Chapter 41: Chapter 38: True Professional Rivals
Accompanied by the roar of engines, three cars began the "warm-up lap" on the track.
Sitting in the stands, Ma Minghan was displeased at this sight and said, "What is this running? Why are they going so slow?"
Hearing this, the person next to him, Shai Minghui, couldn’t help but show a disdainful expression.
This fool always mocked him when AMG lost to Corolla, yet doesn’t even know the basics of racing. Truly a big-mouth racer!
Of course, Shai Minghui didn’t voice his thoughts, but instead explained with a pleasing tone, "This is the warm-up lap, after this lap is the official race."
"By the way, Master Ma, is everything arranged on Liu Shaoquan’s side?"
"Do I need you to remind me about what I handle?"
With that, Ma Minghan sneered, "Just wait and see how Chen Xiangbei gets taken out by Liu Shaoquan’s crash!"
Ma Minghan didn’t care about winning or losing this race; his goal from start to finish was to teach Chen Xiangbei a harsh lesson to vent his anger from these past days.
He had discussed with Liu Shaoquan in advance to try to cause an accident for Chen Xiangbei during the race, and if that wasn’t possible, straight crashing into him was fine. He would handle any consequences!
"With your word, I feel relieved, Master Ma."
Shai Minghui laughed along, ready to watch the show.
The warm-up lap ended, and the three cars returned to the starting line. Chen Xiangbei’s Subaru Impreza was on the outermost side, Han Han’s race-spec Volkswagen POLO GTI was in the middle, and on the innermost side was Liu Shaoquan’s Mitsubishi EVO 6.
Once they stopped side by side, all three cars simultaneously started revving their engines, unlike Han Han and Liu Shaoquan, who wanted to keep the engine speed in the maximum power output range.
Chen Xiangbei was revving his engine at this time for another function: to pre-charge the turbo to prevent turbo lag at the start, which would affect the immediate power output response.
This Subaru Impreza had undergone many modifications to reduce turbo lag, such as changing the layout of the exhaust manifold.
But even with these modifications, it only alleviated the issue to a certain extent and couldn’t completely eliminate it, not to mention matching the opponents’ racecars.
As for Han Han’s race-spec Volkswagen POLO, it’s self-explanatory. With a phased ignition system and high-pressure turbo modifications, it’s well-equipped to deliver power on demand.
Regarding Liu Shaoquan’s Mitsubishi EVO 6, Chen Xiangbei guessed from the sound of the turbo blow-off valve that the opponent had modified it to a twin-turbo system. The principle was to maintain the small turbo at high speed through a series connection to quickly drive the large turbo to provide sufficient pressure to the engine.
Due to the horizontally opposed engine’s low center of gravity, the Subaru Impreza didn’t have enough vertical space to fit a twin-turbo, so Liang Chi had to adopt a compromised method of changing the exhaust manifold layout.
If a twin-turbo approach could be adopted, the Subaru Impreza’s power and response speed could still be improved by a notch.
At this time, the five indicator lights above the track began to light up one by one with a "beep beep beep" sound.
Chen Xiangbei stared intently at the starting lights; this feeling of waiting on the track made him feel like he was dreaming.
As if he had returned to the scene of driving a formula car in his past life.
At the instant the five indicator lights went out, Chen Xiangbei released the handbrake and popped the clutch, sending the Subaru Impreza flying out like an arrow off a string.
Compared to when he raced with Qin Lianjie on Nanyun Mountain, after this half-month of car modification and testing, Chen Xiangbei and the Subaru Impreza became more coordinated and harmonious, making his starting speed faster and more stable.
In fact, it was just that: leveraging reaction speed and starting advantage, Chen Xiangbei’s Subaru Impreza achieved a breakout lead.
However, before he could outpace the opponent’s car body and perform a blocking maneuver, the situation took a sharp turn.
Han Han’s race-spec Volkswagen POLO, using incredible acceleration, swiftly overtook Chen Xiangbei’s Subaru Impreza. Meanwhile, as they sped down the starting straight, Liu Shaoquan’s Mitsubishi EVO also caught up thanks to its power advantage!
The combination of track, racecar, and professional driver can cause a qualitative change; the effect is far beyond what a mountain road, performance car, and street racers can compare to.
Take Han Han’s start for example; maybe his start reaction time was 0.1 seconds slower than Chen Xiangbei, and the starting operation speed was also 0.1 seconds slower.
But his race-spec Volkswagen POLO was only 950KG, roughly 400KG lighter than Chen Xiangbei’s Subaru Impreza!
This weight difference cannot be compensated by a mere handful more horsepower, let alone the advantages in power response, mechanical quality, and so on.
Moreover, Han Han isn’t some street rookie; with his status as the national touring car champion, he wouldn’t easily be overpowered by Chen Xiangbei at the start.
As for Liu Shaoquan, it was clear that he relied on the car’s performance to overpower Chen Xiangbei!
Despite starting last, Chen Xiangbei remained calm and unsurprised.
He had told Fatty Wang about running the East Sea International Circuit, needing at least a three-second lead over Han Han, based on both using standard racecars.
The current starting gap between them wasn’t dictated by driving skills but by the vehicle’s physical performance. Even if Schumacher or Senna were racing, they couldn’t break the laws of physics unless encountering a rainy battle.
The Haizhu International Circuit is 4.3 kilometers long, with a total of 14 corners, and the first corner after the start is a high-speed right turn.
In official professional races, multiple cars compete fiercely in this corner; whoever gets the best entry line can much faster through the corner and leave opponents far behind.
The three drivers on the track all knew this crucial point. Liu Shaoquan, with his 400+ horsepower Mitsubishi EVO, took advantage of the power to outpace Han Han’s race-spec Volkswagen POLO, seizing the line first.
Honestly, when this scene happened, many spectators had surprised looks on their faces.
Before Han Han started, the Volkswagen 222 team personnel generally viewed this as a "child’s play" game.
No one knew where these two drivers came from, and one was still a high school student, daring to run a lap on the track against the CCC national champion, with a professional racing start.
Only someone like Han Han, who exudes "rebellion and personality," would agree; others would probably not even bother.
But upon seeing, the fastest starter was that high school student, and the quickest into the corner was the Hong Kong driver.
Indeed, there’s an element of vehicle performance disparity, but without capable drivers, these scenarios would never happen!
Regarding the Hong Kong driver Liu Shaoquan, younger team members may not be familiar, but old-timers like Manager Ye, and race engineer Wang Xiao, had seen him race in the form of formula.
But as for this high school student, he’s entirely unknown, yet managed to have a faster start than Han Han, truly hard to believe.
"Manager Ye, where did you find this high school student? I just checked, his starting reaction time was 0.2 seconds, which is top-notch among top racers. Even F1 drivers average about 0.25 seconds after reaction training; how can he be this fast?"
Running on the track has the advantage of abundant race data for assessment, such as being able to calculate the starting reaction time on the spot.
Volkswagen 222 Team’s race engineer Wang Xiao couldn’t believe the data on the computer screen, it couldn’t possibly be a high school student’s starting reaction!
PS: Brothers, the third Chapter is here, if you have monthly tickets, please vote, thank you in advance.