Car Racing without Money-Chapter 456 - 181: Finding the Tuning Direction (2)

Chapter 456: Chapter 181: Finding the Tuning Direction (2)

Odetto retorted at this moment, as he was equally unprofessional in terms of engine development.

"The root cause of the engine blowout is due to too high cylinder pressure, we can only reduce the power."

"Reduce it to how much?"

"Temporarily reduce it by 30 horsepower and see."

[30 horsepower?]

Upon hearing this number, Briatore frowned.

In F1 racing, 30 horsepower is quite a shocking figure, ideally causing a lap time to be slower by as much as 0.5 seconds.

If the level of the two drivers is close, this 0.5 second would become an insurmountable gap.

Even a strong driver like Verstappen in later times received evaluations external to him, only deemed as a man with a natural advantage of 0.5 seconds.

Does this Chinese rookie Chen Xiangbei have such a capability?

"Too much, I only accept reducing by 10 horsepower."

Briatore gave a negative answer; not to mention the maximum horsepower of other teams, which is internal confidential information and cannot be guessed externally, the horsepower of the Renault engine already has a definite number.

With a 30 horsepower difference, Chen Xiangbei absolutely cannot catch up with Vettel, Weber, and others using Renault engines.

Even for Kubica, Hua Bu doesn’t dare guarantee that Chen Xiangbei can be faster than him.

What can this tractor do in the new season?

"Briatore, we don’t have enough power unit reserves now, we can only probe from the lowest horsepower upwards."

The total number of laps in F1 winter testing is roughly around 500, not surpassing 600 laps at most, akin to the mileage of ten qualifying races, only divided between two drivers.

This time, the HRT Team brought four sets of power units in total, theoretically enough for the testing phase.

Just that now, Trulli’s engine blowout directly ruined a set of power units, if there are more engine failures, maybe the mileage of this year’s winter testing cannot even be completed, which is unacceptable for a "new-entrant" team.

After all, Bob Bell needs to verify too much data.

The two of them, being longtime partners, exist as the Renault triangle, Briatore knows that Bob Bell is not being alarmist.

Professional matters should be decided by professional people.

Thus, he could only shrug and say, "It has to be this way, you have the final say."

"OK, change the engine and reduce power, test again."

Bob Bell gave the order, the team’s engineers immediately executed it.

The TF110 car engine was changed quickly, which is the advantage of Formula racing cars.

Almost all components, described in the language of future generations, have achieved standardized, modular design, greatly improving repair efficiency.

Don’t mention an engine being broken, even if a racing car is crashed into two parts, as long as there are enough spare parts, an F1 team can use one night’s time to return a brand new-as-before racing car to you!

The car repair and tuning were completed, and soon Chen Xiangbei and Trulli started the second round of winter testing.

This time, the two of them tacitly chose "peace," without anyone deliberately pushing and improving lap speed, completely following team instructions for various component tests.

Actually, there’s another saying about winter testing, that is emphasizing more on lap count rather than lap speed.

Because winter testing doesn’t have race rules, there’s no weight limitation, ultimately causing lap speeds to be distorted.

Instead, the more laps run, the more tests on the projects, allowing both team and driver to become more familiar with various aspects of the car, which is beneficial to good performance in official races.

If not for Hua Bu’s mischief, there wouldn’t have been any winter testing battle.

As the TF110 car drove again on the Catalonia track, including Bob Bell, the team engineers stood in front of the monitoring screens, their eyes locked onto the engine data changes.

Excessive power is merely based on experiential judgment; Bob Bell doesn’t dare ensure it’s 100% correct.

If the reduced power still leads to blowout issues, then the worst plan must be prepared, such as changing engine suppliers.

Such things are not unprecedented in F1 history, only the difficulty is greater for small teams, even if HRT has now gathered the strength of three teams, truly changing the engine will face a hell-level difficulty test.

On the track, Chen Xiangbei drove steadily in the first lap and kept communicating with the engineering team; the car didn’t show any anomalies.

Soon the second lap, third lap, fourth lap...

Chen Xiangbei drove the TF110 car, continuously increasing lap counts and gradually executing relatively aggressive driving operations.

The things team members feared most didn’t appear; whether it’s Chen Xiangbei or Trulli, the car sensor data was normal, with no signs of an impending engine blowout.

But at this moment, Bell’s expression seemed a bit "mysterious."

He found an unexpected point, which was that even with the engine power reduced so much, the overall speed didn’t significantly decrease!

What’s the situation?

Despite Bob Bell being in the paddock for over a decade, even building two championship cars at Renault, he still didn’t quite understand it.

horsepower isn’t a small number, in hybrid cars of later generations, you might not even catch up with opponents with DRS engaged, why does it seem inconsequential here?

Is it that the pit adjustment allowed Chen Xiangbei to find a comfort zone, making up for the power loss with his team?

Or is TF110 essentially a car that doesn’t rely on extreme engine power?

"Briatore, this TF110 car is very strange."

Almost instantly after Bob Bell finished speaking, Odetto beside him continued: "The speed is very strange."

"You noticed it too?"

"Yes, Bei’s cornering speed hasn’t slowed, and the straight-line speed can be compensated by adjusting the wing angle."

"Having 30 horsepower less, at least for Bei, isn’t affecting him at all."

Odetto doesn’t understand car development, but he knows Chen Xiangbei well.

That guy’s driving style, cornering speed, and the line-angle during testing, etc.,

You could say he’s thoroughly familiar with them.

Chen Xiangbei was not affected at all by reduced horsepower, and the team hadn’t issued a PUSH command, indicating he theoretically could go even faster!

Listening to Odetto’s words, Odetto’s inner doubts felt like they were confirmed.

He showed a hesitant expression for a moment then firmly said: Briatore, I want Bei to try pushing to challenge the limit again."

"Are you sure?"

Earlier Bell had been quite conservative, and now suddenly changed his stance.

"Sure, I think I misunderstood the design concept of the TF110 prototype."

Bob Bell indeed isn’t as genius as Newey, but he definitely isn’t a mediocre talent.

Serendipitously, he discovered under the effect of the exhaust diffuser, the car’s extreme power doesn’t mean it’s the fastest.

Instead, the output mode and torque curve paired with aerodynamics have unexpected effects.

Many things can only be verified through testing.

Design directors can’t be timid; for them, slow equates to failure!

"OK."

Briatore nodded and then instructed Chen Xiangbei: "Bei, push one lap."

"Push one lap?"

Chen Xiangbei asked back; the team had been emphasizing protecting the engine, why suddenly issue a completely opposite command.

"That’s right, show your speed, push one lap."

"COPY."

Without much questioning, Chen Xiangbei gave a resolute answer.

Although he couldn’t see complete car and engine data, he could feel that this TF110 car seemed more convenient and comfortable to drive.

To avoid this being his illusion, Chen Xiangbei really wanted to challenge the car’s limit.

Only considering the team’s current situation, he reluctantly suppressed his itching desire.

Now that Briatore says he can "speed up," why hesitate?

One foot on the accelerator over the start line, Chen Xiangbei began another full-speed dash.

His aggressive performance attracted the attention of many engineers at the pit stop, after all, the HRT Team had already blown an engine once, yet now began full-speed pushing quickly again; do they not intend to complete the entire winter testing?

"Driver Bei pushed again, the Chinese Kid really has enthusiasm."

"Has HRT Team solved the blowout problem? Seems like their development strength is somewhat decent."

"According to this testing intensity by HRT Team, fearfully they would need ten sets of power units to manage it."

Compared to the ordinary engineers’ view, Newey from the Red Bull Racing Team gradually became serious in expression.

He vaguely realized the HRT Team’s development group had grasped the essence of matching the power unit with the exhaust diffuser, otherwise, it wouldn’t be so aggressively testing the cars.

This can be experienced from Chen Xiangbei’s cornering speed, exclusively these few front corners, the Chinese Kid’s speed fully surpassed last year’s pole position!

If all speculation is true, then this lap time by driver Bei would be very outrageous!