After the qualifying finals for the higher groups were completed, the NCJ-A Group final at Nan'an Station officially began.
Wu Shi was in 19th place—dead last. Ahead of him, the line of karts snaked out, impossibly long.
To overtake them all in just twelve short laps would be no simple matter.
Once the race officials had arranged the nineteen karts in their starting order, they waved a hand to signal the start of the warm-up lap.
Ye Zhaohui, at the front of the pack, looked back but couldn't spot the white, big-eyed kart right away. He knew that guy was at the back of the grid. There was no way he could lose!
Simply put, it was pole position versus last place. 'The advantage is mine!'
The Nan'an Circuit is a clockwise track. After the starting straight, there is a double-apex corner composed of two right-angle turns, T1 and T2. Exiting this leads to T3, a left-hand hairpin, followed by a short straight before reaching T4, a right-hand hairpin.
After T4 is an S-curve complex. The apex of T5 is on the left-hand curb, and the apex of T6 is on the right-hand curb.
Theoretically, the fastest way through a chicane is to adjust your direction upon entering the first turn, cutting across both apexes in a nearly straight line.
But in practice, you either miss the first apex and go for a "slow in, fast out" approach, or you do the opposite.
However, T6 of the chicane at Nan'an Station is practically a hairpin, so a "slow in, fast out" approach gets you blocked on the exit. Therefore, it's better to use a "fast in" strategy here.
This was arguably the trickiest set of corners on the whole track, where a novice could easily lose a lot of speed with one small mistake.
After T6, there's a short straight, then T7, a wide, sweeping left-hand right-angle turn that can be taken at almost full throttle.
A left hairpin at T8 is immediately followed by a wide, sweeping right-hand turn at T9, and then T10 is another small, double-apex right-hand corner.
A left hairpin at T11, and immediately on exit is T12, a right-hand obtuse-angle turn.
Finally, there's T13, a right-angle right-hand turn, which leads back onto the starting straight.
The track didn't have many overtaking opportunities, with the most complex section being the first half.
The warm-up lap ended, and the formation lap began.
Ye Zhaohui sped up and slowed down, deliberately taunting the pack.
Luckily, all the drivers were skilled enough; otherwise, someone might have lost control, overtaken the kart in front, and caused the formation to fail.
Soon, Ye Zhaohui, at the front of the pack, passed T13 and saw the starting grid and the checkered finish line.
A race official was already in position, holding a green flag, but had not yet waved it.
Because Wu Shi was at the very back, by the time he rounded the final corner, Ye Zhaohui was only thirty or forty meters from the yellow line.
The official saw that all the karts had reached the starting straight. After receiving the command from race control, he rubbed his thumb and index finger together, waited a few seconds, and then suddenly waved the green flag.
The moment the official's right hand twitched, Wu Shi reacted. Almost at the exact instant the flag was raised, he slammed the throttle.
VROOOM!
With a reaction time of just over a tenth of a second, he completely blew past the drivers in 18th and 17th place. His position instantly jumped to 17th, and he was now side-by-side with 16th.
Because Turns 1 and 2 formed a double-apex corner, the goal wasn't to hit the apex of either individual turn, but the point existing between them.
Furthermore, since Turn 3 came right after Turn 2, Wu Shi couldn't drift his way through for a quick entry and exit like he had at Turn 1 in Peng City.
He had to find a clean line through the chaotic pack. If he didn't make significant gains on the first lap, it would undoubtedly be a disadvantage for the rest of the race.
Soon, he and the 16th-place driver reached Turn 1 simultaneously. His opponent was already getting ready to brake for the turn, but Wu Shi braked even earlier!
When the 16th-place driver aimed for the apex between the two turns, he had already missed the apex of Turn 1. This was supposed to be the fastest line, but he had someone next to him!
By braking early, Wu Shi entered the turn sooner. He turned the wheel sharply, cutting directly to the apex of Turn 1.
In that one move, he unbelievably overtook three drivers.
However, if that was all he did, the three drivers behind him would quickly get back in front thanks to their superior line, using the earlier acceleration it afforded them to pull away from him.
So, to counter them, Wu Shi started accelerating the moment he hit the apex.
"What is he doing?!"
"Is he trying to fly off the track at Turn 2?"
The coaches watching from the sidelines were baffled. No matter how you looked at it, Wu Shi had to slow down to enter Turn 2 properly. Otherwise, even if he didn't go off the track, he would miss the line for Turn 3, costing him a significant amount of time.
And they were right, but the chaos of the race start was still unfolding.
After accelerating, Wu Shi directly blocked the entry line for the karts behind him, and then he slammed on the brakes.
The sudden deceleration startled the three drivers behind him, who quickly braked. The last one couldn't brake in time and had to swerve toward the edge of the track to avoid a collision and prevent his bumper from falling off.
Wu Shi glanced back at the track, assessing the situation. 'They won't be able to catch me now.'
The last overtake had been a psychological gamble on the track, a bet that they wouldn't dare to hit him.
Or, to use a gamer's term—a torpedo! Even if the word wasn't used that way yet.
Of course, Wu Shi knew what he was doing. Many people might criticize him for it, but most champion drivers have an aggressive side to their driving.
Sometimes, what looks like a torpedo move is actually a calculated risk to seize a position.
Just like this time, his judgment was spot on. In a karting rear-end collision, the car behind suffers more damage, so they would inevitably have to yield.
Exiting Turn 2, the white, big-eyed kart that had started in last place had already climbed to 14th.
'The five karts ahead are close together and still trying to overtake each other. Even though they're all on the racing line, there's bound to be chaos when they reach the T5-T6 chicane.'
Wu Shi calculated silently, sticking close behind the 13th-place driver.
As it turned out, before they even got past Turn 3, the guy in front of him—maybe from being too nervous—exited the corner too aggressively and veered to the right side of the road.
Faced with this opportunity, he gladly accepted it.
He moved into thirteenth.
On the following straight, there was no room to maneuver. It wasn't until Turn 4 that the 12th-place kart pulled to the outside line, braking at the last possible moment to attempt a cutback overtake.
Meanwhile, the 11th-place driver took a defensive middle line, determined to block the overtake from 12th.
Wu Shi saw it all clearly. By braking earlier than the guys ahead and cutting into the turn, he could slip right past the 11th-place driver on the middle line.
SCREECH!!
The tires shrieked in protest. Pushing the limits of grip, the white, big-eyed kart pulled ahead of the other two.
VROOOM!
The instant it gained an advantage, the kart's engine roared as it shot out from the apex.
"Holy shit!"
"So fast, and he didn't even lose control? That's completely unimaginable!"
The coaches off-track watched this scene in disbelief. In all their years of teaching, they had never seen anything like it.