Car Racing without Money-Chapter 272 - 130: The Professional Racer’s Terrifying Strength (Double - )
"Hehe, I’m used to it."
Qin Lianjie looked embarrassed as he recalled sitting in Chen Xiangbei’s passenger seat during a high-speed drive. The thrill of that speed had etched itself into his bones, making him instinctively grab the door handle.
Chen Xiangbei didn’t say much more. He looked ahead, floored the gas pedal, and the Volkswagen R36 roared deeply as the 3.5L engine unleashed a powerful rush forward.
This time, he opted for a peculiar driving style—easing off on the straight stretch to keep at the speed limit, only to floor it in the bends, experiencing the car’s body skimming close to the guardrail’s edge as it cornered.
Only by doing this could Chen Xiangbei get a slight sense of the near-limit cornering and test his precise control over the car while skimming the edge.
But this maneuver of Chen Xiangbei really left Qin Lianjie in the passenger seat quite shaken.
Bear in mind, although the Volkswagen R36 had decent power with the classic "wolf in sheep’s clothing" potential, it was ultimately just a station wagon, not even qualifying as a performance car.
To simulate extreme cornering within permissible conditions, Chen Xiangbei was almost desperately squeezing every bit out of the car’s physical limits. Especially the full throttle acceleration into the bends made the tires screech incessantly.
Adding to that, the lack of suspension modification led to body roll, making Qin Lianjie feel like he wasn’t on the edge of losing control, but practically on the verge of flipping over!
Honestly, Qin Lianjie had previously thought his "semi-professional" skills would prevent him from feeling fear unless he rode with an F1 Driver in a two-seater formula car.
But now, Qin Lianjie had to admit that deep inside, he was genuinely a bit scared!
Chen Xiangbei’s focus wasn’t on Qin Lianjie at all. He was long accustomed to this "dancing on the knife’s edge" type of behavior.
At this moment, Chen Xiangbei was more focused on testing the limits as much as possible, with the front bumper of the Volkswagen R36 having scraped the guardrail posters several times, leaving visible black marks.
To this, Chen Xiangbei slightly frowned. Due to insufficient acceleration distance, even going full throttle into the bend, risking tire slippage, his speed was still far behind that of a formula car. Yet, he still couldn’t achieve millimeter-level control.
It seemed the gap wasn’t just in track data and proficiency, but also in his inherent shortcomings in street racing that he hadn’t entirely overcome in this life.
April nights in Hong Kong weren’t hot, or rather, a bit cool.
But after this lap, Qin Lianjie, in the passenger seat, had beads of sweat densely covering his forehead.
It wasn’t just nerves, but also a sense of awe!
Chen Xiangbei had arrived in Australia, and counting the lap he "walked" around the track that day, this was only his second trial run.
Yet his control over edge distances and line precision had reached a level that terrified Qin Lianjie!
Qin Lianjie might not have been able to tell with a formula car, but this Volkswagen R36 barely counted within the sedan category. As an underground racer frequently driving performance cars on the street, how could he not understand the skill involved?
Even though the bumper often grazed the guardrail, one should know that Chen Xiangbei achieved this precise control despite the tires slipping, which was simply astonishing.
Especially since Qin Lianjie witnessed this firsthand, with Chen Xiangbei having only done two laps around the East Bay Circuit, other times just familiarizing himself with the track’s data at the hotel.
Such a feat indicated that Chen Xiangbei had truly memorized all those thick track data compiled by Odetto in his mind.
Indeed, any formula driver who could sign with an F1 Team, they were monsters with otherworldly driving skills, truly terrifying!
After a lap, Chen Xiangbei stopped at the starting line of the racing building, pausing without any further action, a thoughtful expression on his face.
He vividly recalled when he first arrived at Silverstone Circuit for training in Europe, Odetto pointed out his "conservativeness" and "fear." Due to long-standing concerns about having no money or background, this led to Chen Xiangbei being cautious in his driving, unwilling to take risks for fear of car damage.
This psychological defect was particularly evident in street racing, given how accidents were more frequent here compared to traditional tracks, and it pushed a driver’s precision handling to the limit.
Let alone in his past life where a backgroundless guy like Chen Xiangbei wouldn’t dare to push, even someone as well-off as Zhou Guanyu showed signs of cautiousness in street racing, magnifying the shortcoming of his lap speed not being extreme enough, and consistently getting knocked out in Q1 of the Monaco Station for three consecutive years.
Of the three years, he ranked last in two with twenty-first place finishes and second-to-last in one with nineteenth place.
However, as his career progressed and with Odetto’s "training," Chen Xiangbei had overcome the psychological barriers, showcasing his inherent adventurous and aggressive nature.
Moreover, Chen Xiangbei believed his previous poor street racing performance was also influenced by psychological concerns.
Yet the performance just now made Chen Xiangbei realize that concerns about car damage were one thing, and his unfamiliarity with street racing was another.
This unfamiliarity didn’t just apply to the East Bay Circuit, but to street racing in general, as he had barely participated in street races in both lifetimes!
It’s well known that the most testing scenarios for formula drivers are rain battles and street races.
Rain battles are more manageable; as long as you’re willing to practice, you will encounter rainy weather eventually. But running a formula car on street circuits is entirely beyond a driver’s control, and increasing proficiency means participating in more races.
