F1: Absolute Car Feel

Chapter 130 Norrislin
The F3 Championship is quite busy in June. After finishing the race in Belgium on June 22, they immediately head to the Norrislin Circuit in Nuremberg, Germany, for races sixteen through eighteen.

Norrislinn is also a street circuit, with a FIA-2 rating and a total length of 2.3 kilometers, making it a very short track.

The track doesn't seem complicated, and in fact it is.

However, although it is not complicated, the concrete walls at the edge of the track tell drivers that if they are not confident, they should slow down, or they will be heading for the wall.

The main design concept of the entire track is high-speed straights supplemented by sharp turns, driving on it is almost like playing some kind of inch-stop challenge.

Turn 2, also known as the Grundig-Kehre left turn, is extremely prone to accidents at the start due to drivers vying for position.

Secondly, there's the Dutzendteichkehre hairpin turn, which involves a short straight both in and out of the corner, putting drivers to a real test of their braking skills.

Friday, June 27th, the weather was sunny and the track conditions were good.

The two practice sessions at noon went very smoothly, with all drivers completing at least thirty laps.

The first qualifying match began at 5:40 PM.

Because the track is short and there are no divisions in qualifying, there are very few clean laps that can support high speeds.

Wu Shi had no choice but to slowly look for opportunities, but when he was running the tenth lap, he encountered a minor problem.

TR: "Alan, the engine is having problems again, just like last time."

Alan TR: "OK, let's bring the vehicle back first."

Wu Shi drove back to the maintenance area, where the mechanics immediately went to inspect it. However, anything involving the engine was not something that could be resolved in a short time.

"Do you think you can still run?" Alan asked.

"If we continue like this, there is a high probability that the cylinder block will fail."

If there were no other cars on the track, Wu Shi felt he still had a chance to get a qualifying result despite the engine failure.

However, with the track crowded with cars and the rising temperature and abundant exhaust fumes, he feared that the engine would malfunction before he could find an opportunity to speed up.

“I feel it’s not just an engine malfunction. This is the second time this problem has been triggered, so you need to investigate it carefully.” Wu Shi scratched his head, he was also puzzled.

“Okay, let’s work overtime tonight to get these things done.” Alan nodded.

Unable to continue speeding, Wu Shi sat in the maintenance area looking at other people's data.

His fastest lap time was 48.435 seconds, which placed him 7th by the end of qualifying.

Of course, the fastest time, Rosenquist, is only 48 seconds, a difference of just 082 seconds.

This shows that the Norrislin circuit is indeed easy, and the big players can't create a big gap between them.

That's the truth; the simpler the track, the smaller the performance difference.

"I heard your engine is having some problems," Panzi asked with concern as soon as he got out of the car.

"Well, if he fixes it, he should be fine for tomorrow's competition." Wu Shi wasn't too worried.

"That's good, it won't affect the second qualifying match."

Panzi's vehicle had experienced numerous malfunctions, ranging from gearbox problems to brake issues.

He hadn't seen any mechanical problems with Wu Shi's car all season, and he started to suspect that the team might be using different parts for them.

“Actually, my brakes felt really strange just now too. I suggest your mechanics check them out as well,” Verstappen said.

"Okay, I'll talk to them."

Night fell, another familiar night of car repairs, but this time it didn't go as smoothly as last time. The mechanic still hadn't finished by 2 a.m.

"Go to sleep," Alan said.

“No.” Wu Shi shook his head and said, “Let’s try starting it again.”

This is why he insisted on staying; only he could test whether there was a problem with the vehicle. If the other technicians started the engine to check, they would only conclude that the engine had already been repaired.

However, as soon as he tried it, he could immediately sense that something was wrong with the engine.

Having learned from the previous incident, the technicians trusted Wu Shi completely, which is why they disassembled the box again to check the situation.

Wu Shi's mechanical engineering skills are good, but certainly not up to the level of the top students in the team. He can only point out the problems in general terms, but cannot explain why the problems exist.

Just like someone knows they have a headache, but if you ask them why they have a headache, they might not be able to give a clear answer.

At this point, the racing car's condition is similar to a person having a headache; not only is the person in the car unaware of why it hurts, but even the doctors, after examining the car, are baffled as to why it hurts.

If it were a person, giving them ibuprofen would be enough to calm them down, but this is a car, so giving it ibuprofen or engine oil probably wouldn't help.

Half an hour later, Alan stood up and said, "We found some problems with the transmission as well, which may be an overall issue causing the engine failure."

"It seems the situation is a bit complicated?" Wu Shi understood the unspoken meaning in Ai Lan's words.

Often, mechanical malfunctions cannot be diagnosed simply by checking, especially when it involves systemic issues.

In this situation, the best solution is to replace the part.

Sure enough, Alan's next sentence was: "My suggestion is that we need to get a new engine and transmission."

"Okay." Wu Shi nodded; this was a reluctant decision.

Rather than retiring during the race, it was better to play it safe and be penalized ten places. On his way back to the rest room, he remembered that several other members of the team had experienced clutch and gearbox engagement problems with their vehicles.

At that time, he overcame the negative impact of this problem by relying on his unique control.

Looking back now, perhaps it was because of this deliberate manipulation of the vehicle over a long period of time that caused this abnormal malfunction.

The first main match is about to begin at 10 a.m. the next day.

Wu Shi's replacement of the engine and gearbox has also been approved by the race organizers.

In Norrislin's next three games, he will be penalized at least ten places.

So today he started in seventeenth place, ahead of Goddard, a driver who had also competed for points.

Behind her was the only female driver, Tatiana.

"This is the sixteenth game of the season, and the weather is extremely hot, but we cannot confirm whether the weather will be the same tomorrow."

Before the race began, the commentators, as usual, explained the track conditions, and then started talking about yesterday's qualifying results:

"Yesterday, one of the two qualifying sessions took place, and we saw Rosenqvist in pole position. Last year, he finished as runner-up in the championship with 11 wins."

"But so far this year, he has only won one podium, and yesterday he took pole position from Ocon by three-thousandths of a second."

"The seventeenth driver is Wu Shi, our most promising rookie driver this season, from China. He retired from qualifying yesterday after only ten laps due to engine problems."

"Even so, his ranking would still be seventh. Unfortunately, the crew worked through the night but couldn't fix the engine."

"So he had to switch to a new engine, which means he will have to be penalized at least ten places in this game and the next two games."

"We know that he once jumped from eleventh to first place at the Hogheimerlin circuit in Germany to win the race."

"I wonder what kind of performance we'll see from him in today's match?"

Ten minutes later, the tire warming process began.

"As you can see, the track conditions are excellent today. It is 2.3 kilometers long and is expected to take 42 laps, or about 96 kilometers to complete the race."

"They completed the warm-up lap and returned to the starting grid, where the riders need to avoid the hard walls."

During the commentary, all the drivers took their positions, and five red lights lit up one after another.

Because he wasn't starting from the front row, Wu Shi felt a little unaccustomed to looking at the indicator lights, and he wasn't yet familiar with the newly installed engine and transmission.

However, the moment the lights went out, he quickly started the car, thinking that his super-fast start would allow him to overtake several other cars.

However, he didn't expect that the driver in front would slow down and block him, while the driver on the flank would directly turn his head, blocking the space for him to turn his head.

In addition, the drivers behind them were in excellent form today and reacted quickly, rushing up and forming a car formation.

Therefore, before he could accelerate, he was blocked between four or five cars.

He looked around but couldn't find a gap. He could only be swept along by the main force, driving past the wide first fake bend. Wu Shi then spotted the apex of the second bend—this was his only route.

But the situation became even worse at Turn 2.

Everyone was pushing towards the inside, and this was his spot. He immediately realized he couldn't stay in the middle of the court any longer; he had to make a quick move, otherwise...
Bang! Click!
As soon as I turned the steering wheel, a strong push came from behind me, followed by the car veering off course as the front wing snatched up a race car cutting through the corner.

Click!

The sideways No. 32 race car became a roadblock, and the vehicles behind it couldn't avoid it and crashed into the rear wing with a "bang".

In an instant, the four race cars collided.

"Oh! We see! There's been a car accident! Wu Zheng is in it!"

"His fore wing and tail wing were knocked off!"

From the moment the collision occurred, Wu Shi knew that he would probably have to withdraw from the competition.

Damn it! I just replaced the engine and transmission, and I was ready to give it a good drive!
Wu Shi's vehicle stopped in the middle of the road, along with three unfortunate men.

He removed the headrest, climbed out, and sat on the edge of the cockpit, where he saw Tatiana, dressed in a white racing suit, also emerge on the other side.

The female driver squatted down on the track and cried after getting off the car.

"Aren't you going to comfort her?" A familiar voice came from beside me.

Wu Shi looked over and saw it was Antonio Foucault of Prema. This guy was also an unlucky fellow.

"I'm not good at comforting people. Besides, if everyone goes to comfort her, who will comfort me?"

"You've already locked up the annual championship, do you still need someone to comfort you?!" Foucault rolled his eyes.

　The last track to be meticulously detailed in F3, where Verstappen created a rain miracle, prompting Marko to sign him immediately.

　　Many readers have been discussing which convoy the protagonist will join. Actually, this outline was decided from the beginning, and now I can only give two hints:

　　①The protagonist's perception ability is not something he can fully perceive as soon as he gets in the car; it requires a lot of practice.

　　②In the politics of the paddock, talent is only one factor, and so is sponsorship.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)