Stage guide · Mars Cup round 5
Stage 5 — The Lasso
Stage 5 throws a lasso: a 2,460 m sunset run through seventeen gates that loops back past its own start, then strikes east to finish by The Long Run. The first five gates are all right-handers, 317 degrees of turning in 727 m, and the road out of the loop passes 21 m from where you started.
How it drives
A loop, then a climb. The loop dips to 61 m between gates 2 and 3, the lowest ground of the run. Out of it the gates open to 27 to 37 m wide, and the one corner past 90 degrees, a 95-degree right at gate 11, comes 78 m after gate 10 at the foot of the climb: from 92 m at gate 11 to 127 m at gate 12, and the top of the stage, 130 m, 100 m further on. Then the gates close in again, 19 and 17 m wide at 15 and 16, before a 21 m drop to the finish.
Pace notes
Gate 1 is 32 m off the line, a 43-degree right. Gates 2 to 5 are rights too, of 74, 74, 63 and 63 degrees, 153 to 187 m apart, so every corner of the loop turns the same way.
Between gates 2 and 3 the road falls from 94 m into a hollow at 61 m and climbs to 87 m at gate 3, a 74-degree right. You arrive at that corner uphill.
Gate 7 to gate 8 is the longest leg on the stage, 262 m between 103 m and 110 m of ground. Carry everything; gate 8 is only a 29-degree right.
Gate 11 is the tightest corner, a 95-degree right 78 m after gate 10. Brake for it before you reach it: the climb to gate 12 starts at its exit.
Gates 15 and 16 are 19 and 17 m wide, 92 m apart, with a 53-degree right through 16. Aim for the middle of each; the finish is 169 m on and 21 m lower.