As we all know, the homepage of the video platform has its own unique recommendation mechanism and algorithm. The more videos you watch and the longer you watch them, the higher the probability of videos of the same type appearing on your homepage.
So people like me, who follow both cars and ping-pong, are not surprised to receive a video push at the end of August.
This is the custom documentary about the new Audi A6L produced by Audi and Tencent News - the king of "The Wind Seeker of the Times".
This documentary tells the story of Wang Hao's identity change from the world's top table tennis player all the way to the gold medal coach, and also records the highlights and lows of Wang Hao's career.
But compared to the past, this documentary still wants to express Wang Hao's spirit of fighting for his dreams and defending the glory of the national ball with unprecedented technology.
If you're a table tennis fan, this is a video that you must like first and watch later.
In fact, the cross-border linkage about Audi and Wang Hao not only gave fans on both sides a chance to double chef ecstasy. It achieves a more idealized goal, Audi accurately grasps some of the resonance between Wang Hao and its own brand in terms of personality, technology and development.
To say that the marketing department of the Audi brand is just randomly looking for a champion athlete to do endorsements, rather than someone who clearly understands the characteristics of Wang Hao's technology, I don't believe it anyway.
In layman's terms, Audi and Wang Hao are both technology leaders in different eras. In the process of continuous development and continuous breakthrough, they are all groping forward on the road that no one has traveled. In the end, they have also won the world's recognition for their unique technical strength.
How Audi and Wang Hao have reached the same technical resonance in different industries, this is a long story...
Straight plate cross-play with Quattro full-time four-wheel drive
Friends who play table tennis know that the backhand is the dead end of the straight board, and it is still the same today.
Since the Japanese athletes invented the arc ball technology, the Chinese team, which is the mainstream of the straight-board single-sided fast attack, has encountered an unprecedented technological impact.
After all, the offensive ability of the straight board single side is almost difficult to surpass the two-sided arc of the horizontal plate under the large framework of arc ball technology. Therefore, reform with the changes of the times has become an important mission of straight planners in the early years.
In the end, the Chinese team explored a new technical system - straight board horizontal play.
As the literal meaning, the straight board horizontal fight is to let the back of the traditional straight board also be pasted with rubber, and through the same push, pull, bullet, pluck and other actions as the horizontal board, to achieve the same offensive ability.
However, in the early days, this technology was more as an auxiliary means of straight boarding, and the offensive ability and quality were relatively average, such as Jiang Jialiang, Liu Guoliang, Ma Lin and other athletes, who were already able to skillfully use the straight board horizontal play technology at that time.
After entering the twenty-first century, a young general from the Bayi team began to enter people's sights, and this person was Wang Hao.
Wang Hao's technique is quite characteristic, he is still a traditional straight grip, but the backhand completely abandoned the push block, but only used the horizontal stroke technique.
At that time, this extremely advanced technology made Wang Hao a faction of his own, and even introduced higher requirements for coaches, because no coach had ever brought athletes with this technology, so the training system had to be gradually explored.
Fortunately, because Wang Hao himself was diligent enough, his understanding of backhand attacks was far superior to others. Therefore, at the beginning of the 21st century, Wang Hao gained a firm foothold in the national first team with his excellent comprehensive strength, and completely brought the technology of straight board horizontal to the world stage.
If there's one great technology for Audi that can rival straight crossing, it's the Quattro four-wheel drive system.
Similar to the technological development of straight cross-sections, in the early years, the four-wheel drive system did not appear on family cars, but was the exclusive configuration of military off-road vehicles. The reason why it was discovered by Audi and modified into the Quattro full-time four-wheel drive system is actually an interesting story behind it.
During World War II, the Volkswagen Group at that time was the main manufacturer of automotive equipment in the German army.
In order to meet the comprehensive performance of military vehicles in full road conditions, engineers equipped military vehicles with four-wheel drive systems to enhance the performance of extrication from difficulties. Later, with the end of the war, the four-wheel drive system was only retained on off-road vehicles such as the Volkswagen Lltis.
This story also unfolded with Volkswagen Lltis.
In February 1977, in a forest in Finland within the Arctic Circle, Audi's head of testing drove the 75-horsepower Volkswagen Lltis behind a 200-horsepower front-drive team based on the Audi 100.
At that time, the Volkswagen Lltis was only used as a logistics support model.
However, something unexpected happened. The Audi 100 team can shake off the Volkswagen Lltis with strong power in a straight line, but as long as it encounters snow and ice, the Volkswagen Lltis is much better than the 200 horsepower Audi 100.
This phenomenon triggered many thoughts from Ferdinand Piëch, then Audi's technical director (grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, former chairman and CEO of Volkswagen).
Subsequently, he reached a consensus with the head of chassis research and development to port the Volkswagen Lltis four-wheel drive technology to Audi's car.
As a result, a research and development project code-named EA262 was launched, and the longitudinal front-drive model Audi 80, which had a good space and technical foundation at that time, became the first public model to apply this technology.
In January 1980, the prototype Audi A1 was born. In order to show the performance of the vehicle, the Audi test team took the then Volkswagen sales director to the snow-covered mountain area again, and the result was that the Audi A1, which was only equipped with summer tires, far exceeded other cars with snow chains in terms of performance.
Since then, Quattro has become the most representative achievement in Audi technology. Later, Audi also launched a racing car using Quattro four-wheel drive technology, and with the blessing of this four-wheel drive system like black technology, Audi Quattro racing cars won a total of 23 sub-station championships, 2 manufacturers' annual championships and 2 driver's annual championships on the field.
So much so that later, the organizing committee of the race required that the additional weight of the four-wheel-drive car should not exceed 95 kg to ensure the fairness of the race, and announced that from January 1, 1998, the participation of four-wheel drive cars would be completely banned.
Looking at the global market, there are very few brands like Audi that can use black technology-like technology to force officials to change the rules of the game.
Audi's Quattro technology has also developed from the original hollow drive shaft, later to the planetary gear central differential, then to the Towson central differential, and finally to the self-developed crown gear central differential.
It can be said that the Audi Quattro technology has also been full of thorns and bumps along the way, but Audi has not flinched, but has determined to use the Quattro full-time four-wheel drive as Audi's signature technology.
Being able to fully promote the four-wheel drive system to the family car market is also worthy of Audi's slogan - breakthrough technology and enlightening the future.
Far platform backhand backhand pull-back arc ball with W12 engine
The story returns to Wang Hao, after determining the position of the national first team, Wang Hao, who completely uses straight boards, blows the horn of high progress.
At that time, Wang Hao could already fight with Kong Linghui, Wang Liqin, and Ma Lin, the main forces. At the 2004 World Table Tennis Championships in Doha, Wang Hao played as the second in the men's singles, and in the first round of the competition, he faced the European genius Bohr and won 3:0 by a large score.
This competition laid the foundation for Wang Hao to participate in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. At the same time, the advanced nature of Wang Hao's technology has also begun to appear.
Between 2000 and 2004, Wang Hao practiced a unique skill with a wrist structure that was different from ordinary people (the strength of Wang Hao's wrist is very large, and the angle that can be unfolded cannot be reached by ordinary people), the most ornamental and most lethal move, that is, the far platform backhand anti-arc circle ball.
This technology was simply unimaginable in the straight-board environment at that time, and Wang Hao also taught Europeans a lesson in a down-to-earth manner - straight-board can also have a good future.
It is with this technology that Wang Hao will be more handy in the face of Boer's top two-sided arc play, and even be able to use his backhand and Pol to circumvent in the far platform.
Of course, Wang Hao's playing style at this time is still not comprehensive enough, which is also an important reason why he regretted losing in Athens, but this is another story.
Like Wang Hao's top-of-the-line backhand technology, its forward-looking must be combined with Audi's top-level engine technology to be convincing. And this heavy responsibility falls on the W12 engine.
Like the far-deck backhand backhand arc ball technology, the Audi W12 engine quickly attracted everyone's attention as soon as it was introduced. The W12 engine favored by Audi has also become the only chip against the V12 engine for a long time.
The history of the W12 engine goes back to the story of the acquisition of Rolls-Royce. In 1998, both BMW and Volkswagen Group were imperative to acquire Rolls-Royce.
BMW thought 1 billion euros would be enough to win Rolls-Royce, but it underestimated Volkswagen's determination. Within days, Volkswagen fired a sky-high price of $1.44 billion and acquired Rolls-Royce-related models, factories, and its Bentley brand.
At this time, BMW was unwilling, on the one hand, to stop the supply of BMW V12 engines to Rolls-Royce models as a threat, on the other hand, to obtain the authorization of the Rolls-Royce brand from Rolls-Royce's parent company, Rolls-Royce Aero Engines.
Volkswagen spent a high price, but suffered a big loss because it did not have its own 12-cylinder engine technology at that time.
Volkswagen, which was mediated by the European Union, eventually obtained only 5 years of use of the Rolls-Royce brand, and returned the Rolls-Royce brand to BMW after five years, retaining only to continue production and development of the Bentley brand.
After such a toss, Piesch realized that he must develop his own 12-cylinder engine. However, the threshold of the V12 engine is relatively high, and the reason why BMW can develop success is largely because BMW has experience in the manufacture of aircraft engines in the early days.
After fully understanding the engine technology within the Group, Piesch decided to take a different approach and develop a W-lined 12-cylinder engine.
Structurally, the design inspiration for this W12 engine is actually derived from Volkswagen's unique VR6 engine. Because its angle is small, only 15 degrees, it is possible to plug six cylinders and share a cylinder head with a longitudinal length similar to that of a four-cylinder engine.
Then, on the basis of VR6, the two VR6 engines were arranged again into a V-shape at a 72-degree angle, forming a arrangement similar to the letter W, which became the W12 engine that Audi was proud of.
The engine has 12 connecting rods on the crankshaft in a compact arrangement, of which four are arranged on the crankshaft at a 12-degree angle.
As a result, the Audi W12 engine can save up to 30% in longitudinal length compared to the V12 engine and for a long time was the only 12-cylinder engine that could be equipped with a four-wheel drive system.
Considering that the Quattro full-time all-wheel drive system was Audi's signature technology at the time, the collaboration with the W12 engine was indeed a match made in heaven.
And friends who are familiar with supercars should know that the W16 engine of Bugatti Vilair later was also upgraded according to the basis of the W12 engine.
Both Wang Hao and Audi have proved like the world that the top technology is not only forward-looking, but also practical.
Backhand anti-sideways turn straight with ASF all-aluminum body
In 2004, the Athens Olympic Games opened.
Zhang Yining won the 100th gold medal in the history of China's Summer Olympic Games, and took over Wang Nan's banner and became the leader of China's women's table tennis. In contrast, the men's team is obviously not so lucky.
With the successive elimination of Ma Lin and Wang Liqin, Wang Hao stood alone in the final field, facing the imposing South Korean star Yoo Seung-min.
Wang Hao, who had previously maintained a complete victory over Liu Chengmin, lost in that game.
Not to mention the mentality, Wang Hao's technical system at that time did lack a cricket ball to hang right and press left. After several years of training, Wang Hao finally practiced another unique skill around 2008, that is, backhand anti-sideways straight.
It was also this technology that became one of the few tricks that Wang Hao later made against Ma Lin, Liu Chengmin, Wang Liqin, and even Ma Long, who were excellent forehanded.
In fact, in the early years, although Wang Hao was handsome and handsome, his weight has always been relatively large in the national table tennis men's team (laughs). Therefore, his technical characteristics often revolve around the output of the station pile, of which the backhand becomes straight is the most representative achievement. In the words of martial arts novels, Wang Hao already had "the body of King Kong not bad" at that time.
So, what technology does Audi have that fits in?
This has to mention an important technology released by Audi in 1993 - ASF all-aluminum body frame structure.
The story of Audi's spatial frame structure dates back to the early 1980s.
At that time, Audi put forward the concept of insisting on building lightweight bodies to reduce overall quality, hoping to break the upward trend between increasing vehicle weight and increasingly complex comfort and safety devices.
At the 1993 Frankfurt Motor Show, the concept car of Audi space frame structure, an Audi A8 with an aluminum body shell and polished aluminum exterior was unveiled. The following year, the Audi A8 was launched on the market as the world's first production car with an aluminum body.
While many companies are still researching the feasibility of aluminium body cars, Audi is already celebrating its Nth year of aluminum body frame applications with Champagne.
Compared with steel bodies, aluminum bodies can greatly improve the active safety, dynamic handling, and fuel economy of vehicles, which played an important role in promoting the later automotive industry.
One of the most famous ads was that Audi said that the all-aluminum body frame weighs only 230kg, and only 44,000 hydrogen balloons are needed to make it rise lightly.
There is no doubt that Audi's all-aluminum body frame has similarities with Wang Hao's "King Kong is not bad body". But it is not enough to stay in history, so at the nearest point in time, Wang Hao and Audi have achieved resonance in a technology.
Secondary start saving capability with 48V active anti-roll bar
Perhaps it is Wang Hao's talent that makes everyone only pay attention to his backhand, but in fact, in Wang Hao's technical framework, forehand quality, in-stage control, and landing point awareness are all key parts of his score.
And the most easily overlooked is that Wang Hao has the best second-start saving ability among all the athletes in history.
In the men's singles final of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Wang Hao played against Ma Lin. On a key ball, Marlene played a net that jumped three times on the net, and Wang Hao immediately activated the second time to save the ball, while quickly connecting the next board attack in a row and winning this key point.
As far as I know, this is just one of many accidental saves by Wang Hao, and there are many games where I can't name it, and Wang Hao can show such saving ability every time. This kind of stability really gives him the style of a general.
So, when it comes to stability, Audi has brought a similar technology in recent years, which is the 48V active anti-roll bar. And it is precisely because of this technology that Audi's RS family can not be left behind in the confrontation with the BMW M family.
The core source of the 48V active anti-roll bar is the 48V motor, which is also Audi's first light mixing technology. With a larger motor, it can assume some functions other than the electronic system.
Audi's 48V motor, for example, can individually increase or reduce the load on each wheel. In this way, in the limit state, the two wheels of the front axle can provide support in opposite directions to achieve the purpose of smooth cornering.
This configuration is standard on some of Audi's high-end models, and because the Audi Quattro four-wheel drive system provides natural stability, when combined with all-wheel steering, the active anti-roll bar makes the vehicle's starting threshold very low. In other words, Audi's high-end models are significantly better than high-horsepower rear-drive cars.
In every sense, this should also be regarded as the secondary optimization of the vehicle's support for the chassis.
Write at the end
Combined with the above, I think Audi's choice to make Wang Hao one of the spokespeople for the new A6L is a wonderful choice. From technology to development, from temperament to achievements, Audi and Wang Hao have indeed formed too many resonances.
Sometimes we always say that a suitable spokesperson will bring countless imagination space to the brand, and Audi obviously won in the front this time.
Finally, my sincere suggestion is that both Audi owners and Wang Hao's fans can watch that documentary. Even the name "The Wind Seeker" seems to be entirely for them.