Thanks, everyone. I didn’t think there’d be much interest in this one
I had no intention of revisiting it either, but after considering the great feedback I created a second version of “mesa.”
Alternate render
another render, camera higher looking down
wireframe view
shaded view bird’s eye view
After looking at the two renders, I prefer the first because details are lost in the second (partly due to higher jpeg compression, use of zblur, and an altered camera Lens value), although I do like the sky in the second. I could play with this for a while, but other projects need attention.
Some individual replies now:
skeletor [first post]: Thanks
[second post] Two higher views just for you dude
Don’t have time for any more but hopefully the links above prove helpful to you.
megamonster: Thanks. I necessarily didn’t mean for this to be as good as or better than other entries, just different and better in the personal sense of doing something better here than I did before in the area of environment/terrain creation. I’m pleased with the results though given the time constraints.
block01cube: Thank you 
Poju: Thanks. The alternate render now uses zblur. I know about SizeX/Y/Z and use them quite extensively. Suffice it to say the sky was the last thing I was concerned with in this particular piece, but I made changes to that in the alternate render and think the clouds fit the scene and add to the sense of depth better in the second render.
BgDM: Thank you very much, BgDM. I didn’t have time at the time I made this to play around with scale and other things such as zblur, but I think the second alternate render may have produced a better sense of depth. I adjusted the lens of the camera from 35 to 32, which brought more of the scene into view. I also tweaked the textures and moved the camera a little.
lukep: Thank you very much, lukep. I wish I had more time to work on it over the weekend, but it didn’t work out that way. I view the WC as a personal challenge, to get better at some technique that personally needs improvement, so this project served that purpose, although the final result was far from what I’d call perfect. Perhaps the second render is a step forward. I would have also liked more contrast and details yet, but I’m thinking more of F1s these days 
lemmy:
That was an hour and a half. Blender is great – especially for quickly establishing in 3d any concepts you may have in mind. As soon as I figured out what I wanted to do for the WC I added a grid and started moving verts around and seeing the scene come to life quickly.
SamAdam: Thanks!
Cativo: Great feedback, thanks! Age bands are sort of in there in one of texture channels (cloud textures stretched along the X axis), but maybe something to think about if I ever revisit this piece 
Well, that should be it, I think.
I have an F1 to build! 
RobertT