Yamamoto Youkyo held an attitude of disbelief, and once again opened the Zhang Yifei file in his hand, and in the professional record column above, it was clear that there was only one item, the champion of the Hong Kong Island Karting Championship.

To be honest, if it weren't for the late start of the Toyota Formula Team, he wouldn't have wanted this kind of kart trial at all, and the place he should have gone was the Honda Suzuki Driver Academy, starting as a cadet.

But it was such a "novice" who managed to turn at 200 km/h and, if nothing else, he was soon on the verge of passing the trial.

If he can continue according to this "evolutionary speed" and finally run in half an hour of trial, Zhang Yifei's fastest lap may reach about 1 minute and 34 seconds, which is only 10 seconds away from the track record set by Takuma Sato!

Ten seconds is still an exaggerated margin for a formula car, but it's a good one for a tryout. Because the driver who had previously tried out the Australian karting experience, the fastest lap was also 10 seconds away from the track record.

On the track, Zhang Yifei was still improving his lap time, and as time went on, he felt that he was becoming more and more comfortable with the car.

In fact, with the experience of being a professional driver in my previous life, the speed of the field, the cornering route, and the operation are not much of a problem, but more of an adaptation to driving habits.

Fortunately, Zhang Yifei has already had systematic go-kart training, which has laid a solid foundation for him to adapt to formula racing so quickly. And as the number of laps increased, the characteristics of the corners were gradually understood, and the speed of the car could be increased step by step.

Zhang Yifei didn't know how long he had been running, and his attention was all on the change in speed until he saw a black and white checkered flag appear on the sidelines.

The black and white checkered flag, also known as the race flag, is one of the F1 flags when a driver passes over the flag to mark the end of the race.

So when Zhang Yifei passed the flag, he slowed down his car and drove the car to the maintenance lane. Generally, after intense driving, the car needs a team of technicians to overhaul the condition of the car, and if it is an official race, it is also necessary to drive the car to the pre-race check-in place for post-race inspection.

After parking and getting out of the car, the technicians of the Toyota team began to overhaul the car, after all, the front of the car was hit by Zhang Yifei, which may leave some hidden dangers for high-precision formula cars without a thorough inspection.

If the front shroud falls off or something during the race and jams the tires, it could be a major safety accident on the track.

Junko Takeda, the team manager, was already waiting here, and when she saw Zhang Yifei coming down, she walked over with a smile on her face, stretched out her hand and said, "Congratulations to you, the Toyota youth team welcomes you to join." ”

The youth team? When he heard this, Zhang Yifei was stunned on the spot, because he was trying out the Toyota Academy Camp, not the Toyota Academy Team.

It doesn't sound like much of a difference, but the former is a training academy, just like the famous Honda Suzuki Academy in Japan, where you can learn to race and perform well to get a scholarship and a chance to officially sign with a team.

Therefore, it cannot be said that joining the Honda Suzuki Academy is equivalent to joining the Honda team, and the same is true for the Toyota Academy.

There will be tryouts for go-karts from all over Asia, but in the end there will be fewer than five spots to become part of the Toyota Academy Team, and even a future F1 team.

Zhang Yifei's initial goal was only to enter the academy through the trial, so that at least his future professional training was guaranteed. As a result, I didn't expect that I could go one step further to get the Toyota youth driver spot.

Becoming a contracted driver means that you don't have to train at your own expense, and even the formula car will be sponsored by the Toyota team.

You know, go-kart training is a lot of money, but compared to formula racing, it's a younger brother. Formula cars would cost a lot of money if they were to pay for them entirely out of pocket.

As far as tires are taken alone, Toyota's internal supply price for a set of four tires will not be less than 5,000 yuan, and if the training intensity is high in a week, four sets of single tires will be replaced, which is 20,000 yuan.

In other words, the cost of tires in a month is 80,000 yuan, and then counting the oil loss and labor costs, the picture is too beautiful Zhang Yifei to think.

And the cost of professional training in formula racing is much more than just the cost of training, because you can't stay at the base training all your life and have to go to races.

Just like Zhang Yifei's participation in karting events before, he had to travel from Hong Kong Island to Ao Island, and the participation in formula racing is even wider, and it is possible all over the world.

Zhang Yifei doesn't know how much the formula race costs in this era, but in the previous go-kart race, if you go to Europe to compete, the cost of a sub-station event is about 200,000, which is just a sub-station, and you have to prepare 2 million for the whole race.

The reason why it is so expensive is that the cost of the event includes the living expenses of the driver and the team, the cost of travel and car rental, transportation, spare parts, etc.

Even Ma Qinghua, the first Chinese driver to enter F1 in the future, had to run the China Touring Car Championship halfway to make money because of the pressure of funds after running formula for a year.

This is why, in later generations, Chinese drivers are basically "all-round", those who can run the rally field, those who run the field have participated in the formula, and the results of the F1 level have been turned to run the touring car championship......

Because the professional sponsorship environment is too poor, there are few domestic events. Many drivers have to "crossover" more races to earn prize money and sponsorship fees from different brands.

There's no way, it's all forced by life......

"It's surprising, the fastest lap you had just tried out was 1:34.11, which is less than 10 seconds away from the fastest record on the track, which has proven your potential and strength, so on behalf of the Toyota Academy Team, I welcome you to join."

Junko Takeda sent out another invitation, and this time Zhang Yifei came to his senses, and he will join the Toyota Academy team and become a professional driver again.

"Thank you."

Zhang Yifei didn't know what to say, so he could only stretch out his hand and shake it with Junko Takeda, but Zhang Yifei's slightly trembling arm revealed his excitement at the moment.

After all, entering F1 is Zhang Yifei's dream for two lifetimes, even if the youth driver is still far from the official F1 driver, but at least he has finally entered the career category of formula racing.

I used to practice karting on Hong Kong Island, although I have been training according to the professional mode, Zhang Yifei also understands that karting is the "cradle" of formula racing, but that feeling is always a little wrong.

The first point is the essence of the Wind Chasing Club, which is actually a large-scale "playground" for Hong Kong and Macao tycoons to buy for their children, and there is no real professional atmosphere.

The second point is that the kart speed is too slow and the age of the riders is too young, so Zhang Yifei does not have a sense of integration. Whether it's training or competing, he has the feeling that he is beating up children.

Toyota's youth team is completely different, this is a professional team formed by the world's top car manufacturers, whether it is hardware conditions or personnel allocation, it is built according to real professional standards.

Only by joining this kind of team can Zhang Yifei be regarded as a real professional driver!