Car Racing without Money-Chapter 547 - 213: Man Prevails Over Machine

During an F1 race, whether inside the pit room or at the outdoor command station, there’s always a computer screen displaying radar cloud maps, constantly monitoring changes in wind speed and cloud cover.

And with the advancement of technology, cloud monitoring data has become increasingly accurate, now able to predict the timing of rain down to the minute.

If a rain race situation arises, you can hear in the team’s radio communications something like, rain will fall in how many minutes, how heavy the rain will be, or how many minutes until the rain stops.

Of course, this is the precision level of weather radars from ten years later, and the applicable range is strictly limited to the current cloud cover overhead.

Wanting to predict whether it will rain at a specific time a few days later is still beyond the current pace of scientific development.

But from the direction of the clouds, one can get an estimated value, similar to a weather forecast to judge whether it will rain on a certain future date, just not precise to the minute.

The current data from weather radar shows that the probability of rain for the day after tomorrow’s main race will exceed eighty percent!

Why does Chen Xiangbei want to "look at the sky" and gamble on a rain race, and why is an F1 paddock keen on rain race drivers?

It is because a rain race can flatten the gaps between car performances to the greatest extent, and more extremely highlight the driver’s sheer speed and talent.

In other words, it can also flatten the differences in car calibration.

After all, relying on calibrated aero kits to bring changes in downforce and steering characteristics can’t compare with the slipperiness brought by rain, which truly provides a skating rink experience on the track.

A rain race means an "absolutely" fair duel!

Facing the dramatically different steering characteristics brought by the TF110 upgrade package, Chen Xiangbei indeed couldn’t completely adapt and control it in a short time, let alone achieve both the qualifying and long-distance tests, which is beyond a driver’s ability.

It’s not even an exaggeration to say that even Schumacher, the best at car tuning, couldn’t do it.

Now Schumacher himself is going through the "pain period" caused by the change in tire compound; Pirelli can’t guarantee the durability for full speed every lap like Michelin could!

Many things in the paddock are undergoing changes; it’s always the drivers who adapt to the environment, not the environment adapting to the drivers.

The only thing Chen Xiangbei can do is to seize every variable!

"North, do you want to gamble on a rain race?"

Odetto looked at the meteorological radar map and confirmed.

He also hasn’t witnessed Chen Xiangbei’s rain race level; such weather changes are rare unless the team is wealthy enough to have its own private track for testing.

For example, Zhou Guanyu tested the car’s rain tire performance at Fiorano, a testing track under Ferrari, spraying water throughout to simulate rain and striving for the most realistic effect and data.

The HRT Team, with a second-hand wind tunnel, naturally has no such private track. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Odetto’s knowledge of Chen Xiangbei’s rain race skills purely depended on Sawano Hiroyuki’s brief mention.

The specific level in the F1 paddock is entirely unknown.

"Hmm."

Receiving a positive answer from Chen Xiangbei, Odetto nodded and said, "Okay, let’s do it."

The trust between the strategy group and the drivers is mutual. Since Chen Xiangbei has made the decision, there’s no need to doubt.

After the second practice session, Chen Xiangbei returned to the hotel, took a shower, and went back to his room to review the videos of his two practice races.

In some ways, Chen Xiangbei is not entirely unadapted to the new car features. He even prefers the style of the upgraded package compared to the old one; he just hasn’t found that perfect balance yet.

Now Chen Xiangbei’s task is to use the video and his memories to find the familiar feeling during practice races and get precise feedback on car calibration.

Compared to the noisy track, the quiet night is more suitable for thinking.

Time thus passed to the next day, Saturday, and Chen Xiangbei arrived early with the technician team members at the pit room to complete the car’s adjustments for the third practice.

"Change to a medium-high downforce plan; I need more cornering speed."

"Adjust the front wing angle to ensure enough grip on the front wheels, especially to guarantee precise angles when entering high-speed corners."

"Soften the suspension to increase the car’s mechanical grip."

Chen Xiangbei enthusiastically stated his ideas one by one, which were the feedback results he compiled from last night.

Standing beside him, Sawano Hiroyuki pondered for a moment after hearing the changes, then asked, "This plan focuses on front wheel steering but is more likely to cause rear wheel slides. Can you handle it?"

"At least the front wheels have grip, which provides a chance for mid-corner corrections."

Chen Xiangbei didn’t give a definite or negative answer.

The reason is simple; no one dares to say they can completely control an oversteering car.

Magnussen had a very classic evaluation of oversteer and understeer in F1 cars.

Oversteer means hitting the wall with the car’s rear, while understeer means hitting the wall with the car’s front.

This sentence adequately describes the difficulty of controlling an F1 car.

What Chen Xiangbei can do is, through his exceptional car sense in this lifetime, feel the sliding of the car’s rear in corners and continuously adjust to maintain the racing line.

This point is like Verstappen’s operation when driving a Red Bull Racing car.

In some sense, Chen Xiangbei’s idol in his previous life was Schumacher, but his "teacher" was Verstappen.