Even though aware of the gap between them, Qin Lianjie's pride as a driver prevents him from admitting defeat easily.
He chooses to exceed his previous cornering speed, braking to maintain a speed of 120 km/h, while abandoning his familiar cornering route to follow the same line as Chen Xiangbei.
The car's front enters at high speed, creating the illusion of a massive lateral acceleration that might overturn the vehicle at any moment.
Instinctively, Qin Lianjie wants to hit the brakes to slow down, but his reason and competitive spirit suppress the impulse, and ultimately, his Civic Type-R smoothly navigates the corner!
However, the success of negotiating the high-speed corner doesn't bring excitement to Qin Lianjie; instead, it plunges him into self-doubt.
He has been driving on the Nanyun Mountain Road for several years, yet for the choice of the best cornering line, he's actually worse than a rookie high school kid.
Did he choose the wrong line from the start, or is it due to a difference in talent?
There's no time for Qin Lianjie to figure this out; just one corner, and the distance previously closed on the long straight of the start is now widened again by a 10-meter gap.
Ahead is the V-shaped hairpin on Nanyun Mountain, a corner where the normal line cannot get through unless the speed is drastically reduced to an exaggerated degree.
But doing so would waste a lot of time in both entry speed and exit acceleration; it's a corner that must be drifted through.
Having seen Chen Xiangbei's skills in managing the line, Qin Lianjie doesn't believe that a high school kid can surpass his professional mountain racing skills even in drifting!
A few dozen meters of mountain road pass in an instant, and Chen Xiangbei has already reached the V-turn. He brakes to slow down and shift gears, then slightly steers the direction.
As the car's front enters the corner, Chen Xiangbei presses the accelerator hard, and the EJ20 engine's powerful output instantly exceeds the tire's grip limit.
During the pre-race, Liang Chi had already adjusted the power output ratio of the Subaru Impreza's four-wheel drive system to 1:9, making the rear wheel drive power far greater than the front, making the driving style more akin to a rear-wheel drive vehicle.
Chen Xiangbei exploits the power difference between the front and rear wheels, using the accelerator to precisely control the degree of steering, executing a beautiful tail drift around the corner.
Once the car body is aligned and the front end is aimed at the corner exit, he floors the accelerator again, speeding out of the bend.
The entire set of maneuvers is seamlessly executed, making it seem as if the Subaru Impreza comes alive in his hands, precisely hitting every target!
"Damn! I lost at this corner last time; can't believe this punk drifts around even faster."
Standing on the mountaintop platform watching, Tao couldn't help but mutter.
Last time, Tao tried to take the corner at high speed, but his driving skills didn't allow it; he failed to follow the line at the corner apex and, unable to drift, had to slam the brakes to a halt.
Fortunately, the mechanical qualities of the Mercedes-AMG were solid, braking hard within the corner and avoiding a collision accident.
On that day, Chen Xiangbei drove Fatty Wang's Corolla. Considering the car's durability, and since Tao had already braked to admit defeat, he didn't attempt any high-speed drift maneuvers, just a routine slowed-down corner overtake.
Today, with this Subaru Impreza letting him fully demonstrate his skills, Tao realized this punk had been holding back!
"Are you stupid? Which side are you on, anyway?"
Hearing Tao say that Chen Xiangbei's drifting was faster, Ma Minghan got infuriated on the spot, thinking his brain had gone soft watching the race, unable to distinguish friend from foe.
After snapping at Tao, Ma Minghan turned with a gloomy face to ask Liu Shaoquan, "What does Car Master Quan say? Can he surely beat that kid?"
Even though Ma Minghan isn't that familiar with racing, he's seen videos; the driving skills Chen Xiangbei displayed definitely aren't something a green rookie could possess.
Looks like he had underestimated this punk before, and falls for the guise of a hiding tiger!
"There are many ways to win, as long as you can afford the price."
Car Master Quan's tone remains calm; professionalism acts as the ultimate litmus test, equalizing all beneath it.
He didn't look down on Chen Xiangbei personally, but he does look down on all street racers!
"I understand."
Ma Minghan nods; he grasps what Car Master Quan means, and it's exactly what he wants.
Sitting in the trailing car, Qin Lianjie sees Chen Xiangbei execute a clean and beautiful Power-Drift on the mountain road, and his jaw drops in disbelief.
Knowing that drifting is different from cornering; even if you know the principles, it still requires hundreds or thousands of practice sessions for proficiency.
He typically drives up Nanyun Mountain Road every week; in recent years, he hasn't seen Chen Xiangbei practicing there. Where has this kid developed such drifting skills, if not at Nanyun Mountain? At which mountain between Guangzhou and Shenzhen?
Qin Lianjie doesn't drive rear-wheel cars much, and, honestly, such tail drift Power-Drift maneuvers, he cannot perform this beautifully.
However, the V-turn is right in front of him, and there's no time for Qin Lianjie to think further, because front-wheel drive drifting is harder than rear-wheel, and the speed loss is also higher.
To achieve the same drift speed to catch up with the front car, Qin Lianjie must use greater speed and display more precise control.
Before reaching the entry point, he hastily cuts the steering wheel and pulls the handbrake to make the car slide.
Then the entire car front almost touches the apex of the V-turn, drifting through the shortest possible cornering path.
Just after the car front crosses the V-turn apex, he immediately accelerates hard and shifts gears to increase engine RPM, highlighting the power advantage of his Civic Type-R.
Qin Lianjie has done almost everything he can do, and the entire set of front-wheel drive drifting moves has not a single flaw, but the result is a widening gap.
At this moment, the radio at the mountaintop transmitted the voice of the observational point's driver: "Distance increased again after the 2nd corner; the gap between the front and rear cars has now widened to more than twenty meters!"
Upon hearing this, the crowd at the mountaintop was in an uproar; Qin Lianjie's drift maneuver was already impeccable, yet he still got distanced by Chen Xiangbei.
This merely proves one fact; the true gap between them lies in hard skills.
"Captain An, is this possible?"
Tao asks in disbelief to leader Cao An; if this continues, forget overtaking.
Probably in two or three more corners, Qin Lianjie's Civic Type-R will be so far behind Chen Xiangbei's Subaru Impreza that it might not even see the taillights.
Resolution in half the mountain route; Qin Lianjie has driven the Nanyun Mountain Road for years without such an utter defeat.
Upon hearing Tao's inquiry, Cao An too inhales sharply, realizing from Qin Lianjie's serious stance that Chen Xiangbei is certainly no ordinary high school kid.
He hadn't expected this kid to be so formidable.
Knowing that mountain racing has a significant "terrain advantage," it's a classic case of a strong dragon unable to suppress a local snake.
Even a professional driver coming for a run might not guarantee a win against those who run the mountain every day.
Just like the internet videos later showing luxury sports cars on unfamiliar village roads, losing out at night to a Wuling Hongguang.
Before Cao An could think of how to respond, the radio transmits again with an observer's "alarmed" voice.
"Subaru Impreza took the line through the 3rd corner, Civic Type-R is still chasing from behind, yet the gap widened again!"
"Subaru Impreza gets faster and faster; at the 5th corner, it uses inertia drift, nearly brushing the guardrail through, while the trailing Civic Type-R is about to lose sight of the rear lights."
...
"Slowed down! Civic Type-R slowed down after the 6th corner!"
"Seems like Brother Jie decides he can't catch up to the front car and chose to slow down, ending the race voluntarily; Subaru Impreza wins!"
The observer speaks with a mix of shock and regret, not expecting the race to end this way.
Even more surprising is that the ultimate victor turned out to be the high school kid!