Chapter 59 - 23: I’m Really Stupid, Really

Chapter 59: Chapter 23: I’m Really Stupid, Really

The race officials didn’t make things difficult for Wu Shi. After individually weighing him, the kart, and the ballast, they reported to the race statistics office that everything was normal.

Thus, this overwhelming lap that crushed everyone else would become an official record, forever etched into the circuit’s KF3 lap time history.

"Now, can you tell me how you did it?" Jos asked, his expression agitated with excitement.

"I believe that is priceless knowledge." Wu Shi looked at the Dutchman, whose pale face was flushed pink.

Jos hesitated for only a second before immediately replying, "As long as you maintain these results, I’ll use my connections to support your early participation in open-wheel racing tests. Any resources I can give to Max, I will give to you."

"No problem. You can have a good chat with Sid about that," Wu Shi said with a smile.

"You little brat!" Jos laughed in exasperation, shaking his head as he agreed to the terms.

Verstappen looked left and right before finally glancing at his own time. It was head and shoulders above the rest of the pack, yet it was still suppressed by Wu Shi.

The incredible lap times left everyone buzzing with excitement, so much so that they wondered what else could possibly be worth watching in the upcoming races.

Being several seconds faster on a flying lap meant that during the Endurance Race, his consistent race pace would also be much faster than everyone else’s. Therefore, just like in the previous round, there was already no suspense regarding who would take the championship.

After the group round-robin heats, the thirty-four finalists were decided.

In the pre-final, Wu Shi took a commanding lead, but the battles behind him were spectacularly intense.

Albon had clawed back his position during the heats, starting the pre-final just behind Verstappen. In the ensuing dogfight, Albon found an opening, cleanly overtook Verstappen, and snatched second place.

When the pre-final ended, Jos hurled some very harsh curses. He frantically berated Verstappen, claiming that there was a massive problem with his defense, which ultimately caused the loss of the entire race.

"I thought I could get a faster exit speed out of the corner and take the position back on the cutback," Verstappen argued.

"No! You can’t just let him past! This is karting! Karts are small and agile. Once you let him through, he can completely block your racing line and shut down any chance of a counter-attack! In fact, that’s exactly what he did! You were wrong; your rhythm in this race was entirely wrong!" Jos shouted loudly.

"I couldn’t drive like I did in practice," Verstappen muttered.

"Yes, you couldn’t maintain it! That’s exactly why I told you about defense and how you need to defend! If you don’t know how to defend, then stop driving karts altogether! A driver who can’t defend has no right to be on the track!" After barking out those words, Jos turned to look at Wu Shi.

He suddenly realized he had rarely seen how Wu Shi handled attacking and defending, so he asked, "After the race, can that contract include your offensive and defensive strategies?"

"Uh, Uncle Jos, you know that attacking and defending are a driver’s core secrets..."

"I’ll pay extra."

"Of course! Max and I are good friends, so I would never refuse such a small favor." Wu Shi waved his hand with a smile.

Jos received annual sponsorships from Holland and also ran a kart parts business. Coupled with the fact that he was a former F1 driver, he had plenty of funds at his disposal.

During the final, Wu Shi actually wanted to just watch the race. After being pressured by Jos, Verstappen would definitely seek out Albon to avenge his prior humiliation, meaning the battle between them would be far more entertaining than his own solitary cruise in the lead.

Unfortunately, the final awarded forty-five points to the winner, and he wasn’t arrogant enough to throw those points away. No matter how fast you drove, there was always the fear of unexpected accidents. Regardless of how big a lead one had, they needed to make sure they grabbed every available point; otherwise, there would be no buffer against risks.

In the end, under extreme pressure, Verstappen overtook Albon during the twenty-lap race and reclaimed his rightful victory. Meanwhile, Wu Shi maintained his steady lead all the way to the top of the podium.

"Hello, Wu Shi. You’ve claimed victory once again. I think it’s safe to say that in this class, no one can shake your dominance anymore," a reporter said during a customary interview.

"Naturally, I’m very happy to get the win. But there are still many races left in the season, as well as tracks I’m unfamiliar with, like the ones over in Spain."

After the brief interview, Wu Shi’s name went viral within the Italy karting circle once again. Various media outlets and newspapers reported on his absolutely dominant victory.

And the subsequent races were almost entirely the same. Even when Wu Shi didn’t fully utilize his acute perception of the kart, he could still secure the championship relying on his rich experience and superb skills. This sense of inevitability affected so many people that, later on, newspaper editors began using rather bizarre headlines.

"This is Wu Shi’s fourth victory. He remains perfectly at ease, like a driver from a higher class coming down to a lower tier to show off."

"The real highlight of the KF3 Level events is the battle for second place, because first place is already a foregone conclusion."

"The terrifying Hua Country person continues to dominate the KF3 races."

"Wu Shi: I have mastered ancient Hua Country qigong, capable of unlocking the kart’s true speed."

"Wu Shi’s Secrets: Why did a Hua Country kid come to Italy? To chase a dream? For love? Or something else?"

The sports media’s coverage was still somewhat grounded, continuing to report based on the actual progress of the races. However, the entertainment tabloids were beginning to display the true charm of sensationalist journalism.

Truth be told, he shouldn’t have been this famous. After all, he was just a kid who constantly won in the karting world. But his lap times were simply too fast—fast enough to break records every single time. Coupled with the fact that he was a Hua Country person, the media had more than enough gimmicks to work with.

Wu Shi, Martina, and Sid were all happy to see this happen. Fame was incredibly important when it came to joining major racing teams.

Amidst a continuous streak of victories, 2010 was drawing to a close.

That year, Wu Shi had won the WSK Europa KF3 Series championship, as well as the World KF3 and Europe KF3 Championships.

Because he was still too young, Wu Shi could only continue racing in KF3 in 2011. Consequently, he won every single race in the WSK World KF3 Series and participated in two major events: the World Championship and the annual Junior Monaco Kart Cup.

He never failed to win a race he entered, and even his retirement rate due to mechanical failures was absolute zero. This fact genuinely piqued the curiosity of quite a few people.

The CRG Team publicly stated that this was simply the pedigree of a veteran factory team. However, this response was met with considerable skepticism, mainly because Verstappen hadn’t managed to maintain a zero-retirement record.

As Wu Shi’s engineer, Rosa knew the truth better than anyone. In the end, it all boiled down to the fact that Wu Shi was incredibly sensitive to the kart. He would constantly notify the team before a component even had the chance to fail.

While this increased the operational costs of Wu Shi’s kart—for instance, he absolutely insisted on having a new half-shaft installed after every single race, and he swapped out his chassis and brake discs with great frequency—it always took Rosa by surprise. Sometimes, after a mere twenty-lap race, he would demand a parts change. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Fine, they changed them. But when they inspected the dismantled parts, they found that the wear and tear was indeed exceptionally high. This proved that Wu Shi’s driving style was distinctly unfriendly to their wallets—drivers with tight budgets would even try their best to avoid riding the kerbs, so as to prevent prematurely damaging their half-shafts and chassis.

Yet, even after running just a ten-lap race, Wu Shi would still demand new components.

Based on prior experience, that set of parts should have been good for at least another ten laps. However, when Rosa took the components off and inspected them, she discovered that while they hadn’t worn down to the point of being completely unusable, continuing to use them would very easily lead to mechanical failures. Or, at the very least, it would directly impact the kart’s stability and cause a drop in lap times.

Therefore, she reported the matter to the engineers at headquarters. After some research, they arrived at a terrifying truth: during every single race, Wu Shi was deliberately pushing the kart’s components to their absolute limits!

What was even more terrifying was that this guy could consciously control the wear and tear of these parts, thereby extracting the maximum possible performance from the kart in every race!

Upon receiving this conclusion, Rosa shook her head in a daze and said to the headquarters engineers, "I’m so stupid, really. I should have seen just how sensitive his perception of the vehicle was back when he was controlling his tire degradation."