Shu Long.

Although Songyou's slick maneuver in the previous lap affected his lap time to some extent, there is no doubt that Wu Xu's guaranteed time to cross the finish line is now higher. This is probably the source of Wu Xu's confidence to go all out in the final lap.

Perhaps not daring to be too obvious, Wu Xu only slightly shrugged his car before turn 11 to pretend to slow down, but quickly feigned slowing down to let the fast car move aside and let Shu Long pass.

They conceded, but not completely.

The right turn of number 11 is followed by a left turn. If Shu Long's normal racing line is outside-inside-outside, then Wu Xu blatantly took an outside-inside-inside line under the pretext of letting the car pass. It looks like he is simply moving towards the non-racing line, but he deliberately used the cross line to cut off Shu Long.

Okay, okay, that's how we'll do it!
When people are speechless to the extreme, they can actually burst out laughing. Wu Xu dared to mess with him like this, but Shu Long wasn't angry at all.

When they crossed the finish line, the time had already reached zero. Shu Long was in seventh place, Wu Xu was in fifth, and Louis was comfortably in second place.

Faced with his father's puzzled look, Shu Long had no intention of defending himself. Dealing with unexpected situations on the track is a compulsory course for any driver, and his current position can be considered as a result of his lack of ability.

If some scoundrel dared to do this even in the finals, and actually won, Shu Long would actually think more highly of him.

Shu Long wouldn't use his age as an excuse, nor did he intend to feel wronged by Wu Xu's bullying behavior. Once on the track, regardless of background or circumstances, everyone has only one identity—a race car driver.

Racing is a cruel world, and the desire to win is the most basic element of the competition. Using tricks may mean sacrificing a driver's self-esteem, but it does not mean sacrificing the heart to win.

At lunchtime, even though Shu Xiong himself didn't have much of an appetite, he kept encouraging Shu Long, who was already so full he was burping, to store up more energy.

"I really can't eat anymore! This racing suit is hard to take off, aren't you afraid I might get water and soil incompatibility and end up having an accident on the race car?!"

It wasn't until Shu Long swallowed his pride and shouted that the piercing stares from those around him that Shu Xiong, this eccentric father, calmed down a little.

"Ha! You country bumpkin!"

Wu Xu, who deliberately passed by, was just saying it out loud for them to hear. Shu Xiong didn't need to get angry with an ill-mannered brat, so he just carefully observed his son's expression.

But they found that Shu Long didn't even bother to lift his eyelids, and didn't want to pay any attention to this arrogant person.

Not bad, not bad. It seems he has a fairly calm temperament.

Who wouldn't want to see their child, on whom they have placed high hopes, achieve great success? But after being enlightened by Han Li, Shu Xiong finally came to terms with it.

This is my first time participating in a competition, and I'm the youngest among all the contestants. So, my results this year are secondary. As long as I can gain enough experience and grow from the competition, that's enough.

While people had calmed down, it seemed that fate was disapproving of this injustice. Accompanied by a muffled clap of thunder, raindrops began to fall softly outside the racetrack.

Some people's faces fell, but someone else raised his face and defiantly raised his eyebrows.

Even in a dry competition, the dragon wouldn't be intimidated, but now that it's raining, what can these mortals use to fight against him?
Wu Xu looked unwell because he knew of Shu Long's freakish car control in the rain, and that Wu Xu, who had been mercilessly lapped in the rain-soaked monthly race six months ago that almost broke a British driver's spirit, was ranked 5th.

Five, bro!

According to the complete competition process of other groups, there is usually a preliminary and final round after the qualifying round. In addition to determining the starting order of the final round based on the points of the preliminary and final round, it is also to select the list of people who can enter the final round.

However, the number of participants in the NCJ junior group was much smaller than that of other groups. They usually couldn't even fill the 20 spots for the main race. In addition, the drivers were also young. So the organizers simply simplified the race process due to the weather and directly entered the finals in the afternoon according to the qualifying positions.

Even Shu Xiong, who was already lying flat, couldn't help but take a deep breath and silently straighten his back in the chair.

It was as if, in the fire pit that had been thoroughly drenched, the sparks of "hope" leaped out and bounced a few times in the pouring rain.

There's no need for modesty at this point; Shu Xiong clearly knows the unparalleled advantages his brat has in wetland conditions.

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　　Niche themes are not easy to come by; young seedlings need nurturing. Thank you for your support!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)