# Real-life Hot-Wheels track possible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 8, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-hot-wheels-track-possible/395110 "2007-03-08T15:33:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-hot-wheels-track-possible/395110/21 "2007-03-09T06:46:19Z")
[QUOTE=brewha] This is alot of fun, but if you take a turn too fast, you can fly off the track. [/QUOTE] JUST like a Hot Wheels car! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-hot-wheels-track-possible/395110/22 "2007-03-09T07:18:38Z")
Have _none_ of you seen [_The Man With the Golden Gun_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071807/trivia)? > [@](#): > > The classic spiral loop car jump stunt was done in one take. > [@](#): > > The spiral “Javelin Jump” was performed by a modified 1974 Hornet X: special suspension, a six cylinder engine (for reduced weight), centered steering wheel, and a special fuel system to stop the car stalling when turning over. [Here’s](http://www.totse.com/en/media/televisionary_film_vidiots/movietri.html) an online cite which matches what I’ve read about the touring group that performed the stunts. > [@](#): > > During AMC’s promotional tour, they had a few mishaps (including a roof landing when the car stalled on approach to the ramp), but the stunt that appeared in the film was done on the first take. A group of university students came up with the original idea, and used a computer to calculate the necessary environment. So the answer to your question is: Not only can it be done, it _has_ been done and it was AMC that did it! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-hot-wheels-track-possible/395110/23 "2007-03-09T08:08:27Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Have _none_ of you seen [_The Man With the Golden Gun_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071807/trivia)? [/QUOTE] Sure, but that was just a jump with a barrel roll built into it; not what we’re talking about in this thread - a loop-de-loop. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-hot-wheels-track-possible/395110/24 "2007-03-09T08:14:18Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Sure, but that was just a jump with a barrel roll built into it; not what we’re talking about in this thread - a loop-de-loop. [/QUOTE] The OP says “loop and a jump” so the Javelin Jump fits. A loop-de-loop would be possible. Certainly something similar to it is done in circus acts where performers ride motorcycles around in giant metal mesh balls. You’d need a computer to work everything out to be certain that you didn’t kill yourself, but it could be done. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-hot-wheels-track-possible/395110/25 "2007-03-09T08:28:41Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] The OP says “loop and a jump” so the Javelin Jump fits. [/quote] Maybe, but ‘Real life Hot-Wheels track’ doesn’t leave so much ambiguity. ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-hot-wheels-track-possible/395110/26 "2007-03-09T14:08:15Z")
The BBC Top Gear program needed supplementary rockets to get decent speed on their Mini (old style) down a ski jump. [Linky](http://www.topgear.com/content/timetoburn/sections/galleries/other/winter_olympics/01/) ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-hot-wheels-track-possible/395110/27 "2007-03-09T14:52:29Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I think you’d need a car with very strong, stiff suspension and possibly solid tyres. [/QUOTE] That’s the first thing I thought of. Treadless plastic Hot Wheels tires aren’t going to be that grippy; if they hit the edge of the track, the cars just bounce off the edge and resume their course. If grippy rubber auto tires were used on a real world-sized hot wheels track, cars hitting the track rim might just jump it, instead of bouncing off and sliding back towards the center. This wouldn’t be much of a problem with real world-sized slot cars, though, as long as the pin that holds the car in the slot doesn’t break. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-hot-wheels-track-possible/395110/28 "2007-03-09T15:00:25Z")
**Sunspace** , the TTC should hire you to provide insight on how to re-design the Union loop. A lot of commuter’s mornings could be made a lot more interesting. Wheeeee! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-hot-wheels-track-possible/395110/29 "2007-03-09T15:03:31Z")
I was thinking of the solid tyres more as a solution to the forces they’d be subjected to just driving around the loop - Hot Wheels track has a rim because the cars are too small to fit a driver inside; a full sized track wouldn’t necessarily need them if a stunt driver was capable of keeping the car on the track. There’s a loop just like this in the Madness City mod for MS Midtown Madness 2 ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-hot-wheels-track-possible/395110/30 "2007-03-09T15:17:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Hot Wheels track has a rim because the cars are too small to fit a driver inside I love this explanation. 🙂 I am picturing the Hot Wheels engineers trying every way possible to get a driver in those things, then just throwing up their hands and installing a rim on the track. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-hot-wheels-track-possible/395110/31 "2007-03-09T16:38:53Z")
I think the size of the circle needs more attention than it is getting. The circumference has to be based to the wheel base/over all dimensions of the car because of the approach angles in the front and rear. You wouldn’t want the front bumper to dig into the incline before the front wheels get started up the slope, and you also wouldn’t want the rear bumper to drag as the front wheels start going up the hill. I do know it has been done on a skateboard as Tony Hawk and a few others have done it, so I see no reason why we can’t do it using the right vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-hot-wheels-track-possible/395110/32 "2007-03-09T22:54:28Z")
[QUOTE=stolichnaya] I am picturing the Hot Wheels engineers trying every way possible to get a driver in those things, then just throwing up their hands and installing a rim on the track. [/QUOTE] That’s exactly how it happened! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-hot-wheels-track-possible/395110.md?page=1)