This track starts out fast and has you breathless all the way through. You can bet that your heart will skip a beat the first time you hit the board bridge. Luckily, this one is much more forgiving than that famous bridge we all love to hate hehe. The wide open layout has multiple fast lines for passing to make this a great track for some very competitive racing, though you'll want to learn the layout before you start laying odds.

But more, Motherlode is a textbook example of good track making.

Please realize, its not enough to just make a track wide for good racing. If there is only one fast race line, everyone will drive it anyway. There has to be multiple fast racing lines, and this track has it. The first turn is a great example: the inside line is shorter to the turn, but the outside line lets you maintain more speed going into that turn.

The planned short is also an excellent example to all track makers of what a good shortcut should be: 1) it doesn't cut off a large part of the track, 2) it blends in to the layout very naturally, 3) it is not hidden so anyone can find it after a few laps, and (the most important) 4) it is difficult to drive, so it actually penalizes you if you screw up.

Another great feature is the jump onto the railroad building roof. When you start the jump, the view is awesome (might even give you fits), and hitting it just right feels great, but if you miss by a little bit, there is an invisible floor to catch you so you can drive on across without calling the helicopter (which you wont want to do here anyway).

The course too stands out. A long circuit or a rally needn't tranverse the entire terrain to create a longish lap time. Here, the course crosses itself several times (and at one point three times at three different levels) but without the confusion of convoluted twists, curves and loops. No matter how badly you get spun around you can always find your way by sight, and regardless of a big lead or whether you're lagging terribly behind, the competition is never far away and almost always in view, which, after all, is the whole point of multiplayer play.

The last note will go to theme. Badger informs us that the track is set back in the 1800's in Colorado which might not be obvious right away (probably due to the fact that we conceptualize and envision days past as a black and white silent film) but you needn't get out your sherlock magnifying glass to see and recognize some very nice custom touches (eg. the abandoned mine off the little town, the gold veins in the tunnel, the flower textures in the grass and the trees felled by a snowy avalanche). Attention to thematic and texture detail is always a neat change from normal ground textures.

On the objective side, there are a few misaligned textures. This probably stems from a mix of texture sources and the fact that the track was built in nine days in order to meet the contest deadline.

Back to the game, the downhill start is awesome - your truck's mph will go off the scale... worth trying a higher gear just for that part! It's great competitive racing. It lets you take bigger risks, without totally knocking you out of contention because you happened to bump into somebody's ghost truck in mid-air. A great track.

Please note, the download from the track page is for the updated 1.5 version which contains several enhancements over the original contest submission - which you may download by clicking here (955k). Reminder, you cannot have both tracks mounted at the same time.