Visiting Lands Below The Equator

The Final Leg of a Three-Part Tour Exploring Diecast Racing Around the World

by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom

The road has been long, with many a winding turn. Our journey ends after today. Over the last three months, we have visited ten tracks around the world. We started at the very heart of the diecast racing world in California, USA. We’ve not been back to the US since. We’ve been exploring three international locations each month. That remains unchanged this month. What is unique about our third leg of this voyage? We will not be going north of zero degrees latitude. We’re headed to southern seas and three different continents, two of which we’ve not been to before.

Our travels most recently paused in Canada, so now we’ll head straight down through the Americas and start out in the largest land mass in South America.

São Paulo, Brazil

Thiago Penteago has been at the diecast racing game a little longer than most of the YouTube crowd who have come to the sport thanks in part of the Covid-19 pandemic. His YouTube channel is over 3 years old, and he has been cranking out quality content from Brazil’s largest city since the beginning.

The channel is called Corridas de Carrinhos (literally, Toy Car Racing). And racing toy cars is what he does. Penteago sees the channel as a realization of childhood endeavors. “Many of us wanted to do something similar with our cars since we were kids,” Penteago explains, “and it brings back memories from that time, which is a great thing.”

Because he’s been at it for a while now, Penteago’s influences are not the same as those of others. He cites Ghostjerker and Races And Fun as two of the tracks that he follows closely. “The channel that hooked us into creating my own channel was Ghostjerker...and, I love Races And Fun for their creativity”.

When thinking about the sport’s future, Penteago looks toward the past: “When we started the channel a few years ago, most diecast channels were focused on showing collections,” he remembers. “Today you can see a large number of channels for racing. I find it difficult to predict the future, but every day I see people investing in new tracks, different formats of competitions, and the tendency is to increase the offerings of good channels for our enjoyment.”

Enjoyment of the sport and hobby of diecast racing seems to be integral to Penteago’s approach to his channel. In addition to his races, he also features frequent unboxing videos.

Creating the unboxing videos flows naturally from a Brazilian maxim that suggests one ought to “combine the useful with the pleasant”. According to Penteago, “They’re easy to do. I’m always buying new diecast for my collection.” That means he is always able to create content, and it is content he enjoys.

With a quick canvas of the YouTube channels and Facebook pages that are the digital domain of diecast racing, one becomes aware that the viewers and/or consumers of the videos must be primarily of an Anglophone persuasion. Most of the content creators are either from English-speaking countries, or they have a good command of English themselves, and they present primarily in that tongue.

Thiago Penteago captions his races, rather than announcing them. This allows his presentation to be multilingual. The captions for every race are in both English and Portuguese. This is helpful because 30% of his viewership is from Brazil. The next largest population of viewers is from the USA (about 10%). Corridas de Carrinhos is really an international phenomenon. 70% of the channel’s viewership is outside of Brazil. “It really spreads all over the world,” observes Penteago.

In addition to unboxing videos, and a recent tournament of British cars, the channel is replete with content of various types. For two years, Penteago hosted daily races, and he does intend to bring those back soon after a bit of revamping.

THE PUCK STOPS HERE -- Keeping cars on the table, Thiago Penteago discovered that a hockey puck makes the perfect stopper when using Crash Racers track.

Readjusting the way his track is set up has become second nature to Penteago. “Unfortunately, I live in a small apartment,” he says, “and there’s no space to build a permanent track, with scenery and all. So, whenever we go racing, we have to build it from scratch.”

This constant ability to restructure the space may grow out of necessity, but it also creates a uniqueness to each racing series that sets the channel apart from others.

Sydney, New South Wales

And so, it’s off to Australia we go. Last month we visited Perth on the western coast of the continent. This month we’ll try the better known coast, and the country’s biggest city. We’re in Sydney to visit Hot Car Track and its proprietor, Simon Denny.

Denny has made his presence on the diecast racing scene known pretty quickly and very effectively. He is currently hosting an eight-car round robin tournament called Road Warriors (naturally named after the Australia-based Mad Max series of movies).

“It’s un-Australian to not be a fan of Mad Max,” Denny laughs. The series was limited to eight cars from 8 customizers from around the world. The names of the participants are well known in the greater racing community: Po’ Boy Racing, James Kleman’s 100 Proof Racing, and Redline Salvage Inc are all regulars on American tracks and channels like 3DBotMaker and I Like Cheese.

Denny’s series has some heavyweights in the mix, and that means he’s doing something right, because as he points out, “sending cars to Australia can be expensive for some people, in particular custom cars, as they can weigh up to 120 grams for my tournament.”

Part of what makes the Road Warriors series something that racers want to be in is the structure of the tournament.

“I wanted something different than a head-to-head race where the loser is never seen again, “ Denny explains. “So, I devised a plan where I limited the competition to 8 custom cars that race each other over seven weeks, with week 8 as the final.”

EIGHT IS ENOUGH -- The Complete field of the first Road Warriors tournament at Hot Car Track's Mount Western Speedway.

“I think this is great value for the builders as they have spent time, money, etc. building these cars,” continues Denny, “so the crazy plan of Road Warriors began.”

The final round of the first Road Warriors tournament concluded at the end of August, but season two is already ready to go, and there are “cars arriving for seasons three and four, with more cars arriving every week,” according to Denny. Anyone who is interested in being a part of Road Warriors can drop Simon Denny a line on Facebook to inquire about how to become involved.

He works in video production as his regular job, so it seems to make sense that one of the highlights of watching a Hot Car Track video is the exceptional production level. The graphics are solid, and the sound mixing is top notch. Additionally, Denny adds digital effects to his races. Smoke and flames can be seen coming out of the tailpipes of the cars as they rev up at the starting line.

“I’m always reaching for something new on the track to make this more lifelike (it that’s possible),” Denny comments. “I also have a stack of explosions with flames and some which might make an appearance one day.”

One can certainly hope. In a sport where chaos and carnage are often celebrated, a big boom with accompanying effects will most certainly be welcomed by viewers.

Java, Indonesia

If you thought that the 2020 Java Cup was about coffee, it’s probably a good thing that you’re in the geography lesson. The popular upstart DC World Racing, is now three rounds into its inaugural tournament. And that tournament takes place on the island of Java, one of the many islands that make up the nation of Indonesia.

James Gray started his life in Blackwood, Scotland. Like many a kid in the UK, he played with Matchbox cars, but he doesn’t remember having any specific favorite.

Diecast cars didn’t hold their sway over him until years later when he discovered 3DBotMaker’s races on YouTube this past May.

Gray found himself alone in Indonesia, and suddenly had discovered something to do with his free time.

“My wife had to go back to the UK for some family matters at the end of February, and because of the COVID lockdown has been unable to retun [to Java],” Gray relates, noting that his wife is likely to be able to return by later this month.

In the meantime, “to keep me busy at the weekend during her absence, I have built Fraser Ridge Raceway.”

Since May, Gray has not truly been alone in his building project. Hundreds of people across the world have been closely following the development of the track thanks to Gray’s regular posting of his progress in a Build Journal on Redline Derby, and in various discussion threads on Facebook.

“I find it very rewarding,” states Gray. “I would encourage anyone starting out on track building, to join the Redline Derby site. The feedback I have received from various Facebook forums has been exceptional. [Diecast racers are] a very supportive and encouraging community.”

“I am very pleased with the overall excitement around the build,” says Gray. “But, ultimately it is about racing. I want to do everything I do to compliment and support the racing, as that’s where the real excitement is.”

MEET THE BEAST! -- The first corner is hidden from the cameras, which leads to big surprises at the tunnel exit at Fraser Ridge.

Gray seems to know what the audience likes. His favorite part of his track aligns with what viewers like, too: “My favorite part of the track has to be ‘The Beast’,” he says, referring to the first turn which is located inside a tunnel. “It is absolutely amazing all the action that happens as a result of that sharp 180 degree two-lane corner inside the tunnel.”

Gray is also an eager ambassador for his new sport. “I have introduced a number of my UK friends and family to diecast racing as a result of all of this.” He’s also got a sizable following of his channel among the locals in Indonesia, too.

In addition to suggesting that anyone building a mountain should join Redline Derby, Gray reflects on what he has learned along this process: “The best advice is to continually check and test the track as you build. It is amazing how the smallest change to the layout can have a very big effect with how the cars perform on the track.”

And, as an outside observer, one can learn a lot about how to stir up excitement for one’s YouTube channel by seeing how James Gray built his community by building publicly. And a great build it is!

Post-Tour Travelogue

As our tour comes to a close, there are many tracks in countries that we’ve not yet visited. I feel a bit disappointed that I’ve not yet discovered any tracks in Africa or mainland Asia. If you happen to know of anyone running a league from those parts of the world, pass along the info by sending an email to comments@diecastracingreport.com. We will happily visit them in our next look at international tracks. Also, in the unlikely event that you’re reading this within the confines of a research facility in Antarctica, let me know if anyone there is racing Hot Wheels. The photos of that would be something I’d like to see!

One thing that became clear in the writing of this series was just how closely the community of diecast racers has bonded everywhere during a pandemic that restricts personal travel to a high degree. Thanks to YouTube videos and Facebook groups, these ten track owners and many others like them have created an outlet for creativity and competition that literally knows no borders.

I asked each of the interviewees about what they saw in the future for diecast racing. Every one of them mentioned the growth of the sport. No one said that they thought the end of the pandemic (whenever that might be) would bring about a shrinkage of the diecast racing populace. It seems that, even for those who have been involved for a long time, the quarantine/lockdown months were something that spurred people on towards attempting to build something new while stuck at home, and whether that was a track or a car, that is now a part of their world, and a part of them going forward.

One of the tracks we featured in our first leg of the journey, Chaos Canyon in New Zealand, has taken the lead on pulling together an international tour of four tracks (three in America, one in New Zealand), and that will be coming up very soon.

Another of our first issue stops, Hot Wheels Calgary, has started showing daily races on his new track.

Over in Ontario, Beaverworx (featured in our second installment of the series) has finished their primary racing track and the footage from the first race there looks impressive.

Many of the cars that are headed to Stefan Huwer’s track in Germany are being gathered up in Buffalo, New York for a unified shipment to his VW Golf event. And viewers of 3DBotMaker’s King of the Mountain recently saw one of Huwer’s kids’ cars representing Germany in a qualifying run at Race Mountain.

It’s good to keep up with our international friends.