Chapter 20 An Inevitable Aspect of Racing
Wu Shi drove back to the pit lane. He still had some leeway for the last lap, but he felt that was enough. He didn't need to show too much in practice, otherwise he would make a fool of himself if he encountered someone like Lin Cong.
The reason is that event management is not very strict now, and people's understanding of events is far less rigorous and meticulous than in later generations.
But after he left the track, he saw many local drivers glancing at him, and he knew that his lap time had probably surprised everyone again.
"Boss, that was fast!" Ye Ningning ran over, gave a thumbs up, and smiled sweetly.
Ye Zhaohui stood to the side like a deflated balloon. It was a good thing Ling Kang didn't come, otherwise Gao Di would have started mocking him.
"My brother runs here every day, and his fastest speed is only 42.2-something seconds. Hehe~ The eldest is still the best!" Ye Ningning cheered, while Ye Zhaohui became even more frustrated.
Is this what genius is?
"Wu Shi, why is there a big red eye on your race car?" Zeng Tianyi also finished his practice.
"Oh, do you remember the reporter who interviewed you before? They're from Dayan Media. This is their logo on my shirt, so I'm basically endorsing them," Wu Shi explained.
"Oh, I see. They gave you a few thousand? To let you tear down all the tournament advertisements."
"Ten thousand per game," Wu Shi said.
"That's not bad." Zeng Tianyi nodded.
Families who can afford go-karting these days are not ordinary middle-class families; they must be at least high-net-worth families. Therefore, children there are not very sensitive to money.
They didn't realize that their casual outings could cost the average person a month's salary in this era.
Wu Shi's results in the non-timed practice race were recorded by the race organizers, and his vehicle underwent a thorough inspection. Only after finding no problems were he allowed to participate in the timed practice race.
Clearly, this is yet another case of someone reporting it.
However, this had no effect on Wu Shi. After easily achieving a time of 41.879 on the second lap of the time trial, he returned to the pit area without even running the third lap.
"That's really amazing!"
"A precipitous lead!"
The local coach in Nan'an had to admit the child's talent.
The chattering kids who had been running all the way off the track were speechless after seeing the results. As for most of the runners who had come all the way from Pengcheng Station, they were already used to Wu Shi's insane lap times.
In their minds, there was an extremely terrifying lap on the Zhuhai track in the rain. When they could barely control their cars, this person actually achieved their usual lap times!
At the start of the pre-race and final races, everyone was discussing who would come in second, but by the third lap, some problems arose on the track.
The white go-kart leading the pack on the field was billowing thick white smoke from its rear, which soon turned into wisps of black smoke.
Whoosh whoosh!
As he slowed down, go-karts overtook him one after another.
As the driver, Wu Shi naturally knew the situation best: the engine had a problem—cylinder seizure and overheating.
He stopped the car, called to the race organizers, and then drove the go-kart off the track by himself, choosing to retire from the race.
"What's going on?" The technician ran over.
"Overheating, cylinder scoring, and more than one problem. I suspect it's caused by inadequate maintenance after Zhuhai Station," Wu Shi said.
"Let's use the new engine."
The technician said he wasn't a particularly skilled technician and couldn't fix the engine. Even if he disassembled it, he wouldn't be able to analyze the problem, so he suggested just replacing it with a new one.
"Um."
Wu Shi went into the changing room, changed out of his racing suit, and then sat in the spectator hall to watch the race.
The drivers' somewhat inexperienced handling wasn't anything to watch, and the occasional skirmishes at the rear often resulted in chaotic situations where neither side benefited.
"Hey, did I come at the wrong time again? Why is Xiao Wu still sitting here?" Zhi Shiwei arrived with her team. At this time, Dayan Media only records the finals and does not pay attention to the preliminaries and finals.
Therefore, sometimes she arrives very early, and sometimes she arrives just as the finals are about to begin.
"No, the car had a problem and I had to withdraw from the race," Wu Shi said.
"Doesn't that mean we'll start last?" Zhi Shiwei has recently learned a lot about the rules of go-karting.
"Yes."
"What a pity."
Zhi Shiwei knew about the endorsement agreement Wu Shi and Editor-in-Chief Zhang had reached. If they won all the awards, that would be 100,000 yuan! That's about the same amount she earned in two years.
"What's a pity?"
"Hmm? It's a pity you won't get first place."
"Huh? Who said that the last person to start can't win first place?" Wu Shi retorted.
"Wait!" Zhi Shiwei gestured to the cameraman and then said, "Could you repeat what you just said?"
Wu Shi was speechless. He could be a bit silly at times, but it would be embarrassing to film it.
A race of twelve laps, lasting about ten minutes.
In the end, Wu Shi was worn down and had no choice but to take a picture of this passage.
"Hehe, I've already come up with two articles," Zhi Shiwei said happily.
"So fast?" Wu Shi exclaimed in surprise.
"Of course! One is about you winning, and the other is about you losing." Zhi Shiwei nodded.
"You're still writing even after losing? Isn't that a slap in the face to your sponsors?" Wu Shi was speechless.
"Of course we should write it! Sponsorship is for exposure. Regardless of winning or losing, we can write exaggerated headlines to create buzz. Once we have enough exposure, we can negotiate with the organizers to lower the price for advertising next year."
"Big sister, you studied journalism, right?"
"Hey, how did you know?"
"Just a guess."
While chatting with Zhi Shiwei, the match on the field was nearing its end.
"Are you really confident? You're not just bragging, are you?" Zhi Shiwei asked.
"Of course he's just bragging! Have you ever seen anyone chase someone from the back of the line to the front?" Wu Shi said casually.
"That's true." Zhi Shiwei nodded, agreeing that it was indeed impossible.
Hmph!
After the final lap, Zeng Tianyi weighed himself and immediately ran over: "Can you run in the final?"
"Yes, the technician said it can be done right away, giving the competition organizers enough time to review it," Wu Shi nodded.
"Oh dear! What a pity, even a genius can't do anything about mechanical failure." Ye Zhaohui's voice came from afar.
Many drivers also watched with mixed feelings of regret and joy.
"Ye Zhaohui! Don't you dare mock the boss!" Ye Ningning's voice rang out.
Ye Zhaohui stretched his neck forward, opened his mouth slightly, and looked incredulous. Whose sister was this?
"Hmph! To tell you the truth, Wu Shi, if you can win this time, I'll change my surname to yours!" Ye Zhaohui said angrily, then looked at Ye Ningning: "Ningning, what did I do to offend you? Why are you helping an outsider like this?"
"He's not an outsider! He's the boss!" Ye Ningning said angrily.
"So that means I'm an outsider?" Ye Zhaohui was speechless.
Even Wu Shi was quite puzzled as to why this little girl was so sympathetic to him.
Is he born with a special physique that makes him popular with little girls? But that doesn't make sense, since not many girls at school play with him.
Are you alright?
After Ye Zhaohui left, Zeng Tianyi asked, "With the strength to be number one, yet delayed by a car malfunction, he would definitely be frustrated if it happened to him."
"It's alright, it's an unavoidable part of racing."
Wu Shi said softly, "Who knows what he went through in his previous life when he was in Rafa, so that he has become desensitized to accidents of this magnitude."