Good comment BEagle; however, the excess RTOW was actually relatively small and wouldn't (shouldn't) have been a causal factor.
I query the professionalism of any crew which does not check the effect of the actual wind velocity on the previously calculated RTOW.
Figures I have heard are that the aircraft was around 5 tonnes over RTOW.
Any professional airline crew will know that to attempt a take-off with ATOW>RTOW is
illegal as it puts the aircraft outside scheduled perfomance regulatory requirements.
The CVR gives the impression that they knew full well that they were overweight, but gave the fact a Gallic shrug and hoped to get away with it....
FL - well put. Jock is indeed a top bloke!