"Tsk." Qin Miao clicked his tongue, not sure if he was lamenting the underwhelming power of the karts at this kart track, or complaining that Qimeng in the back seat was too heavy.
The first lap was just a warm-up, as Qin Miao used methods he learned from games to heat up the tires.
As a complete newbie who had never touched a go-kart, Qin Miao had no idea that most recreational karts use regular tires that don't need warming up.
Only professional karts use semi-slick or full-slick tires.
The first lap quickly came to an end, and when exiting the last corner, Qin Miao floored the gas pedal, causing the engine to roar.
Both he and Qimeng were pushed into their seats.
Exiting turn 14, Qin Miao steadied the steering wheel, floored the gas past the starting point, and hugged the car close to the right side of the track, preparing to enter turn 1.
Turn 1 was a full throttle left-hander, and even with an extra person in the kart, Qin Miao threw the kart into the corner, relying on his driving line and the tires' decent grip.
After turn 1, he went full throttle towards turn 2, which, along with turn 3, formed a leftward hairpin.
As Qin Miao approached turn 2, he tapped the brakes lightly to prepare to enter from the middle line, but he hadn't adjusted to the extra weight in the kart, so he braked as if driving a single-seat kart.
The result was understeer in the corner.
Luckily, the overall speed in this corner was relatively slow, and Qin Miao had the skill and reflexes to slow the kart down forcibly before it hit the tire wall and took the corner from the outside.
This mistake ruined Qin Miao's lap time.
But since he was just practicing, Qin Miao wasn't too concerned about his lap time and continued familiarizing himself with the track.
Exiting the corner, he floored it through the mock turn 4 and went full throttle into the U-shaped turn 5.
He used the classic outside-inside-outside technique, braking hard before entering the corner and having the front wheel ride the curb through turn 5.
Next was the ninety-degree left turn 6. He lightly tapped the brakes to slow to 41 km/h, then after the front left wheel hit the curb, he started accelerating, taking the corner perfectly.
Turns 7 and 8 were a chicane combination, and as long as the timing was right, they were easy to navigate, though the increased wheelbase and weight still felt a bit unfamiliar to Qin Miao.
While going through the two turns, Qin Miao's line was a bit wide, but it was no big deal.
Thanks to the practice over the last few laps, Qin Miao increased his understanding of the track, gradually adjusting to the kart's increased wheelbase and weight-induced understeer. He completed the final few corners at the fastest speed he could achieve so far.
Basically, in every corner in the latter part of the track, Qin Miao's kart was skimming the tire wall.
The gap between the kart and the tire wall at the closest point was less than 2 cm.
After turn 8, turn 9 was next.
Since the speed after exiting turn 8 wasn't very high, turn 9 could be taken by coasting without using the gas.
If it were a single-seat kart, Qin Miao would have gone full throttle after exiting this corner.
After turn 9, he could go flat out towards turn 10.
Turn 10 was a high-speed corner; although it couldn't be taken at full throttle like turn 1, releasing the gas would allow him to throw the kart into the corner by inertia, as with turn 9.
Turn 11 was a right ninety-degree corner, which could be taken by tracking a normal line and then using the outside-inside-outside method.
After turn 11 came the S-shaped combination of turns 12 and 13. Qin Miao maintained the timing grasp from turns 7 and 8, navigating them with incredible precision.
Finally, with a basic outside-inside-outside technique for turn 14, he easily crossed the finish line.
[Proficiency +1, current proficiency 12]
Although there were quite a few flaws in this lap, Qin Miao was still quite satisfied with his performance, considering the kart he was sitting on was completely new to him, and achieving this result was pretty good.
Sitting in the back seat, Qimeng looked a bit bewildered, not because she couldn't handle Qin Miao's aggressive driving style.
She just couldn't understand, since when did Qin Miao become such a good driver?
Although Qimeng admitted that Qin Miao was an absolute genius in the field of esports driving, as if divinely gifted.
But his practical skills in reality weren't supposed to be this strong!
Before Qimeng could sort out her thoughts, Qin Miao was already preparing for another flying lap.
Just like the previous lap, Qin Miao went full throttle out of turn 14 to start his flying lap.
This time, Qin Miao began to push the limits aggressively.
In every turn, he managed to hit the entry point as closely as possible, entering the corners at the optimal angle, with the braking points well remembered in his mind.
In the back seat, Qimeng was horrified to find that as Qin Miao took the corners, the iron frame of the kart's exterior was several times just scraping past the tire walls of the track.
Sometimes, she even felt a slight vibration when the frame slightly grazed against the tire wall during the corners.
Now she was wondering if she had jinxed herself, thinking Qin Miao might actually have a death wish and planned on taking her down too.
However, the thing Qimeng feared most didn't happen. Qin Miao's driving was aggressive, but he was merely testing his extreme limits. He knew there was someone in the backseat, and since he was unfamiliar with the kart, he didn't dare to truly surpass those limits.
And just as Qin Miao crossed the finish line, a burst of cheerful music erupted at the kart track.
All the students preparing on the track were taken aback by the sudden sound, turning to find out it was coming from speakers provided by the kart track.
All the students on site were utterly confused.
"What's happening?"
"Did the computer break?"
"Damn, scared me half to death, what's going on?"
...
Unlike the bewildered students, both the female owner upstairs and the coach maintaining order below the kart track appeared utterly dumbfounded and puzzled.
What was going on? Why did the record-breaking music suddenly start playing?
In fact, this sound effect was specially set up by the kart track. If someone broke the track's record, the music would play.
But the music hadn't played in nearly half a year, so even the owner and the staff were a bit stunned to hear it unexpectedly.
Then they both simultaneously headed to the trackside to see who had just crossed the finish line.
And then they saw Qin Miao and Qimeng's two-seater kart wobbling into turn 2.
Seeing this, the coach revealed a knowing expression, "Ah, it was that kid, I knew he was just showing off. Setting a personal best in a single-seat kart and then coming first in a two-seater kart too is normal."
"Still pretending, I knew right away you weren't a newbie!"
The lady boss relaxed upon seeing that the record-breaker was a two-seater kart. While she was happy for someone to break their kart track's record, today's ticket was a special case.
Today's pass purchased by Zhu Hong was an exclusive track pass — a single ticket that booked the entire track. If Qin Miao broke the record, she would earn nothing from the morning session, as she'd have to waive all the charges.
Fortunately, the kart track had a rule that waived the charges only for single-person single-seat karts. The two-seater kart was more for fun, and nobody generally used it to set lap times.