Chapter 60: Walking the Edge of Control
Miyamoto Shigeru is thirty-six years old this year. In the Japanese industry, which highly values seniority and hierarchy, he doesn’t really count as a big shot.
That is precisely why he was dispatched to China’s Huasi Sports as a technical support staff for the Honda Racing Corporation.
But twelve years ago, Miyamoto Shigeru witnessed the most talented driver Japan has ever seen at the Honda Suzuka Racing School, a man named Sato Takuma.
If you look at his F1 record alone, Sato Takuma seems quite average. Even with podium finishes added in, he barely reaches the level of a mid-tier driver.
The most lasting impression of his career, perhaps, is his frequent misfortune with engine blowouts and the infamous incident where he rear-ended the seven-time champion Schumacher, earning the angry helmet-slapping by the King of Cars, thus earning him the nickname "Cylinder Explosion King."
However, if you look at it from another perspective, Sato Takuma never had any exposure to formula training as a child. It wasn’t until he was nineteen that he worked to save money to buy a go-kart to train at the Honda Suzuka Racing School.
And in just two years, he won the Japan F3 annual championship and then went to Europe to participate in F3 tournaments and won again!
This level of talent can definitely be called historical-level, but it was simply delayed by age.
In fact, after Sato Takuma exited F1, he shifted to the American Indy 500 races and won the world championship title in 2017.
Keep in mind that the double F1 champion, the widely recognized top driver Alonso, once raced in Indy cars but failed to achieve excellent results, which indirectly proves Sato Takuma’s talent.
Back then, Miyamoto Shigeru witnessed Sato Takuma as a rookie doing test runs on the track with the go-kart he bought himself, a scene that brought as much shock as what he felt when seeing Chen Xiangbei today.
No! To be accurate, it’s not as intense as Chen Xiangbei.
It was from that day that Miyamoto Shigeru realized that geniuses indeed exist in this world, and the finish line for many go-kart racers who trained for years is merely the starting point for a talented driver!
On the track, Chen Xiangbei was still racing. If he had been deliberately holding back his strength earlier, the exhilarating excitement of driving a formula car became increasingly hard to restrain as the speed continued to rise.
After all, this was his first time driving a real race car since his rebirth.
He quickly reached the second turn, and Chen Xiangbei still didn’t decelerate much, relying on an extreme line to exit the corner.
However, this time the driving trajectory on the computer showed signs of slipping in the middle of the corner for Chen Xiangbei. It wasn’t a control problem but more due to the low-temperature track causing insufficient tire temperature, making it hard to grip the road.
The third turn, the fourth turn...
Chen Xiangbei maneuvered as smoothly as an experienced driver who had been racing on this track for years, leaving the onlookers in disbelief.
"Old Liang, has Xiangbei really never trained with go-karts?"
At that moment, Zhang Zhicong couldn’t help but ask again. They were all professionals in the racing industry and could easily see the high level of this kind of operation.
It’s not even about never training with go-karts; even the Formula training drivers at the Huasi base might not be as fast as Chen Xiangbei in corners.
Being a notch above ordinary people is called exceptional talent; now, even ordinary training drivers are being left behind by a whole dimension by Chen Xiangbei, making Zhang Zhicong truly skeptical of this kid’s racing foundation.
"Anyway, the kid said he’s never trained."
Liang Chi then added, "Given his family situation, even if he wanted to train, he couldn’t afford it."
The reason why China has only produced one F1 driver, Zhou Guanyu, over so many years is because racing not only requires talent, but more importantly, it requires money!
Not to mention the cost of formula racing, just starting from competitive go-karting, a small-size full-slick tire costs an average of 500 yuan, and replacing four costs two thousand.
In normal circumstances, even if used sparingly, the lifespan of full-slick tires won’t exceed two hours, and the longer the time, the smoother they become, resulting in loss of grip.
Additionally, in aggressive driving conditions, the wear on oil and parts is also significant, and replacing an engine or transmission every ten days to half a month is not unusual, plus the venue fees and coach training costs, which amount to at least hundreds of thousands a month.
If you want to gain better training results, like Zhou Guanyu in later years, self-building a track averages over three million a year.
As far as Chen Xiangbei’s family situation is concerned, Liang Chi is quite knowledgeable. His single mother runs a small trade company, and having an income of tens of thousands every month is already good, making it impossible to support professional go‑kart training costs.
In fact, without Liang Chi emphasizing it, Zhang Zhicong, as a racing manager, is equally well aware of all these.
But the question is, if he hasn’t trained, where did he get this driving skill from?
While Zhang Zhicong was pondering, an unexpected situation occurred on the track.
The suspension of a formula car has very little body roll, relying almost entirely on the driver’s physical quality to fight the G-forces, which are approximately two to three times their body weight in high-speed corners. For the current Chen Xiangbei, this is absolutely a severe challenge.
The faster the speed, the larger the corner angle, the more insurmountable the G-forces become.
Additionally, the steering ratio of formula cars differs from civilian cars, with no free play and a 1:1 steering ratio, meaning Chen Xiangbei must ensure that his arms and body remain completely steady, regardless of the lateral G-forces he endures.
Chen Xiangbei was barely able to hold on initially, but as he approached an S-curve combination, he needed to execute highly precise perfect lines to corner at high speed.
Due to insufficient tire temperature and the mechanical downforce issues of the CFR2000, the tires began to slide again during the line-taking process.
At this point, Chen Xiangbei’s speed was still at a high 170km/h; any slight error would lead to a significant trajectory deviation, eventually resulting in an out-of-control crash into the tire barrier at the edge of the track.
Seeing this scene, Liang Chi’s heart jumped into his throat. You must know that entry-level formula cars don’t have the same monocoque strength as F1, nor the complete HANS protection system (head and neck support system).
Even with gravel buffers and tire barriers, a high-speed collision still cannot guarantee a hundred percent safety, especially with a side collision out of control, even while wearing a helmet and racing suit.
It doesn’t even necessarily have to lead to casualties; for a rookie driver, the accident itself could potentially cast a psychological shadow and, in severe cases, ruin a professional career.
Just like the 2022 incident of F1 driver Zhou Guanyu at the Silverstone Circuit, although he was not seriously injured, it clearly interrupted his rising performance trend, and he went through a series of competitions with declined status, causing a major impact on his career.
However, Chen Xiangbei’s reaction time was swift. He took countermeasures as soon as the car began to slide, quickly turning the steering wheel in the opposite direction to correct it.
Additionally, to regain grip, he performed a downshift with throttle blipping operation in hopes of utilizing the traction difference between the front and rear wheels to gain an opportunity to adjust the car’s posture.
Chen Xiangbei completed this entire set of operations in mere fractions of a second, demonstrating a composed and calm mindset in emergency situations that surpasses all the formula drivers trained at Huasi.
It was precisely this kind of split-second-to-spare limit recovery maneuver that allowed the CFR2000 front wing to brush against the advertisement barrier thrillingly, leaving a white mark as it cornered.
This is the essence of professional racing; there’s never an absolutely safe speed. As a driver, you must get used to hovering on the brink of losing control!