The lap
Red Mesa is narrow where it matters and wide where it counts. The rim straight runs into turn 1 with the rock closing in, then two esses whose apexes are the tightest points on the lap and whose exits open again. The run down the canyon is one long bend into a straight, and at the bottom sits the hairpin: brutal on entry, but its exit opens from six metres to nine, so a move that works there actually sticks. There is no run-off. The width is in phase with the corners, which means the fast line and the safe line are the same line.
Corner by corner
- Start and finish on the canyon rim.
- The rim straight.
- Turn 1 apex, the walls close in.
- Opening onto the first esse.
- First esse apex, committing.
- Opening again.
- Second esse apex, the tightest rock on the lap.
- The run down the canyon, one bend into a straight.
- The hairpin, brutal in, opening out.
How to drive it
- Every apex is the narrow point. Hit it with the car straight, because there is no room to correct a slide against rock.
- The hairpin is the overtake: brake late on the inside, and the widening exit lets you keep the place.
- As night falls the lamps light the apexes, not the walls. Learn the lap in the dusk laps while you can still see the rock.
Race it
Red Mesa unlocks in the career for 26,000 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.
