"Wow...... Why is there only 10 companies in the sponsor list that can choose from the Chinese team? And the Japanese Mitsubishi team just now, there are at least thirty? This was James' first question he couldn't figure out.

Jiang Shaoyun smiled bitterly: "Because the overall level of China's automobile industry is not good, and the country is not rich enough, everyone does not have much spare money to sponsor a rally with no future." I'm not afraid to be honest with you, before participating in the competition last year, Great Wall Motors was ready to go to the race, half of it was prepared by itself, and the other sponsors ended up only bringing in 3, and none of them were big companies in the automobile industry. ”

It sounds like a very tragic story.

At that time, Great Wall Motors decided to go to Dakar, FAW ignored it, BAIC even listened to it as a joke, Dongfeng Company said that it was not available, Changhe claimed that he was a military industry and it was inconvenient to intervene, and there was a SAIC Motor holding hands with GM to participate in it, and there was really no automobile company in China to lend a hand, even those technicians who were transferred over, or forced to transfer by administrative order.

In the end, Great Wall Industry Co., Ltd. invested 40% of its own capital, Longteng sponsored 40%, CCTV Sports Channel used broadcast fees and advertising fees as investment sponsorship 15%, and another 5% came from Cummins Engine Manufacturing Company in the United States.

Wei Guangrong of the Great Wall gritted his teeth and persevered, he swore with red eyes, saying that he would participate in the competition even if he smashed the pot and sold iron, he thanked all the people who had helped the Great Wall Motors, and he said a lot of things like "Don't forget Gou Fugui".

As a result, the Great Wall Longteng Racing Team successfully completed the entire Dakar Rally, and was among the 40% who did not fall behind or quit the race. In the first race, they finished 72nd, and although they ranked second-to-last, they were much better than the 60% of other cars that could not complete the race, which shows that Great Wall Motors is indeed durable and reliable.

When he became famous and the sales prospects were very good, as a result, the grandsons of the Huanghai Group took the initiative to find him and wanted to take a stake in the Great Wall Company, Wei Guangrong was almost driven crazy, are those people what kind of stuff are they!

Jiang Shaoyun also understands part of the situation. He shook his head at the thought of this. I don't want to say anything anymore.

Fortunately, there are more options in the game, not as cruel as reality, and there are still no SAIC that holds hands with GM, but Cummins. Dragon. Great Wall Industries has all of these. There are also more FAW, 2nd FAW, and Dongfeng. Changan, GAC, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation and Bank of China.

This is also a few bigwig-level enterprises that took the initiative to increase in order to look good when Longteng made zuò games, and they didn't care much about them last year, but their attitudes have changed a lot this year.

Eventually, James spoke to each of the businesses, and after a short soft ad, a total of $1 million in sponsorship was raised......

That's right, it's $1 million, Mitsubishi Pajero can get 5.5 million, and Great Wall only gets 1 million, this gap makes James completely unacceptable.

"Hey! You can't do that! Originally, the hardware of the Great Wall's vehicles was not good, and the sponsorship fee was so small, how could this race? ”

Faced with James's complaints, Jiang Shaoyun could only shrug his shoulders, and Paris asked, "Jiang, is this also a reaction to the real situation?" ”

Jiang Shaoyun sighed: "Of course, to be precise, Great Wall Motors received a total of about 695,000 US dollars in sponsorship funds last year, and another 200,000 yuan in kind sponsorship, that is, auto parts, consumables, reduced advertising fees, as well as free insurance premiums and free shipping." Now that there's $1 million in the game, James should be glad to be right......"

Everyone was stunned, did this mean to show the perseverance of the Chinese, or the high quality of Chinese cars?

Investing $1 million in the Dakar Rally, I'm afraid it really won't even make a splash, James and Paris both know that WRC wants to get results and throw millions of dollars into it, and F1 cars are tens of millions of dollars!

“OK！ OK！ Even if it's hell mode, it won't bother me, I choose the accessories myself! ”

James quickly entered the modification workshop, and muttered: "It's impossible to form a backup team by yourself, it seems that you can only pay to be affiliated with other big teams, and the $100,000 is gone." The registration fee, room and board fee, and transportation fee are 50,000 yuan, and even if there is free shipping and sufficient spare parts, only 800,000 yuan is left for me...... OK, let's start with the most important load-bearing system! ”

Jiang Shaoyun asked with interest: "We have included 4 professional modification companies that support the Dakar Rally, and they all have mature modification solutions. Of the 184 cars that participated in the competition last year, almost 120 were based on their proven technology, and only professional manufacturers like Mitsubishi, Subaru, General Motors, and Citroen would do it themselves. Why don't you choose them? ”

James triumphant: "I'm not an ordinary person! My Lancia was finalized after 10 sets of plans, and I know what a good modification plan would look like! ”

This is the difference between professional and amateur, the average player will only have a headache when looking at the professional terms of modding, and this one is looking at it with relish, which is actually a selling point of the game - fanatical modding fans can study the details, and ordinary players can also enjoy professional services.

James first sold all the useless parts except for the engine and the basic frame, which could be exchanged for a sum of money, but he looked at the body of the car with only the empty shell left, and then looked at the $1.012 million in the account, and was speechless.

Jiang Shaoyun said embarrassedly: "The price of this production car is about 25,000 US dollars, so ......"

Ordinary cars, ordinary parts, even recycling can't be sold at a price, Great Wall Motors is really cold!

James didn't talk much nonsense, and then bought a whole car welding service, consuming 30,000 US dollars, fortunately, the girders of the Great Wall are quite solid, and there is no need to replace them for the time being, CG animation is manual welding, and about 500 solder joints need to be reinforced under the car.

This was followed by the replacement of the main frame steel, the replacement of the important supporting keel section with aviation aluminum alloy to reduce the weight of the body, and the installation of a roll cage, and the purchase of 60 meters of seamless alloy steel pipes, which is another $50,000.

Replace the transmission part, this is the big head, four-wheel drive is essential, and the transmission must also be purchased in line with the Cummins engine, but also enough economical bargain.

The differential and reducer in the transmission axle assembly, which are all equipment that maximizes engine torque, reasonably distributes to each driving wheel, and makes the vehicle control more accurate, are indispensable, so this cost ...... $620,000!

Seeing the money spent like flowing water, Jiang Shaoyun asked with some expectation, "James, is this almost the same?" ”

James shook his head: "There are also suspension and anti-roll bar systems, which can ensure the maximum comfort of the vehicle, the budget of this Great Wall Motors is only 100,000 US dollars, do you know how much is Mitsubishi's set?" 500,000! So their vehicles are so good at absorbing shocks that I'm sure the Great Wall will bump like an earthquake in the future, and the TV screen won't stop shaking! ”

Paris said with a smile: "The Dakar Rally is also a money-burning game!" ”

James agreed: "Good things are expensive, look at this set of Lens shocks, 480,000 US dollars, also applicable to the WRC, I have long wanted to change a set in my own Lancia car, but unfortunately the budget is really limited!" ”

While talking, Great Wall Motors replaced the $100,000 Taiwan-made shock absorber, then replaced the brake system, purchased three sets of spare wheels in different venues, explosion-proof fuel tanks, automatic fire extinguishing devices, and cockpit safety protection equipment, $1.01 million was used cleanly, and finally there was $2,000 left, James laughed and said that this was a tip for the tuning shop!

From the perspective of performance, the modified vehicle should be rated 65-70 points, because the real system defaults to the Great Wall modification program only costs about 3 million yuan, that is, about 400,000 US dollars, and many modifications are done by the Great Wall Motor Factory themselves, not so directly purchase mature products from world-renowned companies.

Saving money is one thing, but the technology is really far from well-known products, which the Great Wall itself does not deny, and Longteng also reflects it in the game, and the new Great Wall RedDragon modified by James himself is slightly different from the original after being painted, and the strength has been improved a lot.

In this game, the CG animation of each team is different, and before the Chinese team set off, there was also a mobilization pledge meeting, opening champagne and drinking and respecting the world, which made James and Paris feel particularly interesting to watch.

"This is called the teacher's table, China has had this tradition for thousands of years, the soldiers go to war, and the monarch will go to the army!" Jiang Shaoyun explained with a smile that with this kind of Chinese characteristics, Longteng likes to show them to the world.

The first stop is Paris to Clermont, and James deliberately used the same operation at the 30CM deep pit to compare the different feelings of the two cars.

"At 1.7 tonnes, it's a little lighter than the Pajero, with a 25 hp difference in horsepower, and the acceleration and top speed are not as good as the Pajero. In addition, the tires are Magis' anti-skid tires suitable for gravel, which are a grade worse than Bailuchi, so they are a little floating at high speeds, and I can't help but get bigger when I press the handle, and the sensitivity of the control zhì is not as good as that of Pajero. ”

"Look at this pit! Oh dangerous! God, it's almost overturned! A speed of 100 km/h still doesn't reduce the pressure on the shock absorbers and anti-roll bars, and their performance in sharp corners and collisions is really not satisfactory! Can I complain? The screen shake is really a bit big! ”

"Let's try to play again, and this time I'd like to try another team, with a higher gear modification."

James tried out about six tracks for an hour, then recreated a new profile, repeated the same track many times with different modifications, carefully experienced the small differences, and truthfully provided Paris and Jiang Shaoyun with his first-hand experience.

The most talked about fact is "you get what you pay for", and the most mentioned word is "real"! (To be continued......)