Car Racing without Money

"What I want isn't an apology, it's speed, do you understand?"

"It's speed!"

It might be that the performance of the two drivers was unsatisfactory, as Odetto's mood today was noticeably "agitated."

This scene made Sawano Hiroyuki and others in the P room glance at each other.

It seems that today not only is Chen Xiangbei being targeted, but even Kobayashi Shuji is finding it "hard to escape unscathed."

At this moment, Chen Xiangbei wasn't paying attention to Kobayashi Shuji's practice; he was adjusting the car with Liang Chi and other maintenance technicians.

The road conditions at Donington Park Circuit were far worse than described in the materials; whether it was due to being in disrepair for years, Chen Xiangbei felt like he was driving on a public road.

The bumpy conditions were even more exaggerated, with scenes of the axle being suspended appearing.

To know a Renault 2.0 formula car has a 2.65-meter wheelbase, roughly the same as many household cars' wheelbases, yet even this can't ensure all four wheels touch the ground, indicating the flatness of the road surface is visibly poor.

"Uncle Liang, the suspension needs to be softer, especially the rear wheels."

Chen Xiangbei provided his feedback on the car; the suspension was too hard, leading to insufficient flexibility, which was the main reason for the right rear wheel spinning freely.

"If it's too soft, cornering tilt will increase significantly, and exit stability will reduce; you've already spun out in the curve before, can you manage?"

Liang Chi may not be considered an "academic" in the formula field, but decades of experience in car repair and tuning were there, with a complete understanding of the consequences of any parameter changes in racing cars.

Chen Xiangbei's high-speed cornering wasn't simply on the verge of losing control; he had lost control twice, barely managing to save it without causing an accident.

After the car's handling capabilities further decrease, there's no guarantee he can complete the entire run smoothly.

"Yes."

Chen Xiangbei nodded; when asked if he could, he always had this one answer.

"Furthermore, when it comes to the actual qualifying and race, to push for the fastest lap the curb will be used even more aggressively, the road's ups and downs might cause the tires to completely suspend, so there has to be a compromise."

After giving an answer, Chen Xiangbei still supplemented with his reasoning.

The previous lap hadn't reached the limit he sought, and the qualifying would only be more aggressive and crazier!

"Okay, then let's adjust the car according to your feedback."

Liang Chi did not insist, as the chief technician he could give suggestions, ultimately the driver's opinion takes precedence.

In professional drivers there's only a role difference, no distinction between juniors and seniors.

"Also, there are more left turns on the circuit, causing the left front tire to wear out more than the other three tires, see if you can adjust that."

"Hmm."

Upon receiving Chen Xiangbei's feedback, Liang Chi immediately summoned two apprentices and other technicians to adjust the car's suspension at the fastest pace.

In just over ten minutes, a Renault number 13 car with changed tires and adjusted settings appeared before Chen Xiangbei, this is the efficiency of a Formula technical team!

"Odetto, I'm ready to go on track for the second round of training."

"Good, get in the car to warm up and wait for the launch command."

Odetto didn't say much; his gaze was still fixed on the computer screen.

Kobayashi Shuji ran two timed laps and a cooldown lap, now the fuel level was at its minimum and the tire grip was at the peak's end, as he made the fastest lap flying around.

In terms of how fast Chen Xiangbei could run in qualifying, in Odetto's heart, he would actually use Kobayashi Shuji as a benchmark.

A pure rookie who has never raced on Donington Circuit reaching the lap times of the Japanese teammate with race experience would already be considered qualified, even excellent.

Targets can be set high, but actual results Odetto wasn't the kind of boastful team leader.

"Whoosh" went the wind, and Kobayashi Shuji's fastest lap time appeared on the screen, directly achieving 1 minute 09 seconds 033.

A round of applause sounded in the P room at this moment, Kobayashi Shuji's lap time was only 0.2 seconds off last year's pole, indicating he had gradually adapted to the Donington Park Circuit's road conditions.

The practice session had just entered the first segment, at this rate of progress, achieving or surpassing last year's pole position wasn't a big issue.

Even if this year's competition's overall strength is stronger, theoretically raising the pole position results, as long as Kobayashi Shuji maintains his state and lap-time stability, he has a high likelihood of getting into the top five in qualifying.

Compared to barely entering the top ten at Silverstone Circuit, Kobayashi Shuji's progress was obvious, making the title of Japan's genius young man deserved!

"Kobayashi pit adjustment."

"Bei, start laps for tire warming."

Odetto issued two consecutive commands, deliberately staggering the two drivers to create the most spacious and comfortable track environment, testing ideal state extreme speed.

Upon hearing the command, Chen Xiangbei stepped on the gas again, driving up the track, this time he also heard the underlying message from Odetto.

That is emphasizing the tire warming laps, meaning to run the fastest "real combat" lap.

Along with the Renault racecar crossing the line and starting dynamically, Chen Xiangbei's state completely entered the "selfless" realm, in his mind only the corner data of Donington Park Circuit, and the foreground moving backward like a slideshow!

"Senior Sawano, Xiangbei-kun's speed this lap is really fast."

Mizutani Sho exclaimed while watching the monitoring data at this moment.

Just from the speed of the first corner, Chen Xiangbei's speed had increased by a full 10 km/h compared to before.