Shimmering Flats

The Shimmering Flats is an expansive salt flat lying at the southeastern tip of Thousand Needles, bordering the desert of Tanaris. Once the bed of an ancient lake, this sun-baked expanse is now famous for the high-speed mechanical rivalries of the Mirage Raceway and a harsh population of desert beasts.

Stretching out under the blinding southern sun, the Shimmering Flats is a vast dried lakebed devoid of vegetation, dotted with the sun-bleached bones of turtles and even the wooden wreck of an ancient sailing vessel. Its sheer, unbroken level surface makes it the premier testing ground on Kalimdor for experimental vehicles. At the center of the flats lies the Mirage Raceway, where gnome and goblin tinkerers constantly clash to see whose rocket cars, gyrocopters, and engines can achieve the highest speeds—often resulting in fiery crashes and smoking craters across the white crust.