"Who decided that racing engineers can’t puke!"
With his hands behind his back, Liang Chi flipped Chen Xiangbei the middle finger. He couldn’t believe that riding the car almost made him throw up last night’s supper.
But to be fair, the kid has something; it’s his first time driving a Subaru Impreza and he’s able to go that fast. No wonder Qin Lianjie is so eager to race him.
After sufficiently puking, Liang Chi got to his feet, wiped the corner of his mouth, and then walked to the Subaru Impreza to open the hood, revealing the iconic red-topped EJ20 engine.
"Kid, when you went fast around that corner and it slipped, besides the tires not gripping the road, you also had some understeer, right?"
"The issue lies with the overall framework; this car owes its successes and failures to racing!"
Liang Chi spoke these words with deep emotion.
The Subaru Impreza’s glory stems from rally racing, but its overly extreme racing-weight reduction design caused the first-generation chassis with the code "GC" to lack rigidity and didn’t feature crumple zones to protect the driver. Safety couldn’t meet increasingly strict civilian car tests worldwide.
After all, ordinary people play with performance cars, but they can’t fully mod like real rally cars and weld in a roll cage. If there’s a minor accident, the consequences of the Subaru Impreza’s "paper-thin" chassis would be extremely serious.
To improve safety and expand market sales, Subaru Group redesigned the Impreza, leading to this eighth-generation new Impreza, represented by the chassis code "GD".
This eighth-generation Impreza greatly enhanced chassis rigidity, with the hood alone stubbornly thickened by an entire millimeter. Meanwhile, to meet comfort and family-use needs, they increased the dimensions to expand interior space and added more electronic assistance systems to reduce driving difficulty.
The cost of compromising for market appeal was an increased weight of 1390KG, a full 150KG heavier than the previous generation. This also disrupted the original weight balance, causing the front end to be notably heavier than the rear.
For racing, having a heavy front means it’s prone to understeering, as seen in Nakazato Yuji’s GTR, which would understeer every time it entered Qiuming Mountain’s sharp turns, forcing constant adjustments to its cornering route.
Even if correcting each bend wastes merely 0.1 seconds, ten bends later, that’s over a second’s difference, which in racing is enough to decide the winner.
That’s why Takahashi Ryosuke confidently declared that if Nakazato Yuji’s GTR couldn’t overcome the understeer issue, it wouldn’t stand a chance against his Mazda FC on Nanyun Mountain Road!
The Subaru Impreza gave up its racing heritage, akin to abandoning its WRC career achievements, falling from the once-three-time champion altar.
Over several years, it only clinched three round victories and finally chose to withdraw from WRC competitions in ’08, its reign ending obscurely.
"Uncle Liang, then why did you still choose this car for me?"
Chen Xiangbei asked in response. Liang Chi clearly knew the Subaru Impreza’s weaknesses, yet still made this choice.
"The first race car I ever encountered was the Subaru Impreza; I guess it’s a kind of nostalgia."
Chen Xiangbei could understand Liang Chi’s words; after all, everyone has their own Dream Car.
"But the Subaru Impreza’s chassis tune is quite good; it can somewhat offset the understeer phenomenon."
Every car has its limitations and flaws; in relative terms, the Subaru Impreza was born for rallies, and the history is there. Understeer isn’t actually that severe.
The more reason it slid on the road was due to extreme operation surpassing the tires’ grip.
"Chassis tuning can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause; to completely eradicate understeer, lightweight modification is needed."
Hearing "lightweight" from Liang Chi’s mouth, Chen Xiangbei was reminded of his classroom conversation with Zhou Yanjing; last night he stayed up late with forum experts to custom carbon-fiber parts for a Subaru Impreza model.
Although Guangzhou and Shenzhen are considered international cities now, the number of imported Japanese performance cars like Subaru shouldn’t exceed triple digits, and those undergoing lightweight modifications are even rarer.
Chen Xiangbei couldn’t believe the coincidence of two Subaru owners simultaneously having the idea for lightweight modification.
"Uncle Liang, are you planning on customizing carbon-fiber parts for the lightweight mod?"
"Yeah, the quickest and most efficient way to get you driving this car on Nanyun Mountain by Saturday is through replacing carbon-fiber parts for front-end weight reduction."
"Were you on the forum last night, finding a young person to work overnight on a 3D model of this car?"
Hearing Chen Xiangbei’s question, Liang Chi was baffled, asking, "How did you know that?" Follow current novᴇls on 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦•𝘯𝘦𝘵
Holy crap, the forum expert Zhou Yanjing mentioned is actually this old guy!
For a moment, Chen Xiangbei didn’t know whether to call it coincidence or fate. As expected, true hidden masters usually keep a low profile.
"That young guy is my classmate."
Chen Xiangbei’s words made Liang Chi look at him with surprise.
After a while, he blurted, "No wonder you guys don’t do well in your studies; all your focus is on side projects."
"Come on, anyone can say that, but Uncle Liang, do you have the nerve?"
"You exploit me during the day as child labor, then freeload off Zhou Yanjing’s black market labor at night, and now call us slackers?"
Chen Xiangbei had never seen anyone as shameless as Liang Chi; Zhou Yanjing held him in high esteem as a forum expert. If he knew the reality was this old guy, his illusion would likely shatter, and he’d never trust the internet again.
Well, at least it prevents him from being scammed in online relationships.
"Kid, let me correct you again; you’re already eighteen and not considered child labor."
Remembering the saying about bowing one’s head under another’s roof, Chen Xiangbei didn’t continue to criticize Liang Chi, the "heartless capitalist."
Instead, he changed the topic: "Is the Subaru Impreza only getting lightweight parts? Not considering engine modifications?"
"Lightweight isn’t enough; engine mods aren’t cheap!"
Liang Chi rebutted heatedly. This kid doesn’t know the cost of running a household. Modding a car seems easy to him, but in reality it’s a money pit.
"Besides, what is there to change? 280HP is enough for you to tackle mountain roads. On the contrary, too much power would shift the pressure onto the tires."
"Nanyun Mountain Road isn’t short, and the end section has a double M wide-angle combo turn. If tire wear is too severe, the last stretch’s drift won’t grip the road."
When explaining the Nanyun Mountain Road’s features, Liang Chi finally showed a hint of a racing engineer’s character.
"Uncle Liang, you seem quite familiar with Nanyun Mountain Road; have you raced there?"
"I’m not a driver; what’s there to race?"
Saying this, Liang Chi lit a cigarette and gave the answer: "That kid Qin Lianjie told me."
"Turns out you’re pretty close with Qin Lianjie, Uncle Liang."
Chen Xiangbei realized why Liang Chi immediately got the news about Qin Lianjie offering 30 grand for a race.
Presumably, Qin Lianjie wants Uncle Liang to persuade him to agree to race.
"We’re somewhat acquainted."
Taking a drag, Liang Chi calmly said, "Qin Lianjie actually has talent, but his mind isn’t completely on racing; he’s just into casual street racing for fun. Early on when I was still with Huasa, I invited him to join CCC professional events but was rejected."
"Didn’t expect you to have scouted drivers as a manager, Uncle Liang."
Faced with Chen Xiangbei’s teasing, Liang Chi exhaled smoke deeply and said, "I joined Huasa because it had the goal of getting Chinese drivers on the world stage."
"Whether successful or not, at least I tried for that goal."
After finishing, Liang Chi switched to a sleazy smile, raised his eyebrows at Chen Xiangbei, and said, "Kid, I think you have some potential. Have you ever thought about racing professionally?"
Liang Chi must think his smile is full of "charm," but in Chen Xiangbei’s eyes, it seems like the beggar trying to sell martial arts secrets in the movie "Kung Fu."