Car Racing without Money-Chapter 238 - 121: Overtaking Like Slicing Melons and Chopping Vegetables (Double-Length)
"Even the seamless shift gearbox of an F1 car carrying a thousand horsepower wouldn’t dare to do this. How does he dare with a sequential gearbox?"
No one knows how Chen Xiangbei dares, but it’s clear in the broadcast images. Compared to the friction smoke from Dixon’s locked-up tires, car number 13 showed no anomalies.
He simply rode the curbs marked with diversion lines, successfully executing a wide-angle corner overtake.
"Beautiful!"
A round of enthusiastic applause erupted in the Super Dream Team pit room.
Throughout several races, it’s evident that Chen Xiangbei’s control over the limits of the car is becoming increasingly adept.
In the situation of missing the braking point, it’s already commendable for a driver to make it through the corner smoothly; Chen Xiangbei even refused to wear out the tires, stubbornly using engine braking to decelerate.
This kid really wants the best of both worlds; he wants it all!
But immediately after, a yellow flag appeared on the track. The "speeding" corner entry by Chen Xiangbei and Dixon inadvertently led to a group of drivers following their lead.
Not everyone can decisively make a hard brake, locking up the tires like Dixon to gain maximum grip.
No one can execute a transmission braking maneuver like Chen Xiangbei!
Several drivers failed to brake and rushed out, causing a chain collision at turn one, prompting the officials to deploy the yellow flag immediately.
"Indeed, the first turn at any track is never short of exciting scenes. The driver from China, Bei, just displayed his ultimate control, and immediately, a track incident followed."
"According to the data reported from the control console, driver Bei used both braking and gearbox braking, which is why he didn’t lock up the tires."
"Driver Bei really displayed transcendent driving skills!"
Although a commentator must remain impartial, James couldn’t help but hold a admiration in his heart.
Having watched numerous Renault and higher-level Formula races, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the number of drivers who can perform as Chen Xiangbei did is few and far between; in James’ view, this has reached the ceiling level.
Even if past Renault Formula champions were to review the operation, they couldn’t perform better than Chen Xiangbei.
This level of skill is enough for F3, and James vaguely has the premonition that the Chinese driver Bei will rapidly advance.
"James, I think you’re exaggerating a bit."
Sitting next to him, guest Mike shook his head to express a dissenting opinion.
"Driver Bei’s operation just now was merely a remedial measure for missing the braking point."
"You can’t forget his earlier mistake just because the remedy was successful."
"Besides, driver Bei hasn’t actually succeeded, as the FIA has issued an investigation statement."
Just as James was praising and amazed, FIA officials issued several penalty notices consecutively.
Among them was one concerning Chen Xiangbei’s corner overtake; during the exit, he excessively used the curbs, with all four wheels crossing the track’s white boundary line, deeming the overtake an unfair advantage and requiring a position exchange, or additional penalties would be imposed.
Similar unfair advantages are common in Formula races, such as in qualifying when pushing the "Lap of the Gods," where it’s easy to leave the track with all four wheels, resulting in a cancellation of results. Or when executing extreme cornering overtakes, if understeering prevents turning, one directly uses the runoff area for a "cut the corner" style overtake.
In such cases, FIA will generally adjudicate a driver gained unfairly and require the gained position be exchanged back.
You can say that this era’s FIA is still decent, at least clearly letting drivers know where their "mistake" lies.
In later times concerning unfair advantage penalties, FIA often doesn’t directly state the issue, merely giving a recorded notification, leaving drivers and teams themselves to judge whether there’s unfair gain.
If they guess where the issue lies and exchange positions, there won’t be a penalty.
If not guessed, then they’ll directly receive a five-second penalty, highlighting a psychological strategy!
However, the FIA’s penalty didn’t receive the onsite audience’s agreement as Mike had anticipated.
"Shit, not being able to brake and intentionally using curbs are two different concepts! Where did driver Bei gain unfairly?"
"You can’t assume driver Bei gained unfairly just because he successfully tackled the corner; the following drivers having a chain collision, is it because they didn’t want to take the corner?"
"They simply couldn’t brake; earlier Chen Xiangbei just demonstrated what extreme operations are, and the drivers following immediately presented clumsy imitations!"
"Without comparison, there’s no harm; driver Bei is too strong!"
Voices of support resounded from various stands, even if many didn’t favor Chen Xiangbei, it didn’t mean they wanted to lie blatantly.
On the other side, Odetto also informed Chen Xiangbei of the FIA penalty, to which he didn’t have much emotional fluctuation.
The reason is simple; Chen Xiangbei knows he crossed the boundary with all four wheels.
Though the penalty is controversial, race rules often aren’t entirely rigid with defined standards.
From Dixon’s perspective, he would consider the penalty fair.
Under the safety car conditions, Chen Xiangbei lightly tapped the brake, allowing Dixon to overtake and exchange positions.
At the instant when both cars were side by side, Dixon turned his head to glance at Chen Xiangbei, but behind his visor, his expression was actually quite complex.
Contrary to Chen Xiangbei’s assumption, Dixon didn’t think the penalty was fair.
Because no one knows better than Dixon what driving skills Chen Xiangbei exhibited.
If both speeds were even slower, he would still lock up tires, yet Chen Xiangbei could execute a perfect corner overtake — that’s the fundamental difference.
