WebNovels

Chapter 25 - Chapter 22: The Hope of Chinese Racing

Watching Dong Yuanxi's departing figure, Chen Xiangbei also smiled, who would have thought that the little girl with a mask back then would be her.

But Chen Xiangbei didn't have time to marvel at fate's mysteries right now. Grabbing his backpack, he ran homeward; he had to squeeze in time for his physical training.

The day passed quickly. With the voiceover on TV from CCTV Sports congratulating Hamilton on clinching the pole position, Chen Xiangbei arrived at Liang Chi's car repair shop.

However, as soon as he entered the shop today, Chen Xiangbei smelled a strong odor of alcohol, making him instinctively frown.

You should know, aside from rare drivers like Finland's "Ice Man" Raikkonen who like to have a drink to calm their nerves before racing, most drivers or motorsport practitioners instinctively keep their distance from alcohol.

After all, racing requires an extremely clear mind and agile thinking abilities. Any influence from alcohol could lead to unforeseen serious consequences.

Uncle Liang usually only smokes and rarely drinks, so why the strong smell of alcohol today?

With this doubt, Chen Xiangbei walked into Liang Chi's room. He was sitting on the floor, with scattered bottles of alcohol around him, and in front was the design model of the CFR2000.

"Uncle Liang, what's wrong?"

Hearing Chen Xiangbei's voice, Liang Chi looked up at him, his eyes filled with bloodshot.

With a pain-laden tone, he replied, "I knew when testing the car that this CFR2000 wouldn't succeed, but I didn't expect its debut at the East Sea International Circuit would fail so thoroughly!"

"The last hope of Huasa is gone, and so is the hope for Chinese formula racing!"

History has inevitable occurred; CFR2000 lost a wheel during its debut at the F1 Chinese Grand Prix, becoming the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Preparation began in '03, with formal factory setup and R&D in '05. Liang Chi poured so much effort into this CFR2000, also carrying his dream for the rise of Chinese formula racing.

Now, with the dream shattered, he couldn't pretend to be nonchalant with a carefree attitude.

"The last hope of Huasa is indeed gone, but the hope for Chinese formula racing always lingers."

"Uncle Liang, people need to learn to look ahead."

Chen Xiangbei calmly reassured, even without mentioning that he had stumbled at the threshold of the F1 Paddock, in the future there would still be a driver named Zhou Guanyu who successfully sat in an F1 car cockpit, creating new history for Chinese racing.

With the development of China's automobile industry, Chinese racing will only get better and better.

Faced with Chen Xiangbei's words, Liang Chi didn't retort, just showed a bitter smile. He knew the foundation of Chinese formula couldn't achieve the optimism of Chen Xiangbei.

Seeing this, Chen Xiangbei didn't provide more comfort; middle-aged men didn't need these pretentious words.

"Uncle Liang, give me the car keys, I need to race against Qin Lianjie tonight."

"It's in the flower pot next to the warehouse. You can keep the car keys for yourself from now on."

"So generous, planning to give me the car?"

"Keep dreaming!"

Even if his mentality was shattered or drowned in alcohol, if Chen Xiangbei thought he could snatch the whole sheep away, even after ten bottles, Liang Chi could instantly sobered up.

"If you can beat Qin Lianjie tonight, I'll reward you with one-year usage rights of this car."

"No problem, today Qin Lianjie won't even see my taillights."

Then, Liang Chi hurriedly added, "You'll have to add fuel yourself!"

"Truly you, Uncle Liang."

Chen Xiangbei never thought of taking advantage; after speaking, he directly turned and walked towards the back warehouse.

Watching Chen Xiangbei's departing figure, Liang Chi's eyes were somewhat dreamy, murmuring, "I wonder if this boy can become the hope of Chinese racing."

As the roller door opened again, the Subaru Impreza, once in "Champion Blue," had now turned to a blue-black color scheme. The front hood, surrounds, and other covering components were all replaced with carbon fiber materials.

Not only that, Chen Xiangbei also noticed that even the front rims were replaced with brand new forged alloy rims, with "weight reduction" treatments applied inside to further lighten the front weight.

Chen Xiangbei wasn't very professional in touring car modifications, but he could roughly estimate that these changes could reduce the front weight by 30-50KG.

Don't underestimate these few dozen pounds; for a race car, it significantly enhances control and also reduces the braking pressure on the front wheels.

If there's ample time for fine-tuning the suspension and damping system, it might thoroughly solve the eighth-generation Subaru Impreza's understeer issue from added weight.

While Chen Xiangbei was admiring this Subaru Impreza, Liang Chi was already standing behind him.

"The understeer of this car has been improved, and the front-rear power distribution ratio of the four-wheel-drive system has been adjusted to 1:9. Coupled with the low center of gravity of the EJ20 flat-four engine, it should have good accuracy in high-speed drift cornering."

"The downside is that the engine hasn't been modified, the exhaust manifold located at the bottom is too long, while the turbocharger is right at the top of the engine, so the exhaust has to travel a long path to reach the turbocharger, inevitably causing turbo lag."

"Acceleration out of corners will be affected; you'll have to find a way to overcome this flaw, or adopt the fast-in-slow-out method common in rear-wheel drive when entering corners."

Being a racing engineer after all, Liang Chi was very familiar with the car's characteristics and his explanation was quite professional.

"Yeah, I understand."

"Also, Qin Lianjie's Civic Type-R has been modified. Don't be too overconfident, kid."

Lastly, Liang Chi reminded him, Qin Lianjie's Civic Type-R had been heavily invested in and tuned according to his driving habits. Both the power output and handling response were adjusted to the level of finger control.

Liang Chi didn't want to dampen Chen Xiangbei's confidence in victory, but he had to let him understand it wasn't that simple to win.

"Got it."

Chen Xiangbei remained as calm as ever.

There is a famous saying later: don't use your hobbies to challenge my profession.

No matter how talented Qin Lianjie was, no matter how well the Civic Type-R was modified, he was ultimately just a racing enthusiast standing at the professional threshold.

Even driving Fatty Wang's Corolla downhill, Chen Xiangbei had absolute confidence in defeating Qin Lianjie, let alone driving a car with racing pedigree that had undergone initial modifications like the Subaru Impreza.

In a way, Liang Chi's reminder was redundant.

"Since you know that, go ahead."

Liang Chi said no more, stepping aside to clear the path for the Subaru Impreza.

Chen Xiangbei sat in the cockpit, turning the key with a "vroom" to power up and ignite. The flat-four EJ20 engine had another advantage: despite being a four-cylinder, it produced a sound akin to an inline-six, which was unmatched by other car engines.

However, as flat engines became costly to produce, hard to repair, and expensive to maintain, they faded like Subaru cars from the market, with the more cost-effective V engines becoming mainstream.

In the end, only Subaru and Porsche stubbornly insisted on using flat engines.

The Subaru's eighth-generation signature "tear-eye" headlights lit up. After honking a signal, Chen Xiangbei floored the accelerator, charging out of the warehouse, heading towards Nanyun Mountain.

Liang Chi stood there watching the disappearing taillights, pondering on just how high this boy's racing talent could go, relying on tonight's race.

PS: An extra update is released, with a third at noon. Also, Happy New Year in advance to all the brothers.

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