July 6, 2020
#395
Gentle reader,
When I last wrote to you, it was about the first competition since my wife and I decided to get into actually playing with diecast cars. I wrote about it here:
Since then, after she worked seven 12-hour days and was at last at home, we set out to run the finals.
Normally in real drag racing, it comes down to the final sixteen. But, since my qualifying criteria was cars which ran LESS than 2.20 seconds over our 1,181 (scale) foot drag strip, we ended up with eighteen competitors.
Cars are arranged from quickest, 2.00 to slowest 2.19 seconds.
We used Hot Wheels' own drag launcher which fires both cars at the same time.
The first four or feet were high-wall tracks to keep the cars which went immediately from zero to over 300 (scale) miles-per-hour on the track.
Translucent Cloak and Dagger™ ran a 2.00. Nitro Scorcher™ ran .03 slower. Howlin' Heat™ .03 less. And Speed Spider™ ran 2.07.
RD-03™ ran a 2.09. Very cool looking autonomous racer called: Roborace Robocar™ ran a 2.10 as did Midnight Otto™. Yellow Pony Up™ ran a 2.12.
NASCAR® Dodge® Intrepid™ Also ran a 2.12 as did Torque Twister™ Scion® FR-S™ and Sharkruiser™.
The "slowest" six were the very pretty 1963 Chevrolet® Corvette™ Stingray™ which set a 2.15 time. Fast Fish™ of which we have three ran 2.18. 1964 Chevrolet® Nova™ wagon, pink generic open wheel car, MX-48 Turbo™ and Exotique™ all ran the maximum of 2.19 seconds.
We ran each pair three times, switching lanes each time. Best two-out-of-three won the round.
Cloak and Dagger™ (top) verses Nitro Scorcher™. Cloak and Dagger won all three races.
Howlin' Heat™ (top) verses RD-03™. Howlin' Heat™ took all three heats.
Electric powered Roborace Robocar™ (top) against Speed Spider™. Speed Spider™ two to Roborace Robocar™ one.
1932 Ford® two-door-sedan Midnight Otto™ (top) took on Torque Twister™ of which we also have three. Midnight Otto™ won two over Torque Twister™ with one win.
Pony Up™ (top) against Mopar™ 6. Pony Up™ triumphed in all three races.
Scion® FR-S™ (top) verses Sharkruiser™. The Scion® FR-S™ won two out of three.
1963 Chevrolet® Corvette™ Stingray™ challenged Fast Fish™ and exceeded two to one.
In reality, there would be no contest here. But this is diecast racing. Hippie painted 964 Chevrolet® Nova™ wagon took on pink generic open wheel car. And it was reality in 1:64th scale too, three to zero.
Final quarter-finals race is MX48 Turbo™ (top) battling Exotique™. MX48 Turbo™ triumphed in all three races.
Next, we decided to race the quicker of the losing cars to see if they fared better.
RD-03™ won over Cloak and Dagger™, two to one.
Torque Twister™ verses Roborace Robocar™. The latter took two out of three.
Sharkruiser™ up against Mopar™ 6. The green machine won all three heats.
Hippie Nova™ took on Fast Fish™ and lost all three races.
Back to the semi-finals with ONE race per pair of cars. Howlin' Heat™ up against Nitro Scorcher™, with Nitro Scorcher™ winning.
'32 Ford Midnight Otto™ took on the Speed Spider™. Speed Spider™ won.
Blue Scion® FR-S™ verses Pony Up™. The Scion® took the win.
Classic 'Vette against generic open wheel racer. Once again, the actual race car beat the street car.
Four 1/00's of a second between these two cars in qualifying. Nitro Scorcher™ against Speed Spider™. The arachnid won.
Scion® FR-S™ verses pink racer. Surprise upset! The Scion® won.
Actual car verses eight legs. Speed Spider™ won.
Battle of two original designs: Electric Robocar won.
A car called Fish takes on a fish shaped car. Sharkruiser™ was triumphant.
Final semi-final races: Shark verses sports car. MX48 Turbo™ won.
Second semi-final pits arachnid against future technology. Nature wins!
MX48 Turbo™ is in the final race against Speed Spider. Will nature triumph? Yes!
Speed Spider is the 2020 Summernationals winner.
My wife noticed that winning cars had this type of wheels.
I have to hand it to the Hot Wheels® design team. They are extremely creative.
Check out the paint on the car below.
Eight eyes as a lot of spiders have in addition to their eight legs.
On a side note, we have a "male" version of the "generic open wheel racer".
The only difference aside from paint is the type of wheels.
Same style as Speed Spider™ which was triumphant over 193 cars in the Summernational Drag Races. The new Faster Than Ever™ wheels?
My wife has gone a little crazy buying track and cars, we just bought another eighty at a thrift store on July 4th.
Thank you SO much for reading my humble blog. Feel free to click FOLLOW which is at the end of article dates to the right of the photos and text. You may also leave a comment below.
Scott & Nancy
July 6, 2020
#395
