The lap
Alpine Pass is the circuit where the road fights back. The climbing straight leads into an uphill right, then a crest you cannot see over, and from there the lap drops through a hairpin and a narrow run of descending esses to a second hairpin at the lowest point, before a long climb home. The hills pull: the car is light over the crest and heavy at the bottom of the dip. The tight sections carry black ice, deliberately, so the places that look like they want commitment are the ones that want restraint.
Corner by corner
- The climbing straight from the line.
- Turn 1, an uphill right that tightens as the road steepens.
- The crest. Blind, and the car goes light over it.
- Hairpin 1, downhill, with ice on the inside line.
- The narrow descending esses.
- Hairpin 2 at the lowest point of the lap, the heaviest braking you will do.
- The long climb back to the line.
How to drive it
- Brake before the crest, not after it. A car that is light over the top will not slow down on the way down.
- Treat the painted ice like a wall: stay off it on the inside of both hairpins, even if it costs you a metre of line.
- Keep momentum on the climb home; the long uphill is where a slow exit from hairpin 2 costs a whole second.
Race it
Alpine Pass unlocks in the career for 9,000 crew cash, earned from race prizes. Once it is yours it can turn up in the championship and in the Daily Challenge, where a wet day means less grip. Your best lap here goes to its own Game Center board, and any lap can be sent to a friend as a ghost.
