CHAPTER 96: CHAPTER 83: A BRAND NEW TRACK RECORD

"Is he a participant in the Renault winter race?"

Yamamoto Naoki asked.

"Yes."

Hearing Hoshino Yoshi’s response, Yamamoto Naoki’s expression immediately became serious.

He would soon face Chen Xiangbei on the track, who might become the strongest opponent this season.

In just over two minutes, Chen Xiangbei quickly completed a lap and drove the Infiniti G35 directly back to the rental parking lot.

For him, it was just an after-dinner exercise.

Back at the pit stand, the expressions on the faces of those present were complicated as they looked at him, as Hashimoto Ichiro had lost so badly that saying anything felt like a joke.

Chen Xiangbei showed no interest in mocking or belittling them, as opponents of this level weren’t worth lowering his standards for ridicule.

He simply looked at Qin Qiuyu and said, "Go home, and don’t mix with underground racing anymore."

It’s not just this era; even decades later, the life of thrill-seeking and indulgence in cars, watches, and parties can’t be avoided among the circles of wealthy second-generation students abroad.

Qin Qiuyu was young, and her earlier worry about him at least proved she was inherently good. It was just a matter of a lack of guidance from family and a rebellious pursuit of excitement during her youth.

Many people have been through such an ignorant period, as long as they don’t continue down a wrong path.

"I..."

Qin Qiuyu instinctively wanted to argue but couldn’t bring herself to say it.

The scene of Chen Xiangbei overtaking earlier had shocked her greatly, as the mountain drift racer she thought was so impressive and cool turned out to be nothing on the track.

It wasn’t until now that Hashimoto Ichiro returned to the pit lane, palely saying a word to his companions before driving his GTR out of the Suzuka Circuit.

This was the first time since learning to drive that Hashimoto Ichiro had lost so completely. He no longer had the courage to face Chen Xiangbei.

His friends, seeing Hashimoto Ichiro in this state, knew his mindset had somewhat collapsed. As friends, they couldn’t stay at the Suzuka Circuit to have fun but had to get in their cars and leave with him.

"Xiangbei-kun, I have to go to my part-time job."

Hoshino Yoshi mentioned as he picked up his backpack and got up to leave for work.

However, he stopped after a couple of steps, turned back, and reminded, "Xiangbei-kun, the driver who was just driving the Mazda FC is called Yamamoto Naoki. He’s also a participant in the Renault winter race."

"The driving skills demonstrated on the track just now have caught his attention, and he’ll definitely study your driving habits and style, so be cautious."

Every driver has their habits and style. Take the enduring "El Nino" Alonso, for example. He’s one of the few who likes understeer, fiercely countersteering and aggressively taking wide lines, often favoring the full outside curb "go wide" approach.

To overtake him, defensive lines on a curve have to lean towards the outside instead of sticking to the apex.

Yamamoto Naoki?

Hearing the name, Chen Xiangbei felt a bit familiar but couldn’t recall exactly who it was at the moment.

"Got it," he said.

After these words, Hoshino Yoshi turned and left, while Chen Xiangbei returned to the academy’s gym.

...

In the following period, Chen Xiangbei’s professional training could be described as both monotonous and ever-changing.

Because both Nakajima Goro and Sawano Hiroyuki had confirmed his status as a core trainee, and with Chen Xiangbei’s demonstrated dominance, there was essentially no competition for his spot in the Renault winter tour.

Sawano Hiroyuki decided to give him one-on-one intensive training before the race began!

It’s noteworthy that, in his past life, even though Chen Xiangbei reached the level of a quasi-F1 driver, he hadn’t undergone systematic professional training early on, leading to a weak foundation rife with coarse details and flaws, which became the ceiling limiting his progress.

Sawano Hiroyuki, through repeated studies of Chen Xiangbei’s racing footage and simulator feedback, identified numerous issues.

He needed to correct Chen Xiangbei’s roughness and flaws by the standards of top-tier drivers.

On the track, the Renault car was racing, while in the P room, the Honda racing engineers had their eyes fixed on the changes in the screen data. This time, there were no other trainees or interference, purely an extreme test for Chen Xiangbei alone.

"Director Sawano, Xiangbei-kun’s excessive corrections at turn 5 have disappeared."

"The habitual slip in taking lines at turn 9 has improved greatly and is now in a controllable range for recovery."

"There’s still an issue with heavy braking into turn 12, which causes significant tire wear."

Mizutani Sho repeatedly reported the track data to Sawano Hiroyuki; it was the final driving training before the Renault winter tour began, set to determine Chen Xiangbei’s ultimate lap time.

As for Kobayashi Kamui’s track record, no one mentioned it anymore.

The reason is that ten days earlier, Chen Xiangbei set a record with a lap time of 2 minutes and 5.371 seconds for a Renault car on the Suzuka Circuit!

"Director Sawano, I think this lap will break the record Xiangbei-kun himself holds."

As Mizutani Sho said this, everyone in the Honda team in the P room turned their eyes to him. Breaking the track record twice in half a month, this potential was beyond everyone’s imagination.

"This lap is perfect, so it’s normal for the track record to be broken."

Sawano Hiroyuki, however, appeared much calmer. Chen Xiangbei not only had incredible potential but also had an exceptionally high learning ability.