Wingrest Roundabout Advanced: Gold

This one was pretty challenging for me to get gold on, and I'm guessing it was for you too or you wouldn't be here. You've already figured out that the giant arcane balls are bad. Don't give them too much berth though, it'll rob you of momentum while adding unnecessary distance. You can dip your talons or wingtips in and still be okay.

Here's what finally got me to 51.774, under the 53.000 clock was these tips:
* I only used Surge Forward, though with 3 vigor left for the final sprint from the last ring to finish, Whirling Surge works there too.
* When dropping in off the start platform, dive down immediately for a quick momentum gain, flying low through the first ring.
* You'll be vigor-starved for the leg from Wingrest Embassy to the sea. That's okay, just keep hitting Surge Forward when you can, and you should be recharging one just as you come to the ring+vigor on the little island. Hit surge again, and then again with the vigor you just restored.
* Be sure to get the vigor just to the left as you enter the wetlands section. That's the only one I deviated at all for, and it is super close.
* Stay low through the wetlands, being sure to get each vigor along the route. I basically stayed pretty flat just a couple of meters off the flight deck. It helps to have the Top Gun theme going through your head.
* As you near the end of the wetlands you should be able to just keep spamming surge from there to the end of the race. The restores on the route are more than enough to sustain you.
* As you ascend the path there are only two minor tricky parts. The first is a right turn around a rock outcrop; just anticipate an early turn there to avoid it.
* The other is going through that tower, which can also mess with your camera if you don't fly in first person (I don't). From the prior ring just try to get roughly level with the tower opening and you should be able to get a cleaner shot through it.

There are no useful vigor restore balls that are any more than a couple of meters off the line, as far as I can tell. I experimented a bit with trying to grab the one on the tower on the left that you can see from the start, swooping right after going under the bridge for the second ring. It didn't really help. I *did* get a sub-53 (52.something) by veering to the right immediately after the first ring, to grab the vigor on the treetop, but I don't think it makes a meaningful net win though it did mean a clearer line through the bridge for the second ring.

Hope these tips help. Highway to the danger zone ...

This was a big help! Being patient with the boosts at the beginning was key to timing this; don't simply spam the boost but try to spend about one per ring. The tower was definitely the trickiest part for me; getting just a bit of extra altitude for that made a big difference. Also make sure to keep altitude just after; I ended up landing on the rock by the last ring one of my runs, which cost me gold.

All of this was super spot on (all of tale's fabulous, detailed explanation as well as Aresk's tips). I found the necessary precision through the wetlands a bit too difficult for me to manage and still keep Surge Forward up, so I cheezed a bit. Before I started, I set up a Bronze Timelock right at the final ring on the platform. When I rounded the final tower through the second last ring, I hit the Timelock - porting me instantly across that long distance directly through the end ring. Time: 52.015!