Chapter 84 I was just running at cruising speed!
When Wu Shi entered the second time slot, he didn't have time to think about his mistake, because after the sixth and seventh turns, the section with the highest average speed on the entire track was the area with the highest average speed.
At extremely high speeds, you won't have a chance to correct any mistakes.
Rustle!
"What will his lap time be this time?" the technician asked.
"The first timing segment is already one second fast."
"That's still different from the cruising speed in a race. Even if each of the three calculation segments is a second faster, it still won't reach around 52."
"But he just slipped. If you take the slipping out of the picture, it's still about three [units of measurement missing]."
Everyone was getting a little nervous. If the lap time wasn't ideal this time, the difficulty of the subsequent tuning work was unimaginable.
They certainly know that their own team's database is generally not large enough to provide drivers with competitive cars from the start, especially compared to the big teams.
However, if even a genius like them can't drive their cars well, does that mean they're terrible?
There were Italian Tali fans in the crew, and after thinking about this, he suddenly said, "If Wu is too slow, we might get flamed to death by Italian Tali fans."
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"Don't overthink it, the fans are still very rational," Alan said.
"No, no, no, there's a group of middle-aged women at Itali who used to bring their children to go-karting. But after seeing Wu on the podium every day, they've come to regard him as their own child. So if Wu is too slow, they'll only blame us and think we're mistreating him," said the Itali technician.
Alan opened his mouth slightly. He didn't understand the power of fandom, so he found it hard to comprehend this idea.
"The results for the second timeout are in! This time it's 1.5 seconds faster!" someone shouted.
Alan's attention returned to the screen. Was there a chance to set a fastest lap time of 52?!
Wu Shi's race car had just passed the timing point and entered the main straight. Turns 15 through 18 were mostly medium to high speed turns, with only turn 16 being a low speed turn.
From his first-person perspective, he couldn't tell the speed at all; he could only stare at the comparison curves on the side.
On the 15th, the braking was late but very decisive. After braking for about a fraction of a second, the car glided through the apex of the corner with the throttle off. Before even reaching the apex, the throttle opening had already been increased.
Whoosh!
On one bend, he was almost 0.4 seconds fast. On the next few bends, Wu Shi's approach was completely different from before. He would brake to the limit, then throw the car into the bend, regain the rear wheel grip by adjusting the throttle, and then accelerate rapidly.
Whoosh!
Finally, the race car crossed the finish line.
1:52.322.
Clap clap clap!
A round of applause erupted.
"Oh! How did they manage to set that lap time?!"
"Based on previous tests, this lap time is enough to compete for pole position, right?!"
Alan also clapped a few times, and then said to Wu Shi in the TR, "You did a good job just now, but you should get used to it for a few more laps before you go for another speed."
"Huh? Zzzzz"
When Wu Shi's questioning tone reached the court, everyone was confused and assumed he was still very dissatisfied with the result.
After all, it was only a little less than a second faster than cruising speed, still a considerable distance from the qualifying lap time.
"I was just driving at cruising speed."
Wu Shi's last sentence was relayed back.
Alan was stunned for a moment, and the crew members were also stunned.
What?
Cruising speed?
Dude, how could you possibly achieve the fastest lap time if you misjudged the cruise speed?
"Wu, do you know the condition of your tires?" Ailan reminded him. They could tell whether Fei was flying or not.
"Of course, these tires can easily run another twenty laps like this," Wu Shi said.
Alan glanced at the tires subconsciously; they were about 75% worn out. He took a deep breath and said, "Then drive these tires until they're worn out before you come in."
"Received, but I found some problems. Could you please take a look?"
After Wu Shi finished speaking, he continued the cruise.
As he said, that lap was done at cruising speed, without pushing the tires to their limits.
The reason why people thought he was speeding was because he was running laps in a way that resembled a lap timer, braking at the limit on every corner. Isn't that putting extreme pressure on the tires?
Alan and his colleagues recognized this problem and have been observing the data curves.
"His extremely late braking was so precise that it didn't cause excessive tire wear."
People couldn't understand how Wu Shi managed to do something that was only theoretically possible.
Alan quickly calculated the data and concluded, "His control over tire grip and braking is as precise as a mathematical formula."
How many seconds are there from when you press the brake to when you release it?
"Sometimes it's less than a second."
"How did he manage to control the brake opening changes in such a short time to maintain a perfect match between braking and tire grip?!"
No one could answer the question; they could only stare blankly at the data.
Rustling sound!
Round and round.
Finally, Wu Shi's constant lap time stabilized between 1:51.800 and 1:52.000.
"He's racing at qualifying pace, and he's controlling tire degradation so well. I can't think of any reason why he shouldn't win," a mechanic said.
Ailan also fell silent. Wu Shi had just said in TR that there was still room for tuning the car.
In other words, there's still room to improve lap times!
After fifteen laps, the race car stopped in the pit lane.
"The tires are unusable." These were the first words Wu Shi said after getting off the vehicle and taking off his helmet. His previous assessment had been overly optimistic.
"Of course, I could tell."
At this point, jagged, irregular rubber residue has appeared on the edge of the tire, which is a trace of the tread rubber softening and moving outward.
By inspecting the punctures in the tires, the technicians confirmed that the tires had reached the end of their lifespan and that there was a risk of a blowout even after traveling a short distance.
"You felt a problem with the tires later?" Alan asked.
"Of course, so I reduced my lap time accordingly, averaging more than a second slower, but it still didn't slow down the tire wear. We need to make some more fine-tuning," Wu Shi said.
"That will be quick too."
Alan spoke softly, his heart already filled with shock as he looked at the young man. He continued:
"If no one has hidden too many things during the test, you've basically locked in your pole position."
"Hmm? Ailan, is it possible that I've hidden something too?" Wu Shi asked with a smile.
Alan was completely speechless.
"The testing period isn't over yet. We need to quickly adjust the parameters and prepare to continue testing," a technician reminded us.
The entire convoy started moving again.
Tuning the car was a tedious and difficult process. Even Wu Shi, who was frequently driving, sensing, getting in and out of the car, and communicating, felt increasingly dizzy as the process progressed.
Human energy is ultimately limited; one cannot always be perfectly clear-headed.
As dusk fell, the day's tests came to an end.
Over the next two weeks, the official team organized another test, but not in Silverstone.
During the test, Wu Shi discovered some new suggestions for improvement, such as where to back up the team's data.
Finally, the day arrived, Friday, April 18th.