Chapter 59: Chapter 56: Does He Really Have That Kind of Talent?
In his past life, Chen Xiangbei drove many different types of Formula racing cars, starting from the most basic Conquest Formula, then to Asian BMW Formula, later European Renault Formula, and ultimately climbed into the F3 race paddock.
Although the power specifications of these formulas vary greatly, and the difficulty of handling ranges from high to low, at least they are products of industrial standardization.
On the contrary, the CFR2000 car driven by Chen Xiangbei, if it didn’t have the name of a Formula racing car, he would have suspected it was some small workshop’s creation of "elderly fun"!
Take the most basic gearbox for example, can you imagine a Formula racing car mismatched so badly that every gear shift has noticeable jarring?
Be aware that the gearbox of a Formula car is very different from a civilian car’s gearbox; it’s not a conventional automatic or manual, nor familiar AT, CVT, or dual clutch.
It’s called a sequential gearbox, also known as a straight-tooth gearbox.
This sequential gearbox can only increase or decrease gears step by step, like to go from first gear to third gear, you must go through second gear, it can’t skip directly, it’s the same for down-shifting.
But this type of gearbox has extremely distinct advantages, which are strong resistance to torque impact and high shift efficiency.
Racing is definitely ultra-violent driving, normal gearboxes simply can’t withstand the driver’s play, especially in high-level formulas, power is hundreds or thousands of horsepower, a conventional gearbox can explode at a start.
As for the high shifting efficiency, that’s even easier to understand; take manual transmission as an example, even if you mastered quick shifting, each gear change takes at least 0.2 seconds or so.
Looking at 0.2 seconds might not seem long, but what if gear shifting is increased to a hundred times, a thousand times?
Each time you shift gears is 0.2 seconds slower than your opponent, a thousand shifts add up to 200 seconds, while sequential gearbox shifting only takes 0.08 seconds, the gap is so big that even Schumacher would find it hard to catch up.
But with this sequential gearbox in CFR2000, Chen Xiangbei doesn’t know if it’s purchased or self-developed, anyway, the match with the engine is incredibly poor, forcing him to drive feeling like an AMT gearbox.
Even without being publicly humiliated at F1 Chinese Grand Prix, such assembly levels still couldn’t reach qualified mass production standards, in the end, Huasi Sports Company would still be dragged down by a broken capital chain.
Apart from gearbox issues, the steering, suspension, and chassis of this CFR2000 have all sorts of big and small problems.
However, considering it’s a prototype car and lacks enough test driver data collection, having many issues is understandable.
After all, Formula cars are the pinnacle products of the automotive industry, Chen Xiangbei’s requirements are somewhat excessive for an emerging domestic company in 2008.
The 3.7-kilometer track quickly runs the first warm-up lap, as the low-level Formula car doesn’t have a liquid-crystal display screen on the steering wheel, Chen Xiangbei can’t intuitively know current tire temperature through digits, only estimate roughly by sight.
With the slick tires not catching much track debris, it means the tire temperature hasn’t reached optimal conditions, but Chen Xiangbei is already itching for action, this is his first time driving a Formula car after rebirth.
Unconsciously, Chen Xiangbei presses heavier on the accelerator, the speed of CFR2000 rapidly increases!
Feeling the change in speed of the Formula car, Liang Chi said with some worry: "Not even completing two laps of warm-up and this guy couldn’t resist speeding up."
Zhang Zhicong responded with a question: "Why, are you afraid he’ll crash?"
"Nonsense, jumping to speed without even touching a Formula car, no talent can withstand such aggression."
"Then why did you agree for Xiangbei to directly drive CFR2000?"
"I didn’t expect this guy would actually dare to freely drive it!"
To be honest, Liang Chi’s initial thought was to let Chen Xiangbei practice, anyway Huasi Sports is going bankrupt, no one drives this CFR2000 prototype car.
Who could have guessed, Chen Xiangbei really drives the Formula car like a touring car.
Even more outrageous, it’s been looking quite proper so far!
If it wasn’t to avoid affecting Honda technicians’ data analysis, and Liang Chi not understanding Japanese, he really wanted to chat with Ito Masashi about what’s going on with this kid Chen Xiangbei.
Along with the roaring sound of the car speeding past, Chen Xiangbei in this lap has shown extremely obvious improvement, Ito Masashi’s eyes are locked onto the laptop screen displaying not only car data but also track turn camera footage.
This Huasi Sports track is truly built to high standards, using the current most advanced high-speed cameras, it’s capable of real-time clear observation of Chen Xiangbei’s cornering trajectory.
If adapting speed is fast, it’s possible he has talent or hidden karting driving experience, then cornering lines truly test driving skills.
If you can do it, you can do it, if not, you can’t.
Soon Chen Xiangbei whizzed past the starting line for the second lap, the speed on the long straight at the start has already surpassed 200 km/h, this high speed completely exceeded the practice category.
"Ito, the Chinese newbie has already accelerated at full throttle, pay attention to record his cornering trajectory."
Technical director Miyamoto Shigeru reminded, whether he’s a genius or not depends on cornering skills.
"Hmm."
Ito Masashi answered without even turning his head, his gaze refused to leave the screen.
The first corner at the racing base is a ninety-degree regular left turn, if the line is precise enough, you can get through without braking just by coasting.
But this requires very high driving skills, drivers trained here previously would brake and slow down even at go-kart speeds, and as for accomplishing no-brake cornering in Formula racing, only Zhang Zhendong has managed it.
But Zhang Zhendong participated in CFR2000’s late-stage test drives, his experience with this car and track, currently newbie Chen Xiangbei can’t compare.
If Chen Xiangbei can manage a cornering speed of 150km/h, he would meet Ito Masashi’s standard of a genius driver!
Yet, what happened next completely overturned Ito Masashi’s perception, on the track Chen Xiangbei extremely skillfully found the cornering line and completed it with a speed exceeding 180 km/h.
"Nani?"
Usually quite calm, Ito Masashi couldn’t help but exclaim, Chen Xiangbei’s cornering speed is faster than Zhang Zhendong’s track record, mind you this is only a rookie that has driven three laps!
Ito Masashi’s exclaim drew everyone’s attention over, even Liang Chi could not resist moving closer to see the data displayed on the computer screen.
"Holy crap!"
A similar surprised reaction was uttered from his mouth, although Liang Chi wasn’t present when Zhang Zhendong ran this track, he served as a racing engineer here for several years, very clear on the simulated speed of the first corner on the computer.
Chen Xiangbei’s cornering speed of 180 km/h is already very close to the theoretical limit of this CFR2000.
Liang Chi guessed that cornering speed was fast, but didn’t expect it to be this fast!
"Nakamura, check the car’s sensor data to see if it’s normal."
Miyamoto Shigeru’s first reaction was to have the electronic engineer verify if CFR2000’s sensors malfunctioned, how could a newbie driver possibly put out such cornering speed.
"Car sensor data is normal."
Upon hearing electronic engineer Nakamura Takashi’s reply, Miyamoto Shigeru sharply sucked in a cold breath!