Hot Air Skyway

Hot Air Skyway (つぎはぎ スカイウェイ lit. Patched Skyway in Japanese) is the fifteenth race course in Crash Team Racing and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled. It is set in the sky with airships based on Cortex's Airship in the original Crash Bandicoot game. The pictures on them show that this is Pinstripe Potoroo's home track. The track can be quite hard for newer players, as it features many sharp corners, gaps in the wall where characters can fall off and two large jumps.

It is featured as the third race course in the Crash Cup (along with Polar Pass, N. Gin Labs and Slide Coliseum) and both the Yellow (as well as Dingo Canyon, Tiny Arena and Oxide Station) and Purple (as well as Roo's Tubes, Papu's Pyramid and Dragon Mines) Gem Cups. In adventure mode, it is in Citadel City, opposite from Oxide Station.

Shortcuts
This level has 3 shortcuts, the first being a farther landing pad to the right after the first jump which requires practice to do.

The second requires the player to turn around after the 2 tracks go side by side and jump over the border.

The third is to use the final turbo ramp, and to land on the track right next to the entrance of the tunnel under the hot air balloon. To do this players must use a fast character, be using an Aku Aku/Uka Uka mask, 10 pieces of fruit, and do the little "bunny-hop" just before one launches off the turbo ramp. One may also need to use the "turbo ramp" cheat and the power slide turbo boost as well, which would make it a lot easier, but it is uncertain whether they are needed to use this shortcut. It is also possible with a lot of luck to fall off at certain points and land on later parts of the track. Without using these methods, this is one of the toughest shortcuts in the game.

CTR Race

 * C: Around the big bend before the first jump.
 * T: At the last jump.
 * R: At the first jump.

Trivia

 * In early screenshots, the airships had Cortex's face on them instead, which means that it was originally supposed to be Cortex's home track. Another reason is because in the CTR intro, the camera pans through this course before cutting to Cortex who is preparing for the race.
 * It is possible that the name is a reference to the Skyway, a famous toll bridge in Chicago. If so, then this is a reference to the Crash 1 epilogue, where it is stated that Pinstripe moved to Chicago.
 * The track can be compared to the Crash Nitro Kart race track Thunder Struck because they are very similar with the only differences being shortcuts, no rain and no statues, and the surroundings are more orange/pink rather than yellow/green.
 * In the episode "The One with Monica's Thunder" of the popular U.S. sitcom Friends, one of the characters, Chandler Bing, can be seen playing Crash Team Racing, playing as Crash on Hot Air Skyway.
 * In the Nitro-Fueled version of the track, right before the finish line, there is a poster of Pinstripe parodying the cover of the Scarface movie.

Piste Air