Friday, February 26, 2016

Hot Wheels Fantasy Pick'em - Season 1 Championship Bracket

We've reached the end of the regular season.  This championship bracket is the last chance to score points before we crown a winner. This bracket will feature all eight regular season winners.  Be sure to join us for season 2 with 32 new cars to be raced.  Here is the line-up for races in the championship bracket of the Hot Wheels Fantasy Pick'em game.

The Cars

Corvette Grand Sport Roadster

Bullet Proof

'15 Jaguar F-Type Project 7

Great Gatspeed

2015 Ford Mustang GT

Nitro Tailgater

HW Rapid Responder

Lamborghini Urus

The Match-ups

Corvette Grand Sport Roadster vs. Bullet Proof
'15 Jaguar F-Type Project 7 vs. Great Gatspeed
Nitro Tailgator vs.2015 Ford Mustang GT
HW Rapid Responder vs.  Lamborghini Urus

The picks



Results



Well, there you have it!  Nitro Tailgater and the Corvette coming down to the wire with a photo finish.  All the Corvette Grand Sports I've had have been quite speedy, but I thought the Nitro Tailgator definitely had it's work cut out for it.  However, my sister had a 2015 Nitro Tailgater that was pretty fast last year, so I knew it had potential.  In the end, it was the electronic finish line that declared the winner as it was too close to call with the naked eye.  Out of the 32 cars raced in Season 1 of the Hot Wheels Pick'em game, Nitro Tailgater turned out to be the fastest!

The Team standings also came down to a photo finish. Heading into this final bracket the top of the standings were pretty tight, but with extra points up for grabs, it was anybody's game.  Hollie made a late run winning the bracket and missing only one pick, but it was ScootysHotWheels with a big bracket this week to pull out the come from behind win and claim the top spot in the standings for Season 1.  Congratulations ScootysHotWheels!  You can check out the complete standings HERE.

Season 2 of the Hot Wheels Pick'em game will be starting soon.  We'll take a week off and then be back at it with the first races posted on March 19th.  In the meantime, buy some cars, do some testing and we'll see you soon for Hot Wheels Pick'em!



Friday, February 19, 2016

Hot Wheels Fantasy Pick'em - Week 8

Here is the line-up for races in week 8 of the Hot Wheels Fantasy Pick'em game. These are the last regular season 1 races.  Next week we will have a final race bracket featuring all eight regular season winners. But more on that next week here are the cars for this week.

The Cars


Lamborghini Urus


'52 Hudson Hornet


'70 Plymouth AAR Cuda


Nissan Fairlady Z

 The Match-ups


Lamborghini Urus vs '52 Hudson Hornet
Nissan Fairlady Z vs '70 Plymouth AAR Cuda

The picks


Results 




Both the Hudson Hornet and the Plymouth Cuda suffer from a problem we've seen with other cars we have raced.  Their wheels are set in so that the body of the car rubs on the side of the track.  Both had nice smooth rolling wheels, but because the body rubbed on the track, they were both slowed down considerably.

Team Standings can be found by clicking HERE. See who is racing and make your predictions for the championship bracket by clicking HERE.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Five fast Hot Wheels cars that you need to have in your racing collection

 So you got a race coming up and your looking for the fastest Hot Wheel car.  If you have one of this 5 cars in your collection you'll have a good chance of winning.  It's very hard to say what the fastest Hot Wheels car is, because there are some variables that aren't consistent from car to car.  Sometimes you just have to get a bit lucky and get a good pair of smooth, straight axles and nice, perfectly round wheels.  Not all cars come from the factory that way, although to look at them with the naked eye it would appear so.  That being said, there are some castings that are consistently fast, and below are 5 that every serious racer should have.

Ferrari F40
52 grams

There is some debate as to which Ferrari F40 is the fastest but if you stick with one put out in 2000 or before you'll have a pretty decent car.  The ones I've seen raced with success most often are the gold one pictured below, the yellow one from 2000, and the red ones from the mid-90's.  Don't mess around with the later F40s as any new ones are lighter with plastic parts.  The Ferrari has good weight that is distributed well.  It's low, wide stance helps it run straight and true on the track.


Ferrari F40

Probe Funny Car
72 grams

The Probe Funny Car is a heavy car, so if physics and potential energy have anything to say about it, this should be a fast car...and it is.  There are of course different versions of this car, but the one that I've seen most serious racers use is the yellow and black version from 1999 pictured below.  You can't go wrong with a good set of 5 spoke wheels.



Probe Funny Car

Way 2 Fast (Faster Than Ever)
43 grams

The Way 2 Fast is our next car and can be a very fast car.  Especially if you get the Faster Than Ever  (FTE) version.  Faster Than Ever refers to the type of wheel, and more specifically the axles. The axles are nickel-plated to reduce friction and increase the car's speed.  They work too.  Faster Than Ever cars are generally faster than their non-Faster Than Ever counterparts.  Faster Than Ever cars always have bronze open hole 5 spoke wheel.  They have been produced off and on since 2005, but the 2005-2006 cars seem to be the best.  This Way 2 Fast with Faster Than Ever wheels is a great car for racing.  Even though it's not as heavy as some of the cars on this list, it's FTE wheels and long wheel base are a great combination for speed.  Having most of it's weight in the back increases it's potential energy and helps it's performance.  And hey, it has 2 engines so it's got to be fast!


Way 2 Fast (Faster Than Ever)

Cadillac V-16 Concept (Faster Than Ever)
40 grams

Even though this car is the lightest on the list it is very fast.  You want the Faster Than Ever version from 2005.  This car has a very long wheel base and a nice wide stance. It's low center of mass, weight distribution, and aerodynamics all add up to make the perfect car.  If this car weighed more it would easily be the fastest car Hot Wheels makes.  Still, as it is, very few cars can beat this car.


Cadillac V-16 Concept (Faster Than Ever)

Pro Circuit Kenny Bernstein Funny Car (King Kenny)
64 grams

This car was part of the Pro Circuit series and came out in 1992.  It's not super common and a little tricky to come by, but this can be a VERY FAST car!  It has a long wheel base, good weight and wheels that are very rare on Hot Wheels cars.  If you look close you notice that the axle doesn't come all the way through the wheel.  There is a "cap" on it.  These wheels are similar to what you find on a lot of Johnny Lightning cars.  All of this works together to make this one of the fastest stock cars that I own.


Kenny Bernstein Funny Car

So there you have it, 5 fast Hot Wheels cars that you should have in your racing collection.  If you are interested in reading about more fast cars you should check out our big list of fast cars by clicking HERE


Friday, February 12, 2016

Hot Wheels Fantasy Pick'em - Week 7

Here is the line-up for races in week 7 of the Hot Wheels Fantasy Pick'em game. You can join in at anytime, so even if you haven't picked in previous weeks, make your picks and have some fun.

The Cars

HW Rapid Responder

'12 Ford Fiesta

'66 Ford 427 Fairlane

'68 Shelby GT500

The Match-ups


HW Rapid Responder vs. '12 Ford Fiesta
'66 Ford 427 Fairlane vs. '68 Shelby GT500

The picks




Results 




Team Standings can be found by clicking HERE. See who is racing and make your predictions for week 8 by clicking HERE.

Friday, February 5, 2016

Hot Wheels Fantasy Pick'em - Week 6

Here is the line-up for races in week 6 of the Hot Wheels Fantasy Pick'em game. You can join in at anytime, so even if you haven't picked in previous weeks, make your picks and have some fun.

The Cars

'67 Chevy C10

Arrow Dynamic


Nitro Tailgater

'67 Chevelle SS 396

The Match-ups


'67 Chevy C10 vs. Arrow Dynamic
Nitro Tailgater vs '67 Chevelle SS 396

The picks



Results 



Team Standings can be found by clicking HERE. See who is racing and make your predictions for week 7 by clicking HERE.

Monday, February 1, 2016

How To Build a Hot Wheels Shelf Track

Tired of that Hot Wheels track taking up valuable floor space next to the wall.  Get it off the floor and on a shelf.  Taking up one whole wall with my Hot Wheels track just wasn't going to cut it anymore.  We needed that wall space on the floor for other things.

My old track on the floor.
So I decided to put my track on a shelf.

First I picked up some brackets and a 12 foot board at Home Depot.



Next I used a stud finder to mark where the studs were.  I wanted to screw the brackets into the studs to help support the weight.  I wasn't planning on the track being too heavy, but wanted the option of adding heavier parts in the future if I so desired.  They do make some pretty tough anchors that you can just put in the drywall though if you don't want to try to find the studs.

Once I found the studs, I marked out a straight line using a level.




Once that I had the line across the whole wall, I screwed in the brackets.  Because of the way that the holes were in the bracket, I chose to match up the bottom hole in the bracket with my line to keep all the brackets level. 


You can see how we've already begun utilizing the wall space! :)
Once I got all the brackets up all I had to do was set the board on them and voila! A new shelf.  




To keep the track straight I am using a 3.5 inch board with 1/4 inch square dowels glued to the edge.  I discuss this method more in depth in my Ultimate Guide to Building a Hot Wheels Track.
 

I hung a different kind of shelf bracket on the start end of the shelf that is adjustable for the ramp or drop part of the track.  I decided to do this so that I could easily adjust the height of the start.  





I decided to build a drop down start gate for this track.  It's a real easy build.  Screw a small piece of wood down to the track.  Connect another piece with a hinge.  In the second piece, drill two holes just big enough for a small piece of dowel stick to fit in.  The hardest part is cutting holes for the dowels to stick up through the track, which really isn't too difficult.  I use magnets to keep the gate up and a little metal bracket to use as a handle to push it down. 



One reason I like the drop down start gate is that you can see the cars well at the starting line.


To make the track look a bit more exciting I printed out some racing "sponsor" stickers and put them on a few long thin pieces of wood.  Then I used screws to secure them to the wall side of the track.  It turned out pretty cool!


 

Next I found some cool tape that looked like a roadway and laid it down on the rest of the shelf.



It turned out looking pretty sharp!

 
The finish gate I'm using for this track is a pretty nice electronic one you can pick up here.


The last thing I did was pick up a little molding from Home Depot to put on the front of the shelf. It did two things.  First it made the shelf look a little nicer by giving it that finished look.  Second, it provided a lip to help keep the extra cars on the "road" from falling off the shelf.

     



Well, that's it.  It turned out pretty sweet I think.  If you'd like to see it in action, check out our Hot Wheels Fantasy Pick'em game.  I've been racing cars each week on the shelf track for that and it's been awesome!






Popular Posts