F1: Starting with a Simulator Master

"Shut up and take my money."

Xu Zihao uttered this most beautiful sentence in the most standard London accent.

"Where to tap my card?"

The instructor looked at the card, and his expression instantly changed from astonishment to ecstasy.

He immediately picked up the walkie-talkie and shouted into the other end in Malay.

No sponsorship process is required, no installment payments are needed, and individuals can pay the full amount upfront.

In the racing world, this type of client has a universally applicable and unique name—

Sugar daddy.

Over the next few hours, the entire team was like an engine injected with 102-octane gasoline, starting to run at high speed.

Flight rescheduled, hotel stay postponed.

All members are stranded in Malaysia.

Xu Zihang stared blankly at the newly printed competition confirmation letter in Chen Pengfei's hand.

"No, Mr. Pengfei, is that all? Where's the car? Where's the mechanic? We didn't even bring a wrench to change a tire."

Even a complete novice knows that motorsports is a capital-intensive sport.

It sounds like a joke to come to the competition with just one person and no technical team.

"That's what makes the Southeast Asian region unique."

Chen Pengfei closed his laptop and pointed to the uniformly painted race cars outside the window.

"F4 SEA (Southeast Asia Formula 4 Championship) is the only FIA points series in the world that implements a 'single team' system."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, there's really only one organizer here—Meritus GP. All the cars, all the mechanics, even all the telemetry data are managed by them. The most interesting thing is that which car is used in each race is decided by lottery. From a competitive point of view, the fairness is maximized. From a commercial point of view..."

Chen Pengfei paused, then gave a smile reminiscent of someone trying to sell pyramid schemes.

"Here, you don't need to spend millions to buy a car, you don't need to maintain a transport fleet, and you don't need to worry about whether your engine is inferior to others. It's a one-stop service. You only need to bring two things: your people and your money."

"Here, money talks. Just swipe your card and they'll even wash your underwear for you."

Chen Pengfei switched directly to team manager mode, looked back at his laptop, and began to connect with the local team called Melidus.

Complex vehicle calibration sheets flashed rapidly across his screen.

Lean angle, toe angle, tire pressure, gear ratio...

Every parameter had to be rechecked to ensure the race car could adapt to Roshya's insane driving style.

Xu Zihang went completely insane.

He carried that big bag of photography equipment and jumped around in the P room like a war correspondent.

"I knew it! I knew this trip wouldn't be in vain!"

He looked at the GoPro camera with an expression more exaggerated than if he had won the lottery.

"Brothers! We were just here to take the racing test, but our Hao-ge bought Luo Xiu a race seat! That's how money should be spent!"

Xu Zihang was so excited that he paced around the room in circles.

"I've already thought of the title—'From Ordinary Person to F4 Driver in 3 Days! Chinese Prodigy Makes His Sepang Debut!'"

On the track.

The F4 race car, now freed from its seal, is roaring with its true power.

boom--!!!

The moment the engine revs exceeded 6000 RPM, the sound became noticeably sharper and more booming.

This was no longer the lukewarm roar from before, but a whistling sound like metal tearing apart.

T15 hairpin bend.

Luo Xiu gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands, and with the aggressive chassis data that Chen Pengfei and the team's technicians had just installed, the road feel transmitted through the steering column was ten times clearer than before.

Without the protection of the ECU, the accelerator pedal becomes abnormally sensitive.

Every millimeter change in throttle opening is directly fed back to the torque output of the rear wheels.

The rear of the car was stirring.

That feeling of being on the verge of losing control rushed up my tailbone straight to the top of my head.

This is full power.

That's what wildness is.

Luo Xiu felt as if every pore on his body had opened up.

stimulate.

Enjoyable.

However, Chen Pengfei specifically instructed that some power should be reserved, so although the car was operating at full power, the driver did not exert his full strength.

He said that every match must be fully prepared, but also that leeway must be left before the match.

evening.

Training is over.

Luo Xiu stood alone at the highest point of the main grandstand at the Sepang circuit.

The view here is excellent, offering a panoramic view of the entire racetrack.

Dozens of kilometers away, in the direction of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, the sky was a heavy, leaden gray.

Thick, dark clouds rolled in the low sky like ink, the air became sticky and humid, and you could almost smell the earthy stench.

This is a symptom of heavy rain, unique to the equatorial region.

Luo Xiu stared blankly at the gradually empty track.

Just a few months ago, he was still running online races on iRacing at home using a G29 gear machine.

And now, in Malaysia, he is standing on a real F1-level track.

Behind him stood a wealthy patron, beside him was a professional race car driver, and not far away was an amateur streamer acting as his agent.

What's even more exciting is that I'm about to face my first real test in my professional racing career.

This sense of temporal and spatial dislocation once again gave him a feeling of being in another world.

"What are you thinking about?"

Chen Pengfei came up at some point and handed him a bottle of water.

"Thinking about a rain battle."

What Luo Xiu said was true.

He took the water but didn't unscrew it; he simply felt the coolness of the bottle.

"The rain in Sepang is very famous."

Chen Pengfei nodded and glanced at the dark clouds on the horizon.

"The weather here is like a woman's face, it changes in an instant. One second it's scorching hot, the next it might be pouring rain."

"And the drainage system here..." Chen Pengfei smiled wryly, "It's a long story."

"I ran Sepang in the rain on the simulator."

Luo Xiu's voice was very soft, so soft that it sounded like he was talking to himself.

"At that time, I thought the grip was strange and thought it was a problem with the physics model."

He reached out and caught a drop of rainwater leaking from a crack in the roof.

It's cold.

"Now it seems that the simulator was too realistic."

The first raindrop pounded heavily on the roof of the stands, making a dull thud.

Then came the second drop, the third drop...

A heavy rain is coming.

Luo Xiu gripped the water bottle tightly in his hand; the wind was gradually picking up.

In the simulator, he was confident that he was an all-around god, including in rain battles.

Because he can accurately calculate the coefficient of friction of every inch of asphalt through those tedious laps.

In reality, however, he has never driven even a meter on a slippery track.

This is a familiar yet unknown territory.

But he was not afraid.

Just like when I first touched a four-stroke recreational go-kart two months ago.

On the contrary, he felt that the desire to win within him was rising wildly with the tropical pressure.

"Then let's go."

Luo Xiu looked at the rain-soaked sky, a barely perceptible smile curving his lips.

"Let me see just how slippery this real rainwater really is."