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Fast Lap: :53.20 by SLO_COPE
Garage Settings: 1400 med tires/soft suspension

Mariposa is a compact little circuit for the racing purist who enjoys a high-stakes chess match on a track that’s both demanding and extremely unforgiving of mistakes. It's probably best suited for one-on-one match-ups because there’s not a heck of a lot of room for lateral movement. In addition to the difficult nature of the course, it has one major hazard: water. As I said, there’s not a lot of room for drifting and maneuvering from one side to the other in an attempt to make a pass. On tracks of this type holding your line, being patient, and staying within striking distance of your opponent are the keys to wining races, or at the very least, having a good, competative run. To some that may not sound like such a big deal, but I’m here to tell ya, some of the most exciting races I’ve had have been on tracks exactly like this.

Unfortunately quite a few people will quickly dismiss Mariposa due to its “plain Jane” appearance, but I assure you, there’s more to it than meets the eye. For starters, it’s interesting that even though there are slightly varying degrees of altitude changes, you can actually drive this track at full speed and just about keep all 4 tires on the road. In a race that’ll be pretty hard to do unless you’re able to pull away from your opponent (or he/she crashes) so that you have the pressure-free freedom to execute the line in properly, yielding lap times around the :54 mark. Mariposa requires both hard, aggressive cornering as well as delicate, minute adjustments – all at very high speeds, which is what makes it so challenging.

There are three places where lead changes “will” take place, and I noted them on this picture of the layout. The first is at checkpoint one, which has one of the toughest hairpin turns I’ve ever seen. It slopes down and away from you as you round the corner to proceed to checkpoint two, thus making it very easy to slide off the road, plunging to the water below. Of course, there’ll always be someone willing to save you the trouble of doing it yourself by knocking you off, too lol. Either way it’s without a doubt the most precarious section of the track, and will yield quite a few lead changes…and pile-ups. Checkpoint 4 affords racers quite a bit more room to operate, and it’s relatively flat and straightforward, but still, some will misjudge or mistime their turn, swinging wide (or not wide enough), resulting in losing the lead or falling further behind. Finally, the area leading to the start/finish line, if not given the proper amount of caution and attention, willl likely result in someone doing the old Superman imitation. Dropping the gas and easing over just a hair to the right will allow you to maintain contact with the road, enabling you to put more distance between you and your opponent.

The arrow you see here does in fact serve a purpose. Initially I thought it was there to suggest where you could potentially end up if you failed to negotiate that very difficult hairpin turn at checkpoint 1. What it does is show you where the computer trucks exit the road in an attempt to jump to the other side of the road, and at times they manage to pull it off. It’s not very pretty…but they get the job done. Actually I’m just amazed they can run the track at all. They won’t give intermediates and pros much of a contest, but if you’re a beginner you’ll at least have “company” while you race.

Mariposa is a no frills racetrack, and thus deserved the same kind of review; short and to the point without all the mumbo-jumbo. Personally, I love this little track, and SLO_Scrooch (he’s quite the racer, especially considering his age lol), who helped out during beta testing is pretty adept on it, so I’m sure we’ll be doing a few one-on-ones, trading wins and beating each other to a pulp lol. Ok this was supposed to be a “strictly business” kind of review, but I couldn’t resist slipping one in there lol. As for the Copey Rating, this one gets a 10 out of 10 possible points because it accomplishes exactly what it set out to. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but as I said, if you’re a racing fanatic and you love the kind of tracks that require pinpoint technique, patience, and taking risks, this one’s for you! The author summed it up best during beta testing when he said “It’s dangerous the moment you press go”, which is right on the money.

Well done, Cope. A perfect write up for this track.

Hmm
Apparently this is the first track of Stephen Leacock and it already gets a 10 Copey-rating...

Could it be that this it is not his first track?
Isn't there a guy famous for releasing tracks using pseudonyms?

Hehe the first statement is off the mark (way off, in fact), but the second one hit its target. I'll forego elaborating on the second statement since it may be obvious to most, so let's briefly chat about the first.

If I rated tracks based on reputation and status I'd be wasting my time here, as well of the time of everyone who bothers to read the reviews. I came up with "The Copey Rating" as a means of numerically rating tracks because it concisely defines what "I" think/feel about a particular piece of work. People can look at the rating, try the track themselves, and either agree or disagree. It would be great if they came back here and posted their thoughts/opinions either way. That's why this forum is here. I certainly don't view myself as the absolute authority on deciding which tracks are good and which aren't. It's simply one guy's opinion.

Furthermore, if I rated or judged tracks by reputation, there's no way I would have voted "best in class" for a guy with only 3 tracks under his belt (I combined your LaPaMas - they're the same track, diff texture type settings) in last year's Expo. That individual went on to win his division in the Expo 2003 because it was the opinion of the presiding panel (lol sounds official, doesn't it?) that his track was technically and creatively "the best", beating out a couple of other trackmakers who collectively have made over 100 tracks.

Shall I go on, or does that do it for ya? LOL ok here's one more. Phin's pretty hard on tracks (and trackmakers lol). Not in terms of ridicule, but rather objective criticism of their work. That makes sense though because he's sees much more than I do. But he's also just as demanding of his own work. Malibu350, on the other hand, and this is just gee-wiz info lol, he's also extremely demanding when it comes to his work, but he's somewhat of a softy when critiquing the work of others. Having said that he's probably striking my name from all of the readme.txt files he's ever written, cursing me aloud lolol. Still, if either of those guys threw a piece of garbage together and called it a track, I'd rate it accordingly, but also suggest that they either give up making tracks or seek counseling lol - it's as simple as that.

At any rate, here's what Phin had to say about HotShoe's first track:

"This is an excellent circuit that uses Excavation textures to take you through some mountains and hills."

"... give this one a try."

"Very well built track ..."

That's pretty high praise from Phin lol. I know you were kidding, Rocket, but at the same time, for those who don't know you, it may have raised a few questions, so I figured I'd do the proactive thing by posting this "pseudoexplanation".

I have to agree here with Copey. Rating only show his own appreciation. however, when you know the guy well enough it allow ppl like me to at least have an idea of what they're looking at. Usually he's extremly close to my personnal taste.

Btw, I haven't run Mariposa a lot yet as i was busy with other beta project and busy lowering times on some other tracks but i did run it and as State by our trackologist (copey) this track is good. Maybe not much eye candies but the layout is sharp, original and for sure very interesting.

Looking forward to see more tracks from Stephen Leacock.

...then everything is fine lol

Hehe never a doubt in my mind. So like...got plans for another track, bud?

Yeah, a 10 out of 10 is quite an achievement... I wanna see you do that again lol

Excellent track!

"I don't know whether you know Mariposa. If not, it is of no consequence..." - <a href=http://www.classicreader.com/read.php/sid.1/bookid.1530/sec.2/ target=posa>URL</a>.


<a href=http://mtm2.com/~tracks/tracks.cgi?search=mariposa>Download Mariposa</a>

cool aerial shot:
<img src=http://cownap.com/~tracks/S2004/mariposabystephenleacock.jpg width=400>




On that note, I must say I've really enjoyed the Copey Reviews for quite some time now, having read most of them at least twice, and some more, at different times. Very entertaining stuff! Educational too, I've learned a lot about the racer's perspective, being a track maker but not a racer myself. Best of all Cope often translates and draws attention to what might be missed - in the sense of leading others to appreciate the efforts of track makers that might otherwise be passed over. Good <i>work</i> Cope!

Yeah, Phin sent me that in an e-mail. Course, it was after I'd already posted the review, but I'm dang glad you threw it in here - it's an awesome shot.

LOL I'm not sure if those reviews do all of that, but hey...I'll take it! Thanks a heap, Wint - much appreciated, bud.

they sure do buddy!