Let's talk about Sakura Garden!

Hello fellas! Was it a blue Monday for you today? Nah.. it's pink Monday!! Welcome, to Sakura Garden!
This will be the 3rd grand prix of M1 2023, with the M1 circus travelling to the Pinkies' hometown for the first time in history!


The layout of the track is designed by one of our valuable JMA members, John! His idea was to have a technical first part of the track with a split in between throughout the section. This will add jeopardy during quali AND race as the marbles will either have to choose between the inner or outer path!


Because the section consists of 2 left and 2 right turns, the split isn't biased towards one of the two lanes. After the split which runs until the end of sector 1, a straight follows that leads to a mid-slow right hander. As you can see from the image above at the top left of the picture, the marbles will descend down the drop and towards the 180R turn carrying a lot of speed! But beware... turn 9 is a fast corner however unforgiving with a kerb on the outside (not present on construction phase 1). This will be the 'make-or-break' moment of the lap as you want to make sure you don't lose time hitting the kerb, carry enough speed to send you through the right-hander safely so you don't fall off the track! After the 4th consecutive right turn, a slow left hairpin follows which continues to the long back-straight in front of your VIP seats and the pit lane!


After the straight which also passes in front of the Pinkies fan section, it ends with a fast and technical set of turns to complete a lap! 20 teams, 20 racers will duel in the unknown as they need to waste no time finding the best racing lines! It's a track 'for the best M1 racers' as the Pinkies manager Pinky Ring says!


But where does the name come from?
Sakura is the cherry blossom!
It is the national flower of the Pinkies homeworld. It, represents a time of renewal and optimism. After the team's disastrous M1 season 3 campaign, the Pinkies sat down, put their poor results back and won the ML22! From their 'sporting winter' they ascend to their 'sporting spring'! Their performance in ML22 was the main reason why the Pinkies stayed for M1 2023! And their success helped them make the new circuit which also is the 22nd in M1 history! Numver 22 has great significance for the team by the looks of it.


Here is the view from camera op 2 (Dion) who will capture the race from his camera!


That's an 'almost vertical' view with the camera being secured so it doesn't fall on the props!


Imagine running through this banked section... oh boi...


How to end the lap better? Hehe


And here is Sakura Garden in all its glory!
Rate this track from 1 (worst) to 10 (best)!

Cheers everyone! Come back tomo for Stardust Accelerator III