An inside look at Target Race Aces

As I’m always looking for Hot Wheels that could be great racers, when I saw the Race Aces line at Target I couldn’t pass up the test. “Made for speed,” the blister package threatens. Complete with nickel-plated axles and a fancy chrome body it sure does look flashy, but does it perform?

Race Aces Ford Focus

No aces here, just a bunch of jacks

In short, no. I got the Ford Focus and after a few races against some of my top cars it failed to compete. In fact, it didn’t even do well against mid-range cars. I’m guessing the Race Aces are great for non-derby tracks that have loops, jumps, and curves, but on a straight gravity track it just can’t keep up.

For starters, the body is plastic and the chassis is metal. The same “chrome” treatment the plastic chassis usually has is given to the car body. It looks pretty sharp, I especially liked the red chrome. The car gets its weight from the metal chassis, which is built a little differently than the normal mainline chassis. The Race Aces chassis is weighted in the rear with two block-shaped anchors. Not sure if this is specific to the Ford Focus model or all of the Races Aces line. I only bought the Focus.

One place where the Race Ace gets it right is in the wheels and axles. At least in the casting I had, the axles were actually fixed. Maybe the axle clamps where tighter in this model, but they held them well. Secondly, the axles are nickel-plated, so I assume, as they are shinier than your normal mainline car axles. And a quick finger test suggests the nickel-plated axles do offer less friction than standard axles. Conveniently enough, the Faster Than Ever models in the mainline collection also sport nickel-plated axles…so now you know why they are faster than the rest. Unfortunately, in this case, the faster axles didn’t help the car perform any better.

Let’s get up close

Not the best value for racers

As an “exclusive” car found only at Target for a price of $2, I can’t say the Race Aces are worth the extra dollar investment…at least not for derby racing. I may try out another model from the Race Aces line to see if these results are shared, but for now I’m not impressed. The plastic body doesn’t help the car feel any better, it looks and feels pretty cheap, albeit extremely cool looking with all the chrome.

The nickel-plated axles are about the only redeeming value in a Race Aces car, however, since the chassis is metal, extracting the axles and wheels is a little trickier than just breaking plastic. If you’re not careful you’ll grind the axles when trying to cut away the metal axle clamps. And honestly, if you can find an FTE mainline car you’ll get the same axles with half the effort (and half the price).

Race Aces look more suited for the trick tracks that make up most of the Hot Wheels universe. Their bodies look great but are limited even for customization because they are plastic, you can’t paint these suckers. Turning a Race Ace into a contender of a derby car would be a great challenge that would look pretty sweet. The Race Aces are half way there, they just need some tweaking.