Car Racing without Money-Chapter 459 - 182: Increasing the Pace of the Paddock Competition

Chapter 459: Chapter 182: Increasing the Pace of the Paddock Competition

"Well done, Trulli."

"Trulli’s still got it."

"Both drivers have similar speed, meaning the car’s performance is excellent. We’ll be very competitive in the new season."

"Let’s go, for HRT!"

Hope is the most inspiring thing.

Once, the team members treated "winning the championship" as a motivational dream and goal.

Just like when studying, various aspirations to get into Tsinghua and Peking University.

But at this moment, they genuinely feel there is hope for realization.

"Sote, what’s my lap time?"

After the car crossed the finish line, Trulli asked his race engineer.

"1 minute 18.995 seconds, very good."

Sote praised with an enthusiastic tone.

The team has not only competitiveness but also unity.

Even if Trulli is a bit slower, the close lap times of the two drivers mean many coordinated efforts can be made on the track.

Even if there’s no need to slow down or give way, at least drafting isn’t a problem.

Trulli hasn’t had good results with the Toyota Team in recent years, even with five podiums in three events, it’s still far from as brilliant as his peak debut at the Prost Team.

Now with a good car once again, Trulli is about to embrace a second spring in his career.

However, compared to Sote’s excitement and thrill, Trulli’s mood is mixed.

A 0.02-second lag means he lost to the rookie once again.

When a "rookie" beats a veteran, there are only two phenomena: either a super genius emerges,

or the teammate has "senior issues" and is on the brink of retirement.

Whichever it is, the veteran faces enormous psychological pressure.

Trulli is a competitive driver by nature; he cannot accept his repeated defeats.

When the lap times of HRT’s two drivers spread in every paddock on the track, it undoubtedly caused a major shock.

No one expected the "newcomer" who just joined the F1 Paddock to deliver a near-perfect report card on the first day of testing, with both drivers surpassing last year’s pole position time, and securing the top two positions on the current lap time list.

Especially compared to the Virgin Team, also a "newcomer," it almost makes one doubt whether they are in the same category.

The fact is, the Virgin Team has removed the "flow rake" for monitoring airflow and replaced it by covering the car with green fluorescent powder.

This action doesn’t mean the Virgin car’s design is so perfect that it no longer needs a pitot tube to improve the aerodynamic package.

Instead, the design is so flawed it’s beyond the redemption of the "flow rake," and can only rely on full-car fluorescence for a last rescue. If that doesn’t work, they can only start over.

Of course, the other teams in the paddock are also very much aware that HRT has inherited Toyota’s legacy.

Knowing this is precisely why they feel more shocked and threatened!

Last year, a historically opportunistic Brown GP team already emerged; does it mean miracles can happen twice?

No one knows the answer, but there’s a way to verify it.

Almost every team’s race engineers spent the night revising their original winter testing plans, advancing the final day of top speed tests to the second day of testing.

If there is a significant gap between the car’s speed and HRT’s, it undoubtedly means there’s a development direction mistake; borrow ideas, make changes.

Thus, on the second day of winter testing, there was such a scene: the very aggressive HRT Team of the first day tested the car over long distances, as well as various tire and fuel load combinations, with utmost composure.

Both drivers even made frequent pit stops to provide dynamic pit practice for team members.

Meanwhile, the teams that performed regular tests on the first day all issued instructions for the drivers to push their limits, wanting to test the car’s ultimate speed.

It turned out that Chen Xiangbei performed quite well, but it wasn’t enough.

F1 truly gathers some of the world’s strongest individuals, whose full-strength efforts are never to be underestimated!

Within just one morning, the winter test lap time rankings were frantically refreshed, with the defending champion Jenson Button, who transferred to McLaren Team, being the first to surpass Chen Xiangbei’s lap time.

Then Hamilton, Weber, Alonso, Vettel followed.

This group of racing "monsters" displayed their terrifying prowess, directly dropping the fastest lap to 1 minute 17.874 seconds, a good second faster than the speed Chen Xiangbei achieved.

Watching the incredible lap records displayed on the screen, the people in the HRT Team paddock appeared very calm, exhibiting no urgency from being left far behind.

"With the optimization of the KERS kinetic energy recovery system, drivers find it easier to use, while considerably helping improve the car’s speed."

"Mercedes and Renault’s engine performance is strong, especially the Mercedes engine employed by the McLaren Team, surprisingly outperforming the Mercedes works team—undoubtedly possessing the heritage of an established team."

"Additionally, Alonso’s personal capabilities are truly impressive, being nearly a second faster than his teammate Masa, making Ferrari’s real performance hard to evaluate."

Bob Bell continuously reported the car’s condition to Briatore, which is the way they’ve grown used to from their time in the Renault Team.

Compared to the professionals in racing or the management turning from drivers, Hua Bu initially was just a small gangster from Italy.

This "small gangster" is not a nickname, but what he really was!

He even ended up jailed for fraud, a bona fide notorious person.

"Bell, have you found the best solution for the engine output mode?"

Hua Bu didn’t care about other teams; he only wanted to know if Bob Bell had sorted out the car.

"Through the past two days of long-distance testing, I have gathered detailed data, and improving the car’s lap time by another second is no problem."

Bob Bell gave a positive answer, which is also the source of Briatore’s calm confidence.

He doesn’t care about other fast cars because through data collection and computer simulation, the TF110 car can go even faster.