Car Racing without Money-Chapter 453 - 180: The Japanese "Gyokusai" Mentality (Part 2)

Chapter 453: Chapter 180: The Japanese "Gyokusai" Mentality (Part 2)

"Xiangbei, Trulli’s car has blown the engine, you should come back for an inspection as well."

Before identifying the cause, Briatore could only temporarily halt the testing to avoid damage to another power unit.

The total cost of an F1 car is approximately 12 million US dollars, with the power unit accounting for about 60-70% of that, meaning it’s priced around 8 million US dollars.

In reality, the cost of the engine itself is only a few hundred thousand US dollars.

But the problem is, will the seller sell you the item at cost price?

Especially for F1, a non-mass-produced, virtually handcrafted racing car, the engine must absorb the astronomically high R&D and testing costs.

The HRT Team’s purchase from Toyota costs no less than two million US dollars per unit.

The team’s current capital is not abundant, relying solely on the Chinese sponsors brought in by Chen Xiangbei, with no other capital or advertisers involved.

This situation is similar to Brown GP Team at the beginning of the year; a "newcomer" team with no results and unable to attract capital interest.

As the manager, Briatore must consider the overall operation of the team.

"Understood."

Chen Xiangbei responded as he slowed the car, preparing to enter the pit lane.

However, he felt a bit puzzled inside, wondering why Trulli’s engine blew. Could he really just be unlucky?

A record of 14 first-lap retirements is indeed quite staggering.

Considering his career hasn’t even reached ten years, with 14 first-lap retirements, his total retirements must at least double, indicating an overall retirement rate of at least 20-30%.

With such luck, he loses half the battle before even racing.

Of course, Chen Xiangbei didn’t believe in superstition; he was only thinking casually.

The TF110 entered the pit lane and stopped at the spot, with Ayong assisting him to unbuckle his seatbelt and get out of the car.

The first thing Chen Xiangbei did was ask Odetto, "Odetto, what’s the situation?"

"We still don’t know; we need to wait for the car to be brought back to the repair station for inspection."

Odetto shook his head; too many factors could cause an F1 engine to blow, making it impossible to determine the cause.

After all, without turbocharging, the 2.4L engine outputting over 800 horsepower is inherently based on sacrificing engine life.

Consider the Mazda Atenza, Toyota Camry, and Asia Dragon with 2.5L engines in civilian cars, where the maximum horsepower is only around 200, starkly different from racing engines.

An engine blowout from stepping on the accelerator is nothing unusual.

"I think it’s because the power output is too extreme."

Standing at the back, design director Bob Bell gave his speculation.

"Too extreme?"

Upon hearing Bob Bell’s response, Briatore further inquired, "Is it our tuning issue, or Toyota’s design issue?"

"Most likely Toyota’s design issue."

Hearing this answer, everyone’s face sank!

If it were a tuning issue, it would be easy to solve, just by slightly reducing the engine’s output power.

Compared to last year’s F1 car average level, 860 horsepower is indeed a substantial increase.

But if it’s a design flaw from Toyota, that would be a big problem.

Not to mention anything else, with the Toyota F1 Team’s withdrawal, the European Research and Development Headquarters in Cologne, Germany, underwent massive layoffs, naturally impacting the engine department greatly.

Currently, Toyota’s motorsport engine division has been relocated back to Toyota Global Headquarters in Aichi, Japan.

The greater the distance, the higher the communication costs, and even the time difference poses a considerable challenge.

"Why is it like this?"

Odetto couldn’t help but ask.

"Eager for victory."

"Toyota’s good performance last year gave the R&D team hope, but the news of withdrawal abruptly extinguished their hopes."

"To salvage the team and prove their capabilities, they naturally resorted to aggressive measures."

"Maximizing engine potential is one such method."

"This is why the Toyota engine managed to outperform Renault, reaching as high as 860 horsepower."

Having built three legendary cars, Bob Bell is thoroughly familiar with car development.

During Chen Xiangbei’s drive, Bell noticed engine power was slightly high, and the power output curve fluctuated.

However, new engines having some issues is normal; otherwise, there would be no need for testing.

Now he understood the high output power was the cause.

Listening to Bob Bell’s explanation, Chen Xiangbei felt very complicated, and to some extent, he understood the motivation of Toyota’s R&D personnel.

This is just like Honda’s R&D personnel, desperately creating the PA109 car!

Seeing the team about to shut down and withdraw, especially during the rising phase of their cars, they must be filled with an unwilling spirit.

They wagered all their technical reserves and applicable black technologies on this TF110 to build the fastest car on the field for one last dance!

But the Honda Group has the support of the Super Aguri team and the Mercedes team, sharing the R&D pressure with ample resources for trial and error and problem-solving.

The Toyota Team couldn’t achieve this, not even managing to ignite.

The RVX-09 engine’s peak data is a testament to their ’shatter doom’ spirit.

Either the car’s performance is explosive, or it suffers a performance engine blowout!

It seems there’s no shortcut in technology, as it ended with the latter result.

While everyone speculated on the reasons, the TF110 car was towed back to the repair station, with oil continuously dripping from the engine area, seemingly confirming Bob Bell’s hypothesis.