The car runs fast on the racetrack, and the light of honor shines on everyone’s face on the podium. However, all of these achievements cannot be separated from efforts of the maintenance planners and engineers of the team in the invisible “backstage”, in other words, the maintenance planners and engineers are heroes with wisdom and sweat behind the scenes.

This time, we feel great honor to interview Zhu Hua, the maintenance technical director of XTREME team, who has been racing for 13 years. In the past 13 years, almost no car in his team has been in a condition due to technical or adjustment problems. I always remember when we asked if anything interesting had happened in the PIT room, Zhu Hua hesitated for a second and said seriously: “No. There’s no entertainment in the P room. It’s either in preparation or in combat”.

During the competition, we used the rest time of the team at noon to do a simple interview. During the interview, Zhu Hua was busy all the time, and also received two work calls in the middle. But he is still very patient to answer our questions one by one.

Rigorous and dedicated. He is like a standard to enable us to measure the distance between the two words in our hearts.

Before competition

Q: We all know that the field is like a battleground, and the preparations in the early stage is particularly critical and may affect the competition to a great extent. What will you do as a maintenance planner/engineer of the team?
A: Considering the location of the next stop and the features of the track, and due to the fact that the adjustment loss of each track differs, we should make the basic plan and cost budget in advance, therefore we should consider several items comprehensively in the early stage.

Q: What adjustment part of the racecar do you like most? What are the different adjustments for different tracks and races?
A: Relatively speaking, we mainly focus on the adjustment of chassis. Before the race, the car chassis will be raised to a height of about 12cm to ensure the safety of transportation. During the race, the car chassis height will vary from 7cm to 10cm, and the specific adjustment plan is to get the basic adjustment data after consultation by the Chinese and foreign technicians at the race place, and then fine tune according to the feedback of the driver.

Q: Communication with drivers before the race is of great importance. What kind of information do you want to get from drivers?
A: The adjustment of chassis is still the key task, and there are other tasks, for example, what kind of hardness spring, balance bar, damping setting value of shock absorption at high and low speed, down force setting should be adopted for the features of the track, including the tire use strategy, because there are free practice and official practice before the race, we will constantly adjust according to the driver’s feedback, and hope to communicate and adjust in place in each process, so as to ensure that the car is in the best condition.

Q: How to maintain the car before the race? Compared with ordinary cars, what is more important for car maintenance?
A: A maintenance of 5-7 km for civilian vehicles has been regarded as a luxury maintenance, and our car needs a thorough maintenance after each race.

Q: How to deal with such a sudden situation before the race? Have you ever had a special experience that you can share?
A: Generally, we will arrive at the field 2-3 days in advance to carry out the P-room construction, car inspection and other preparatory work. We haven’t experienced any adverse situation before the race, because our team has really done a very careful and rigorous work, and conduct through check to prevent accidents. You know it’s also common to have a situation in a race, and some teams can’t start their cars merely before the starting time.

But at the last stop in Zhuhai, we met a very difficult situation, because the new parts of KTM GT4 were detained in the customs, we had to give up free practice, official practice and the first round of ranking competition, thus losing a lot of practice opportunities. After the arrival of spare parts on Friday, the technical team rushed all night, and arranged the vehicle inspection with the committee on Saturday morning, so that they finished the vehicle inspection procedure 15 minutes before the first round final, and because they didn’t participate in the qualifying tournament, they had to start from the last place in the competition. Thanks to the efforts of the technical team and the wonderful performance of the drivers, we finally won the third place in GT4 group, which is really a good result.

In the race

Q: Then, considering the harsh BOP rules this year, what’s your opinion? Did it impact on Xtreme team?
A: There are lots of vehicle models in the race. Considering the principle of fair competition, the committee should guarantee that every vehicle model runs the similar number of turns with strong competitiveness when specifying BOP rules. The latest news comes that BOP rules will be re-determined for Shanghai Station of race in September.

Q: How do you deal with the emergencies in the race? Did you experience any special events and can you share them with us?
A: Before the race, there is very strict inspection and maintenance, so I haven’t experienced any special events during the race. But withdrawal from the race due to accidents or the damages of a part of the vehicle did occur. For example, the drive shaft of RADICAL RXC vehicle for GTC class broke in Beijing Station of race. We did learn from the event and promise it will never happen again.

After the race

Q: Since KTM and Radical are two different vehicles, how did you care for them respectively?
A: The two vehicles only differ in engine, but share the similar fundamental work procedures for a racing vehicle, e.g. inspection, repair and maintenance.

Q: What work do you usually do after the race? Among the work, what do you think is the most important? Why?
A: First of all, I will arrange the racing materials of the whole racing team and be ready for the next station. Then, during the interval of race, it is needed to carry out the overall inspection and maintenance for the racing vehicles. Similar with the civil passenger car, the engine oil should be changed and filter element replaced and cleaned. Every time after race, the racing vehicle should accept the general maintenance and overall car inspection. The general disassembly includes disassembly of gear box and even an individual screw. Racing requires a very rigorous attitude. The small error may have an effect on the racing vehicle and final performance.

Q: What do you usually do to improve the integrated efficiency of the racing team when you are free?
A: We do the similar work, but in a different pace. The similar amount of work may require 2 to 3 days with the daily work pace, but during the race, we have to finish it in one day, or even one night. The proficiency in daily work provides us with the quality and quantity guarantee at the crucial moment.

Q: In P room, is there anything funny with your colleagues, do you mind sharing it with us?
A: Actually, there is nothing funny. Vehicle racing is very toilsome, and occupies lots of your time in family. So, during the work, especially during the race, the drivers practice with the very rigorous and serious attitude. But, after the race, especially when the racing team has won the medal, we may be relaxed slightly. When we are free, we may gather together.

In such a hurry, we come to the end of the valuable interview. Since the final of round two for GT MASTER in Shanghai is in this afternoon, Zhu Hua has been devoted to the tense preparation in the P room. As he has said, there is no entertainment in the P room, but either preparation or competition. Behind the cups and honors XTREME racing team has won, there is always a crowd of people who dedicate themselves to the vehicle racing career with unimaginable painstaking. They can work through several nights for a race. The strong steam deserves the great honor.

This crowd of people spares all efforts for the advantage of one second!
This crowd of people devotes themselves to every single race!
This crowd of people never gives up faced with another challenge!