The Gauntlet

The Gauntlet is the third track of the Invitational Circult and unlocked by beating the Galactic Circult in full. It is the longest track in the game by distance.

## Features

### Final Anti-Gravity Tube

This tube at the very end of the track determines the overall difficulty of the whole track. It is extremely dangerous to enter due to a rotating gate that you cannot tilt to avoid becasue tilting in this tube is certain death and full of rocks to crash into. At the high frame rates optimal for the skip, there is a risk of softlocking into the rocks, with only the PC version having a recovery option.

### Rest of the Track

Outside of the final anti-gravity tube, the track is relatively easy. The first portion is shared with Executioner before taking a straightline path that shoots you onto the astroid's surface where staying on the bright sand runs the risk of you catching on fire from an astroid strike. At the end of the surface, you are left with a choise between going into the paved Executioner prison compound or a much shorter off road path that punishes you hard if you mistime your boosts and/or have a pod with a short and/or weak booster. After the prison compound and off road paths converge, you are met with a series of narrow tunnel paths that then branches out into a short strech and duel level 90 degree turn. Falling into the lower level of this turn often results in heavy damage to an outright crash. After completing the 90 degree turn, there is another slightly longer straight before a 270 degree turn with a black hole in the center that kills you if you fall into it. The 270 degree turn leads into super narrow portions where touching the walls usually kills you, and ending at the final anti-gravity tube.

## Full Track Strategy

Heat management is integral from the start of the lap to the off road path and shortcut. Heading onto the surface means staying off the bright dirt as much as possible since it is where the asteroids will hit and catch you on fire. Fortunately, you can boost jump over practically all of it in a straight line that is significantly faster than following the bright path. As you come up on the prison compound and the critical off road path, you need to be at low to no heat to floor the boost down the entire off road path. To work, this requires a pod with a high raw top speed, long boost duration, and high boost thrust. (Fully Upgraded, only Ben, Boles, Mars, and Elan can make it under one full boost from a cold start. Without Upgrades, only Ben, Boles, and Mars can make it from a cold start, and Boles barely does without upgrades even even from a cold start.) After blasting down the off road section, use the tunnels to cool down slightly before hitting pavement again and a 90 degree turn. Boost down the straight before a 270 degree turn that turns into several short straights to boost on. The hardest part is the ending in the anti-gravity tube where you cannot tilt to avoid the rotating entry door, and requires an extremely precise line while boosting to avoid smashing into the rocks and crash landing at tube exit.

## Skips Strategy

### Rock Wall Ride

First discovered by MikeyBurger back in 2009, it involves climbing the rock wall and over the top to land before the final anti-gravity tube at the end of the track.

### Dwayne Skip

Discovered in various variations by Ace, they all involve making a 180 degree turn and bouncing off a rock where you fly over the guardrail and land at the enterance to the anti-gravity tube.