They knew exactly where they were and they knew exactly where the curve was. Proof: they drove this at night TWICE in practice runs. They had to SLOW DOWN for the CURVE on both practice runs.
They didn't make the run ON TIME on either of the practice runs. They had to go OVER the speed limit (79mph) on most of the run and keep the speed up until the very last SECOND before HARD BRAKING, which 'management' said would work to get through the curve and make the run 'on time'. Management was wrong. People died. It's in the article. They admit that 'management' made the call.
Sorry to interrupt your fantasy, but you have devolved into ridiculousness. Sure "management" may have said keep the speed up, that's entirely possible. But "management" didn't instruct them to perform "HARD BRAKING" (all caps). There was no braking by the engineers. There was an automatic brake, but that was obviously inadequate.