F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 23 You Can't Become a Racer Without Paying

Vestapan left in silence.

Judging from the look on the other person's face when they left, the boss thought he might have won the lottery.

Joss is known in the industry for his bad temper, but there is one thing that is common knowledge: this old guy has always regarded little Max as his proudest treasure.

When even bringing up his son didn't work, the boss realized just how valuable this introduced Eastern child really was.

The boss's name is Georg Hoffmann, a somewhat plump bald man who looks like a talking potato when he smiles.

Although he's Austrian, most people involved in the motorsports industry have basic English skills, so even without Lao Pan present, it didn't hinder his communication with the family.

From a business perspective, no matter how down-to-earth someone may look, their identity as a go-karting enthusiast cannot conceal the businessman's true nature revealed beneath their ten fingers, which are spotless and free of any oil or dirt.

Even if Shulong is likely to be the key to helping him turn around the brand crisis, the price he should set still need to be made clear.

Contrary to what Joss had initially proposed, the service fee offered by Reca Club for each competition was not only not inflated, but actually offered at a discount of about 20%.

There is no hard and fast rule that you must run all the WSK and Rotax Max races, which are relatively influential in Europe. However, to enjoy the above service discounts, you must at least ensure that you complete all the races of a single event, which means you have to compete for the final ranking.

The requirements don't sound too high. Some series may only have two events a year, and even the most popular ones only have about six or seven.

There was no problem with this condition; that was exactly what Shulong had planned.

In addition to guaranteeing Shulong that he would be provided with the best quality race car for every race, Georg also directly included a clause in the contract that would exempt him from one race car maintenance fee if he finished in the top three at each race.

That's such a great deal.

Shu Xiong, who had just heard the translation from his son, almost tipped over the small coffee table in front of him, but then obediently shrank back into the corner of the sofa under Zhang Xin's terrifying gaze.

Shu Xiong's excitement was understandable; the club's guarantee was practically equivalent to unlimited supplies of his engine and other replacement parts as long as Shu Long consistently finished in the top three.

Because he had been working as a mechanic for Shulong during domestic competitions, Shu Xiong had inquired about some things while chatting with others.

Don't be fooled by Rotax Max's fancy name, "standard engine," which claims that everyone uses the same components. However, clubs with resources can assemble a more powerful engine for you.

Believe it or not, some clubs have a dedicated department that does nothing but this: using instruments to select the most powerful engine, or even dismantling a car and reassembling the best parts from the remaining components to create a new engine for the King of Gu.

What does the difference between the two represent?

Having experienced this firsthand in his second year of the race, Shu Long should have a lot to say about it. It's that feeling of despair where you're lighter, but you can't help but watch your opponent get further and further away even when you're stuck on the straightaway with your exhaust pumped up and the throttle fully engaged.

Reka Technology certainly doesn't have such good resources, but Georg can ensure that every engine he provides is the most powerful in that batch, and he will replace the engine with a brand new one every two stops at most.

Keep in mind that even next year, Shulong's age will still not meet the requirements for participation, so the fact that the boss is willing to offer such conditions a year and a half in advance is already quite generous.

Furthermore, if Shulong is willing to participate in some smaller regional competitions next year to prove himself with results, Georg may continue to offer a discount of 10% to 20%, depending on the circumstances.

There's nothing worth mentioning about that; the old man just played a trick here.

Just now, the little boy unsuspectingly boasted about his father's "outstanding performance" as a mechanic in his past competitions. Georg didn't mind them sharing some technology from the club, so he naturally agreed to their request to continue having Shu Xiong as the competition engineer.

Their bottom-ranked club doesn't have any skills that others can be envious of. On the contrary, Austria, as a developed country with excellent welfare benefits, has incredibly high labor costs.

Since the other party was willing to pay and work, Georg didn't feel any pain at all about the profit; on the contrary, he felt that he had even made a small profit.

Zhang Xin and Shu Xiong discussed it and decided to stay here for a few days. They would then summon a trustworthy professional translator from China and contact a local lawyer to see if there were any problems before finalizing the contract.

There were no problems with the contract; Georg was indeed quite sincere. The rest was the much-anticipated part: paying the bill.

They prepaid 200,000 euros, which is equivalent to about 1.6 million yuan in China, and is more expensive than the track that Shu Xiong built in Haigeng back then.

Fortunately, the difference can be adjusted based on the outcome of the competition.

It hurts a little, but from the moment his name was written on that piece of paper, Shu Long was already a "paid driver" for this Leika Technology racing team.

The family has finally put their minds at ease, but it's a bit of a shame they missed out on a chance to receive direct guidance from an F1 driver.

Shu Long didn't feel much regret. Given Vestapan's personality, he was genuinely afraid that if he tried to give serious pointers, he would be verbally humiliated.

I spent a few more days driving around Europe, and even made a special trip to Sheffield to say hello to Zhou Guanyu. Finally, I returned to China before the start of junior high school.

Shu Long has been having a bit too much fun lately, and it's been a bit hard for him to switch back to his student identity. The thought of school starting in just a few days makes him feel like the sky is falling.

A completely unfamiliar school, completely unfamiliar classrooms, completely unfamiliar teachers and classmates, and completely unfamiliar knowledge.

Just thinking about it makes Shu Long feel even more apprehensive than about his future in the racing profession.

However, there is one thing that is somewhat comforting: Yu Mujie was admitted to the same school as him.

In fact, it's not just Yu Mujie; the overlap between the names of students who jumped from the best primary school to the best junior high school in the city is quite high.

Aside from not knowing how they will be distributed among all twenty-four classes, I can expect to see familiar faces frequently at school. Thinking about it this way, I don't seem so nervous anymore.
No! No, no, no.
Previously, only his classmates knew that he traveled all over the country to participate in go-karting competitions. In total, there were only about sixty people who would jokingly call him "God of Karting".

It is known that nearly thirty students in the class have entered the same middle school as them. If they are then distributed among twenty-four classes...
So, the question is: how far will this group spread?

What should I do if I'm starting to feel a little excited about it?
Shu Long liked to occasionally hear people exclaiming that someone in a certain class was particularly good at racing when he passed by. This gave him a secret sense of satisfaction from keeping his achievements hidden.

It's so low to show off on your own; it's the same as actively asking others to praise you.

Of course, if someone openly mocks you in front of you, that feeling is definitely not pleasant.

At that awkward, adolescent age, Shu Long's mind was filled not only with racing but also with many fantasies derived from the anime he watched.

His experiences growing up may not be entirely unique, but if placed in an anime similar to Initial D, he would certainly be treated like a male protagonist.

It's fair to say that while people of the same age might see their ideal selves reflected in anime, Shu Long finds anime incredibly immersive.

Putting all these random thoughts aside for now, speaking of anime, to make up for the unrealistic holiday, Shu Long decided to catch up on the anime he had missed recently in the days leading up to the start of school.

As a result, a text message Zhang Xin received on her phone brought her back to reality like a hammer blow.

Dear Parents:

Hello! First of all, congratulations on your child's upcoming academic journey. To better understand your child's learning progress, our school will be conducting an entrance exam for new students tomorrow.

The sky has truly fallen.

What kind of devilish school could come up with this trick? Do they think students will actually study during this rare summer vacation before entering higher education, when there's no homework?

Another surprise test! Are you really afraid the students will do well on the exam?
Fortunately, the exam only consisted of Chinese and English, which were the two easiest subjects for Shu Long, who possessed the attributes of "photographic memory" and "language proficiency." He could answer any question as long as he had seen it before.

The exam was even more difficult than their college entrance exams, and it was a nightmare for students who had been having a blast during the entire holiday.

The shift from "I'm so awesome for getting into this school!" to "I suspect I'm an idiot" only takes three short hours.

However, the results came out quickly, and Shu Long did quite well—a perfect score in English and a near-perfect score in Chinese.

The notification that the class assignments were completed came shortly afterward. It was unclear whether the grades were related to the class assignments. Shu Long was assigned to Class 17, while Yu Mujie was in Class 9.

finished~
This means I won't be able to speak to anyone for at least six months after school starts.

You think this is the most desperate thing? Ha!
On the day of school registration, Shu Long stepped into the noisy classroom and his first thought was that he must have come to the wrong place. Had Shu Xiong been still half asleep this morning and sent him back to elementary school?

I'm not trying to badmouth my own dad, but can you imagine the despair of getting out of the car groggily one morning, only to wake up in the blink of an eye and find yourself abandoned at the kindergarten gate by your own father who has driven off?
Shulong experienced this kind of thing more than once during elementary school!
Of course, that's not the key point. The key point is—

Zhang Jinhua?! Can a person's life be this miserable?

Can't figure it out, right? Zhang Jinhua, who was disliked by many in his class in elementary school, actually had pretty good grades. It wasn't surprising that he got into this school, Shulong, but why did he have to be in the same class as you?
Shu Long lowered his head and sat down in the last row of the group near the door. He was genuinely afraid that the big mouth would shout out his past glorious deeds in front of so many people.

Don't ask why Shu Long didn't choose a window seat in the back row. That's true that it's the seat where many anime protagonists often sit, but it's also the most dangerous seat where the homeroom teacher is most likely to catch him red-handed during a surprise inspection.

Conversely, the back row near the door is different.

Whether you launch a surprise attack from the front or a sneak attack from the back, this is an absolute blind spot for the teachers. Even if someone is playing on their phone in the desk drawer, as long as the movement isn't too obvious and they have physical cover, no one will notice anything amiss.

Being too smart can sometimes be a problem; it's really hard for Shulong to be the perfect obedient student.

If you don't daydream or find something fun during class, it's a truly terrifying experience to have your brain repeatedly tortured by the teacher with simple knowledge points for an entire class period. And there are seven such 40-minute sessions a day!
The current location isn't entirely safe, but there's nothing we can do; the seats in front are already occupied.

In a place full of strangers, without proactive friends like Yu Mujie or Max to act as a crowbar, Shu Long's words might be more tightly sealed than a welded-together vault door.

Or an oxygen cutting torch like the one Zhang Jinhua uses would also work.

"Holy crap, a racing legend?! What a coincidence!"

Shu Long, who was replying to his mother's message, almost slapped the foul-mouthed man in the face with his phone, but he just tried to bury his head even deeper.

If you're not familiar with someone, don't know them, keep your distance.

"The racing god, the racing god? You don't recognize me after just one summer vacation? It's me, Zhang Jinhua! Speaking of which, you seem to have stopped growing!"

"Me! You son of a bitch! I won't... Shh!"

Hello? Is Zhang San there? Can anyone tell me how to escape legal punishment in a situation like this?

It's no wonder it's a tool specifically designed for ruthless bandits robbing banks; the damage is incredibly high. The vault door almost broke through instantly.

Zhang Jinhua's shout was quite loud, with an effect comparable to the homeroom teacher standing at the classroom door. Yes, the homeroom teacher was indeed at the classroom door.

This is a petite young woman surnamed Wu, with a rather imposing name: Wu Liang.

Therefore, her nickname among the students was usually "Immortal Venerable".

A pair of thick-rimmed black glasses sat on her small, palm-sized face. She looked like she had just graduated from university and was still quite green. The puzzled expression on her face seemed to be a shock at how she could have such an intimidating presence before she even introduced herself.

"Mom was right, you have to be confident! They're just a bunch of little brats, I can handle them!"

In the quiet classroom, Shu Long felt an extraordinary sense of unity within the class, like sunlight shining through a magnifying glass, burning his face.

Today's main agenda is to explain the specific date of the start of school, pre-school preparations, and other key points regarding the military training at the start of the school year.

Then, the subject teachers took turns going up to the podium to get acquainted with everyone. However, to the teachers' surprise, the new students in this class were surprisingly disciplined, but everyone's attention was not on the teachers.

There was a large, sparsely populated group of people below the podium, their eyes vacant!

It felt like being on the set of some Japanese horror movie. Every now and then, students would cautiously turn their heads to peek at the back of the classroom, wondering if some kind of monster that adults couldn't see was standing there.

The spirit remained silent, only hoping for a swift release.

Based on my experience from elementary school, I wonder if the next step will be for everyone to stand up and introduce themselves?

Before the careers were determined on the panel, Shu Long couldn't wait for his class to hold a class meeting every day to share their future career dreams. However, after the Houhaigeng incident, Shu Long found that such activities seemed a bit unsuitable for him.

How come Takumi Fujiwara can be so calm and collected, but he suddenly collapses when it comes to himself?
She doesn't have the poise to carry the scene; it's so embarrassing!
Fortunately, this much-anticipated segment wasn't included, but everyone in the class except Shulong seemed quite disappointed.

Fortunately, since everyone was still unfamiliar with each other at the beginning of the semester, after the event, Shu Long was in a hurry to leave and no one insisted on coming up to ask him anything. On the contrary, the talkative Zhang Jinhua enjoyed being the center of attention as soon as the semester started.

　If you have tickets, please show your support; if you don't, please read on. Thank you.

　　Niche themes are not easy to come by; young seedlings need nurturing. Thank you for your support!
　　Thanks to book friend 20220709024210020 for the reward.

　　Thank you to fishorange, mars the copyist, river star, DestinyKey, book friend 20240206020233222, sugar cocoa sauce, and salty salty fish for your monthly votes.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)