"I drove."
"Get out of the car, let’s go inside and take a look."
Zhang Zhicong patted Chen Xiangbei on the shoulder, then turned off the engine and was the first to push open the car door and get out.
Chen Xiangbei followed closely behind, walking one after the other into the entrance of the karting club with Zhang Zhicong. They could hear the roar of engines from afar, indicating that soone was training inside.
"Xiangbei, after handling the Huasi base in East Sea, I was so disheartened that I decided to leave the racing industry completely and to settle down as a professional manager."
"But seeing your performance in the Macau Grand Prix made suddenly realize that Huasi Sports hadn’t entirely failed. In the end, it did cultivate a Chinese racing team and discovered a genius driver like you."
"Maybe it’s unwillingness, or perhaps an old man rekindling his youthful madness, that’s why I founded this karting club."
"I once had lofty ambitions to rapidly establish a Chinese formula racing system, but now I’ve turned back to start from the beginning with formula racing, hoping to nurture the next Chinese F1 driver, and hopefully witness the next Chen Xiangbei."
Zhang Zhicong voiced his heartfelt thoughts in a murmuring manner.
He had always harbored resentnt over the collapse of Huasi Sports.
Back in the days, driven by dreams and passion, he aspired to create China’s formula racing and host the East Sea F1 Grand Prix.
Yet, the end result was a ss, and if it hadn’t been for Chen Xiangbei, Zhang Zhicong would have been a complete failure.
Now he understood that without small steps, one cannot reach a great distance.
Only by starting from the most basic karting can one gradually establish a real formula racing system and discover potential future F1 drivers.
The Huasi Karting Club is the dream that Zhang Zhicong has never given up on!
Hearing these words from Zhang Zhicong also moved Chen Xiangbei deeply.
No one better understood the difficulties of developing China’s formula racing, even if Zhou Guanyu appeared as a Chinese F1 driver afterward, in reality, he was just a flash in the pan, and no one knew where the next one would be.
In fact, even within the foreseeable ten years, the hope of having another Chinese F1 driver is dim.
To end this phenonon, instead of aspiring for sothing grand, it is better to start from the initial stage of karting, which is the true cradle of formula drivers!
While chatting and walking, the two soon arrived at the trackside. Chen Xiangbei saw a familiar face there, Ito Masashi, who was once a Honda engineer dispatched to the East Sea Huasi base.
"Ito, you’re here too?"
Chen Xiangbei asked with surprise and unexpectedness.
Since parting ways in East Sea, Chen Xiangbei lost contact with Ito Masashi; he thought these dispatched engineers would return to Honda headquarters, not expecting to see Ito at the Hong Kong karting club.
"Long ti no see, Xiangbei-kun."
Ito Masashi had already heard that Chen Xiangbei would co, so he wasn’t too surprised, and greeted him with a smile.
"After Honda Team withdrew from F1 and together with the financial crisis impacts, Honda headquarters canceled the formula racing division, resulting in Ito being laid off."
"As you know, he speaks fluent Chinese and was initially involved in driver training related work at Huasi Sports, so I invited Ito to Hong Kong."
Zhang Zhicong explained, helping Ito, as language wasn’t a barrier for him, plus he had abundant experience, making him an ideal candidate as a karting coach.
"I see."
"Uncle Zhang, are you planning to rebuild Huasi?"
Listening to Chen Xiangbei’s teasing, Zhang Zhicong smiled but didn’t respond.
Right now, a small karting club is far inferior compared to the forr Huasi Sports.
Whether Huasi could be rebuilt in his lifeti is unknown.
"Xiangbei, this track is 2.2 kiloters long, built to international standards, and equipped with karts of all levels."
"Regarding students, I have no restrictions; any gifted child or teenager, regardless of their identity or nationality, can join the training."
Hong Kong’s situation is quite special, relatively international, so Zhang Zhicong didn’t restrict students’ identities specifically to nationals or Chinese.
In a sense, this also coincides with the trend of racing developnt; openness and compatibility are essential for building the strongest teams and drivers.
Even Zhou Guanyu isn’t considered a driver born from China’s racing system; he went to the United Kingdom early on to undergo professional training.
As Zhang Zhicong was introducing, many young trainees at the scene noticed Chen Xiangbei’s presence, stopped their training, and gathered around, looking at him with curiosity and admiration.
Currently, in China, it’s possible that most children wouldn’t recognize Chen Xiangbei; at an age when they play video gas in elentary school, they wouldn’t pay attention to F1 racing.
But at a karting club, Chen Xiangbei is definitely the idol and goal of the trainees!
Countless young karters dream of becoming an F1 driver like Chen Xiangbei one day, racing in the world’s most prestigious events.
Just like a young Chen Xiangbei who idolized Schumacher.
Even discovered by Dong Yuanxi as having an interest in racing, only because he stood in front of Schumacher’s retirent poster for a long, long ti...
"Xiangbei, these are the club’s trainees, there are a total of twenty-six of them."
"By the way, currently the fastest lap ti belongs to this kid; he won all dostic kart races this year and still holds the club’s single lap record, reminiscent of you when you arrived at the East Sea Huasi base."
As Zhang Zhicong spoke, he pulled a teenager around ten years old beside him and proudly introduced him to Chen Xiangbei.
Chen Xiangbei looked over and suddenly felt the child seed familiar.
So he asked, "Uncle Zhang, what’s his na?"
Before Zhang Zhicong could answer, the boy introduced himself.
"Brother Xiangbei, my na is Zhou Guanyu."
[Zhou Guanyu?]
Upon hearing the na and seeing the vaguely familiar face, Chen Xiangbei was stunned.
He then showed a look of deep emotion, realizing that the world’s tiline and history had ultimately impacted the developnt of dostic formula racing.
"Xiangbei, Guanyu races in KZ level karts, completing the track in 67 seconds. Even more remarkable is his stability over long distances, lacking the impulsiveness and errors common among young trainees."
"To be honest, this state of emotional stability truly resembles you back in the day!"
Faced with Zhang Zhicong’s praise, Chen Xiangbei felt at a loss for what to say.
He still hasn’t reconciled the future impression of Zhou Guanyu with the young boy before him.
"Impressive, really impressive."
After a mont of dumbfoundedness, Chen Xiangbei finally praised the boy.
"Moreover, Ye Yifei is also progressing quickly, this year in his first karting race he set the fastest lap, showing visible talent and potential."
"Xiangbei, if it weren’t for starting the karting club from scratch, I wouldn’t know there are so many good seedlings dostically."
Zhang Zhicong continued to introduce the trainees to Chen Xiangbei, his tone filled with nostalgia and emotion.
If he had abandoned the developnt of CFR2000 early on and focused on developing through the karting club, perhaps he would’ve discovered many hidden talents.
Chinese youths aren’t without racing talent; they just lack the opportunity to engage with racing!
But Chen Xiangbei wasn’t in the mood to reflect; he was once again startled by Ye Yifei’s na.
Could it really be that coincidental that he is the future Le Mans champion Ye Yifei?
Honestly, compared to Zhou Guanyu’s affluent background, enabling a direct path to the F1 Paddock.
Ye Yifei lacked the capital to test wrong paths, decisively transitioning to endurance racing when realizing the slim hope of driving an F1 car, creating a story of "blessing in disguise."
"Uncle Zhang, you might really beco the godfather of Chinese racing this ti."
Realizing there’s a high probability it is the future Ye Yifei, Chen Xiangbei wryly remarked.
Zhang Zhicong already had the title of China’s race godfather, just not successfully fulfilling it.
He mistakenly thought Chen Xiangbei was teasing him when he heard this.
So he laughed and replied, "You kid dare to joke at my expense."
With that said, Zhang Zhicong turned his gaze toward Zhou Guanyu and said, "Guanyu, don’t you have sothing you want to say to Brother Xiangbei?"
"Yes."
Zhou Guanyu nodded and then spoke, "Brother Xiangbei, can I have an autograph?"
"An autograph?"
"No problem!"
Chen Xiangbei thought he would be asked to do sothing, only to find out it was for an autograph, which he readily agreed to.
Just at the airport, he had sohow acquired a signing pen from a fan and it was tucked in his chest pocket.
But when Chen Xiangbei was about to give the autograph, Zhou Guanyu shook his head and said, "Not yours."
"Then whose?"
"I want Alonso’s."
[Damn!]
History has changed, but the idol hasn’t; seems I jumped to conclusions...
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