Caught on camera: a hot lap with Hot Wheels

Gulliver's Travels meets the world rally championship in a driver's-eye view of a toy car race


LITTLE KIDS and indeed big kids with a thing for cars are rarely happier than when assembling a Hot Wheels track. But few have the patience, or enough pieces of kit, to knock up a course that takes two minutes to lap and includes straights, jumps, loops and, er, a swimming pool — as seen in this film.


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The miniature car kits were launched by the American toy maker Mattel in 1968. Back then, attaching even the smallest 8mm video camera would have brought any Hot Wheels circuit crashing to the ground, so getting a driver’s-eye view of the course was impossible.

With the advent of cameras as small as the Hot Wheels cars themselves, some bright spark decided it was time to give fans a thrill to remember, with a first-person perspective on the action as the car hurtles around the course.

Sit tight and enjoy the ride. And look out for the swimming pool section.