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1/4 mile downhill racetrack!

3K views 25 replies 17 participants last post by  mopar 
#1 ·
Tuesday, we will find out exactly how fast toy cars can go! These are some early shots that I took on Monday. This hill is nice and steep as far as roads go. 8-10% variable grade, if I recall correctly.


We are getting ready to shoot an episode for "Mythbusters" and those familiar with the show will recognize the hosts, Jamie and Adam. Yeah, that's Scottie too. She's really nice!



Today was just measuring the slope and doing some preliminary taping.



I brought a 1/4 mile of track. Special 25' long sections.



You'll have to wait and see why the Viper showed up :)

 
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#4 · (Edited)
Very Cool!



It is tough to keep a 1/64th car on 43ft of aluminum extruded track let alone seamed track going 1/4 mile. Those cars will only reach a certain speed and go no faster. The slightest bump or imperfection in the track and the cars will be airborne. But, it is myth busters and let's face it, most myths get busted.
 
#12 ·
We were shooting at just after 6:00 am. It was still pitch dark. Just basic stuff like us loading up the truck with the track and taking it to the hill.

Yes, we raced 1:64 scale cars against a real viper! Gravity only. The Viper had it's engine on only so that it still had it's power brakes and stearing. You're going to have to watch the show to see the results. Sorry, I don't want to spoil the fun :) I think that it would be OK though to see the Viper racing down the hill under full throttle! Here's the link. If you have dial-up access, you may want to right click the link and save it as a file.

http://www.racegrooves.com/hb/img_temp/ViperThrottled.MPG

The myth is... Can a real Viper beat a toy car in a straight downhill gravity race? It is scheduled for episode 33 which should air between late January and late February. I will keep you posted.

How fast did some cars go? Here's a teaser:

http://www.racegrooves.com/hb/img_temp/Whoosh.MPG

Gary, I had special, 1-time only, 25' sections of track made. I had a little extra made so I have 63 pieces. I may be selling them at the HWN Convention this weekend. I have not figured out how to ship them. I'm not even back home yet. It is 11 pm and we are still in Lake Tahoe. It was a LONG DAY! I have a 9 to 10 hour driving day in the morning...

And for those who are fans of the show, here's a couple items that you may recognize. They brought a styrofoam cube from "The Chicken Gun" show to stop the cars.



Here's Lulu the dog. She was in a very recent episode with the "Skunk Smell". She was the dog that was barking at the skunk to try to get the skunk to spew its odor.



Thanks a bunch to the crew for the pic!



Oh yeah, What's a quarter mile of track look like? Something like this :)
Those police cars look pretty small!

 
#13 ·
I like the diecast to win, less friction to get started and then its like a bullet. I'm thinking they both will go about the same speed though, just the diecast gets a better start. Man, 25' sections- Wow. I'd love for you to lose a few pieces around the 80/50 - I-5 interchange here in Sacramento :) I always hear about the Ladder in the middle of the freeway, slowing traffic :lol: That stuff is fun, I just hate to see you have to haul it all home :D
 
#14 ·
Sorry Joe, even though I am taking the 50 to the 99 south, (or that 65th street Expressway to the 99), my track is safe :) It was difficult to find a trailer for 25' long track! I wanted to keep it flat the whole way. I found a 16 footer that I could tow with my Avalanche. My original intentions were to have a few feet extend in front of the trailer and the balance hanging off the end of the trailer. When I got the trailer home, I didn't like the looks of 7' hanging off the back end. So, I custom built some shelves and had the track looped in the back like a horseshoe. I will get pics in a couple days.
 
#15 · (Edited)
markkaz said:
... Gary, I had special, 1-time only, 25' sections of track made. I had a little extra made so I have 63 pieces. I may be selling them at the HWN Convention this weekend. I have not figured out how to ship them. I'm not even back home yet. It is 11 pm and we are still in Lake Tahoe. It was a LONG DAY! I have a 9 to 10 hour driving day in the morning...
...
You had these made special! Wow! Probably cost a fortune. How much you you be selling them for and would you sell lets say 4 sections maybe 5 only? Don't they roll up into a circle? Is this the HW Convention in LasVegas this weekend?
 
#16 ·
Gary, I don't have any details about any Convention in Vegas. I thought that it was HobbyVision that was happening in Vegas. I keep hearing something about a convention in Vegas but I don't know what people are referring to. The SoCalOriginals club is doing "The Redline Jackpot" in February in Vegas. That's about all I know.

I have to see if Strauss has any room left for the Sunday show at the Hot Wheels Newsletter Convention in Irvine. I would like to sell some of the track pieces there since I wouldn't have to ship it. I don't have any idea how much I am going to have to charge for shipping. Yes, this track rolls up and flattens out rather well without any damage to the track. I can not warranty that it will arrive without the sidewalls being perfect. It won't affect racing though because the cars race along the bottom edge of the sidewalls. I also can not warranty that the track will slide together to make four lanes. 25' is way too long to expect it to connect. The track will be sold as used (for one day only) and as memorabilia.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Here's pic that I took when it was still dark. Here's our demonstration of the Chicken Gun :)



Here is our box of donor cars. The crew sends a very big thanks to Tom Lowe from Johnny Lightning! I'm sure that Linda, Associate Producer, told Tom how appreciative they were that he sent the cars. But let me tell you, quite a few crew members expressed their appreciation while we were at the location.

I don't know why it never dawned on me to get pics of the diecast. I guess that I was having too much fun racing them :)



I did happen to get this pic. Go ahead, sing along...
I'm your Boogie Van, that's what I am.
I'm here to do whatever I can.
Be it early morning, late afternoon
Or at midnight. It's never too soon
To want to please you,
To want to keep you
To want to do it all, all for you
I wanna be your, be your rubber ball.
I wanna be the Van ya love most of all. Oh yeah.

Chorus:
I'm your Boogie Van, I'm your Boogie Van.
Turn me on!
I'm your Boogie Van, I'm your Boogie Van.
I'll do what you want.

Of course, you need flag girls to start the races!





I'm not sure if I should be sharing the following pics so please keep them here. The four on-screen personalities made thier own custom cars.

Here is Adam's creation. A big hunk of lead. It was HEAVY!



Here is Jamie's. It was made from aluminum.



Here is Scottie's and Carrie's. Both used a Johnny Lightning chassis. Scotties was lovingly refered to as "Pinkie". Carrie's car had a few names but "Gecko" was used most of the time.



One thing about producing a show. There are delays and downtime. Here we are scanning through hundreds of frames trying to make sure that the high-speed camera caught the images.



Sometimes programs act up. Here's peter trying to fix it.



Sometimes you have to wait for other segments to be filmed.



And throught out the day, people take the opportinity to catch a catnap or take a load off of their feet.







And when it is all finished, you drive down the hill and pick up all of the track and surf on home :)

 
#22 ·
I'm glad that you enjoyed the pics. It's been a heckuva week!

I will definitely be letting ALL of the boards know as soon as I do! I would even like to have some type of viewing party. I have a couple months to see if that would be possible.

Goose, the entire crew was fantastic! Just a bunch of regular people doing their jobs well, supporting the show, and treating me and my family just like we were one of them.

Before they called, I had been Tivo'ing the show for a few months and enjoying it tremendously! It was very hard for me to contain my enthusiasm. Needless to say, I returned their call very quickly :)
 
#25 ·
I'm finally home and I am re-reading the posts. I just noticed that I posted the lyrics to Boogie Man/Van and forgot to post this image. DOH!



I don't know if the proper math is to multiply the toy car's actual speed times the scale (64) to get scale miles per hour. If that is true, then the speed of the toy car would be in the quadruple digits! That's about all I want to say :)
 
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