F1: The Making of a Racing God

Chapter 9: Let's solve the driver's problem the driver's way.

The first step is to conduct in-depth learning on the impact of the go-kart's frame structure, torsion bars, wheelbase, lean angle, and gear ratio on driving characteristics.

Now, because the cars are purchased through brands represented by the club, the club's technicians naturally assemble the race cars with settings that are most suitable for the Sanshui racetrack.

However, if drivers of similar skill levels want to compete in national or even larger races in the future, even slight differences in setup can significantly impact their competitiveness on different tracks.

Shu Long listened attentively to this passage, but Shu Xiong listened even more attentively, even though he already understood many of the things in it.

He was more interested in the structural aspects of racing cars than in his driving talent, which often frustrated him.

Another aspect is how to race, how to make a clean, uncontroversial overtake without violating the rules, how to quickly develop an attack strategy based on the driving style of the driver in front and the characteristics of the track, and how to make reasonable use of the rules to defend against the car chasing you.

For example, in a certain corner, choosing to attack that line doesn't necessarily mean that the overall speed is faster than the car in front. But driving that way can either give you an advantage in the early stages or allow you to have a more comfortable exit angle than your opponent and accelerate faster after exiting the corner.

In other words, at this next stage, it will be a battle of wits between the drivers on the track.

Today, in addition to Shu Long himself, two other students who are also studying under Coach Han also came.

They weren't familiar with each other, and they didn't seem particularly friendly.
Although Shulong has practically lived at the racetrack for the past two weeks, he has spent more than 70% of his time on the track, obsessed with setting lap records. As a result, the only people he can still talk to are Coach Han and the few mechanics who help him change tires and do maintenance.

Those who know him well might find Shu Long to be a bit annoyingly talkative, but his relatively introverted personality usually makes him unwilling to be the one to initiate a conversation.

Not to mention the name, Shu Long only learned today that the helmeted man, whom he rarely encountered, looked like this underneath.

"Alright, alright, stop glaring at each other. Let's talk about today's schedule. Gao Yang and Li Zixu, you two will go up first and each do three laps. Shu Long, you watch and learn from the sidelines. You'll go up later."

Han Li had seen plenty of such naive hostility. Most of the kids who could persevere in the club stage, except for those who had money to burn and simply liked racing culture to kill time during their holidays, had the idea of ​​participating in competitions and winning rankings.

With goals and determination, and a competitive spirit on the track, the young racers became less playful and more aggressive and cunning.

As a result, less than ten minutes after getting on the track, Han Li was quite angry with those two little rascals.

"What are you two dawdling about on the track for? If you don't want to run, get off!"

There was neither offense nor defense. Han Li had never seen these two guys so harmonious and friendly before. Weren't they usually so eager to take the lead and even try to eliminate each other?
No wonder Han Li was so annoyed. You see, even though the coaches in the club usually get along well, there's a lot of competition between them behind the scenes.

For clubs, the performance of trainees in monthly competitions is not really linked to the coach's performance; retaining trainees and recruiting new ones is more important than anything else.

But parents don't think that way. They think that if other coaches can train their children to run better, why not choose the better coach to train their own child?

Han Li hoped that his students, if not to act as a team in the competition, would at least not trip up their own teammates, right? But every time there was a competition, these little bastards couldn't wait to eliminate their teammates from the very beginning. It was a blessing if even one of them managed to achieve a good result.

Sales figures, sales figures, all of this is sales figures! Han Li took a deep breath and tried his best to maintain a professional smile.

Being a club coach is really tough. When you get angry, you can't just throw a tantrum like a teacher in school. Not only that, you also have to coax these little masters.

What happened between you guys just now?

Gao Yang was the first to speak. He glared at Shu Long, who looked completely bewildered, and said in a strange Cantonese voice, "Coach, didn't you always rave about this out-of-towner being a genius? Does he really need to learn how we drive?"

Li Zixu's tone wasn't that harsh, but the instructors often used their onboard data to improve the new students' skills without consulting them, especially after others made progress and became role models in the instructors' eyes to motivate them. Anyone would feel uncomfortable in that situation.

Moreover, Li Zixu really envied Shu Long for being able to lap the track so carefree every day.

You have to understand that he has been learning at the club for almost two years. Apart from racing, he mostly only goes to the track to practice using cheap old tires that others have replaced. If he had the same conditions as the newcomer, he would not have even bothered with Gao Yang's suggestion.

Seeing the two people's inexplicable hostile attitude, Shu Long roughly understood what the other half of the riddle his father had sold yesterday meant.

When he was running laps around the track with his mind focused on nothing else, he probably became the kind of "other people's child" that Coach Han talked about again, right?
Putting himself in Shu Long's shoes, he felt he would probably feel uncomfortable too.

For kids this age, admitting that others are better than themselves is probably harder than admitting they've done something wrong.

Seeing that today's lesson seemed to be going nowhere, Coach Han looked at Gao Yang and Li Zixu, who were unusually united in their hatred of the enemy, and a wicked idea that belonged to adults suddenly popped into his mind.

"You guys aren't convinced, are you? Well then, the three of you will have a competition in a bit. No matter what strategies you devise, I'll reimburse the winner of today for a set of new tires to practice on."

Li Zixu's eyes lit up when he heard this. A brand new set of professional racing tires costs at least a thousand yuan. Even Gao Yang couldn't help but be tempted by such a deal.

Coach Han wasn't short of money, but promising over a thousand yuan for nothing still made him feel a little pained: "If you can't outrun those two later, you'll have to listen to what I say from now on."

No wonder!
At most, after this week, once the promised tires are delivered, things will probably be back to what they were before.

But if Shu Long can bring another surprise, considering how much Shu Xiong has boosted his performance during this period, returning a set of tires doesn't seem so bad, does it? There are many types of start formats in go-karting races. Some endurance and recreational races not only require a car, but also a driver before the start. Regardless of the rankings determined in the qualifying rounds, the person who is fastest and gets to the car first often gains a huge advantage.

However, official races recognized by the FIA ​​are different. In the main race, after the warm-up lap, the grid is lined up and then the dynamic start is directly connected. The competition that Shulong and his team are currently conducting is in this format.

Perhaps due to a lack of racing experience and some nervousness, Shu Long seemed to have no idea when the race started and fell behind right from the start.

Gao Yang and Li Zixu, who were running ahead, didn't care about anything else. As soon as they saw that the new genius rookie couldn't even get off the track, their pre-race cooperation agreement was null and void, and they immediately started fighting.

Shu Long had never experienced this kind of start before. In the race videos he had watched before, everyone started statically from their own starting grids, but that was not the reason why he deliberately lagged behind at the beginning.

During the intense competition for position on the track, as the lines become congested, each car will naturally tend to adopt a certain style of handling due to the individual habits and technical characteristics of its drivers.

Like Gao Yang, this guy's driving style is as domineering and impulsive as his personality, and he especially likes to forcefully occupy the space inside the paint by braking late.

Li Zixu, perhaps due to his family background and his earlier maturity and understanding, tends to have a more conservative driving style that prioritizes protecting the chassis. When overtaking, he is accustomed to changing the timing of braking and taking a cross line in an attempt to gain a straighter exit line and earlier acceleration.

However, because the space left was too "concessive", Li Zixu's cross lines could hardly pose an effective threat to Gao Yang's lines in terms of position.

Han Li set the number of laps for the race to be only twenty. Shu Long had been following at a leisurely pace for five laps, but on the sixth lap, at turn three, he suddenly appeared like a ghost and caught up with Li Zixu, who was already at a complete disadvantage.

Originally, the fastest lap times of these two were about the same as Shu Long's, and now this competition would only make them slower. Shu Long patiently followed for so many laps not because he was not interested in the new tires or anything, but simply because he wanted to take this opportunity to gather more information.

Okay, a new set of tires may not be very appealing, but before the game, Shu Xiong had secretly told him that if he won, he could get a brand new movie version of Optimus Prime toy!
At least 99% of the students in Shu Long's class definitely won't have it, and he'll be all the rage when he goes back to the school.
Ahem, let’s get back to the topic!
Although Shu Long previously enjoyed go-karting primarily for the thrill of driving, he dislikes losing, whether it's table tennis or racing!
Before Turn 7, there is a hairpin turn to the right, followed by a series of sharp left turns, which is also the best attack point that Shu Long has chosen for Li Zixu.

By braking late on the outside at the last second, Shu Long managed to get a chance to run alongside Li Zixu. He practically covered the entire left side of the road, maintaining an extremely aggressive wheel-to-wheel position with Li Zixu.

Arriving at Turn 8, he took advantage of the inside line to make a turn, smoothly and successfully passing Li Zixu, and then turned to absorb the rising wake.

Feeling that he had completely gained the upper hand, Gao Yang relaxed his vigilance a little. He was already very familiar with Li Zixu's driving style, and as long as this guy couldn't get rid of his timid and hesitant habits, he wouldn't pose much of a threat to him.

But soon, a very aggressive front of a car caught Gao Yang's eye out of the corner of his eye and startled him.

Li Zixu? No, I mean that rich guy with connections!

The next few turns are all sharp right-angle turns. With similar vehicle performance, the defense simply requires tightly marking the inside line.

Overtaking on the outside means a longer track, and to overtake, you have to risk understeer and losing control by plunging into the curve at a higher speed. Has this person never been in a car accident? Are they crazy?!
Gao Yang overlooked one thing: in order to defend the inside of the track, he was actually driving on the dirty side of the track. While he gained a shorter driving line, the cost was a reduction in the tire's maximum grip.

An earlier braking point means that Gao Yang can gain very little advantage on the straights, but even if he understands this, Gao Yang will not change his approach.

If a vehicle is in a state of extreme driving, would you rather take the risk on a straight road or on a curve?
Being good at cutting inside to overtake doesn't mean Gao Yang is good at handling the vehicle's grip in corners. Essentially, it's about taking advantage of other people's hesitation to gain more advantages on the straight before entering the corner.

The same applies to Shulong. The outer line in the right-angle bend is actually the dirty side of the track, and the higher top speed of the right-angle bend compared to the hairpin bend means that the risk of trying to overtake in Turn 8 increases exponentially.

Shu Long didn't continue to try to brake late. Instead, he gently pressed the brake pedal earlier than Gao Yang, and the front of the car, which was about to emerge, disappeared from Gao Yang's sight again.

"Chicken out? Haha, is that all?"

Gao Yang, who felt all was well after securing the center shoulder of the curve, hadn't even had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief when a dark shadow flashed past from the right, accompanied by a momentary, ear-piercing tire noise.

I really like what some people say in this situation: "Huh?"

Bearing a horizontal force strong enough to pull the helmet up to the neck, Shu Long controlled the brakes with his left foot like a programmed machine, steadily completing the task from light to heavy and then from heavy to light.

Applying the brakes lightly in advance allows the car to enter the corner at a more stable high speed. At the apex of the corner, the heavy braking connects with tracking, smoothly transferring the center of gravity to both front wheels to get full grip. Shu Long's operation in one corner almost violated all the taboos that Coach Han had mentioned to him before.

Because go-karts do not have ABS, braking lightly at first and then harder often means that the speed cannot be reduced when braking lightly, and the speed can be reduced when braking hard, which can easily lock the car. This is usually a method that is used as a last resort when driving in the rain to prevent over-braking on the first step.

It was precisely this kind of maneuvering—which involved both tire and lap time adjustments, and yielded almost no positive results—that allowed Shu Long to achieve what, from an outsider's perspective, almost a brutal overtake.

Of course, that's also very irrational!
With nearly half the race remaining, Shu Long could have chosen a more conservative approach or lapped a couple more times to look for another attacking opportunity. Any mistake in either of these options could have had disastrous consequences.

But Shu Long didn't want to wait a moment longer. He hadn't let Gao Yang shout earlier not because he had a good temper, but because he was facing a boy who was a whole size older than him.
I will never admit that I was actually stunned at the time, no way!

In short, the problems of race car drivers should be solved on the track using the methods of race car drivers.

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(End of this chapter)