F1: Starting with a Simulator Master

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The entire field was covered in purple.

The second Chen Pengfei was about to press the button to curse, Luo Xiu had already crossed the finish line.

The 45 minutes passed quickly, and the first training session ended.

Of the 16 participating vehicles, 11 experienced serious spins, 7 were knocked off the track, and 4 drivers withdrew from the race.

Luo Xiu achieved the fastest lap time in practice with a time of 2 minutes and 23 seconds and returned safely to the pit without any damage to his car.

The second-place lap time was 2 minutes and 30 seconds, a full 7 seconds behind Luo Xiu.

P-room rest area.

The rain gradually subsided, turning into a moderate drizzle, and there were even signs that the moderate rain would turn into light rain.

The red No. 6 race car, which was drawn by lottery, sat quietly on the rack.

The car body looked like it had just rolled out of a mud pit.

The once glossy paint surface is now covered with grass clippings, black rubber granules, and muddy marks resembling sword cuts.

"Guys! Look at this battle-damaged paint job!"

Xu Zihang, holding a GoPro, exaggeratedly circled the race car like a salesman, the camera zooming in on the mud splatters.

"This is what you call true fighting spirit! This is what you call a man's romance!"

Luo Xiu stood to the side, holding two tires and placing them on the ground.

One was a smooth, mirror-like bald tire, while the other was a rain tire with deep grooves.

Five minutes ago, after Xu Zihang knelt before Luo Xiu and begged him countless times, Luo Xiu finally agreed to appear on camera.

Luo Xiu didn't know when it started, but he felt that he was no longer so averse to the camera.

"Come on, Teacher Luo's mini-class is starting."

Xu Zihang turned the camera toward Luo Xiu.

Luo Xiu pointed to the smooth surface of the bald tire and made a chopping gesture.

"Dry tires rely on contact area. At high temperatures, the outermost layer of rubber melts and becomes like chewing gum, sticking to the asphalt. This is called chemical grip."

In the rain, this smooth surface becomes a skateboard shoe.

The water film will lift the tires, preventing the rubber from making any contact with the asphalt surface.

This is called "hydroslippery," just like walking barefoot on wet, slippery soap.

Then, his palm stroked the rain tire with its deep V-shaped pattern.

Those rough textures, in the eyes of an expert, are precisely the intricate drainage channels.

"That's why we need this."

Luo Xiu's voice was calm, but what he said made several young Chinese drivers passing by stop in their tracks.

"When this F4 is running at full speed and reaches a top speed of 180 kilometers per hour, thanks to these four Pirelli rain tires, it can sweep about 35 to 40 liters of water off the track every second."

Xu Zihang opened his mouth wide in agreement: "How much? 40 liters?"

Luo Xiu nodded.

"That's roughly equivalent to two buckets of purified drinking water."

Luo Xiu gestured as if he were lifting a bucket, "Every second, splash two buckets of water behind and to both sides."

"So those who followed him were not facing fog, but a wall of water."

Xu Zihang complained to the camera,

"No wonder I saw a bunch of cars rush off the track just now; it was like a 'celebrity ice skating competition'!"

Luo Xiu smiled but didn't say anything.

"So, how do I run in the rain?"

Xu Zihang was clearly playing the straight man, voicing everyone's question.

"Everyone's skating, why are you the only one who can run so fast?"

Luo Xiu extended a finger and drew two completely different trajectories in the air.

A smooth, flowing line—that's the traditional "outside-inside-outside" racing line.

The other one is a jagged, even somewhat twisted, messy line.

"On dry ground, thousands of laps of racing on the same track will wear down the tire rubber and press it into the cracks in the asphalt."

The tire rubber will stick to the track like glue, forming a black rubber line.

This means stronger grip.

But on rainy days, the rubber embedded in the asphalt cracks becomes even more slippery than ice when it gets wet.

The line that originally offered the best grip on dry surfaces becomes the slipperiest part of the track in areas with more rubber.

Luo Xiu pointed to the jagged line he had just drawn.

"So, you have to learn to run randomly on rainy days. We need to go to the outside of the track, to those dirty sides where nobody usually runs."

The rough asphalt there, without any rubber buildup, actually provides better grip.

The drivers who were eavesdropping nearby looked enlightened, and some even secretly took out their phones to take notes.

This sounds completely counterintuitive, but it is the truth in the face of the laws of physics.

The passage of time is a mystery, because just an hour ago it was pouring rain and wind, but now the sun is shining brightly.

"The second practice session will begin in 10 minutes."

Chen Pengfei's cold voice interrupted the impromptu science popularization session.

He didn't look at Xu Zihang or Luo Xiu, but stared intently at the data panel in his hand.

To be precise, it was about watching the log data that Luo Xiu casually swiped around in purple, including telemetry curves of throttle, brake, gear shift, and steering wheel angle.

A normal racing driver's throttle curve should be as smooth as silk.

But Luo Xiu's line was all jagged.

The dense, tiny oscillations resemble those of a Parkinson's patient moving in a straight line.

In the minds of traditional drivers, this is considered a lack of finesse in throttle control and a sign of poor fundamental skills.

This driving style will only lead to endless slippage in rainy weather.

But reality slapped Chen Pengfei hard in the face; the car was constantly teetering on the edge of slipping but never quite managing to.

"This isn't how humans drive..."

Chen Pengfei muttered to himself.

"This doesn't make sense... Is it really something a human could do?"

Chen Pengfei felt his professional values ​​were collapsing along that jagged line.

He was waiting for Luo Xiu to make a mistake, waiting for the logic of reality in his mind to take control of the game.

But Luo Xiu was like a ghost that had gotten stuck in a bug in the laws of physics, precisely pulling himself back from the brink of losing control every time.

"Teacher Pengfei, Teacher Pengfei..."

A hand was waving in front of Chen Pengfei; it was Xu Zihang.

Xu Zihang had been filming Chen Pengfei with a GoPro right in his face for a while, but Chen Pengfei seemed lost in thought, making Xu Zihang wonder if he was under a curse from a Southeast Asian Kumanthong.

Luo Xiu had already put down the tire and walked out of the pit shed.

The sky, which had been gloomy just moments before, suddenly cracked open as if by magic.

A blinding ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone directly onto the track, which reflected the water's shimmering surface.

Ten minutes later, as the temperature rose instantly, plumes of white mist began to rise from the track surface.

The water was visibly evaporating, and the asphalt surface showed a mottled pattern of light and dark colors, a sign of the track's alternating wet and dry conditions.

The most awkward moment for the team has arrived.

Everyone frowned as they watched the track temperature constantly changing on the data panel.

This is more difficult to handle than a simple rainstorm.

Partly dry and partly wet.

This is the most desperate "trolley problem" in the world of motorsports.

Use rain tires?

Rain tires operate at temperatures of only 40-60 degrees Celsius and require a film of rainwater to cool them down.

In those dried-out areas, the rough asphalt will relentlessly abrade the treads of the rain tires like sandpaper.

The faster a race car enters a corner on dry ground, the faster its tires heat up.

After only two laps, the surface of the rain tires will start to bubble as if burned, and the grip will drop precipitously.

Use dry tires?

The working temperature of dry tires needs to be above 80 degrees Celsius.

In those wet and slippery areas that haven't completely dried, slick tires can't drain water, and if you're not careful, the water film on the road can lift the race car up.

If you're not careful, you and your car could slide off the track.

On a semi-dry track, the coefficient of friction can vary every meter. What's more troublesome is that the surface conditions can change very quickly. A spot that you could zip through on full throttle one lap might be an ice rink the next, or the complete opposite.

But the moment Luo Xiu put on the helmet...

Chen Pengfei clearly saw a unique expression on Luo Xiu's face.

Behind the goggles, countless pieces of information seemed to be converging in the boy's pupils, rapidly calculating something.

"Another new question."

Luo Xiu's voice remained so soft that only he could hear it.

"But I have a solution to this problem."