Reborn Brazil as a Plutocrat

Chapter 441 Racing

Under the guidance of general manager Gianvito Blanc, the group came to the R&D department of the Brazilian Mercedes-Benz automobile factory.

Affected by Germany's defeat, Mercedes-Benz's life in Germany was difficult. Therefore, when Fang Lang was negotiating with Mercedes-Benz, he asked Mercedes-Benz to relocate its entire R&D department to Brazil.

This has resulted in the current R&D department of Mercedes-Benz Brazil being very large.

There is not only a power research laboratory, but also research centers for various new models and new technologies. The entire R&D department even occupies more than half of the factory.

It also concentrates almost the best technical strength and excellent R&D personnel of German Mercedes-Benz.

This is also the main reason why Mercedes-Benz Brazil was able to quickly put into production in Brazil.

The first thing everyone visited was Mercedes-Benz's new model research and development department. The environment of the entire R&D department looked far less clean and tidy than the factories that Fang Lang saw later, but the workers all wore uniform work clothes with Mercedes-Benz standards printed on them.

This is the favorite style of work clothes for workers in this era, cotton shirts and cotton overalls.

The workers did not stop what they were doing just because the boss came.

After walking into the gate, Fang Lang saw at a glance a vehicle parked in the middle of the R&D workshop that looked somewhat like an F1 racing car. It had a baguette-like body, four wheels sticking out, and no windshield.

convertible cab.

The entire front face is an oval air intake, and the Mercedes-Benz logo is installed on the hood close to the front face.

With just one glance, Fang Lang could tell that this was definitely not the pre-war style family car he had just seen in the production workshop, but a real racing car.

The appearance similar to the style of an F1 racing car said it all. But Fang Lang searched his memory carefully, but could not find any impressions of F1 events from this era.

In fact, F1, also called the World Formula One Championship, was not held until 1950 at the Silverstone Circuit in the United Kingdom.

Of course, Fang Lang didn't know this, so he felt a little strange about this and looked at general manager Gianvito Blanc and said:

"This is a racing car?"

General manager Gianvito Blanc immediately gave the answer to the boss's doubts.

"Yes, boss.

This is a race car specially built by us in order to reshape the image of our high-end Mercedes-Benz car brand, and we are ready to return Mercedes-Benz to people's attention by participating in world-class rallies."

Fang Lang does not dislike racing. On the contrary, he likes racing very much. After all, it represents pure speed and passion. Therefore, when he learned that the company's leadership wanted to enhance the brand image through racing, he also agreed very much.

After all, those high-end car brands in later generations did not prove themselves on the racing track before they achieved their subsequent brilliant achievements!

"Yeah! It's a very good idea, but in my impression, there doesn't seem to be any world-famous events being held now!

How about the three car brands under our Fangyuan Group come together to organize a race similar to the Le Mans 24 endurance race in Brazil?"

This was what Fang Lang said casually, because apart from knowing F1, he only remembered the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The other one that impressed me the most was the track called the Nürburgring.

When later generations of cars are sold, they don’t run them on the Nürburgring. They tell everyone what good results they have achieved, as if they are too embarrassed to sell them.

Although Fang Lang has never been there, as far as Fang Lang knows, this track seems to be located on a plateau and is famous for its many curves and difficulty.

But when it comes to plateaus, the Brazilian Plateau is not just a general one! As for the many curves and difficulty, isn’t that simple? Wouldn’t it be enough to artificially create such a road?

It was just a casual remark at first, but after thinking about it in his mind, he seemed to have found a new way of thinking.

General manager Gianvito Blanc didn't know what Fang Lang was thinking. After hearing what Fang Lang said, he was a little surprised. He didn't expect that the boss wanted to organize a game by himself.

However, after thinking about it, he felt that there seemed to be no problem. After all, the three brands owned by the boss were not ordinary.

So, he quickly replied:

“We have received news that the Thousand Mile Rally, which was suspended due to World War II, will restart this year.

If we can get a good ranking in this competition, we will definitely be able to re-establish our Mercedes-Benz brand around the world.

As for your idea of ​​holding an event of your own, I support it with both hands. I believe that with the strength of our Mercedes-Benz, no matter what kind of competition it is, we will definitely become the final champion."

Hearing this, Fang Lang smiled slightly. Holding an event was obviously not a simple matter. If it was just three automobile companies owned by him, what would be the point of having fun behind closed doors?

The most important thing about a car competition is that it must have enough influence to give car manufacturers a sufficient sense of accomplishment. Either they don’t do it, or they just have to do it in a big way.

Create a world-class event so that car brands around the world will flock to it and compete to participate, so that they can have the opportunity to make big money.

Anyway, now that I am ready to start a Brazilian football league, why not start a more exciting car competition? This will not only give a shot in the arm to the Brazilian automobile industry, but also add a new game program to my TV channel.

Why not?

Thinking of this, Fang Lang immediately decided to go back and arrange for Fangyuan Media to start relevant preparations. If there was no venue, he would bring his Global Road and Bridge Company to Brazil to build a hellishly difficult car track first.

Let the world's major car brands come here to try their hand at it.

As for the event mentioned by general manager Gianvito Blanc, Fang Lang carefully searched his memory and confirmed that he had never heard of the name of this event. He couldn't help but said with some doubts:

"Are you sure this event has such a big influence? I don't seem to have heard of it at all! Where is it held?"

General manager Gianvito Blanc saw that his boss was interested and quickly explained:

"This is an open road endurance race held in Italy. Since its inception in 1927, it has become the most famous automobile endurance race in the world.

It has a huge influence in society. No matter who it is, as long as they can achieve good results here, they will immediately be sought after by the whole world.

If we can succeed here, then we at Mercedes-Benz will be able to succeed."

Hearing this, Fang Lang could only nod. After all, he was not a professional. It was normal that he had never heard of this competition. Since the company management unanimously decided to participate, he would certainly not object.

In fact, this thousand-mile endurance race, also called Mille Miglia, is the most romantic and legendary racing competition in the history of world racing.

A total of 24 sessions were held before and after, including 13 sessions before World War II; and a total of 11 sessions were held from 1947 to 1957 after the war. It was a world-famous international event in the last century.

However, due to an accident during the 1957 race, a Ferrari 290MM lost control during the race, killing a total of fourteen people including driver Alfonso de Botago, and the Mille Miglia race was terminated.

"Very good, I support your idea. Can you introduce this racing car to me?"

Gianvito Blanc looked very confident about this racing car. He gently brushed the nose of the car with his hand, bowed slightly to Fang Lang and said:

"Of course, boss! It's my pleasure.

This racing car uses an in-line six-cylinder gasoline engine developed by Mercedes-Benz itself, with a power of 215 horsepower, an acceleration time of 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in 10 seconds, a top speed of 260 kilometers per hour, and a fuel consumption of 15 liters per 100 kilometers.

It has reached a world-class level, and with an excellent racing driver, we will surely achieve unprecedented victories on the field."

Although Fang Lang feels that the shape of this racing car does not suit Fang Lang's aesthetics. But I have to say that this must be a racing car with a very small wind resistance coefficient. After all, the barrel shape without even a windshield is definitely

The wind resistance will be much smaller than the old cars on the market today.

Maybe this is the reason why it can reach a top speed of 260 kilometers per hour!

Hearing this data, Fang Lang had to sigh. Mercedes-Benz has a profound technical background. After being beaten by the war, it can still have such technical strength.

Fang Lang didn't want to make too many comments about this kind of racing car. After all, he really didn't know much about it. After listening to the other party's introduction, he nodded with satisfaction and said:

"Are there any other models?"

Seeing that the boss had no other expression, Gianvito Blanc couldn't help but murmur in his heart. Is this satisfaction or dissatisfaction?

He didn't dare to ask. Since the boss didn't object, it was a no-brainer that he would become the boss!

Hearing that the boss wanted to see other models, Gianvito Blanc quickly stepped forward and pointed to the other side:

"Of course, boss!

This is the only one that has been trial-produced now, but we have already started the development of subsequent models. Please follow me."

After saying that, he saw his hand pointing in another direction and stepped forward to lead the way.

After walking more than a hundred meters, Fang Lang followed Gianvito Blanc and came to a large office area. There were no mechanical processing equipment outside. There were mostly desks and many engineers were immersed in work.

At a glance, Fang Lang saw a pair of car design drawings fixed with head nails on the wall behind the office. The unique gull-wing door design immediately shocked Fang Lang and was speechless.

He is not a professional in the automobile industry and does not know when gull-wing doors appeared. However, now you see such a car with gull-wing doors in his own Mercedes-Benz factory. To be more precise, this

It should be a coupe.

How could this not make his jaw drop? He originally wanted to come over and give some advice to the designers, but he was instantly shattered.

Needless to say, he also understood that there must be a hidden dragon and a crouching tiger in his Mercedes-Benz factory at the moment.

The streamlined shape with almost no decorative elements and graceful curves are different from the current mainstream car with a high front in the middle and two slightly lower wheel arch plates on both sides.

The two round headlights on the left and right sides protrude slightly, and the middle hood is lower than the two sides. The shape of the entire front of the car has changed from the original convex characters to concave characters, which is definitely a subversion in appearance.

Coupled with the elegant gull-wing door, Fang Lang's eyes were instantly attracted, and he couldn't help but walk to the design drawing.

Fang Lang walked closer and saw the large Mercedes-Benz LOGO in the middle of the grille on the front face, crossed by a horizontal line, and instantly found the shadow of the Mercedes-Benz cars passing through the streets in later generations.

At this moment, Fang Lang only had one thought in his mind, he wanted to have one of this car.

(End of chapter)