A normal driver's lap time is within two minutes. In those two minutes, they have too many things to do: frequent gear shifts, acceleration, maneuvers, while also being careful about being overtaken, strategizing, and considering tire wear. If each corner requires controlling this thing, it's indeed difficult, even Lin Yan had to admit it.
To be precise, the concentration of GP drivers has reached its limit, otherwise, there wouldn't be electronic controls.
What are electronic controls for? They are to alleviate pressure on the driver. Can electronic controls make the car faster? The answer is definitely no, and the reality might be the opposite, as Daniel is an example.
In terms of pure car control, GP drivers are absolutely the top tier in the world, bar none. Without electronic controls, they can still handle GP cars. However, during a race, they have too many factors to consider. When they have too much to worry about, there's a possibility of mistakes. Electronic controls are there to lend a hand when they can't manage everything.
"Design a program specifically?"
Zhang Mingzhi was momentarily stunned.
"If humans can't control it, then use a program. But don't make it too complicated. For example, just add one for the last corner of each track. Elsewhere, it might have the opposite effect."
Lin Yan rephrased it, and Zhang Mingzhi understood. He immediately had someone record it.
Zhang Mingzhi had considered designing it to be fully automatic, meaning no driver input was needed. Every time exiting a corner, the car would automatically retract the front suspension to lower the car's center of gravity. However, after testing, this method was somewhat impractical. Firstly, the technology wasn't advanced enough to achieve such maturity in a short time; it could only reach manual control levels.
Secondly, not all corners require this device. For example, in consecutive corners, this device is useless and very dangerous.
The transition between consecutive corners is very short. Immediately after exiting the first corner, you're already at the entrance of the second. If your front wheel suspension hasn't risen when entering the second corner, even a slight lift of the rear is minor; it's possible to flip over.
The primary function of the front wheel suspension is to buffer the car's forward tilt during heavy braking. Without suspension travel, even a casual brake would likely cause the car to flip given the speed and braking force of a factory bike.
The straight before the finish line requires exit speed from the corner, so placing it there is the most stable option.
Designing an automatic corner response wouldn't be a major problem for Zhang Mingzhi and his team; they could achieve it by timing it correctly.
"This engine has also been upgraded? What are the data?"
"The horsepower has increased significantly."
Hearing that the horsepower had increased significantly, Lin Yan's mouth twitched slightly. It was already called a horsepower monster, and they still wanted to increase its power.
"However, the engine is a bit too wild and difficult to control. We are thinking of new solutions."
Having understood enough, Lin Yan changed into a leather suit and prepared to test the car. Overall, this upgrade was quite good. Apart from the engine upgrade, the focus of this upgrade was on Ducati's weak cornering performance. Besides the exit corner button, two small winglets were added to the rear of the entire bike, resembling those on a "ghost fire" motorcycle, but their purpose was to increase the car's stability through corners.
The upgrades were good, but the problem they were facing was that the GP23, assembled from all the upgraded components, was not performing well!
This was the biggest problem at the moment. Each component was a successful upgrade individually, but when put together, the performance plummeted.
With a burst of throttle, the brand new GP23 slowly rolled out of the pit lane entrance. To be honest, Lin Yan hadn't driven on this track at the entrance of the training base for a long time, but he was still quite familiar with it. The speed quickly ramped up.
Judging by the engine sound, the GP23's engine seemed to be significantly rougher than the GP22's.
The speed increased rapidly, and Lin Yan soon reached the first corner. He downshifted, extended his leg, braked into the corner, and the entire action was seamless and smooth. After the car entered the corner, Lin Yan also pressed the button on the handlebar.
After pressing it, Lin Yan carefully sensed the changes in the car body. Indeed, after pressing the button, Lin Yan could clearly feel the front wheel suspension's rebound slowing down during the subsequent corner exit.
However, upon exiting the corner, Lin Yan discovered a new problem.
This engine was too aggressive. Realizing this, Lin Yan tried again in the next corner, and it was the same. This engine was indeed too wild. It was fierce on exit, but it also led to a drawback: he didn't dare to open the throttle too early in the corner, otherwise, the rear wheel would easily slide.
Lin Yan tested the next few corners one by one and finally reached a conclusion.
This new device and the engine were not compatible. When the front wheel suspension doesn't rebound on corner exit, the car's center of gravity shifts forward. This is good, as it can increase corner exit speed and reduce the likelihood of triggering electronic controls. However, with the forward shift in center of gravity, the rear wheel's grip decreases. Coupled with this aggressive engine, the rear wheel is extremely unstable on corner exit.
As for whether the small wings at the rear were useful, Lin Yan hadn't been able to test them yet because the conflict between the engine and the device had completely destroyed the cornering stability.
After completing one lap, Lin Yan ran another lap, trying to find rear wheel grip. Zhang Mingzhi and the others seemed to have considered this as well, and they had specifically adjusted the engine's angle, but it was still far from enough.
After several tests, Lin Yan drove the car back to the pit lane.
"Are there any cars equipped with the GP22 engine?"
"Yes!"
Upon hearing Lin Yan's question, Zhang Mingzhi immediately pointed out a car to him. The four cars here were all different configurations, making it convenient for Lin Yan to test.
Riding this race car equipped with last year's engine, Lin Yan once again took to the track.
At corner one, with the same actions, he downshifted, braked, entered the corner, and then applied throttle. This time, Lin Yan applied throttle a little earlier than before.
This time, the rear wheel did not exhibit the same slipping state as before. This engine was clearly much more stable than the previous one, at least stable in corners.
Using this engine, he tested the small wings. The small wings felt good, they were somewhat useful, but he wondered if they would stab his backside if he crashed.