Some rules for racing

5 October 2008 3 Comments

My whole motivation for the Hot Wheels Derby track was because I got tired of poker games. Not only do I not think poker is any fun, it’s too serious. People take it too seriously, not to mention it’s complicated - at least for me…way too much to think about during a regular game. So I thought Hot Wheels drag racing could be a little more fun while still allowing us to “keep things interesting.”

Not to say I had gambling in mind when I started this…OK, I guess I did, but it doesn’t have to be. But in my opinion, putting money on something simple and skill-free, like cars, is a lot less intimidating than playing cards. I think of it like horse racing. I have no control over the horse, but I hope my pick wins. I also like that racing is quick. Poker can last for hours and if you lose early you’re doing a whole lot of nothing while the others finish.

As the derby track nears completion, I figure it’s time to start talking rules. I jotted some of these ideas down a long time ago, so post with your feedback and we’ll eventually get to some happy place where everyone can be excited about the races. Of course, all this racing for rewards is as an alternative to poker. If the money isn’t motivating, then we don’t need it. I know some people need more motivation than pure enjoyment to participate, so this for those folks.

The Basics
- 1:64 scale cars only, preferably Hot Wheels, and that’s just because I’m a HW Guy.
- Model/line of car is up to each driver. I recommend the $0.99 variety at Target, but if you want to race your $4 Johnny Lightning, feel free.
- Races are like-cars only (mod-vs-mod, stock-vs-stock)
- Bracket tournament style with two cars per race.
- Each race is best of three heats. Winner of each heat gets lane choice for next race.
- No do-overs. If your car wrecks on the track you lose that heat. If both wreck it’s a tie and both race again on same lanes.
- Finish gate results are final.

Racing for Green
- $1.00 enters your car in tournament
- 2nd place driver gets entry fee back
- 1st place driver gets remainder of pot

Racing for Pinks
- No entry free, but you must own the car you’re racing
- For each race, winner gets loser’s car.

Now the theory is that everyone will go out and buy their cars and bring them to the track for racing. I also had a thought of pure random picks tournament. Since I have a rather extensive collection of cars, each driver would blindly pick a car from the collection to race. Heats run like normal with normal payouts, but nobody can race the same cars again. All cars used get removed from the pool and everyone draws again for the next set of races.

Or we get crazy and play darts to pick cars. Yeah, that’s it, darts. We take 20 cars and give them each a number, then throw darts at the board to see which car we each get. It’s like two games in one!

There are also chances to have classes for races. Like modified cars only, classes by weight, classes by car style/type…heck, even class by color. There’s all sorts of ways you could slice and dice the racing. I my opinion, whatever method keeps races close and fun is the best choice - but that’s all trial and error.

Like I said, just some thoughts that seem harmless. It’ll take a while to figure out what works for everyone best. Sure, you won’t come home with an extra $100 at the end of the night, but when was the last time you earned even $5 racing Hot Wheels? Hey, that $5 is lunch tomorrow!

If all this seems a little hardcore, well, I guess it is but I think that’s how we and make something like Hot Wheels a little more “adult.” A warning, however, that this will also severely alter how you look at Hot Wheels next time you’re at the store. No longer will you just admire the cars as cool looking toys, but you’ll wonder which one will run the fastest. You’ll start looking at wheel size, body style, weight. There are a lot of physics in racing and that’s half the fun.

Maybe this isn’t better than poker, but it at least at the end of the night you still have a fun toy to play with, so you never go home empty handed.

3 Comments »

Nxt2doc said:

OK so heres the deal. We are in Evansville Indiana and we have started racing Hotwheels. We started on one of the four lane store bought tracks at a birthday party for a five year old. The track was supposed to be for the kids. Buuutttt dads ended up racing for pinks, my brother being one of them. Over the last six months that has evolved into a monthly gathering with a track built combining your plans with our allowed space and materials on hand. We run one class and its rules are simply this. Hotwhells or Matchbox cars only, altough Hotwheels has become the brand of choice. The car can weigh no more than two ounces and of course it must fit on the track. although no one has brought a car with a power source to a race it is pretty much a understanding that the cars will be gravity powered only. But that doesn’t mean that a powered car hasn’t been thought about and unoficially built. We race for Pinks and Saturday I came home thirteen cars richer, It ws a good day. This thing has been a way for my brother and I to spend time together working on cars and so on, which has been great for us. Although there has never been any issues between us, being busy doing what us adults have to do has left him and I with little contact for some time know.
We are in the thought process for a new track. We are looking at a track with a Formica surface to stop with the variation between lanes that we get with stock track and are looking at an electronic timing device, the plans for which where found here on the net at a scout packs website. Lord willing and the creek don’t rise we will be able to time our cars to the thousandths of a second. And we are all looking forward to that for testing and tuning. Ie. is the car really faster with that extra quarter of an ounce. The best part of this is that it can be done on a pretty tight budget. We have just as much fun as the guys at the local drag strip and our cars only cost us 97 cents.
Our main rule is that this will always be for fun. If it ever gets to the point where tempers flair or people leave the race whithout being able to shake hands its done. So by all means give me a hollar at my e-mail and let me know of any more tidbits of die cast technology that you may know. Always looking for an edge on the compatition you know.

# 9 June 2009 at 11:12 am

Mike in NYC said:

Had to post…Especially now that you’ve inspired me to build a track.

I’ve been researching tracks for a while. I have a 5 y.o son and I wanted to buy plain old straight HW track at retail. Of course it was impossible. I did manage to get 2 re-issued “classic” sets on ebay and we ended up with roughly 20 feet of track. So far so good, but not great for racing…..

This eventually led me to discover your photos and related info. You got me thinking much bigger….

So this is where I am in the process: I’m going to build a 4 lane track that will be (up to) 50 feet long. I’m using Blutrack.

http://www.blutrack.com/

My start/finish/timing system will be from: http://www.newdirections.ws/blutrack.htm

I did notice a roll of 50′ of HW track on Amazon, but it was considerably more money than the bluetrack. I have a 24 foot piece of Blutrack that has been fun, but I want to be able to go longer.

I’ll let you know how I make out. Thanks for the inspiration.

-mn

# 8 July 2009 at 8:13 pm

Brian (author) said:

Glad I could help light some Hot Wheels fire, Mike :) Sounds like you’re going balls to the wall, kudos! I wish I had discovered Blutrack before I started collecting my HW track, I’m sure it runs much better. The finish line is still a little pricey for my taste.

But there is something old school fun about having orange track with the joints and everything. I’ve decided to use the playset finish line for now but I did make my own start gate that works pretty well.

And if you haven’t yet, check out my Redline Derby Racing page and community. There’s more photos and links there. You can post your own pics and stuff.

http://www.morningtoast.com/feature/hotwheels/

# 8 July 2009 at 10:04 pm