F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 26 The Dragon of the East Doesn't Breathe Fire

"What's up with him?"

Upon hearing Teng Weifeng's question, Shu Long's heart skipped a beat.

Judging from the level of domestic reporting, racing really doesn't make any waves. Whether it's Zhou Guanyu's double championship last year or Shu Long's own two consecutive championships, only a handful of car magazines mentioned it in the margins.

If you hear their names from someone outside the industry one day, it's very likely that something serious has happened.

Shu Long looked down and saw that the face with dark circles under his eyes on the phone was indeed Zhou Guanyu. He quickly swiped the screen to look at it.

Fortunately, it was just a false alarm; nothing serious happened. Zhou Guanyu was simply signed by Ferrari's youth academy.
"Holy crap, wait a minute! A Ferrari?!"

Shu Long almost exclaimed in surprise during the homeroom teacher's English class, but only after all the eyes of the class turned to him did he belatedly pretend to stretch in a very exaggerated way.

Teng Weifeng was thick-skinned and didn't care at all about the teacher's warning look on the stage. He just symbolically hid behind the broad back of the classmate in front of him and continued whispering.

"Right? That's a Ferrari! That's why I asked you if you knew him or not."

"I know him! Not only do I know him, I've even competed against him!"

"Is this person very skilled? How does he compare to you?"

“He’s amazing. I used to be the one who was amazing, but now it seems like he is.”

There wasn't a hint of sarcasm in that statement; Shu Long genuinely admired Zhou Guanyu at times.

On the road of racing with no end in sight, Shu Long's confidence comes not only from his own hard work and the support of his family, but also, of course, from the visible talent panel.

What is meant by the "upper limit of human theoretical understanding"? It is the premise of never losing to anyone! No matter the current situation, there is always hope in one's eyes.

Under similar conditions, Zhou Guanyu did not have a system. It can be said that he relied entirely on his own efforts and passion to resist the fear of being swallowed by the bottomless pit called "despair" at any time, and finally won the most "F1" recognition on the European stage with his strength.

Ferrari, for most people in China, is synonymous with supercars. In people's minds, Ferrari = supercar = a symbol of wealth.

And that is indeed the case.

Perhaps influenced by what Shu Xiong had been exposed to since childhood, Shu Long prefers the more down-to-earth yet free-spirited JDM cars to the glamorous supercars.

It's not about any so-called insubordination; to use Shu Xiong's words, it's about the joy of raising a waifu.

It could be said that he never had any particular attachment to the name Ferrari from a young age.

But when it comes to F1, the name Ferrari represents the red podium at the very top when F1 first entered China. On a global scale, these three words represent a dynasty and a period of history.

After so many years of rise and fall in the paddock, perhaps only Ferrari has the confidence to say – "I am F1".

On the day Shu Long won the championship, Zhou Guanyu came to congratulate him. He was there that day, but he was running a race in a different category.

But the two chatted for over an hour, and Shu Long didn't hear a single word from Zhou Guanyu beforehand.

Of course, it's understandable. The contract hasn't been signed yet on the day of the finals, and if something goes wrong, bragging beforehand would only make him look bad.

A week later, Zhou Guanyu's message on QQ finally arrived.

This is Zhou Guanyu's first time back in China since he went to Sheffield in 11. He is currently at the Shanghai International Circuit participating in the "2014 Ferrari Circuit Day Carnival".

Guan Yu apologized for his previous deliberate concealment. In fact, Shu Long felt there was nothing to apologize for.

In principle, now is the day to officially announce the signing. What Teng Weifeng saw on the forum before was a message that was leaked in advance by someone.

Moreover, to be fair, if Shu Long had been signed by a youth training program first, how could he possibly bring up the news to his good friend, who was practically a comrade-in-arms in a foreign land?
Of course, you'd like to receive congratulations from friends on such a wonderful piece of news, but the problem is that telling them might be seen as showing off, while keeping it from them might feel like being distant. Either way, it's a bit awkward.

Shu Long admitted that he felt some pressure. Zhou Guanyu's schedule in the Strawberry Racing Team was almost full, so he naturally had many opportunities to show his skills. He could only try his best to ensure that he would give his all in every race.

On July 14th, the third leg of the Rotax Max European Challenge Cup was held in Sueira, Spain, as scheduled.

This is a comprehensive track that combines many technical curves, but it also has several long straights that can unleash the full potential of the engine, causing Shulong to suffer a setback for the first time due to the obvious lack of performance in the engine.

This time it wasn't Georg's fault, but there was nothing they could do. The engine currently mounted on the dragon was the best one they had in stock.

During qualifying, Shu Long nearly blew his bladder out of the tank. He tried his best to make up for his lap time in the corners while using late braking and a "V" shaped entry line to ensure acceleration on the straights, but in the end he only managed to get fifth place in his group.

The car was completely outmatched in terms of performance, and it seemed that it had no chance of winning the championship in this race, but that was not entirely the case.

Absolute speed cannot completely determine the outcome of a race; otherwise, there would be no need for the main race at all, and everyone could just award prizes based on their rankings.

If Shu Long demonstrated his extremely high lap time ceiling, stable lap time maintenance, and highly efficient and precise overtaking style in the previous two races, then his wall-like defense in the Spanish race certainly broadened the horizons of these foreigners.

Starting from the third row in the final race, Shu Long struggled to take the lead after six laps of close competition. Despite the car's obvious shortcomings in performance, he effectively blocked the attacks from the three cars behind him for about ten laps.

“This guy must have eyes in the back of his head! It’s like he can watch three or four of us at the same time. To be honest, I’m not really sure how many cars were vying for a spot at the same time, but I feel like he knew everything from beginning to end.”

This is David Wood's response to reporters after the race, from the British Dan Holland team.

In this ongoing campaign to target Shulong, he suffered the greatest losses.

Starting from second in the front row, he was forced to change his line by Shu Long's line on the third-to-last lap, and then he was sandwiched between the two cars behind him, causing him to spin around on the track, ultimately finishing in seventh place.

Moreover, since the entire game was recorded on video, it would be difficult for him to even argue that Shu Long's defense was not clean.

In the midst of high-speed and intense driving battles, it is already considered an achievement for an average person to be able to keep track of the movements of the two opponents around them. On the track, there are countless instances of people being so engrossed in the battle with their opponents that they have their catch stolen by the car behind them.

But the most direct feeling that Shulong gave them in this match was only despair, a despair of being powerless to control their own destiny.

Like a puppeteer on a stage, who only needs to manipulate the strings in his hands from a high position to make the other cars behind him fight each other.

After the match, Shu Long did not return to China, but stayed at the Leika Club with Shu Xiong.

Despite his commanding lead in the standings practically securing this year's championship, he is still striving to fine-tune a car in advance for the final race, ensuring it is perfectly suited in terms of power and tuning.

Georg received some small sponsorships thanks to the dragons' amazing performance in these races. It wasn't much, but it was enough for him to finally loosen his purse strings and buy another batch of engines, after he had been struggling financially. September 1, Saarbrück, France.

Shu Long, who was supposed to return to school on August 23, took a two-week leave in order to be in the best condition for the final match of this year's European Challenge Cup.

The strongest person, the best car—the ending was already predetermined.

"Listen to the roar of the crowd, folks! It's so unexpected, yet it feels like we expected it all along!"

“I don’t know what to say. If you had asked me six months ago, ‘Can an unknown player representing an unknown club stand on the highest podium?’ my answer might not be as firm as it is today.”

But today I would say: 'Yes!' From 'Is it possible?' to 'We can't lose!', the Chinese speed is about to redefine Rotax's dynasty. This dragon of the East has burned through all prejudices!

“Hey buddy, I know you’re excited, but as far as I know, dragons in Chinese culture don’t breathe fire.”

"Sorry, I just thought it sounded cool to say it like that. I've been preparing this speech for a long time."

Being lost in your own world and acting like a "chuunibyou" is just being silly, but if you break into someone else's world and make them act like a "chuunibyou" for you, that's called conquering.

Shu Long, the overall champion of the year, naturally qualified to participate in the World Championships.

But a champion who has fought his way up from the world's strongest region seems to take victory for granted when facing competitors from other regions around the world and his former defeated opponents. The commentators also seem to have lost the passion they used to have when witnessing miracles.

When Shu Long stood on the podium and held the world champion's trophy, Georg, who had been clutching his phone tightly in the audience, seemed to finally feel confident. He gritted his teeth and pressed the call button.

"Sir, you may have already noticed some related information, but I have indeed found a very interesting prospect here, and I think you might be interested."

"Who? Oh, that Chinese kid?"

"Yes, what do you think of him?"

"I have quite a few promising young people here, but let me take a look."

Upon hearing the first half of the sentence, Georg's heart sank. As a businessman, he knew very well that this meant a signal of price reduction. However, the "however" in the second half of the sentence rekindled a little bit of hope for him.

"He seems to be quite good, but he's participating in fewer competitions. Is it because of funding issues?"

"Yes. But..."

"What about next year?"

"Next year he plans to focus on the KZ2 category. Although there is a few months age difference, we have already obtained special approval from the tournament organizers because of his performance this year."

"I understand, I'll keep an eye on it."

"What about the sponsorship we discussed before?"

"I will have someone assess it."

The old man on the other end of the line hung up the phone decisively. Georg, whose forehead was already covered in sweat, stood there stunned for a long time before finally letting out a long breath.

Dealing with these high-ranking people is exhausting. You never know what they're thinking. Sometimes, even if you've given them everything you have, you can only manage to get them to raise their eyebrows slightly.

This year's cooperation went quite well. In addition, Georg guaranteed a substantial sponsorship next year to ensure the competitiveness of the race car, and also made some concessions on the price. Shulong did not hesitate to renew the contract for another year.

Because of Shulong's outstanding performance throughout the year, the 200,000 euros that had been pre-deposited actually had some surplus, and in the end, we paid a total of 180,000 euros.

In fact, quite a few large racing teams had tried to contact Shulong before the end of the season, and some of them even offered very tempting conditions, but Shu Xiong and Zhang Xin declined after thinking about it.

Regarding the restrictions on freedom, there are naturally certain criteria that must be met in order to enjoy the preferential treatment offered by the other party. Moreover, in terms of conditions, they are actually more stringent than those on George's side.

There are many other races in higher categories, and Shulong himself would like to choose a few to experience various types of events, as the expenses for running the entire course would be a bit too much.

KZ2's tournaments actually consist of only three European Championship events throughout the year, and four if they reach the final. Although the cost per event is higher, the overall cost is not as high as this year.

Furthermore, Reca Club was the only club that was willing to offer various preferential treatments when Shulong was facing the most difficult choices. They grew together with each other to where they are today over the course of a whole year. It's impossible not to feel a connection with them.

Georg is essentially a businessman, and it's normal for businessmen to pursue profits and have their own ulterior motives. However, as a pure racing enthusiast, his heartfelt cheers and celebrations for Shulong after each race were genuine.

There's a saying that goes, "It's better to offer help in times of need than to add flowers to brocade," and another saying goes, "To remain faithful to one's husband until death."

After a relatively easy first semester of junior high school, Shulong soon ushered in a very challenging 2015.

It's not entirely a racing issue, but rather a pivotal period in Shulong's life, spanning 15 years from his studies to racing, which involved many crucial choices.

First and foremost is the most dreaded physical education entrance exam in early March.

3D:

[Bone and muscle strength: 69%]

Endurance/Tolerance: 85%

[Neural reflexes, recruitment speed: 97%]

Shulong was already in excellent physical condition. Over the past year, through natural physical development and continuous exercise, not only have all his physical indicators made steady progress, but he has also grown to 1.77 meters tall.

Basically, even without any special training, Shu Long could easily achieve a perfect score on the exam, except for one item—the sit-and-reach test!

Why does the panel only describe strength for bones and muscles? Would it kill you to add flexibility?!
Here we must also mention Shu Long's physique: broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and long, well-proportioned legs. However, there's one slightly annoying thing: his arms are a bit short.
Most people's wingspan is about the same as their height, and many people's wingspan is even longer than their height.

Shu Long is different. He is now 177 cm tall, but his wingspan is only 169 cm. He feels like a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Shu Xiong praised him, saying that his hands were simply born to drive, and that he had an innate advantage in both the feel of the steering wheel feedback and the finesse of the control. However, this innate advantage almost cost Shu Long half his life during the seated forward bend test.

To achieve the perfect 15-centimeter standard, Shu Long gritted his teeth, and the consequence was that his legs were shaking during the subsequent 1000-meter run.
　Thanks to Schrödinger's Future, Tang Jiangye, copyist mars, My Wife is Dark Lychee, Book Friend 20220504030229649, Dongfang Gu Sanae, Book Friend 160728175755786, WaltHK, and Cheng Shifei for the monthly tickets. There are so many people here today.

　　I received a private message today. My book, a super niche title, managed to break into a sea of ​​basketball and football titles. Thank you all for your support; it's truly a case of hard work paying off, and I'm so touched!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)