Car Racing without Money-Chapter 185 - 109: The Standard of an F1 Driver!
Right now, under Odetto’s reminder, he vaguely felt as if he had touched the gate of "Enlightenment".
If he can successfully push it open, he will break through the shackles brought by the upper limit, achieving a comprehensive transformation from psychology to driving skills, and attain his own extreme speed and driving style.
"A sudden Enlightenment" might sound mystical in other sports events, but in the still young Formula racing, with a foundation that spans ten plus years for most people, it’s not an impossible feat!
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The following days were very calm. Chen Xiangbei basically spent his time in fitness and track study.
Moreover, Chen Xiangbei increased his practice intensity to twelve hours.
This was the only suggestion from Odetto that he didn’t follow.
The reason lies in the Donington Park Circuit, equivalent to the cradle circuit for British karting and single-seater formulas. Young drivers may be more familiar with it in their early careers than the famous Silverstone Circuit.
After all, Silverstone Circuit’s reputation naturally increases track rental fees and training costs. In addition, with numerous tourists and frequent events, it doesn’t provide a good training environment for drivers.
Comparatively, Donington Park Circuit is affordable and hosts Renault, F4, F3 races more frequently, giving European drivers a geographical advantage and making them prefer to train here.
Originally starting at a disadvantage, Chen Xiangbei needed to firmly remember Donington Park Circuit’s eleven corner features within a few days, explore and learn to find the best braking points, cornering lines, overtaking routes, defense strategies, etc.
The previous eight hours were simply not enough!
This is an inherent disadvantage for Asian drivers, even better with race simulators. Without them, before coming to Europe to compete, they’ve never even seen what the track looks like, let alone had any experience running it.
Unfortunately, Super Aguri Team sold off their race simulators to pay debts, leaving Chen Xiangbei only to "fight on paper".
Oftentimes, it’s not that Chen Xiangbei wanted to stay tense without relaxation.
Instead, he had no choice but to put in extra effort to catch up with other drivers.
However, this time not only Chen Xiangbei, but Kobayashi Shuji was also undertaking twelve-hour high-intensity training.
He admits defeat but not losing; a driver should improve by challenging stronger opponents.
As for the situation where the two drivers of the team put in desperate effort, Odetto silently observed without saying much, understanding the helplessness brought by the Asian drivers’ dilemma.
With three days remaining before the race, the entire Super Dream Team already set out early towards the Donington Park Circuit.
The first Renault race revealed many shortcomings, the biggest hazard being the excessive number of participating teams and drivers, causing track practice to be chaotic and crowded.
Chen Xiangbei and the team arriving early finished without facing trouble, but the teams that crowded into Silverstone Circuit later experienced five or six car accidents due to monitoring equipment being off and insufficient staff.
Though there were no casualties, the high accident rate posed significant safety hazards. The race committee and FIA discussed the issue and changed pre-race practice rules.
That is, extending practice time by one day and splitting teams into two batches, allowing them to submit applications for practice either the day before or after, thus avoiding chaos and congestion on the track.
The Super Dream Team adhered to the "arrive early" mindset, applying for Thursday morning’s practice session, which prompted their early journey to Donington Park Circuit.
Perhaps due to arriving too early, when Chen Xiangbei and the team got off the bus, they found Renault race officials were just transferring cars from Silverstone Circuit, unloading and moving them to customer warehouses.
"Seriously? Silverstone Circuit is just less than two hundred kilometers away, and they haven’t finished race transport in three days?"
Upon seeing the scene, Lu Xiaoman couldn’t help but complain.
She considered herself rather lazy but didn’t expect these English folks to be even more laid back, with work efficiency that was quite low!
"Sister Xiaoman, if it were us, it would only take half a day!"
Ayong confidently replied.
When the Hua Racing Team transported CFR2000 to East Sea International Circuit back then, it only took two hours to complete loading transfer and unloading inspection.
"Don’t get too cocky, we can just conduct car acceptance now."
Liang Chi patted Ayong’s shoulder, leading the technician team to inspect the car.
The European Cup’s vehicle transport isn’t handled by teams like F1, but entirely by Renault Group.
Since drivers sign lease contracts with Renault Group, it’s similar to renting a car; before receiving the car, you must check for any transport damage.
Although the Renault 2.0 car looks ordinary, its value, converted to RMB, exceeds a million yuan, rivaling a luxury car. Moreover, Formula racing cars are more fragile, with both carbon fiber aerodynamic kits and fiberglass bodies categorized as fragile items.
A slight bump can easily cost a few tens of thousands in compensation!
Liang Chi was well aware of how much "extra grain" Chen Xiangbei had, so they better inspect and accept the vehicles thoroughly to avoid this hidden loss.
As for the team’s technical engineers, at this moment, they were at the customer warehouse installing and debugging equipment, each performing their duties.
