Chapter 1082 Racing Star
A car race is not like in novels where you can participate just by having a car. Any driver who goes on the track for a car race must have a racing license, otherwise the organizer of the event will be subject to severe punishment from the FIA.
Racing licenses are divided into nine levels, from A to R. A, B, C, D, and G are circuit licenses, while FHR is a rally license. Licenses in levels A and B can only be issued by the FIA, while the highest level issued by the FIA is C.
The driving licenses taken here are E-class and G-class licenses, which can be issued in as fast as three days. You just need to study theory, physical fitness, braking, wiring and other items before you can take the test. Basically, if you are familiar with manual transmission cars, there will be no problem - of course, the fee is not low, and all the various fees add up to almost two thousand euros. If you have learned enough, you can take the test directly at the track.
In fact, this is also against the rules, because to drive F3 you should have a Class B or above driver's license, but that is a driver's license required only when participating in formal F3 competitions. If it is a small event or training, you can go in with a racing license - or even without a racing license.
It’s not a competition anyway, right?
Of course, you need to sign a waiver when you actually get on the bus.
What was the most difficult part of learning to drive a Formula One car for Xiao Peng? It wasn't the gearshifts, really. In fact, driving a Formula One car is much simpler. The clutch is manually controlled, just to the left and rear of the steering wheel, at the bottom. It's only used for starting and stopping. The clutch automatically engages and disengages when shifting gears while driving. There's no need to press the clutch at all. You brake with your left foot and accelerator with your right. It's similar to an automatic civilian car, but the controls are different.
The hardest part for him was remembering the buttons on the steering wheel!
All the functions of a Formula One car are on the steering wheel. There are three pairs of paddles behind the steering wheel. Clutching and shifting gears are all done through these paddles. There are also acceleration buttons for overtaking, neutral buttons, cornering differential adjustment buttons, racing problem mark buttons, ignition control buttons, etc.
In fact, this is still considered a small number. What if it is an F1 steering wheel? There are dozens of buttons and paddles of different sizes, each with its own function, such as the pit speed limit, the button for transferring fuel from the auxiliary tank to the main tank, the fuel key for controlling fuel consumption, the brake balance setting switch, the throttle control button, the clutch bite point setting button, the adjustable rear wing control button... all concentrated on a rectangular steering wheel, with densely packed buttons.
Want to be an F1 driver? Just memorizing these buttons will take them months to master!
This is not difficult for Xiao Peng, but it does not mean that he can participate in F1 racing.
The F1 racing license doesn't fall into these nine categories. It's the "super license" above them, issued only by the FIA. Only with this license can you participate in F1 races. To get that license, you first need to get a recommendation from the FIA, and then the decision on whether to issue it is based on the driver's performance and the conditions stipulated in the FIA regulations.
That's not something that can be bought with money.
But getting this driver's license was a piece of cake for Xiao Peng: the so-called "training" was just playing video games? He'd drive a few laps in a racing simulator, then race the track once and you'd graduate. Xiao Peng finally understood: this "racing license" was a scam!
However, Xiao Peng was not short of money. He stayed in the hotel at the racetrack and participated in three days of training. He played a few laps of F3 racing as he wished. After he became familiar with the driving method, he directly broke the F3 race lap record here!
It was only after driving a Formula One car that Xiao Peng realized one thing: the so-called supercars cannot be compared with Formula One cars, at least not on the track.
I watched an interesting video when he was learning to drive.
The purpose of that video is to let people know the difference between formula cars and ordinary sports cars, so they found a Ferrari F12 and an F3 formula car for comparison.
On paper, the Ferrari F12 dwarfs the F3: its 6.3-liter V12 naturally aspirated engine produces 740 horsepower, 690 lb-ft of torque, 0-60 mph in 3.1 seconds, and a top speed of 340 mph. The F3, on the other hand, boasts a 1.0-liter four-cylinder naturally aspirated engine with 270 hp.
The two cars in the video are not compared in terms of cornering, but are just running in a 400-meter straight line. As a result, the F3 beat the Ferrari F12 from the start, and was more than one second ahead of the F12 at the end!
Why not compete in cornering? It’s because we don’t want to bully the supercar!
The difference between a Formula One car and a regular car is significant. Take braking, for example. Because Formula One cars are so fast, the force required to brake is significantly different than in a regular car. Braking before a high-speed corner can easily require over 80 kilograms of force to the brake pedal! Furthermore, due to the car's superior grip, the driver must brake and accelerate through high-speed corners, exerting lateral G-forces exceeding 2.5G! Think of it as the g-force experienced while hurtling down from the highest point of a roller coaster.
What’s even more terrifying is the downforce of a Formula One car!
When an F3 car is running, the downforce it generates can exceed its own weight! What does this mean? In theory, the car can run nose-down, tire-up, and against the ceiling without falling! This massive downforce allows the car to corner faster without tipping over! This is something supercars simply can't do!
Even the most expensive supercar is no match for an F3 on a racetrack, let alone the even more powerful F1 car. Comparing a supercar to a Formula One car? The best way to put it is: Don't challenge someone else's livelihood with your hobby!
Compared to Formula One, those supercars are just 'amateurs'.
Xiao Peng is addicted to playing Formula One here. Due to his aggressive driving style, he has his own fans. Some people even make a special trip to see his sports car. After each race, people ask him to take photos and sign autographs. There are even professional racing teams that come to him to sign contracts with him.
You idiots! Didn't you recognize me as Xiao Peng, the "Salvage King"? He's quite famous in the Netherlands, too!
However, this did satisfy Xiao Peng's vanity a little. If Chen Zetao had not contacted him one night to tell him that he had arrived in The Hague, Xiao Peng would have wanted to continue playing here for a few more days.
Now that Chen Zetao is here, it's time to get down to business! Things have been brewing for so long, it's time for a result!
Many people are going crazy looking for themselves now, right?
Serves you right!
But since Chen Zetao had come, Xiao Peng wanted to return to The Hague as soon as possible, so he set off on his return journey overnight. However, not long after his car left Zandvoort, he found a girl in white standing in the middle of the road, waving at him desperately to stop!
"Oh my god!" Xiao Peng slammed on the brakes!
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