Where is the devil's track in Flying Life 2?

In the movie "Flying Life" series, the repeatedly mentioned Bayingbrook Devil Circuit is famous for its many curves.

The movie "Flying Life 2" was released for five days, and the box office has exceeded 1.5 billion yuan, ranking second in the box office list of Spring Festival stalls. In the sequel, the racing driver Zhang Chi played by Shen Teng once again found the help of his former partner and navigator Sun Yuqiang (played by Yin Zheng) and team technician Jixing (played by Zhang Benyu) in order to compete in the last Bayin Brook Clarity Race.

In the second half of the film, the wonderful rally schedule clips can be called classics in sports-themed movies in recent years, and the audience is more curious about the Bayingbrook Circuit that is repeatedly mentioned in the film. In reality, is there really a so-called devil's track? What role does the navigator play in the rally? A reporter from the Beijing News interviewed Wang Xiao, assistant president of Lisheng Sports and general manager of Tianma Circuit, a company affiliated to the SAIC Volkswagen 333 Racing Team, which served as a racing and filming consultant for the "Flying Life" series.

The visual effects of the Devil's Track are closer to the Zhangye Automobile Rally

In the movie "Flying Life" series, Bayingbrook Circuit is a world-famous natural track, and it is also the top rally track in China, with a total length of 100 kilometers, close to the cliff, and countless curves, running this track is not only a test of the car, but also a test of the racer's driving skills.

The film was filmed on a 109-kilometre gravel road in Bayingbrook, which is the passage to Hejing County, and in some places can only walk through a single horse, with 146 bends. It used to be a pastoral road for herders, but it was later repaired by the government and turned into a mountain road. Bayinbrook Grassland, located in Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture and northwest of Jing County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is the second largest grassland after Hulunbuir Grassland in Inner Mongolia, and became a national 5A-level tourist attraction in October 2016.

Some racing enthusiasts have analyzed that the prototype of the Bayin Brook Clara Rally in the film is the Donggui Rally (China Lop Nur Automobile Off-road Race and Donggui Automobile Rally). The race was first held in June 2009 and travels more than 6,000 kilometers from the Republic of Kalmykia in the Volga River basin of Russia to the Bayinbrook steppe in Xinjiang, China. However, in Wang Xiao's view, it is more like a combination of the World Rally Championship and the Dakar Rally Championship. Visually, it is quite similar to the Zhangye China Automobile Rally Championship - the track and straight distance are long, the car is fast, and there is a feeling of wolf smoke, which is the main reason why it is loved by many racing drivers.

In terms of visual senses, the Bayinbrook Circuit in the film is closer to the Zhangye Rally.

The domestic challenging events, as well as the Zhejiang Longyou Automobile Rally Championship, one side of the track is a cliff, the other side is a cliff, there are both cement pavement, there are gravel pavement, the road conditions are more comprehensive, very test the performance of the car, as well as the driver's technology, the completion rate is less than 50%. In addition, there will be ice and snow rallies in the Tohoku region, and there will be dynamic effects such as drifting, which is very attractive to watch.

Previously, many domestic car competitions would choose gravel roads, and Xu Lang, the guide for Han Han to enter the racing circle, was once the best driver in the domestic gravel road rally. Wang Xiao said that in recent years, the economic conditions have improved, and more and more rallies have begun to choose asphalt or cement roads.

In order to ensure the safety of the car and minimize the risk of driver injury, all tracks of the China Rally must be inspected by the professionals of the China Automobile and Motorcycle Federation, and the road characteristics, road type, average speed and safety are evaluated before they can be used as rally stages.

The navigator and the driver are like a couple and a couple

In the "Flying Life" series, when the protagonist Zhang Chi participated in the competition, the navigator Sun Yuqiang was always by his side. According to the rules of the rally, two people must complete any car, the driver and the navigator.

Before the race, the team will survey all the stages, and the navigator will record all the road conditions, including road conditions, slopes, lengths, corners, hazard warnings, reference signs, acceleration and deceleration warnings, and various conditions that may hinder the car, and make a road book. During the race, the navigator needs to report the road conditions to the driver in detail to ensure that the car follows the official route, and can respond well to real-time changes in road conditions and control the race time. Therefore, the higher the level of the driver, the higher the requirements for cooperation.

In Wang Xiao's view, "the relationship between a driver and a navigator is like falling in love and getting married", some hit it off, while others need a season or two of running-in. Before joining the 333 team, Han Han's best result in rally was 6th place, and after joining the new team in 2004, he and the navigator Sun Qiang won the 4th place in the China Automobile Rally Championship for the first time, and won the sub-station championship that year. In 2008, he participated in the China Automobile Venue Professional League and won the annual championship.

Han Han with his racing partner, navigator Sun Qiang. Photo/Sun Qiang Weibo

Therefore, the threshold for navigators is extremely high. Wang Xiao said that the most basic requirement is not to get motion sickness, ordinary people sitting in a smoothly driving car to read a book, may be motion sickness in two or three minutes. The navigator needs to read the road book at high speeds and accurately report the road conditions. In addition, the navigator also needs to have a strong sense of direction, understand the map, and be good at surveying the terrain of the track. Excellent presentation skills and an understanding of mechanical common sense are also essential. After retiring, the more capable navigators will become the managers of the fleet.

Beijing News reporter Wang Jisong

Editor-in-Chief Wu Dongni

Proofreading Fu Chunshu