Drownington Cove

Drownington Cove
Stars needed	20	Repeated torrential rains have flooded the city and an earthquake smashed the bridge down. Now that should solve the traffic jam issues!
Career Stars	18
Challenges	10
Vista Points	5
Vehicle Liveries	9
Doppler Trucks	3
Bonus Car(s)	3

Career Races

Folks in Drownington Cove mean business

Reservoir Hogs

• Checkpoint Race
• 8 Entrants
• ATV's
• Mostly off-road
• Each Difficulty ... +1 Star, +2470 FUEL
• Any Difficulty ... Grunge Flame T-Shirt design, Liveries Doppler
• Go complete "Tornado Warning" (below) on Rookie mode to unlock the Komodo, then come back here and you can dominate it all the way through Legendary. The race is a series of tightly placed checkpoints that force you to weave back-n-forth all over the place to hit them. There's not a whole lot of short-cutting. Solid riding is what will win instead. If you can avoid bumps, jumps and ramps as much as possible you'll be able to maintain a high speed. The Komodo's high top speed and tight handling will help fend off the lead runner constantly breathing down your neck.

Drowned City Run

• Each Difficulty ... +1 Star, +2610 FUEL
• Any Difficulty ... Urban-Indus Bandana design, Banshee Maverick

Asphalt Frenzy

• Checkpoint Race
• 11 Entrants
• Muscle car & Buggy
• Each Difficulty ... +1 Star, +2770 FUEL
• Any Difficulty ... Celestial Tank Top design, Vista Doppler
• The Bullet actually performs well on this once you master it's drifting. (By good I mean it can win on Legend rating.)

Speeding in the Sunset

• Checkpoint Race
• Motorcycle
• Dirt-road / Off-road
• Each Difficulty ... +1 Star, +2380 FUEL
• Any Difficulty ... Beast Shorts design, Burningdust Maverick
• The Shuriken can blow through this on Legendary. You can cut through a few off-road parts to take the lead and hit check-points early on. It's at the end that you need to be careful, since you'll be running through some water hazards. Stick to the path then, because if you try to short-cut you could end up going over a hill and into a pond.

A Bridge Too Far

• Circuit (Laps)
• Muscle Car
• Asphalt & Dirt Roads
• Each Difficulty ... +1 Star, + 3070 FUEL
• Any Difficulty ... Rainbow Army Helmet design, Challenges Doppler
• This race takes you over (and under) the wrecked Golden Gate bridge. There's a lot of tight turns, swerving and long stretches. So, a vehicle with good acceleration, grib and top speed is needed. The Wild Wolf can chew through Rookie & Expert pretty good, but will struggle on Legendary (where The Scorpion will shine instead).

Tornado Warning

• Checkpoint Race
• Muscle Car
• Mixed & Off-road
• Each Difficulty ... +1 Star, +2870 FUEL
• Any Difficulty ... Paint Splatter Long Sleeve T-Shirt design, Komodo Maverick, Tomahawk automatically added to inventory
• The tornadoes in this race will buffet you all over the place, so if you're wondering why your vehicle is hard to control... It only seems to trigger when you hit a turn key, though. So, you can drive along straight no problem, but moment you hit a turn key you'll get some delayed or over-turning mixed in randomly to simulate. The tornadoes also wreck power towers, so you'll need to swerve under them. Likewise, they send junk flying all over the place, and by "junk" we mean cars, trailers, boulders, logs, semi trucks..! One of these nailing you can push you off course pretty hard, so try to avoid at all cost. If you're just getting to Drownington Cove then the General Custer will be your only choice for the race for a long while. Recommended to tackle this one on Rookie in order to unlock your goodies, then come back to it much later, because Legendary is a huge pain in the rear without better vehicles. (It's a pain, but not impossible.)
• From the start of the race, follow the boneheads in front, and try to avoid them getting in the way or slamming you off course. You'll dive off the edge onto a dirt road switch back. Slow down, and look for the checkpoint. You can slowly roll / dive off the edge towards it, and the Custer should be ample enough to take it to the bottom. Head towards and passed the trailer on the second dirt switchback road and do it again. (If you try to ramp down in front of the dirt trailer, you could wreck). Passed this first checkpoint there is a nice stretch of trees just far apart to let your Custer squeak through. This will let you bee-line to the 2nd checkpoint. With those two check-points short-cutted you'll have a nice lead on the competition. From there it's just a matter of solid driving and shaving off the corners with some weed running here and there. The junk getting tossed at you will be nuts, so be prepared for a bit of frustration. However, also be prepared for some amazing stunts as you could end up sailing over some junk in your way, or it sails over YOU, or you have a bunch of close calls and wonder how you're still on the course and winning. It can be a fun yet frustrating race.

Challenges

Speed Run

• 1 Entrant
• Asphalt & Dirt-roads / trails
• Motorcycle (City Hunter)
• 5 miles in 4:00 minutes. The plotted course has you cresting over one side of a mountaint then running switchbacks down the other. It flips back-n-forth between asphalt and wide dirt roads... all the way until the end when it switches to a very annoying dirt trail switch back that is a pain for the City Hunter to run on. The City Hunter has horrible time getting going on dirt, so dirt switchback corners can be major time-wasters. If you follow the course directly time will be very tight unless you're an absolute pro at City Hunter drifting and handling. You can short-cut a few switchbacks by cutting their corners early and sliding down the steep slope. However, you have to be very careful. The City Hunter loves to wreck easy when hitting the bottom of very steep slopes. Towards the beginning you can also fly across the grass field, since it's a slight downhill that keeps your momentum up.
• If you really want to be a dick, then make the first sharp turn after the start and follow the dirt road up as usual. Then, when you hit the open area make a bee-line towards the finish. This will have you running off-road and carefully braking down the steep slopes between switchbacks. You'll get banged up, and probably wreck a few times, but you'll have fun doing it and probably make your best time on the course, too. :)

Chopper Chase

• 2 Entrants (You & Chopper)
• Mostly Roads (Dirt / Asphalt)
• Truck (Bone Crusher)
• Probably the shortest (1/2 mile!), most annoying truck race you will face. You start on a wide dirt road, then can either cut through off-road parts (covered in trees and slowing down to 50mph) or follow some dirt trails (which don't play to the Bone Crusher's wide profile very well) to swing around and hit an asphalt road. Cross the asphalt road, and you can see the finish right there. Problem is the flipping helicopter stays far ahead of you just enough that you will barely make it in time. You'll probably fail this one several times, and once you win it it will be by the skin of your teeth. Very frustrating.

Seek-n-Destroy

• 3 Entrants (You & 2 Opponents)
• Mostly Roads (Dirt / Asphalt)
• Muscle Car (The Bullet)
• You're at Drownington Cove, yet still forced to use The Bullet (*le sigh*). The fog on the course will make it a tad dicey seeing up-coming turns, and the course has its fair share of twisties. So, be prepared to brake to half speed in order to get controlled drifts around corners. If your Bullet ever starts fish-tailing out of control just lay off the gas until it gets under control. Your opponents are an SUV (Knightmare) and ATV (Fanatic or Speed Demon). They stay on the main street, and you can catch them quickly with good driving. Just veer next to them like you're gonna pass, and let them swerve gently into you.

Raid

• 11 Entrants
• Mixed Road + Off-road short-cuts
• Motorcycle (Shuriken)
• The Shuriken is either under-powered for this one, or the AI is simply a blatantly cheating asshole. Either way, be prepared for frustration. From the start, just bee-line towards the checkpoint. The competition will get stuck zig-zagging at first, and you'll need to be careful not to get plowed into when crossing through them. The main course will hit asphalt, and usually that's a good thing (higher top speed). But, it veers way off to the left too much, which means the competitors get to waste time on it while you keep bee-lining to the check-point. There's some thick trees, but you can catch quite a few dirt trails along the way. You should aim for that asphalt road junction that looks like an upside down "T" to the right of the mapped course. If you hit it and take that street North it'll intersect with the main course street and from there lead you right to the check point. This should give you a sizeable lead, and will be the difference between winning and losing this race. Towards the checkpoint the GPS goes nuts plotting a convoluted course to get to it via dirt roads. Ignore it, and just plow through the trees. After hitting the checkpoint, veer left, and there will be a dirt trail heading towards the water. Follow it, then immediately take the left that your GPS suggests (otherwise the dirt trail will dead end into the water). Following this other dirt trail should lead you out to the street. Follow the course from there. It'll lead you down more street, then cut across a dirt trail to run along the coast line. After cutting across the coast and up the other side, you need to stick to the course pretty tight. The area is littered with drop-off ponds, and nothing sucks more than thinking you're taking a nice short-cut and splashing to your doom. If you biff it once here, you can usually still win. But, if you biff it 2+ times, you'll basically have lost the race as the competitors cheat around here and magically gain tons of speed to tear through everything.

Blitz

• 1 Entrant
• Mixed Road + Off-road short-cuts
• Motorcycle (Tomahawk)
• The Tomahawk lacks acceleration, handles stiffly, and is so-so off-road. It's saving grace is it's top speed. So, if you can get some good straight-aways going you'll have an easier time. Thankfully this blitz run gives you ample time between gates, and following the course or short-cutting through the weeds seems to still leave you with enough time. Generally, you'll want to stick with the dirt-roads, but there's a few very obvious short-cuts off-road to bee-line to the next checkpoint. Be careful, as some lead to a drop-off. When that happens just use the lean keys to let your bike land on both wheels. If you land too much on one wheel you can do some major damage and risk instantly wiping out. Overall, a pretty easy run for the Tomahawk.

Checkpoint Run

• 1 Entrant
• Mostly Asphalt
• ATV (Speed Demon)
• The tight time limit on this one makes it frustrating, so don't feel bad if it takes a few tries. This is mostly an uphill slog along the streets to hit checkpoints. The Speed Demon sucks off-road, so stay on the asphalt as much as possible. Even hitting the shoulder some can slow you down quite a bit. There's really no short-cuts. Just slow down to drift the corners well w/o losing too much speed and lay down on the gas during the straight aways. Some on-road junk will make it frustrating here and there. The last part has you ramp over a hill/turn into a dirt road to head towards the finish. The key to this is to aim for the hill/turn part, slow down a bit, and turn / drift before you hit it. This will send you in the air a bit, but not so much that you lose a lot of time. Then just head up the dirt hill. The Speed Demon isn't very good at climbing dirt road hills, so you'll need a good 10-15 seconds left on the clock to make this one. 

Knock-Out

• 6 Entrants
• Asphalt
• Muscle Car (Stormrider)

• Take a car that handles like crap both on and off road, then toss it in with a bunch of drunken assholes ramming you off the edge of a road on a cliff. It's the perfect recipe for frustration. From the start, veer all the way to the left-hand shoulder of the road. Why? Because the jack-asses in front of you want to stomp on their brakes, get in your way, and cause you to veer off the road and into junk. By veering left you can avoid that cluster fuck, and stay on course. If you want, you can ramp up the steep incline to go over the hill. However, veer more left if you do, otherwise you'll get stuck dumping down into a dirt road that's bordered by two steep inclines, leaving you trapped and wasting time trying to get going again. If you veer left enough, you can just land on the dirt road then plow off it towards the checkpoint. You're going to get banged up a bit, but it beats fending off the bozos and junk on the road. If you play your cards right this should give you a lead, albeit a very small one. Just keep on the gas, and try to drive the Stormrider as best as possible. It likes to over-drift, so you could find yourself going sideways trying to stay on course. You'll need to coast or slow down more before turns to prevent that. It's very easy to go sliding right off the edge of the road if you over-drift trying to drive fast, and that will basically mean a complete restart of the race (as the competitors cut you no slack). So, it's better to drive safe than fast here. As long as you're in front, don't go too fast and get sloppy. Towards the end there will be a switchback leading to the Finish. You can drop down each edge of it while the competitor zig-zags down, essentially making this a race that's frustrating to start but fairly easy to finish off.

Wild Track (2 Laps)

• 8 Entrants
• Dirt road / trails & off-road short-cuts
• Motorcycle (Shuriken)
• Your Shuriken can dominate this one with some careful riding. From the start, you can cut over the steep incline and across the hill to the right directly to the check-point. This doesn't shave much off from the start (when you haven't hit top speed), but abusing it on the 2nd lap will be more useful. After the 1st cehckpoint, follow the dirt trail towards the 2nd, then slow down to half speed before rounding to the right. This prevents you from flying off the dirt trail, losing precious time if you do. After the 3rd checkpoint or so, you can ramp up another steep slope to cut the hill to the next checkpoint. Be careful on this one, though, because there's a steep drop back to the checkpoint. It's better to skid down towards the road a bit as you head towards the checkpoint in order to smooth your transiton to the road. Wash, rinse, repeat on the second lap, and you'll get an easy 4000 FUEL.

Checkpoint Race

• 11 Entrants
• Dirt, Asphalt & Off-road shortcuts
• SUV (Sabretooth)
• This race showcases the Sabretooth perfectly. It handles stiffly, but accelerates well and has an insane grip. So, you can easily beat the pants off the competition by using that to your advantage and driving straight up steep slopes for short-cuts. The party starts on a road, and if you want to be cocky you can cut off-road and follow the stream towards the first checkpoint. Don't try to weave too much. Just point the Sabretooth in the right direction and, as long as there's no obstacle or drop-off, let it keep plowing ahead (through off-road short-cuts, between trees, up hills, etc). Eventually you'll find yourself needing to hit some switchbacks to go up to your next checkpoint(s). This is the time to drive straight up the steep slopes, letting the rest of the competition linger on the mapped course. Eventually you'll hit an asphalt street with the Finish on nav. However, your GPS will be telling you to go down off the street. The route to the finish actually follows a dirt road that veered to the right. So, just plow your Sabretooth off the street edge.. and aim for the dirt road (it's a long drop). Your Sabretooth should be able to handle the drop, because it's insanely durable. The real problem is overshooting the dirt road and flying off its edge. If all goes well, just follow the dirt road to the Finish.

General Info

• 
  Drownington Cove on top of the ridge, there is a small patch of snow (pictured)
• A Bridge too far, Drowned City run, Speeding in the Sunset, and Outside the Camp, there's a flooded city accessible only by the Trident (hovercraft). There's also Earthquake Bridge that is accessible by any vehicle.
• Unlike the buildings in Dustbowl City, the city in Drownington Cove is very poorly detailed, and often lacking physical mass, allowing a vehicle to drive right through some of the buildings.
• In the race "Tornado Warning", the driver is given their first taste of the extreme weather conditions with a tornado. The driver has to not only avoid being thrown around by the tornado's winds, but also dodge the flying debris and vehicles.