F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 8 Waiting patiently for the rain, and transforming into a dragon when it falls.

The more they invested themselves, the more trapped the father and son became in the predicament they had created for themselves.

Instead of blindly circling the track, it would be better to calm down as Han Li suggested, and maybe take a break on the sidelines and watch how others run. Suddenly, you'll figure out what's bothering you.
Shu Long is indeed a genius, but geniuses often share a common flaw: an overconfident arrogance.

It's not that I didn't refer to other people's racing methods, but in Shulong's opinion, many people's lines have more or less flaws in the corners. Compared with them, the details that I have optimized through countless times and subtle feelings seem more reliable.

After all, he was a major client on their side. Seeing that Shu Xiong still looked restless, Han Li simply got up and went to the computer to open a folder.

The room was filled with video files, and judging from the angle, they appeared to be surveillance cameras overlooking the track. These files can be used as a basis for judgment during races, and coaches can also use them to identify problems their students are making on the track.

"What do you mean? Didn't you show it to me?"

"Look more closely and compare them side by side."

Even comparing them, he couldn't see anything. Seeing that Shu Xiong still couldn't grasp the point, Han Li simply opened two windows, one in front and one behind. Every time he braked into a turn, he would pause and rewind the video bit by bit to show Shu Xiong.

"Do you see anything?"

"The route is a little different, what's so strange about that? Besides, the tires are constantly wearing down, it's impossible to run every lap exactly the same under normal circumstances, right?"

"Why don't you open the videos that are next to each other and take a look?"

What are you thinking? Of course, it's impossible for it to be exactly the same!
Humans are not machines, and besides, machines cannot perfectly overlap every driving line.

However, if viewed with a less critical eye, the driving lines chosen by Shulong have a high degree of overlap in the first hundred or so laps of each set of tires.

As the number of laps increases, the differences in features that are visible to the naked eye, such as the curvature of the track, the turning points, and the location of the apex of the corners, become more and more significant, but the lap times remain consistently stable.

To put it bluntly, probably only the electrocardiogram of a dead person has a larger fluctuation than the speed of a dragon coil.
"The name CKC sounds impressive, but the category your son can participate in is ultimately a national championship for children. Those with talent don't have the money to compete, and those with money don't have the talent. It's considered good if there are ten participants in a race. With your son's consistency, even if he's a little slower on each lap, the final result won't be too bad."

Moreover, is Shulong's single lap really that slow?
not necessarily.

Han Li had never seen any other driver like this before, who could achieve lap times that others pushed hard by using a conservative driving style almost the entire time. Even if he could only save less than 0.1 seconds on each corner, after more than a dozen corners on the track, he could still save about a second.

In the world of racing, a single second can mean the difference between heaven and earth.
The turning point came quickly, just as a refreshing downpour drenched the intense heat of the Sanshui racetrack, which had been baking under the blazing sun and the engines, allowing Shulong to deliver a perfect performance in the monthly race.

The rain made the track much emptier than usual, with only a few cars taking turns to drive around when the rain subsided.

The dangers of a slippery track, the damage from rain to exposed parts, and the expensive, difficult-to-clean, and rarely replaceable racing suits mean that few parents would be willing to let their children risk catching a cold while lying in a water tank and continuing to drive.

Shulong is one of these very few exceptions.

Zhang Xin actually felt that the father and son had become a bit obsessed lately, but for Shu Long, besides his stubbornness of not giving up until he figured things out, driving was really addictive for him.

Shu Xiong naturally had no objections; he'd go along with his son's wishes no matter what.

When the father and son arrived at the racetrack in the afternoon, Coach Han hadn't even arrived yet, because according to the morning's weather conditions, today's lessons were originally scheduled to be suspended.

Shu Long had no intention of forcibly calling and dragging others over. At this stage, the coach was of little help to him. He would wait until he had figured out the trick of "swinging" before discussing the next steps.

The new tires, which were just driven yesterday, still have a lot of mileage left. Shu Xiong originally wanted to change Shu Long to a set of rain tires, but he refused outright.

Slippery? The "Car God" wants to see just how slippery it can be!

The truth is, it's really slippery!
Shulong, who was stuck in a puddle on the grass, wiped the mud off his helmet visor. Before the instructor who had noticed the yellow flag came to help, he jumped off the car and pulled it out himself.

Shu Long had experienced the impact of wet conditions on tire grip on the broken car in Haigeng before. However, that car had been downgraded in terms of both power and throttle response. As long as you pay attention to braking and steering, even Gan Mengning can drive it steadily on the track.

However, for a two-stroke racing car with more than 20 horsepower, the car's posture is more controlled by the degree of throttle. Sometimes, just pressing the throttle a centimeter or two deeper will cause the rear wheels to spin out of grip and immediately break the already fragile balance.

But even during this precarious driving process, Shulong actually got a feel for "driving with a sway".

I forget which scene in Initial D it was, but it was something like the "Death Tape Race"?
Shu Long, who hadn't even learned all the characters yet, once heard his father ask him a question in a boastful manner: "Do you know how many steering wheels a car has?"

At the time, Shu Long looked at Shu Xiong as if he were an idiot. It wasn't like a bumper car in a park; how many steering wheels could a car have? But as he learned to drive go-karts, Shu Long, recalling the past, now probably understood what Shu Xiong meant by keeping him in suspense.

The accelerator, brakes, and even the body's center of gravity in a corner—these factors that affect the dynamic balance of a race car in a corner can all be considered, to some extent, the "steering wheel"!
As darkness fell, Shu Xiong, who was tinkering with the engine in the maintenance area, looked up to glance at the track and relax his sore eyes, but was startled by a sudden clap of thunder.

The rain poured down, and the young drivers who had been struggling on the track because of someone's blunder returned to the pit lane in a sorry state. Shu Xiong quickly stood up and walked around, but did not see his own son.

Heavy raindrops pounded against the awning, the clanging noise barely audible compared to the buzzing sound in the bear's head.

Oh no! Has this kid gotten stuck in a mud puddle while eating grass again?
Staff members were already waving flags to signal all drivers still on the track to return, but it was basically just a formality; no one would think that anyone would be foolish enough to keep messing around under such track conditions.

At this point, the rain on the track was so dense that it was impossible to distinguish people and animals even five meters away. In addition, the spray from the water made the visibility even worse for drivers who were practically sitting on the ground!

He didn't even bother to find a raincoat (of course, in this level of rain, it makes little difference whether you wear a raincoat or not), and rolled up his sleeves to try to go into the track to find someone, but was quickly stopped by a technician smoking on the sidelines. It would be very dangerous to rush into the track without confirming that it was completely cleared.

Shu Xiong could only pray that his brat wasn't so stubborn and would run back to avoid the rain, ignoring the car. He wasn't sure if his son would still be able to keep the child after being submerged, but he knew he'd be in deep trouble with Zhang Xin once he got back.

But soon Shu Xiong noticed something was wrong. This man, whose very being was practically soaked in engine oil, keenly detected a frequency that was completely different from the surrounding noisy rain—the frequency of the engine!

A dull "putt-putt" sound grew louder as it approached, and a hazy figure broke through the rain curtain, seemingly oblivious to the bear on the sidelines, before plunging headlong into the next bend.

The car wasn't going particularly fast, but its body, especially in the corners, was exceptionally smooth, like a drift without any counter-attack. The car drew a beautiful arc from the outside, and with a "whoosh," it beautifully sucked into the apex of the corner, then gracefully and effortlessly flung itself onto the exit shoulder.

"Awesome!"

Shu Xiong stood there rooted to the spot, his mind a jumble of thoughts, the only thing on his mind replaying the soul-stirring scene from just moments before.

Until a wet little hand patted two muddy handprints on his back.

"Dad, can you buy me a set of rain tires? I think I'm getting the hang of it. I want to change the tires and go for a spin!"

Shulong, soaked to the bone, hadn't even taken off his helmet. His bright eyes showed no sign of fatigue, only the excitement of discovering a new and interesting toy.

He felt he had grasped a lot of the tricks and had even reconstructed a new driving model in his mind. However, dry tires on wet surfaces tend to accumulate a layer of water film that offers no grip during rotation, making his lap times feel as slow as a snail's pace.

The unpleasant feeling of being wet and cold in the rain was completely out of Shu Long's consideration. He just wanted to find a way to regain some grip and verify the insights he had just summarized while they were still fresh.

But then, "thump!"

Shu Xiong slapped the little brat, who was already getting a bit carried away, right on the helmet.

"Do you want to die or your father? Is this weather even suitable for driving on the racetrack? Go change your clothes right now!"

wrong
"What did you mean just now? You can see the road clearly on the track?!"

"I can't see clearly. How can I see clearly in such heavy rain?" Shu Long pushed up the transparent lenses covered with water droplets. In fact, let alone seeing the road, he could barely see his father's face in front of him.

"But I can really keep running. I have the route in my head. Anyway, there's no one else on the track right now, so I don't need to look to know what's ahead."

Shu Xiong's first reaction was disbelief.

It's a go-kart track that isn't particularly complicated. If an average person goes on it a few times, they'll have an impression of what the next turn will be after this one. Not to mention, there are many people with good memories. Even Shu Xiong himself, after playing for so many years, can say that he can trace the track with his eyes closed.

However, in the harsh conditions of a track with almost zero visibility, not everyone has the courage to risk even some unknown risks and to floor the accelerator on the track.

If you can't grasp the difficulty of this, just imagine it: in the home environment where everyone spends the most time and is most familiar, most people can clearly remember the location of more than 70% of the furniture in their home even with their eyes closed.

But when we cover our eyes, how many people can confidently pat their chests and guarantee that they can not only move around the house with their usual pace, but even run?

This cannot be explained by muscle memory alone. Shu Long had almost never run in the rain before, and the grip on the ground can change considerably with each lap. To do this requires considerable brainpower and an extremely keen sense of speed and space.

Of course, there are also those who are completely fearless of getting themselves bruised and battered, which, to put it nicely, is called courage.
Shu Long was unable to run another lap on the track until he got home. It wasn't that Shu Xiong disagreed, but the club's track management wouldn't allow the cars to continue on the track for safety reasons.

On the way home, reflecting on all the signs that Shu Long had shown since he started learning to drive, Shu Xiong felt more and more that his son might not be just a child bragging or exaggerating.

He probably will never forget the scene of the race car cutting through the rain in a perfect arc.

"Oh, by the way, kid, remember to control your lap times when you go to the racetrack next time, and keep a low profile."

"Ah~ why? I feel like I learned an awesome skill today. If I don't practice it more and master it, how can I tell the coach and move on to the next step of the lesson?"

Shu Xiong gave his son a light tap on the head, annoyed: "Just listen to me, why don't you pick a few turns and practice them yourself?"

The next afternoon, when Shu Long went to report to Coach Han, he understood half of the meaning of what he had said the day before.

"Your dad signed you up for a monthly competition at the end of the month before the summer vacation ends. Before that, you only learned how to conquer the track and how to run laps. In the next few days, I will give you a crash course on how to compete."

According to Coach Han's original plan, as long as Shu Long's level is roughly the same, he will be allowed to officially experience the atmosphere of a competition by the end of the month.

Many people have excellent lap times when there is no interference, but they just don't know how to race. Although their final results are never bad, this is far from enough to become one of the top performers, as Shu Xiong hopes.

Moreover, it's very difficult to teach a child of this age by keeping him in a classroom. Many young racers improve their skills by actively imitating and learning through repeated competition on the track. Trying to learn in isolation is not a good idea.

　I've realized that it's not that nobody wants to write F1.

　　This subject matter is highly specialized, has a discerning taste, and a narrow audience; it's easy to get rejected, so very few people dare to write about it. We can only rely on you car enthusiasts!

　　Only genuine, dedicated reading can overcome the platform's formidable challenges.

　　Knees were thrown to the ground.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)