F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 18 Dragon in the Rain
That racetrack at home wasn't built for nothing.

Is visibility obstructed on rainy days?
Countless times, Shu Xiong watched his son race on the track until late at night after school. Even when the park's power was off, Shu Long could still maintain his amazing lap times on the track thanks to the faint visual residue created by the silvery moonlight.

Is the ground wet and lacking grip?
Spending every day on the same track can get a bit monotonous, so Shulong deliberately adds challenges to his schedule by making the external conditions more difficult. He runs on dry ground, runs even more when the track is wet from rain, and runs whenever the track is being cleaned and maintained, even when it's not raining.

Dry tires are used on wet roads, and old tires are used on dry roads. Often, a set of tires will be worn out by the tire manufacturer until they are full of rough edges and on the verge of a blowout before a new set of tires is reluctantly unsealed.
It can be said that the friction control system has already clearly recorded what kind of grip performance a tire has under what lifespan and environmental conditions.

Shu Long has a strange quirk that gives Shu Xiong a headache.

This kid seems to have some kind of collecting quirk. He can't bear to throw away old tires no matter what. Even when he goes to school, he puts a tire in his schoolbag. As soon as class starts, he takes it out and puts it in the space on his desk, gently rubbing it with his hand. His homeroom teacher, Ms. Wu, has talked to Zhang Xin about this several times.

Shu Long explained, "I've used them for so long, I've developed an attachment to them, you know? Every scratch on them records my growth bit by bit!"

?

Why are you asking this question? Is it wrong for me to be nostalgic?

Let alone tires that have been with you for so many days and nights, even a cleanly gnawed ear of corn, if you can't find a trash can and hold it in your hand for a long time, you might develop an attachment to it, and feel quite hesitant when throwing it away.

The question mark appeared too early; it should be here.

cough!
It is through this accumulation day after day that everything that might be a hindrance to others during a rainy battle can become a decisive opportunity for Shulong.

The tire warming program was launched amidst a chorus of complaints.

Most of the complaints came from parents who felt sorry for their children. Even Wu Xu, whom Shu Long disliked the most, only looked at them with murderous intent at this moment.

Whether it's killing the track or killing the opponent, it doesn't matter.

Shu Long will start from the fourth row today, almost at the back of the pack, so he can see all the drivers ahead of him warming up their tires in the rain. It will be clear who his strong competitors will be in this race.

As for the people behind them
It's not that Shu Long is arrogant; in the absence of other external factors, his lap time on dry ground is even slower than his when he's spinning, so there's absolutely no need to pay attention to him.

Wu Xu was right in front of him, but one look was enough to tell that he posed no threat at all. On the contrary, the car that was starting alongside him looked more interesting.

Before the race, Shu Long glanced at the starting list and noticed that the name of the person who caught his attention seemed to be Zhou Guanyu, the chubby boy he had exchanged glances with before the race.

According to the information that Shu Xiong shamelessly obtained, Zhou Guanyu, like Shu Long, was probably participating in a national competition of this scale for the first time, and had only been involved with karting for about six months.

What a coincidence!
It's clear that Zhou Guanyu isn't very familiar with the grip on the wet track, but he corrected the car's dynamics very quickly and steadily when it was on the verge of losing control. Moreover, he showed visible improvement as the warm-up lap progressed, and overall he looked much more stable than the "veteran" Wu Xu next to him.

At the referee's signal, all the cars began to slow down and form two lines, slowly advancing along the starting straight.

Due to the rain and low visibility, a last-minute driver meeting was held before the race, changing the starting signal from waving flags to starting with traffic lights.

The lights, hazy and indistinct under the cover of rain, resembled water droplets soaking in a bathtub, making them even more eye-catching than usual.

Shu Long moved his stiff fingers on the steering wheel. The rain-soaked racing suit felt heavy and cold on his body, and every now and then a muscle in one part of his body would twitch uncontrollably, a slight protest against the uncomfortable feeling.

Confidence in one's own abilities does not mean blind arrogance. At this moment, even Shu Long was trying his best to eliminate all distracting thoughts.

The lights that had illuminated the inside of the helmets in a bright red light suddenly went out, and the thirteen race cars on the track began to accelerate in unison.

Shulong reacted quickly.

However, in such wet track conditions, with a dynamic start, a fast reaction speed does not give him much of a starting advantage.

The track's grip is limited, and especially for lighter riders like Shu Long, they actually suffer from mechanical downforce. All they can do is try to prevent the tires from spinning too much.

Also because of the rain, the kind of situation where two trains would scatter like beans and constantly change lanes to find opportunities when running together on a dry track did not occur. Instead, the cars were still almost in the same neat formation as at the start until turn one.

However, at that moment, an anomaly appeared in the traffic jam.

Shu Long chose a very late braking point, but his goal was not to seize the space on the inside line, but rather the area on the outside line that had no driving marks and looked like it was more flooded.

It is common sense that you cannot completely copy the racing line on a dry track when it is raining.

The tire tread that accumulates on a regular driving track can improve track conditions and grip when the track is dry. However, once there is water on the track, the grip on the track surface will be extremely poor.

Although these young drivers are young, they are people who have been recognized by their respective clubs and races to compete at the national level. There is no reason why they should lack such basic theoretical knowledge.

However, knowing and doing are not two completely inseparable concepts.

Even though Shu Long had quietly tested the grip at several unconventional points on the track during the warm-up lap, doing so was still a high-stakes gamble with no guarantee of success for him.

【Photographic memory】is, after all, an entry that is not fully unlocked. Two days of familiarizing himself with the track can indeed allow Shulong to reach the level of being able to run a lap blindfolded, but that is only applicable to regular racing tracks with dry conditions.

Ultimately, he wasn't a local powerhouse. Shu Long's memory wasn't so abnormal that he could memorize every detail of the track with just a glance. He was still missing a lot of data outside of the regular racing lines.

Where is it concave? Where is it convex?
These small details may seem insignificant under normal circumstances, but in rainy conditions they can greatly affect the depth of water accumulation, and an unexpected bump can easily disrupt a vehicle's grip and balance.

As for the others, everyone knows that the outside speed may be faster, but why doesn't anyone do it? In addition to the dilemmas that the aforementioned drivers would face, it actually involves the psychological game that drivers play on the track.

The unconventional racing line meant that the driving techniques learned in the previous two days of practice and track familiarization were completely useless, and with poor visibility, it was not entirely impossible for some unscrupulous individuals to get lost on the track.

This is not just like a solo run in the rain.

The influence of the drivers in the front and rear rows; the spray from the cars breaking through the water; and the constant interference from the drivers' own tense breathing and heartbeats—the situation on the track will only be more chaotic than imagined.

While a regular racing track is certainly slippery, if you slip, everyone else slips too, forcing everyone to start on the same starting line. Even if it's not fast, it's at least stable.

In this situation, would you risk ruining your own game by taking unknown risks, or would you honestly try to keep everything under your control as much as possible?

The answer is clear: anyone can say nice things, but not everyone has the courage to take a gamble and be unconventional.

Courage is like a dragon adding an extra horsepower to an engine, while luck is the reward bestowed upon the brave by the gods.

The braking timing was slightly delayed by less than half a meter, causing the car to initially understeer, with the front wheels almost skipping across the road surface, making it impossible to bring the car into the corner.

Seeing this, Wu Xu almost burst out laughing. So this is what all the geniuses who were praised by so many people in the club have done? He was acting all high and mighty before, but he just fell for it with a little provocation.
Go eat mud! You idiot!
But what happened next almost made Wu Xu pop his eyeball into the helmet's visor.

Shu Long did something, and the car first straightened itself, then swayed left and right. The next second, the rear wheels spun wildly, creating a white wave. The entire race car went from understeer to oversteer in an instant, drifting along the curb as it passed the first and second consecutive right turns.

Excessive wheel spin inevitably affected the speed of the Shulong race car, but the next turn, turn three, was a left turn with a very wide shoulder, and Shulong, which was originally on the outside, suddenly gained a huge advantage on the inside.

Turn 3 is quite special. According to the rules, there are no traditional white lines here. The grass is the so-called boundary of the track, so even if you make a cornering maneuver, it is not considered a violation.

In fact, the already slippery road shoulders and grass and soil are almost seamlessly connected, so even if people cut corners, they dare not go too deep. The grid-like surface, mixed with mud and water, makes it very easy to slip.

However, this part of the data was very clear in Shu Long's mind. He managed to push the shoulder to its limit with three cars side by side and successfully squeezed into third place by passing only three corners.

Isn't this against the rules?

The group of people who had been overtaken by this madman riding the waves could hardly accept this fact. They immediately raised one hand to protest to the referee on the side of the road, but quickly put their hands back on the steering wheel, which was almost out of control, with a look of panic on their faces.

Unfortunately, aside from being a bit reckless, Shu Long's actions just now were not a foul at all, especially since he didn't even have direct contact with other race cars.

The two commentators in the broadcasting room looked at each other, feeling awkward. Their immediate priority was to break the silence, but both of them felt like they had a sentence stuck in their throats that they couldn't utter, and they were truly choked up.

"The dragon from Sanshui Forest Racing is truly a dragon in the rain!"

"What am I supposed to say after you've said that?"

Just as one wave subsided, another arose. The commentators hadn't even caught their breath when they were once again surprised by another exclamation.

"Oh, who's that? Car number 319, it's Zhou Guanyu from the Shanghai AGF team! Look what he's doing!"

A race car suddenly appeared on the outside of Turn 3, taking advantage of the chaos caused by Shulong to block the inside of Turn 4, passing the third and fourth place cars who seemed to be in a daze ahead, and then sucked into Shulong's wake.

"One is eight years old and the other is nine years old. Both children are entering the CKC event's field of vision for the first time. They are like newly ignited flames."

"That's right! They are all the hope of Chinese motorsports, and we look forward to them continuing to bring us wonderful performances in the upcoming races!"

Rain racing is a challenge not only for drivers but also for commentators. Even with the aid of cameras, it's really hard to tell who's who through a screen with poor clarity.

There were two race cars that you could recognize at a glance simply by their distinctive body style, without even having to look at the license plate numbers on the front of the car.

Louis also recognized the person right behind him. Although it was just a fleeting glimpse out of the corner of his eye, in his mind, there was only one oddball among all the contestants who could do that.

Don't ask why, and it's not about love or bonds. A full 21 seconds of PTSD isn't something that can be easily resolved.

However, the last time the dragon was in front of Louis, this time it was behind him. This disappointed man from England was determined to find out exactly where he went wrong.

However, reality is often very cruel.

If in that rainy monthly race, Louis felt powerless, watching the other car's rear end recede into the distance, then today, the aggressive frame that always peeks out from under his helmet probably brings him a sense of oppression, like a slender, ghostly figure closing in step by step.

Finally, on lap 7, at turn 12, the opportunity that Shulong had been waiting for finally arrived.

This is a continuous curve section with left turns followed by right turns and then two more left turns. The special part is the right turn 13, which is similar to or even more so than turn 3. You can cut directly over the shoulder without even turning. So, in terms of driving style, it can be seen as a short straight followed by two consecutive left turns that are the slowest in the entire race.

The problem lies here: the curb happens to overlap to some extent with the braking point of this short "straight road," and the curb is extremely slippery.

The mistake wasn't actually made by Louis, but by number 306, who was leading the pack.

Louis, who was already on the verge of a nervous breakdown due to the constant pressure from Shu Long behind him, was affected by him and slid sideways like a frightened bird. He didn't lose control much, but it was just enough for Shu Long and Zhou Guanyu, who had been sticking close behind him, to get past him.

　Fantastic news! Vassal has gotten me out of trouble; I've finally signed a contract.

　　I really didn't expect that watching a race every year would cause me so much anxiety about contracts, and writing about a race would also cause me so much anxiety about contracts. It's really not easy, sob sob~
　　Thank you all for your daily recommendation votes, thank you Sugar Cocoa for the monthly ticket, and thank you to the amazing Illusion|Mirror Flower Water Moon for the monthly ticket and reward! I'm really into it!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)