The invitation from Northwest 200 to participate in this year's competition was met with an immediate refusal from Lin Yan, who didn't even consider it.
He wouldn't participate in such a race, even in his past life, because the Northwest 200 was truly a life-or-death affair, far more brutal than the Isle of Man TT.
The Northwest 200 motorcycle street race was a peculiar event, at least in China.
The reason it was considered strange was that many Chinese fans watched the Northwest 200 races but didn't know what it was, mistaking it for another event. This was its peculiar status in China.
The Northwest 200 was a motorcycle event held on the Isle of Man. Lin Yan had watched it in his past life but never participated. Although it shared the same venue as the Isle of Man TT, the two races were entirely different: the tracks, routes, and formats were distinct, and even the timing of their events differed.
The Isle of Man TT was a time trial, while the Northwest 200 was a pure street race. It was a pure street race because the riders started at the same time, and like MotoGP, it had qualifying sessions and a main race with a unified start, making it a street brawl.
Over seventy percent of the clips related to the Isle of Man TT on a certain short video platform were not from the Isle of Man TT races themselves but from the Northwest 200. Specifically, when you could see two or even three bikes simultaneously in a video, it was almost certainly not footage from the Isle of Man TT but from the Northwest 200.
Most of the iconic footage from the Isle of Man TT originated from the Northwest 200. Although the Northwest 200 had a different race route than the Isle of Man TT, they were on the same island, so some sections were indeed the same.
He wouldn't participate in such a race even when he had no wife or children; now, it was even less likely. Wouldn't it be better to live a little longer?
Arriving at the training base's track, Ren Fei and Lun Si were still training on the circuit. With the new season approaching, Yan Xiaoqiang and the others had also returned to the racetrack for training.
Looking at Lun Si and Ren Fei, Lin Yan suddenly had the idea of forming a satellite team in the premier class.
In Lin Yan's vision, a Ducati satellite team would essentially be an expansion of LS27 into the MotoGP category.
However, if the team were to expand into MotoGP, the riders would be a problem. A satellite team needed two riders, and even if one of Lun Si or Ren Fei was moved, another rider would still be missing.
The new season's poster shoot took up the entire morning, and in the afternoon, there was the Ducati new season launch event; they were very busy.
The purpose of the launch event was to showcase the new GP23 race bike, and the rest would be spent listening to the heads of various teams boasting about how powerful their respective bikes were this year.
During the live broadcast of the launch event, besides the bikes, many fans were concerned about whether Lin Yan's number would still be the original number 27.
The reigning world champion had the option to choose their number. In MotoGP, numbers could be changed at any time, as long as the number was not banned or retired.
However, there was a special rule for number one: not everyone could use it. Only the reigning world champion in the premier class had the opportunity to use the number one.
Lin Yan had no habit of changing his number and continued to use 27, the number being his birthday and his lucky number.
The entire team fully supported Lin Yan not changing his number. Although the number one symbolized the world champion in MotoGP, it was not considered a good omen.
The "number one curse" was a rumor and a jest on the MotoGP circuit.
In MotoGP, champion riders who used the number one almost always struggled to defend their world championship in the following year, instead falling into a vicious cycle of crashes and poor results.
People shouldn't be superstitious, but sometimes, when it was accurate, it was hard to ignore. Very few riders in history had been able to master the number one.
Therefore, very few world champion riders nowadays used the number one.
"Phew, I'm relieved to see Lin Shen didn't use number one. And this new GP23 looks so cool."
"Nonsense, factory bikes always look cool. Three factory bikes, it seems Ducati will still have three riders this year."
"I hope Lin Shen can still win the championship this year."
"By the way, why didn't we see the sister-in-law at the launch event? I want to see her!"
"Comrade surnamed Cao upstairs, you better calm down."
"......"
On the live broadcast's comment section, fans were chatting enthusiastically. Most people were quite satisfied with the graphics and design of the new GP23.
After all, the coolness of a factory bike was something most men agreed upon.
Zhang Mingzhi was on stage, discussing the upgrade directions for this year's bike and the effects of the upgrades. In short, it was all useless babble; the actual upgrade effects would only be verified through actual racing.
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At the same time, at the Ben Tian team, Ben Tian's newly appointed chief technician was also watching the live broadcast of the Ducati launch event. Beside him were Reisner and his new teammate Gena.
"Chief, according to the latest external data comparison, Ducati is highly likely to have not upgraded the engine this year."
An employee handed over an engine comparison chart. From the diagram, the Ducati engine showed almost no external changes compared to last year.
Although engine upgrades might not show any visible effects from the outside, the process still needed to be followed.
A new broom sweeps clean, and he didn't want this chief technician to direct his efforts towards him.
Seeing this, Tesu's slender eyebrows twitched, showing some confusion.
The fact that Ducati hadn't mentioned anything about the engine at the launch event puzzled him. Logically, Ducati shouldn't be short of money now, so why wouldn't they upgrade the engine?
"Gena, what do you think?"
Waving the staff away, Tesu turned his gaze to Gena.
There were other mechanics and staff in the team's pit garage. They showed no reaction to Tesu asking Gena, a newcomer, instead of Reisner for his opinion, clearly having grown accustomed to it.
Tesu had only recently taken over as chief technician. He appeared younger than the previous old guard, around thirty years old, nearly 1.9 meters tall, with blue eyes, white skin, and a good appearance. He was tall and slender, but for some reason, his appearance made people feel a bit uncomfortable. While appearing serious and kind on the surface, his gaze held a hint of coldness, suggesting he wasn't someone to be trifled with.
Tesu was previously in charge of WSBK and was transferred to replace the retiring old technician.
As a young man, his ambition was undoubtedly greater than the previous one. His first act upon arriving was to reorganize the team; he wanted to lead Ben Tian back to its peak.