What makes some Hot Wheels faster than others? Given we’re on a very tiny scale it’s often hard, if not impossible, to come up with a actual formula for making your cars speed demons. But one factor that often determines if your car even makes it to the finish line is wheelbase.
Look for a wide wheelbase
The wider your car is and the wider your wheelbase, (often) the faster your car will go. You want to eliminate car wobble as much as possible. Take a car with a narrow wheelbase – like a muscle car – and pay attention to how it bumps from side to side as it goes down the track. Every time that car bumps the edge and spends time not going straight is time lost going down the track.
Find a car that has a wide chassis and a wheelbase that puts the tires as close to the corners as possible and you’ll probably have yourself a speedy car. Pay attention that a wide chassis is NOT the same as a wide wheelbase. The two do not always match up. Check out this shot, on the left the 1962 Chevy, which is plenty wide and big. On the right, the 510 Datsun.
Left: Narrow wheelbase (bad), Right: Wide wheelbase (good)
Notice the wheels on the Datsun are close to the corners and close to the edge of the chassis. The Chevy has a wide chassis but the wheels sit far inside, which lends itself to wobbling down the track. And I can tell you the Datsun beats the Chevy by several car lengths in a race. This isn’t to say other factors aren’t involved in making your car fast – like weight or axles – but wheelbase is probably the easiest to solve because you and check it out at the store when you buy cars.
Make your own wheelbase
However, in my opinion the cars that provide the best and widest wheelbase are also some of the most uninteresting cars in the lineup. They are typically boxy roadsters which just aren’t my style. The real challenge is find a car/body you love and making it work, even if it doesn’t have a wide wheelbase to start with. Take that Chevy or some other car with a narrow wheelbase and turn it into a project to make it track respectable – now that’s challenge!
I’ve followed your articles on “hot rodding” Hot Wheels car with interest, since three of kids in my neighborood come over to my house to play with their cars. These 8- to 10-year-olds are ulra-competitive about who has the fastest car from week to week.
Your suggestion to fix he axle in place sounds good. I wonder if this performance effect could be improved further by putting a very light, very small spring between the body of the car and the wheel. Obviously, we don’t want the spring to be so strong that it causes any appreciable friction, but if it keeps the wheels in the best postion, I would think it would help improve performance.
Putting a plastic bead between the body and the wheel on the axle would have th same effect, with less friction, but of course, there is no way take the wheels off the axle. With a spring, I can just lift it open and twist it in to place. I’ll give this a try when I can find a suitable set of springs. I might also try making my own axles from straight pins. That way, I could choose the size of the bead, and get the wheels as far to the outside as possible. The difficult part would be mounting my four axles (I’d need to use one pin per wheel) so that they were straight.
Wow, good idea with the spring, Charlie. I never thought of a tiny spring to keep the tires forced out. Where do you find such tiny springs?
I’ve used glue and even JB Kwik on the axle between the wheel and the chassis and it worked relatively well. A small bead of solder might do the trick too. I haven’t really invested that too far yet.
I’m not sure what would produce the least amount of friction. Since the bead of solder is round in theory there isn’t much of the solder touching the wheel. Plastic would probably work but I’m not sure what/how to get that in place.
Now you have me spring shopping! Take some photos and share your results in the forum.
I actually haven’t found a spring yet that I think would work well. My big concern is avoiding generating friction. I’m going to talk to the folks in the mechanical lab where I work, and see what they suggest, in terms of very small, light-tension springs.
I’m also having trouble with axles. Straight pins and hat pins are too small.
— Charlie