Mixed In the United States As a Local Tyrant

  Chapter 334 Supersonic

   Recently, An Feng, who thinks he has no place to spend money, is very concerned about things.

  In order to promote GT models, Maserati can hold a professional challenge, with about five races, and increase the rewards for the top three to attract teams to participate. At the same time, increase the promotion of the event, and if the effect is good, there may be a TV broadcast. In addition, the share of the ticket fee is also good.

   But the most fundamental reason is that An Feng likes it.

The performance of the dual-motor sports car is very outstanding. It can set a record of 1 minute and 43 seconds for a single lap. Even if he is driving the McLaren P1, the fastest time is 1 minute and 38 seconds. However, the two are not at the same level. P1 is the top The flagship supercar of Maserati GT, while the positioning of Maserati GT is lower.

  An Feng felt that it was necessary for a sports car with such outstanding performance and environmental protection to stand out in front of everyone.

  In addition to the promotional models, there are also GP Energy batteries.

  Graphene batteries have completely made Tesla popular, and the most important thing is the battery. When the battery is used in other brands of models and performs equally well, it can play a very good role in brand promotion. Or GP Energy can also sponsor one or two in this event and show their face.

After Bruno learned of An Feng's idea, he asked: "With Maserati's brand influence, it is not difficult to form a team with enough racing cars, and there is no problem in choosing a venue, but the five-race race is a bit short, and What about the game rewards?"

  An Feng said: "If the GP company is named, the rewards for the top five points can reach 12 million."

Money is invincible, Bruno has nothing to say: "If the reward funds can be raised, there will be no problem with the competition. Such a high reward, coupled with pure electric events, will attract teams to participate, but five races are too short. not be able to arouse public interest."

   "This is the United States." An Feng reminded him, "They all like to watch NASCAR racing cars going around in an oval circle, which is different from Europe."

   Bruno understood: "This is also a reason."

"So buddy," An Feng said with a smile, "five races are enough, I mainly look at its effect and attractiveness, if it is good enough, next time I will find sponsorship for the event and make it a world championship. Europe, Asia and North America, what do you think?"

  What else can Bruno do? You have so much money, what can stop you from playing?

  Bruno gave an affirmative answer, saying that he would discuss a plan as soon as possible—in fact, he also likes to use races to promote racing cars, but it’s just a matter of funds. In addition to bonuses, races also require a lot of expenses. Of course, as long as An Feng is happy, many difficulties will not become obstacles.

  An Feng went back and shared his thoughts with Joanna.

   "You mean, you want to compete as a driver?" Joanna confirmed.

   "Of course, don't you think it's cool?" An Feng said, holding her hand, "I know your worries, but wasn't it good last time?"

  Although An Feng is not a professional driver, he is really crazy on the track, especially in the opening round of the circuit, and he is not willing to give in to the professional drivers. This is probably the same as Joanna who likes equestrianism and ignores its dangers. An Feng also has a sport he is passionate about.

  Joanna said: "Okay, but it's a professional race, and you're not a professional driver!"

  An Feng smiled: "Of course, I will be careful."

  …

  Strictly speaking, this challenge is just a test of pure electric racing. Let’s see its performance on the field. If it is very attractive, it can be expanded in the future to take the lead in electric car competitions. An Feng is not competitive, and he doesn't think he can compete with professional drivers.

  He joined it just for fun, to enjoy the racing driver's addiction.

   Therefore, he does not require the level of the contestants. If they are all top-notch, what is there to watch every time he runs behind? Anyway, there are quite a lot of groups of relatives and friends. If you participate in the competition by yourself, at least 60 to 70% of the partners who supported the opening ceremony last time will come, right? You can't play well if you fall too far behind.

  An Feng participated with the mentality of playing soy sauce.

  Amateur skills can be used, but the process must be rigorous. In addition to the main drivers, the participating teams must also have logistics, such as technical directors, engineers, technicians, team managers, etc. After thinking about it, An Feng contacted two drivers he knew—Duke and Howard, and told them about the matter.

   Originally, An Feng wanted to invite them to join the competition, but the two of them are not too young, and it’s okay to play once in a while, but they can’t keep up physically and mentally if they want to engage in professional competitions. After discussing on the phone, they discussed the idea of ​​forming a team, with Duke as the team manager and Howard as the technical director.

  They hit it off immediately, and the name was decided: GP team.

  Obviously, the sponsor must be a GP company, spending tens of millions to play racing cars, which is nothing more than a drop in the bucket for a large company with a revenue of 20 billion. GP Energy has a lot to do with cars, and has always had plans to enter racing. Money is not an issue, now only the selection of team members needs to be considered.

  Duke and Howard have a lot of ideas, and the details can be discussed all day. An Feng is a layman on these details, so he let them chat. With their help, he can rest easy. Now his purpose is to get the current car, modify it within the scope allowed by the organizer, and prepare for the race.

  …

  The preparation of the event is very time-consuming. First, after the Geneva Motor Show in March, the GT model will be unveiled, and then Maserati will announce the "MC Challenge", using the GT model, revealing a huge prize money, and inviting the team to participate. After going through complicated procedures, it will take May at the earliest.

   Time is not urgent, the team has not yet formed! In order to win honors, the GP team must have more than one driver, at least one powerful professional driver must be hired. Count on An Feng? The big boss is just for fun! Later facts proved that when the driver was practicing, he was still on vacation.

  A few days later, An Feng met Matthew in Los Angeles.

  Bida’s new product launch will be held locally. After the order volume of high-end products continued to rise, the mid-to-low-end press conference also won applause. On the other hand, foreign cooperative sales channels are also paving the way, and the British Hart family is communicating with the government, preparing to give the green light to enter Europe.

  The press conference was very grand, with big stars from all walks of life joining in, and the popularity was very hot. As a member of the board of directors, An Feng also chatted with some big customers and made a few big orders. After the press conference was over, I sat with Matthew when I had time, had a cup of tea, had some snacks, and chatted idlely.

   "How is she now, is she okay?" An Feng asked.

  Matthew said: "It's not bad. The due date is April. I've been really busy recently."

  An Feng has a deep understanding: "Flying between the east and west coasts, jet lag tortures people, so use holographic communication in the future."

  Matthew said: "Holographic communication is convenient, but not suitable for all environments."

   "That's right." An Feng nodded, like the press conference just ended, it is impossible to realize holographic communication, "It seems that you have to consider supersonic flight."

An Feng was joking, but Matthew said: "It's not unrealistic for you to mention this. Recently, Aerion has launched a range-extended version of the supersonic business jet SBJ. Based on the original fastest Mach 1.6, it extends the range It has increased to 11,000 kilometers, which is very eye-catching.”

  An Feng was curious: "A supersonic airliner? To fly so fast, don't you have to use a turbojet engine? How can the noise like a fighter jet be avoided?"

Matthew shook his head: "You're wrong about this. It doesn't use a turbojet engine, but a turbofan engine like an airliner, which is the JT8D-219 specially improved by Pratt & Whitney, which is widely used on Boeing 737 airliners. After the improvement , it can break through the sound barrier and fly for a long time.”

  Mr. An has seen it: "So, it only takes 2.2 hours to fly from New York to Los Angeles, which is twice as fast as ordinary civil aviation."

   "In theory, this is the case, but like most countries, the United States does not allow supersonic flight, at most it can only cruise at subsonic speed." Matthew said.

   "Isn't this tasteless?" An Feng was puzzled.

  Matthew explained: "I'm just talking about the airspace of the United States, but it is not a public area. It will take a lot of time to cross the Pacific Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean."

   "That's true." An Feng nodded.

   "Quick, time-saving and stylish, are you interested?" Matthew asked.

   "Are you a salesman?" An Feng said with a smile.

"You can say that if you want, because the company's shareholders and I are friends." Matthew also smiled, "He recommended it to me, but I spend most of my time in the United States and only occasionally fly to Europe. But you, young people can't travel all over the world. Walk? It only takes three hours from New York to London."

   "How much will it cost? How long?" An Feng asked, "I can't wait for too long."

   "About 90 million US dollars, VVIP will take the first order for you, and it will be completed in one and a half years, and you can enjoy the Ferrari in the sky in the future."

   "It's not cheap." An Feng said.

"It will save half the time of your journey. It takes three hours to go to London, and only six hours to go to China. The earth is getting smaller. Do you think it's worth it? I think the few planes you bought are more than 70 million Right? Sell one of them and replace it with a faster one?"

  It may not be a bad idea for Matthew to ask him to sell the plane and replace it with a faster one.

For now, he has two intercontinental business jets, and the Global 8000 is the most frequently used one because of its comfort and long range. However, the Gulfstream G650ER’s frequency has been reduced due to the arrival of the Global 8000. Occasionally, the flight within the United States is also Proximity principle, too lazy to use it.

  If you sell the Gulfstream second-hand, and spend a little more money in your pocket, you can change it to a supersonic aircraft to catch up with the trend, which seems to be a good choice. I definitely don’t need it normally, but with the expansion of the consortium’s strategy, if there is any business that needs to be rushed in the future, supersonic aircraft are also good...

   In this way, An Feng's reason convinced himself.

  He asked Matthew for contact information, made an appointment, and went to the aircraft manufacturing base in Nevada to see Aerion's supersonic aircraft. As shown in the photo, in order to overcome the speed of sound, it has a long and thin shape, much longer than the Global 8000, but very narrow and small.

  It can accommodate up to 12 passengers, and the standard is 8 passengers. If you want to experience supersonic speed, the fewer passengers, the better. An Feng and the customer manager experienced the SBJ version. The extended-range version currently only has a test prototype and has not been released, but the SBJ model is also enough to experience supersonic speed.

  There are countless people in the world who have flown in an airplane, but very few have been able to experience supersonic flight—this kind of thing seems to only happen to fighter jets. The current commercial airliner has achieved this. When it broke through the sound barrier, An Feng was completely shocked.

   One word: fierce.

  Under the maximum thrust, the speed reaches 1800 km/h, Mach 1.7 (altitude algorithm)! The speed is more than twice that of ordinary civil aviation airliners. An Feng felt the beauty of the sound behind him... After experiencing it himself, he thought it was a good toy, so he decided to buy it.

He ordered an 8-seater version, which is divided into two parts, front and rear. The front is four independent luxury seats, and the back is two combined seats. There is a counter on one side, which can hang an LCD TV. There is a refrigerator that can hold some drinks, beer and the like.

  The interior is very simple, and the cabin is not too wide. Just like what Matthew described as "the Ferrari of an airplane", it pursues speed, but naturally cannot take comfort into consideration. But the journey is greatly shortened, and for passengers, there is no need to pursue short-term enjoyment—because the end point has been reached unconsciously.

  (end of this chapter)