If you give Feisar a go on Arridos Rapier you might be surprised how fast it is compared to AGS. On the PAL version I once thought it might be quicker than AGS, but I don`t think it is quite. But it`s very close. Never seriously tried Feisar/Arridos/Rapier on NTSC, and it might be a little different, but I think because Feisar is so light it doesn`t bottom out as much as AGS and keeps its speed, and Arridos is a very bottomy track, for want of a better word.

On Firestar I think you should take the right then right again splits. I think it`s a little faster because the exit from the right side of the last split, leading to the small jump, doesn`t cause fishtailing if you take that side. Also it`s easier to go from the first split to the second if you go right both ways, I think, because you can carve a nice U-turn between the two splits instead of having to deal with an awkward chicane shape if you take the left split after. I hope that makes sense! But it can depend on which ship you are using, and I go right - right in AGS because it can handle that, but left - left in Auricom.