R.C. Pro-Am II/any%

Money route and upgrades

Cash flow

The following spreadsheet shows the cash flow in the routes shown in this guide (the total might not always correspond to what's shown at the end of the videos though, because of videos having been replaced). Since the last purchase is Mega after race 21, the money after that point is irrelevant.

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Comments:

You need at least 3 start boosts in the first four races to afford the Silver motor.
You need at least 5 start boosts in the first eight races to afford the Scoopers tires.
In practice, you probably need a few more start boosts between race 9 and 21 in order to afford the Mega motor.
There is a kind of back-up strat in race 18, where you can collect four dollar markers (worth 1000$ in total) instead of taking a zipper. Having the Mega motor in race 22 doesn't save that much time though. Around 1.5 secs can be expected. So slightly more than what's lost by skipping the zipper.

Considerations about the upgrades

Q: Is the red motor really needed when it's only used for 3 races?
A: Yes, it saves roughly 10 seconds. The 2k saved by not buying red would not allow any of the other upgrades to be bought earlier (except for Skinny, but red saves more time than Skinny anyways). The red motor makes the money management much more tight though.

Q: The black motor is only 2k more expensive than red, couldn't it have been used?
A: Correct, the black motor is pretty performant in relation to its price. However, it would delay buying everything else (Skinny, Silver, Scoopers and Mega) by one race and it's not possible to buy after race 1, so race 2 would have to be done without any upgrades. The only race that would see a benefit is race 4, but that's not enough to outweigh delaying all the other purchases.

Q: What about the other motors then?
A: Gold and Hyper only give marginal advantages over Silver, while greatly delaying the Mega purchase.

Q: What about the other tires?
A: There are no simple parameters known for the tires and the test that was done showed that the difference between the tires isn't very big. However, the Scoopers are relatively cheap (15k), so even though they might not give a huge advantage, they don't delay Mega more than two or three races compared with Dynafit or Nooblies, respectively. It's assumed that this delay is offset by having Scoopers throughout the game instead of driving with inferior tires for around 15 races. This hasn't been fully investigated though.

Q: Why go for Scoopers and then Mega and not the other way around?
A: This has been tested. Mega can be bought after race 17 and Scoopers after race 21. It was around five seconds slower overall though.

Races

Race 01

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2djgbhaAnk
If the blue car is second from the right on the starting line, it will always (?) collect the middle dollar item. Otherwise, that dollar item almost always be free to collect during the second lap. The dollar sign next to the zippers is awkwardly located and difficult to include in the route without incurring time losses.

Race 02

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWnoHK7Ms9U
The last dollar bag right before the finish line is random. There is maybe a 50% chance it's there.

Race 03

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFk4S7llZxU
On the right, you should always first collect the innermost star. Perhaps every third time or so, the middle star will then be there for the second lap. There is also a very small chance that the upper dollar item before the finish line won't be collected during the first lap. So it's best to collect the lower one on the first lap and then see it as a bonus if the dollar item can be collected during lap 2.

Race 04

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmKJDEj4tEQ
If you have 4800 going into this race, you're on pace assuming you can get a start boost (otherwise 5300). It's possible to collect more money than what's shown here, but it either relies on luck or by passing right between two of the stars at the U-turn and collect them both.

Race 05

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2wkh99MKis

Race 06

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q19gdMrWuxI
It's possible to get enough letters to upgrade the car already after this race, but that's really exceptional. The letter below the zippers on the right side of the track seems to most often be O, but can occasionally be I. The other cars will always go for it, so you need to decide on the first lap if it's worth skipping a zipper for.

Race 07

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox5QnwmDHBc
The letter here is fairly often one of the lower ones (M or I), so it's worth making the detour for it since you'll anyways can catch the zippers.

Race 08

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYg650yv7fQ

For the sake of completeness, the bonus stage "Tug-O-Truck":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7VwIgWqkEc
You have to tap A and B consecutively to win. There are certainly many ways to do this, but one method that works fairly well is the following:
- Hold the left side of the controller between legs.
- One of the left fingers right above B.
- One of the right fingers above A.
If you now mash A, the controller will be pushed back a little and then bounce back, so your left finger will push B without even moving. This way you can create a sort of mashing of A and B alternately.

Race 09

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOumvumsnkk
More realistically, this is the race where you'll get your first upgraded car.

Race 10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBWnLD19TvU
There are so many nitros here that you can won't be able to use them all, so just activate a new one as soon as you can.

Race 14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzjBmXt9FNs
There is an excellent chance here to upgrade the car for a second time, but you're likely to struggle with an O or an A.

Race 15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkSF0KYorgE
If you didn't already upgrade, here is another good chance for getting the second upgrade. If you still haven't gotten the right letters, it might get complicated, since the the earlier letters, which are the ones you're likely to miss, seem to not be as frequent later in the game (as opposed to how the later letters are less frequent at the beginning of the game).

Race 16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX7gsnsiz3g

For the sake of completeness, this is a video of the bonus game drag race. Just like the "Tug-O-Truck", push A and B alternately. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DS5gCWifTs

Race 17

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpyHPTCRrrk
It happens fairly frequently that you're shot right at the beginning without any chance to dodge (other than hugging the wall and avoiding the zippers).
By using a nitro in the log section, you can jump over it completely, but it will create so much lag that it's slower than the nitro use shown here.

Race 18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9XJd8eEa_U
The row of dollar items can be collected by skipping the zipper one of the laps. This might mean the difference between affording the Mega after race 21 or not, so could be worth consideration if your money count is right at the limit.

Race 19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QECGyQEWBWA

Race 20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSRe13vDjjg

Race 21

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exTj9p9BYTg
It's pretty tricky to collect both of the first nitros and get the second zipper. Otherwise, you'll have to rely on luck by hoping one of the other cars don't collect nitros on the second stretch. It's a big time loss if you don't have nitros for the two big log sections.

Race 22

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Fw3VaNbPY
If you don't have Mega, you need to use a nitro when going over the jumps or you'll crash into the bombs. This creates a lot of lag though, especially on the first lap, so it should be avoided if you have Mega.
The section with the two log parts is very laggy and using a nitro makes it worse. If you're alone in this section on the second lap, you should use a nitro here though.

Race 23

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAWduBprK-Y
The nitro can be used in several different places, but it doesn't make a big time difference where. The stretch with the plane becomes easier with a nitro though, so it's a good candidate.

Race 24

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdHWVKOR24o

For the sake of completion, another "Tug-O-Truck". It seems to be pretty much identical to the first one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzVQ6gKDbv4

Race 25

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxMS5SYPgN0
Identical with race 1

Race 26

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6XjOb8CeZQ
Identical with race 10

Race 27

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I68cqUYZno
Identical with race 19

Race 28

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrmZ11r9GUQ
Identical with race 2

Race 29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuLWp7_h37k
Identical with race 11

Race 30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5PuD_uXohs
Identical with race 20

For the sake of completion, the second drag race. The other cars, especially the yellow one, is faster here. It's really of no importance though since there is no interaction between the cars and money is no issue at this point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUgxsjPhCIs

Race 31

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSriFMRFsUM
Identical with race 3

Race 32

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OeGyA76nNo
Identical with race 12.
This is one of the tougher races though. If you see a chance to sneak ahead one of the first cars on the first lap, you can try to use the nitro and grab the bombs before the finish line. Just keep dropping bombs and the car behind should run into them.
Another strat is to keep the nitro until the end and try to squeeze past a car on the final stretch.

Race 33

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih4a0a-Jbvk
Identical with race 21

Race 34

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U23tCW4suB8
Identical with race 4.
The green car will always try to collect the roll-cage and likely become a bother from that point and require you to slow down from time to time in order to keep a distance. If you're fast enough, you can beat get to the roll-cage first though, which is probably worth it since you can then proceed at full speed.

Race 35

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r9LrnnEVeo
Identical with race 13 One of the more difficult races. If you're good/lucky enough to get a start boost, you can try to collect the nitro in the middle of the first stretch, which then helps you to get two nitros on the right hand side of the track. If that's not the case, there should still be one nitro for you on the right hand side if you hug the left wall (seen from someone watching the screen). By using the nitro at the zippers, you can usually sneak past one of the cars before the finish line if you haven't made any big mistakes until then.

Race 36

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAfTh58bxu8
Identical with race 22