DIECAST RACING REPORT November 3, 2020 – Vol. 1 No. 10
Scary Times! October Closes With Spooky Themed Races Feast or Famine: Finding Time for Creating Content
Inside: Racetober: What’s That in the Rearview Mirror? Turning Back the Clock – KotM Tournament #2
2 | Diecast Racing Report
In This Issue
Table of Contents Editor’s Notes
4
Calendar
5
Resources
21
QuickTips
6
News Briefs
7
Features Racetober
8
Halloween
9
9
Tournaments Rust Belt
15
Big Poppy Racing
16
Redline Derby
19
OnTheTrack
6
RTR Diecast
20
Chaos Canyon
21
Flat Rabbit Racing Club
22
I Like Cheese
22
Jackson Pass Speedway 24 3DBotMaker
25
Diecast Racing Report is a publication of Kit Kayem LLC, 7511 Greenwood Ave N #112, Seattle, WA 98103, USA Comments or letters to the editor: comments@diecastracingreport.com Are you a writer, photographer, artist, or other ne’er-do-well? Drop us a line: submissions@diecastracingreport.com Contributors: Christopher (Kit) Kidder-Mostrom, Ali Kidder-Mostrom, Steven King, Josh Paufler Cover Art: Chris Kester November 3, 2020 | 3
Editor’s Note
W
ell, here we are in November! Back a month ago, you may remember that we endorsed the idea of Racetober. It was an idea put forth in a thread over at RedlineDerby.com. One of their regular hosts had fallen behind and he proposed catching up on the past races over the month of October. That idea had some weight to it, and we completely grabbed on to it. Our own columnist, Josh Paufler had recently written about how an enthusiastic host could easily come up with too many new events and overburden themselves with too many races to be held. It happens to the best of us. It seemed like everyone in the community was on the same page. The summer had seen a huge influx of racing participants, a slowdown of the US Postal Service, and things like
the start of new school protocols (including having kids home all the time), which made the act of hosting races a little more difficult, or more complicated, at least. So, a month to regroup and get back on track was a welcome concept. In this issue, we’ll be looking back at what was indeed an intense month in the world of diecast racing. It wasn’t the month that we expected as we set out, but there were some winners over all. Our features this issue delve into the month that was. Our deadline day was Halloween, so it was difficult to miss all the holiday-themed content out there at this time of year. There are so many races revolving around October 31st, that we just had to make that a part of this issue, too. It seems a fitting closure to the month of Racetober. Cars, creatures,
races, and challenges aren’t exactly Trick-orTreating, but in this day and age it’s a good substitute. Kit K-M
For many Editor-in-Chief of the new arrivals to this hobby/sport, diecast racing entered their lives that way: as a substitute for sports or outdoor activities. It was something to be embraced as part of the new indoor world. As summer proceeded and restrictions on our activities were somewhat lifted, I started to reflect on the question that I’d asked so many of my interviewees: would diecast racing’s newfound popularity continue on once people didn’t have to stay home all the time? Well, the pandemic isn’t gone, and some parts of the world are going back into lockdown. It seems that as Autumn brings colder days, we’ll have even more reason to gather around our workbenches and tracks. We’ll have more time in the warmth of our dens or living rooms with races on the screens. The momentum of the sport shifted over the last few months. A huge influx of participants and fans does that. And I think that the last few weeks will have a huge effect on where this sport goes hereafter. We shall soon see! We’re light on staff this issue, and so our coverage has taken a little longer to get onto the page than normal. Please let this issue be a day brightener on your election day.
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Calendar
Mail-in Race Deadlines Stock: Redline Derby Racing League November Races: Northeast Beast Deadline for Entry: November 16, 2020. Drag strip. Weight limit 65 grams for stock vehicles. Field limited to 32 participants. One car per participant only. More Info: RedlineDerby.com Redline Derby Racing League December Races: Redline Derby Speedway - Deadline for Entry: December 5, 2020. Drag strip. Weight limit 65 grams for stock vehicles. Field limited to 32 participants. One car per participant only. More Info: RedlineDerby.com
Modifieds: Muscle Mania 2020 – Deadline for
Entry: November 11, 2020. Drag strip. 65 gram weight limit. Three categories of muscle car drag racing. Cars must appear on approved lists. More Info: RedlineDerby.com
December 4, 2020. Road course. Weight limit 60 grams. Cars must be models that have competed in NASCAR. Any Era. More Info: RedlineDerby.com
Redline Derby Racing League November Races: Northeast Beast Deadline for Entry: November 16, 2020. Drag strip. Weight limit 60 grams for modified vehicles. Field limited to 32 participants. One car per participant only. More Info: RedlineDerby.com
Redline Derby Racing League December Races: Redline Derby Speedway - Deadline for Entry: December 5, 2020. Drag strip. Weight limit 60 grams for modified vehicles. Field limited to 32 participants. One car per participant only. More Info: RedlineDerby.com
Plethora of Party Wagons Deadline for Entry: December 1, 2020. Road course. Weight limit 50 grams. Must be Partywagon casting. No nickel-plated axles. Limit 2 entries per household. More Info: RedlineDerby.com Stock Car Smack Down at Mac Mountain - Deadline for Entry:
Friday Night Cheese– Deadline for Entry: rolling (open submissions). Road Course. 150 gram weight limit. More Info: ILC Race Series King of the 621– Deadline for Entry: rolling (open submissions). Drag strip. 100 gram weight limit. More Info: RedlineDerby.com
November 3, 2020 | 5
Resources
Quick Tips
Fall Back: Turning Back Time to Find Sage Wisdom
W
hether starting out new in diecast racing or working to improve your racing game, there’s a lot to learn from experienced modders. It’s easy to look at YouTube for these tips when you’re already there to watch the races. However, a wealth of information can be found in other sources too, though sometimes it can get buried by all the new attention of this year. Since most of us in the USA just went back in time (an hour) Sunday, we decided to take the Quick Tips back in time too… to some of the very first Modding and Performance posts on
RedlineDerby.com. 1. Don’t forget friction. In the discussion of “Swapping Wheels on FTE axles??” It became clear that friction can be added when using axle tubes with FTE axles. Check out this discussion to see model40fan’s advice. 2. Be prepared for the unexpected. Why does a great car slow down? aerofan999 asked this very question (“What Happened?”) and got some solid answers. Do you think you have a tip to add? Check out the conversation in the Redline Derby Racing archive. 3. Don’t be afraid to go a little crazy. When anything goes, you don’t just have to depend on weight and axle polish to speed up your car. Look at what
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folks recommended when MVPCarbon asked “Does anyone have any ideas?” 4. It’s all about weight. It’s definitely an Frequently Asked Question : “When adding weight, what do you use?” Back in 2010, the tried and true standards were mentioned. A decade later, WidowMaker Run recently added a newer recommendation to the mix : copper BBs. 5. It’s OK to strive for perfection. In “Advice needed for taping” Thunder424 came looking for tips about how to prevent leaking under tape, to help keep his mod’s lines clean. BONUS: Have some fun! Back in 2009, Redline Derby Racing Site Manager, Brian Vaughn, shared a fun way to take his Hot Wheels fandom with him where he goes: by building a custom Hot Wheels USB drive. Visit the discussion on RedlineDerby.com or check out his original blog post to get all the details.
News In Brief
News Briefs
Veterans Day Charity Race At Rust Belt Rust Belt Diecast Racing,’s Mike Rader is hosting a special in-house charity race in honor of US veterans on Sunday, November 14th at Rocket Dragway. In order to participate, one may purchase a car by making a $5 donation (or more) through PayPal. A five dollar donation gets you one of the 64 cars available. The cars are all in residence at Rocket Dragway, and most are themed along a red, white, and blue color scheme. Others are of a military nature.
Funds raised by the event will be given to the Travis Mills Foundation. Rocket Dragway is one of the four various locations that make up Rust Belt Diecast Racing, and it is the home track for Madness Motorsports.
Car of the Year to Be Held in November Diecast 64 is concluding their 2020 racing a month early this year. Instead of hosting their Car of the Year races in December, they will run those heats in November. There will be no mail-in racing in
Utah this November, as all the cars running in the Car of the Year Races have had earlier success at the D64 track, and are already on hand. Details on rule changes and requirements for participating in the 2021 season will be covered in the D64E Race Report video which will be released after the conclusion of the Car of the Year has been run.
Kroger Stores Offer Custom‘77 Dodge Van Hot Wheels has another mail-in offer for a free vehicle. This time the
(NEWS BRIEFS cont. on page 13)
November 3, 2020 | 7
Feature
R by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom
acetob
What happened? A month to focus d racing has its ups S ometimes great things grow out of moments of adversity. In late September it had become clear among the message board members at RedlineDerby.com that something wad gone awry in the regularly scheduled races. People started complaining that they’d sent cars in for June races that had yet to happen, and cars hadn’t been returned from earlier events. Other events also hadn’t been held on schedule in the intervening months. So, faced with a disgruntled membership base, Brian Vaughn of Redline Derby Racing tried to contact the person hosting those races. While waiting for a reply, he penned a post to everyone concerned that while there was no news as to what was going on, racers could ask for their cars back and they would be returned, if that is what was wanted. Some people did, indeed, want their cars back, but for the most part racers want to race. So, when League of Speed came online on September 29th and declared that the tenth month of 2020 would be Racetober, everyone was glad to hear that the formerly scheduled races would be completed within that month, the tournament schedule would be caught up, and the racing world would
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Feature
ber
Where? directly on and downs be back to functioning as a relatively well-oiled machine. It goes without saying that this year has been unusual when it comes to events that alter people’s lives. Many of diecast racing’s participants only came to the sport as a result of the pandemic. They’ve only known the sport when it was in a complete time of flux. And with difficulties in shipping timelines thanks to unpredictable delays in the postal service, illnesses both covid and noncovid related, and new working and schooling arrangements, a race host falling a little behind was easily forgiven for a while. It’s hard to keep up when life keeps throwing everyone curve balls. October seemed the perfect time to make up for lost time. So much so that the RLD and LoS races at the center of the discussion board issue weren’t the only ones that pledged to make Racetober a thing. Now that the month of October has come to a close, the question is, what happened in October? How’d it all turn out? Was there really a Racetober? The answer is yes, Virginia, there was a Racetober,
This is Halloween by Ali Kidder-Mostrom
This Halloween saw the world of diecast racing taken over by haunting horrors and spooky special races. Ghostjerker was aiming for a hole-in-one, in a game of golfmeets-racing as the competitors sent cars rolling down the track and into the hole. Each car in meant participants could pick a prize pack coffin filled with tricks and treats! Flat Rabbit Racing Club saw an invasion of giant spiders this Halloween, which Glitch and MykeMaze had to face before facing each other on the track. For full coverage, check out our On The Track section. Dustin’s Diecast Cars held a one-of-a-kind race, sending cars hurtling down the track to earn points, by landing in buckets filled with danger: glittery spiders and skeletons, oh my! There was quite a lot of tournament action to be found this Halloween. LionHawk Racing kicked off his channel with a Halloween face-off between Hot Rods and Horrors. The Dimensional Horrors team (made up of speed demon and street beast castings) fared very well against the (robot) Overlord Hot Rods team on this unique “Drag and Drop” track. The brandnew track consists of a traditional drag strip
HALLOWEEN cont. on page 11) November 3, 2020 | 9
Feature it just wasn’t where you expected it to be.
events would go on, too. October was going to be super busy.
Josh Paufler of Rust Belt Diecast Racing has a rapid fire mind that comes up with all sorts of ideas. And they are good ideas. He also has three other track owners in his league who have all sorts of good ideas.
Fans of Rust Belt Diecast Racing already know that there are nightly live races hosted at the various tracks. And the weekly Food Fight races continued to be held, as did the Sunday Pinks races.
Part of what makes Rust Belt Diecast Racing so exciting is that they have four track owners through the Great Lake states of Michigan, Ohio, and New York that put on regular programming that complements each other.
Midnight Shrub kept up its regular schedule, as did the King of the Belt races. All of that is what goes on every month. It’s a hectic schedule. So what was added into the mix?
Part of what makes running a league like that a challenge is that it can get unwieldy pretty fast. Why? Too many ideas started too rapidly means that not everything can happen in a timely manner.
Paufler produced the final in a series of Kids Races that had started over the summer. It was these races that introduced the character of Melvin Chubbybottom, the Hot Wheels Surf N Turf who has become a sort of mascot for the league.
Paufler (who wrote about this topic in a column for this magazine) knew that he had bitten off more than he could chew earlier in the year. He was new to the hobby, and excited not only by racing but the community he’d very successfully built around his league.
He also produced the remaining installments of the Summer Stock series. And the traveling Custom series had its first installment at Josh’s track before he packed those cars on their way to the next destination.
So, Racetober was a perfect time for him to catch up with a somewhat delayed docket of races. In the meantime, the other tracks in the league, and the newer non-delayed
Elsewhere in the league the Rowdy Rat Rods races which had started in the summer months saw their next event up thanks to the efforts of The Racers Who Say Ni (one of
the league’s resident teams). The Grocery Getter 250 was held mid-month. This event was a tournament entirely consisting of modified station wagons. And there was the Bus Bash 2020, a series of events involving modified buses. Another event featured Honda City Turbos that had been modified by some of the best in the biz. All in all, this one month this fall was intensely busy at the Rust Belt tracks. Not only did it seem like there was new content every day. There was, in fact, new content every day. And more often than not, there was more than one event each of those days. It was an amazing job of bringing the calendar current, while at the same time constantly keeping up with the newer offerings. As Josh has been heard to say, “Rust Belt is winning Racetober!” He’s not wrong. Brian Vaughn’s 2020 didn’t begin in the best fashion. His basement flooded. That would be bad unto itself, but it was also where his track had been located. So events as his place had to be postponed indefinitely. Brian was able to hold the Redline Rumble during Racetober, catching up with a race that was originally scheduled to be held this past March. The event was a smashing success, and it was another Racetober victory.
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Feature Halloween is the one holiday that has more concentrated diecast racing activity surrounding it than any other. There is so much October racing surrounding that one day, that we’ve put that in its own sidebar article that is actually longer than this one, so we’ll leave our comments on that therein contained. The other exciting part of Racetober was the number of new channels that came to be during the month and started cranking out content. WeRaceDiecast has been around just a smidgen longer than this past month, but what was new on the channel was the King of the 621. There have already been 3 installments of this new carnageladen downhill drag race that goes from 6 divided lanes to one massively wide lane where anything can happen. It’s new. It’s exciting. And it made a lot of content involving a lot of customizers. In addition, the channel ran an Exotics tournament on the 621 during Racetober. In a recent chat, the channel made it clear that they are committed to putting out two programs each week. TranSport Diecast Racing launched their Miatas at the Crest event, and in addition to qualifying rounds, John Tran managed to get the first full round of the tournament going during Racetober. It’s a massive tournament in which all the cars are modified Mazda Miatas. His track is epic in size and the undertaking had to have been daunting. But, it’s up and going, and looking great! And, as newcomers to the hosting game, Psychedelic Speedway was able to hold all of the races for the DRR fundraiser, Pinks for the Cure, during October. Two car show videos and two racing videos were released as part of Racetober, and more are set to come in early November. It is difficult to assess Racetober’s overall success without noting that some major changes have come about as part of this past month. Redline Derby no longer has a second-in-charge individual who is heading up the races. Some of the races that were originally sanctioned by that site are now missing the RLD moniker. And many racers are still eagerly awaiting any activity on the races that started that initial discussion.
(HALLOWEEN cont. from page 9) leading into a quick bump of a hill before dropping to the finish line. TuneTrax Racing’s Season 3, Event 5 told a story of Zombie horror, sending six vehicles onto the Hot Wheels Zombie Attack set to rescue survivors trapped by the undead. Each car made a solo run down the track and could escape only by knocking down the zombie in their path. Racing continued until only one car survived. Races and Fun posted two separate tournaments which shared one theme: escape Michael Myers! The first race, featured a police car chase and the second was a Matchbox vs. Hot Wheels 9 Pack tournament. In each event, elimination came in one of two ways: by losing to your opponent or by losing your life to the Halloween serial killer. The Michael Myers van was released by a triggering mechanism on the track and any car he passed met with a bloody fate. BlueLineRacing put up the Bone Shaker Brawl, a singleelimination tournament of – you guessed it! – nothing but Bone Shakers. Each car had to win 2 in a row to advance in this chilling drag strip race that was fully in the spooky spirit of Halloween. Hotwheels Boys hosted a Halloween Diecast Car Elimination Race featuring beastly cars on a two-turn fat track course. For those who didn’t make the cut, there was the ever-looming threat of the skeletal “Hand of Elimination”. Shrubbery Lane Dragway hosted the live Frankendrags event on Halloween night. Living
(HALLOWEEN cont. on page 12) November 3, 2020 | 11
Feature (HALLOWEEN cont. from page 11) up to its name, this drag race featured modified creations stitched together from parts of other cars. The event featured a car show of each of the participating rides. Chapman Films finished up his eerie “The Purge” series just in time for Halloween, pitting a death-black Boneshaker against the ILC Champions. They raced down the Baja track to the Barn of Death(-eath-eath-eath) and only one would survive. To read full coverage of this tournament, check out our On The Track section. Live Young Diecast hosted their “first annual” Halloween Hot Rod Tournament. There was
12 | Diecast Racing Report
plenty of carnage when 16 hot rods faced off on this spooky road course, and not only from the beast which had emerged from the depths right after the finish line. diecastracerx put up a 24 car Monster Mash road race mail-in tournament on one of the longest tracks in diecast racing. Each match-up for rounds 1 and 2, featuring red lighting and “Monster Mash” signage on the road course, went up Halloween weekend, and the rest just dropped! Scale Racing Channel was “knocking at ya door” with a Halloween race of monstrous vehicles. Two wins or a oneand-done full car-length lead would be enough to advance the car through the bracket. In the end, only one car would have
(HALLOWEEN cont. on page 14)
News In Brief (NEWS BRIEFS cont. from page 7) exclusive collector’s edition is available to those who purchase twenty (20) mainline cars from now until midDecember. The van is painted in a Spectraflame purple with red and white stripes, and a Hot Wheels logo on the sides. Both the body and chassis are metal, and the wheels are real riders. Cars must be purchase within the time period between October 4, 2020 and December 12, 2020, at participating Kroger stores. Kroger-owned stores are included in the promotion. The Kroger family of stores includes the following grocery chains: Baker’s, City Market, Dillons, Fred Meyer, Fry’s Food Stores, Kerbes, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs, and Smith’s. To prove that the cars were purchased within the allotted time, one must send in a completed order form (available through a link here), as well as the original cash register receipt(s) and 20 blister cards (cardboard, not the plastic part) to Mattel. There is a $4.99 shipping and processing fee in order to receive the Collector Edition Custom ‘77 Dodge Van.
Support “Diecast Racing Report” through Patreon! Patrons get exclusive content & PDF copies of every issue delivered directly to their email. And best of all... Patrons keep DRR going for us all! https://www.patreon.com/DiecastRacingReport
November 3, 2020 | 13
Feature (HALLOWEEN cont. from page 12) the chance to face the “gatekeeper” 427 Cobra for a chance to be part of the channel’s center stack.
KITT Racing unboxed 24 Monster Jam and Hot Wheels monster trucks, then immediately put them on the track in a Halloween Special race. These trucks took on an impressive six-lane track featuring descents, hills and jumps.
Car Stories and Races had a unique Halloween race, with Disney Cars vs. Spooky Funny Funlings. This family-friendly down-hill race was judged by none other than a talking skull.
Xtreme4x4Ctr also pitted monster trucks against one another in a drag track Halloween battle. Each giant of a truck took a full two lanes of track in this quick Monster Mash race.
Not surprisingly, monster trucks were a popular choice for Halloween racing festivities.
Hawkeye Hauler Diecasts made his monster trucks face off against not only each other (on a down-hill track), but also a gauntlet of Funko Pops! monsters. In this special Halloween battle, there were many chills and crashes as monster met monster head-on.
bravo 912 sent Hot Wheels monster trucks hurtling down a complex track of jumps and obstructions, all being watched by a set of spooky spectators.
(HALLOWEEN cont. on page 26)
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Tournaments
Rust Belt Diecast Racing by Josh Paufler
I
t was a crazy week of racing as Rust Belt finished off “Racetober” with a bang! This past week alone was enough action for a month anywhere else. It all kicked off at Rocket Dragway where Bus Bash 2020 ran its high flying “Bus Blast Off”. The event featured a jump-off from which the buses needed to hit a landing pad. Points were awarded for distance and landing on the wheels. After 3 events, Potsey Atwood is sitting atop the leaderboard. Live daily racing resumes at Rocket this week with David Davis looking to hold onto the podium and make it to the next Champions Race. On November 14th, Rocket Dragway is hosting Veterans Day Victory Lap, a 64 car live charity race. To enter, visit the Facebook group and follow the instructions in the Events tab. For a $5 minimum donation per car, you can be in the race! The last couple weeks of Friday Night Food Fights saw the first wins for two of their most storied drivers. Russ Finley found his at the expense of points leader, Rusty Martin, as he flipped Martin before the line. Turtle almost notched his first victory but Reese Burg clipped him right before he crashed to steal the win. All in all, it’s been some crazy racing in the Mini Street Stocks. And, since it was a month of firsts, Geoff Bodine found his first win in Big C’s Chop Shop Mini NASCAR Series, beating out perennial runners-up, the Waltrip brothers. But, race 13 was much of the usual with the Waltrips at the top of the hill, bookending Ernie Irvan. Ivan continued his reign of terror, leaving Darrell and Michael
in the dust. In the Shorty Showdown, Ragtag Jim was back but he couldn’t hold off Uncle Elvis in the Skull Shaker. Jim falls to 0-3 in the series. But Uncle Elvis lost the podium the following week to the heaviest car to race in the Showdown, the 80g Baby Tow, a Subaru flatbed with a Micro Machine on it. While Minis and Shorties had a changing of the guard, the Food Trucks was the exact opposite as MDG continued to dominate, beating both Miguel Garcia Inglesias de la Cruz and Ragtag Jim in Jim’s first food truck entry. The action is just heating up as Friday Night Food Fights enters the last 6 weeks of season 1. Stay tuned every Friday for more Food Fights, Shorty Showdown and Mini Stocks! The October running of King of the Belt (KotB) was the most dramatic yet. MDG sent in his winning wagon from the Grocery Getter 250 and it beat out your humble author in the heavyweights final. I was also fortunate enough to reach the lightweights final, only to meet a similar demise at the hands of the Rust Belt legend, Fractal Panda. Send in your cars now for the next monthly running on November 27th. See the Facebook group for details. KOTB wasn’t the only win MDG pulled off this weekend. He also took the first leg of the Honda City Turbo Tournament at Four Seasons Raceway. Leg two is coming soon. On Halloween night, Four Seasons Raceway was invaded by the Frankendrags. These were vehicles
made by combining at least 2 other vehicles. While the monstrosities themselves were quite a spectacle, the racing was an even bigger thrill. In the end, Uncle Elvis took the day with his Zoom In/Grave Digger mash-up, appropriately themed for the holiday. Sunday Pinks is something I look forward to every week. This week was special, however, because Tooth Fairy debuted a new feature to TFT Raceway; a Jumbotron! This alternative view screen allows for fans to see the action not only from the start and finish but also from right inside the figure 8. This new addition made for some very exciting racing this week. You can send in cars to Sunday Pinks at any time as it’s an ongoing series. Cars must be stock and carded to compete. More details are in the Facebook group. Thank you to everyone who made Racetober awesome! At Rust Belt, this was a great way to head into the final few months of the 2020 racing season. We’re looking forward to finishing up our current series and seeing what’s in store for 2021! November 3, 2020 | 15
Tournaments
Big Poppy Racing by Ali Kidder-Mostrom
T
he last two weeks brought the conclusion of the Fat Track Free For All (FTFFA), Event Six of the 2020 Diecast Games. This event sent all 128 competitors (4 cars from each of 32 teams) down a four straightaway, three curve, flat track course. It was a truly epic competition. The first half of Round 1 was covered in last issue and here is how the rest of the field faired. The second half of the first round was much like the first, with lots of rubbing collisions, impressive performances by the usual suspects and a few surprises along the way. You don’t usually expect a Hot Tub to keep up with a sports car, but this fantasy casting (submitted by League of Speed) kept up with the best, moving on to Round 2 with a Mercedes (from Red Pill Racing). It wasn’t the only fantasy casting to succeed, Po’ Boy Racing’s Shadow Jet flew past the competition to first place on each lap he finished. Mid-way through the mix, pool G of cars just weren’t having a great race. They could barely finish a lap. Uncle Elvis Racing’s Mazda RX-7 finished two laps, moving him on. In an
amusing final lap, The Racers Who Say Ni’s Shark Cruiser managed to finish the race alone and that first place finish moved her into second overall and on to Round 2. It was a tough break for Rust Belt Racing and his Loco Motion, who had come in second on lap one and so was just edged out by the shark. Tune Trax Racing’s Batmobile and JX4 Racing’s Ferrari had a tie in their round, but since they tied for first it was easy to know who moved on. The same happened for Lady of Speed and Hot Wheels Calgary, later in the day. In a last-minute pass, Silverback Racing was able to take a fourth lap win and take his Oldsmobile Aurora on in the bracket (edging out Lady of Speed). Similarly, Your Nightmare Racing’s Studebaker dodged stalled competition to keep racing and walk off with the win. In another impressive moment, Your Nightmare Racing took his Pretorian Guard to a perfect 20-point run (a good predictor of success to come).
16 | Diecast Racing Report
In Round 2, Nick Deavers’ Burlesque continued to outperform the competition. After the first race, he moved forward along with Madness Motorsports. From the second group, Po' Boy Racing’s Ferrari F40 came from behind in the final lap to take a surprising final run and move on (after a run-off race against the Lady of Speed). Later, Lady of Speed’s Chrysler 300 faired better, where a solid showing led to a win and move to the next round. It was apparently a good day to be a Ferrari, as Your Nightmare Racing's white Ferrari F40 edged out GenX Vintage Racing and Hot Wheels Calgary to move on, with Jim L's Coca Cola Studebaker. Later, Big Poppy’s F40 moved ahead, knocking out League of Speed’s Hot Tub and Jim L’s Honda Sprocket (that just couldn’t finish a lap). It was an even better day to be Hot Wheels Calgary, when his Speed Bump managed to do something that no one else could - he beat Nick Deavers. Though, at second in points, Deaver's Camaro would also move on to Round 3. KA-Boom Racers were able to take
Tournaments their Chevy Stocker to a solid win, one point ahead of Your Nightmare Racing, who also moved on. In another exciting race-off, My Hot Wheels Collection was able to pass up the Shadow Jet of Big Poppy Racing to join Red Pill Racing’s Carbonite moving forward. League of Speed and Nick Deavers each saw a car speed to a perfect 20 performance (well, League of Speed had two!). As did Tie One On Sandy Mc later in the competition. Though, for that race, it was a run-off competition for second place, and ultimately it was the Shark Cruiser that "Ni Ni Ni"'d its way all the way to Round 3. Going into the final video, the field had been whittled down to 32 cars. Nick Deavers Racing was at the top of the teams with 285.5 points, followed by Red Pill Racing, Your Nightmare Racing and League of Speed. Each of these top four teams had over 200 points and two or more cars heading into the FTFFA Round 3. The first four cars to race in the third round were Madness Motorsports’ Nissan Skyline, Nick Deavers’ Burlesque, League of Speed’s Aston Martin and Po’ Boy Racing’s Ferrari F40. The more things change, the more they stay they stayed the same, with the Burlesque dominating the first match-up. The other competitors in this heat took turns rotating into the front of the pack, but it was Po’ Boy Racing that moved on to the quarter-final round with Nick Deavers. The second set of this third round featured Your Nightmare Racing in a white Ferrari F40, Jim L in his Johnny Lightning Coca Cola Studebaker, Red Pill Racing in the Carbonator and My Hot Wheels Collection in yet another (black)
Ferrari F40. The Carbonator was a very fast car, but it could only be seen on the one lap of four where he made it through without flipping in the first curve. Instead, it was Your Nightmare Racing’s Ferrari and Jim L’s Studebaker that managed to move on to face Po’ Boy and Nick Deavers. The third set of cars included another submission each from Nick Deavers, My Hot Wheels Collection and League of Speed. They battled alongside the Speed Bump from Hot Wheels Calgary. The Speed Bump’s quirky (bust fast) styling sent it on to the next round, along with Nick Deavers’ Camaro. For that round they would face Big Poppy (in a Corvette) and Peter Bee Vids (in a Front Running Fairmount), who sped away from their third round competition, Lady of Speed and Dirty Deeb Racing. The round continued with Red Pill Racing, Big Poppy Racing, The Racers Who Say Ni, and RNR Racing. It was a really a battle between Red Pill Racing’s Mercedes 500 SEC and Big Poppy’s gold Ferrari F40, which swapped wins heat by heat and each moved on, tied at 16 points. They would face the winner of the next battle, between KA-Boom Racing’s Chevy Stocker, Your Nightmare Racing’s Pretorian Guard, another Nick Deavers car (this one a Mercedes SEC) and Po’ Boy Racing’s Shadow Jet. KA-Boom Racing just couldn’t stay on his wheels this race and, among the other three, the
Shadow Jet took surprising wins in the first and last heat. The two red cars kept the competition close, but ultimately it was Your Nightmare Racing’s Pretorian Guard that edged out the Mercedes to move on. Tie One On Sandy Mc, The Racers Who Say Ni, Tune Trax Racing and League of Speed battled next. The League of Speed’s consistent performance throughout the heats, sent his Escalade on uncontested into the next round. The second place finish was up for grabs, however, and that position had to be decided by a race off between Sandy Mc’s Ford GT-40 and Tune Trax’s Batmobile. In the end, it would be
Sandy Mc who moved on in the standings. For the final group of Round 3, we saw more cars by Hot Wheels Calgary, Your Nightmare Racing, Jim L and Big Poppy. Hot Wheels Calgary rolled away with another win (and another Ferrari F40 moving on) with Your Nightmare Racing’s Coca Cola Studebaker advancing as well. Round 4, the quarter finals, was a “meat and taters” battle of 16 cars who had all proved they have what it takes to fight their way down the free-for-all track.
November 3, 2020 | 17
Tournaments The third race was particularly tight and proves that when it comes to the quarter finals, every point counts. Each car from second through fourth place was divided by only one point. If the Pretorian Guard and Mercedes had spent one less lap tangled, they may have bumped a competitor out of contention. The key really was to get across the finish line, no matter what. The most successful cars were those that could work their way around whatever carnage might be blocking the road. The Speed Bump from Hot Wheels Calgary was fast but in one lap was literally blocked from contention by Big Poppy’s Corvette. It doesn’t matter how fast you are if you can’t make it around the competition. When the points were counted, Nick Deavers’ Burlesque and Camaro IROC-Z28, Your Nightmare Racing’s white Ferrari F40, Big Poppy’s 97 Corvette and gold Ferrari F40, Po’ Boy Racing’s Shadow Jet, League of Speed’s Escalade and Hot Wheels Calgary’s red Ferrari F40 each moved
on to the semi-finals. In the semi-final round, the IROC-Z28 basically eliminated itself by only managing to finish one lap. Meanwhile, Nick Deavers’ other car (the Burlesque) and Big Poppy’s 97 Corvette had consistently solid showings, sending them forward to the finals. League of Speed’s Escalade was so fast but so off-balance in the semifinals, which allowed the Shadow Jet to fly off with a first place finish. Hot Wheel’s Calgary’s F40 managed to join Po’ Boy Racing in the final round. After their success so far in the competition, it was rather startling to only see one Ferrari F40 in the final four. The line up was two fantasy castings, the Burlesque and the Shadow Jet, alongside two classics, the red Ferrari F40 and blue 97 Corvette. This really was the best of the best racing. Each car took a turn outperforming the competition and, alternately, just fighting to stay alive. It was a good day to drive a fantasy casting, with Po’ Boy Racing and Nick Deavers each taking two first places finishes. This landed them in
18 | Diecast Racing Report
first and second place, respectively, for the FTFFA overall. It was DNFs that did in the competition. In a heartbreaking moment for Hot Wheels Calgary, the F40 had a commanding lead on lap four, but he came off the track just before the final curve, which cost him the win and the five points that would have landed him in second place, rather than fourth. Third place for the event went to Big Poppy Racing, in the 97 Corvette. Nick Deavers finish in the FTFFA took his team over the top, or at least over 300 points. The closest competitor (Red Pill Racing) is now more than 60 points behind in team standings. The pack at that point gets closer, with Po’ Boy Racings outstanding performance in this event taking him up into fifth place overall, just edging out KA-Boom. Big Poppy Racing also got a sizeable bump, moving from 11th to ninth place, and knocking Jim L (QC Racing) out of the top 10. At this point in The Games, the top contenders are pretty well entrenched. Except for positions 9 through 11 (separated by only 3 points), it’s hard to believe there will be much movement in and out of the top 10 with future events. But we’ll just have to wait and see. Event 7 posts later this week.
Tournaments
Redline Derby Racing by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom
N
umbers were down this month for the RLDRL event in Michigan. Ten competitors sent cars to the Tecumseh Proving Grounds where host Nick Deavers put them to the test. Deavers’ track is a beautiful two-lane stretch that is wall-mounted in his garage, and it is a fast track. These ten racers got an experience that many of the RLDRL’s regulars clearly missed out on. In one video comment on YouTube, Peter Bee joked that he had finally made a Top Ten. This would prove to be an understatement, as this event was a good one for Peter Bee, but more on that shortly. A ten car field requires two race-ins to get down to a standard eight slot bracket. In the first race-in Mattman213 (Matt Allen) and Uncle Elvis would be pitted against each other. Viewers couldn’t help but feel for the host, in the second race-in. Deavers had to go up against his own son’s car, elimination would be visitng the Deavers household one way or another before the main bracket was reached.
Mattman was on his game and easily moved on to the main bracket. As did Penguin Racing (the younger member of the Deavers cadre). Penguin racing’s car sped along in the low 2.3 second range. (Times were carried out to the thousandths). BlueLine Racing is a relative newcomer to racing, but he has made a big impact right away. In this race he eliminated Mattman213 in two quick trips down the track. Taking a moment to remember Peter Bee’s joke about his first time in the top ten, one should remember that he’s already surpassed that by making it into the main bracket. So, he’d made the top eight before his first main bracket race of the evening. By posting a time in the low 2.4s and then another at 2.37, Peter Bee moved up into the top 4 of this tournament. Penguin Racing and Rivera Racing faced off in a match-up of two of the faster cars of the evening. An early round ouster of a top competitor always makes for an interesting remainder of the evening for everyone else, but has to be maddening to the person knocked off early. Both of these cars went sub-2.4 with little effort, so someone was going to be displeased with their results. In this case, the exiting party was
Romy Rivera. Penguin racing was having a good night. Fractal Panda (out of Scotland) did what he could in the next heat, but he was up against Voxxer’s sleek teal racing machine (unsure of what base this specific Voxxer build was on). As those who follow this series regularly would know, Voxxer won both times down the track with times in the mid 2.3s. In the next round, Peter Bee’s wild ride continued against BlueLine Racing. After eliminating BlueLine racing, Peter Bee went another rung up the ladder, and the worst he could do was finish in second place. Voxxer and Penguin Racing faced off in the other semi-final. And while the young man had had a terrific night thus far, Voxxer did what Voxxer does. He won. Penguin Racing had the rest of the night off. That being said, Penguin Racing did put a chink in the armor of Voxxer, racing him to a stalemate. The eventual race took 8 trips down the track for Voxxer to come out on top. And so, a Voxxer v Peter Bee final was on tap. Both cars took their laps in lane two to victory, and the advantage switched back and forth until Voxxer took the race in four. November 3, 2020 | 19
On The Track
On The Track: RTR Diecast Racing League by Ali Kidder-Mostrom
T
he Exotics Tournament finished up recently, starting with the final four. One white and three red cars faced off in a headto-head competition to determine who would move on to the final match-up. Number four seed Poppa Wolff raced against number one seed Phillip DeTank and surprise success, number 15 Galactic Gangsta, went up against number three Cole Peters. Poppa Wolff came out swinging against Phillip DeTank, winning lap one. The cars were closely matched throughout the rounds, but Phillip DeTank’s Bugatti ultimately blocked out the Jaguar. Cole Peters came undefeated into the race and his stellar performance continued in this semi-final matchup, but only for lap one. Galactic Gangsta put up quite a fight for the remaining two laps, ultimately toppling the Titan and taking his Acura’s Cinderella story all the way
to the final round. Though he came into the tournament as the top car, in the finals, Phillip DeTank couldn’t take an easy win away from Galactic Gangsta; the two cars ran a full five races to decide who would take the Exotics Tournament crown. Phillip DeTank showed off his racing quality with smooth, easy wins on laps one and three. Meanwhile in laps two and four, Galactic Gangsta outperformed the Bugatti through the turns, pulling ahead of Phillip DeTank and forcing the final into an exciting fifth race. The final run of the final competition was the best of the entire tournament. Both cars gave it their all, with lead swaps in each straightaway. In the end, Phillip DeTank pulled ahead just in time to cross the finish and claim the crown. But don’t stop the video there, as Mayes Mountain Motor Speedway included bonus footage, showing Poppa Wolff facing Cole Peters to determine the
20 | Diecast Racing Report
third place finisher. It was a battle of the European station wagons at the next Saturday Night Grudgefest, matching a Hot Wheels Volvo 850 Estate with a Matchbox Audi RS6 Avant. It could hardly be called a competition, as the Audi smoked its Hot Wheels rival, literally flying over the finish line each lap, to an impressive Matchbox victory (not to be missed). Most recently, Saturday Night Grudgefest went a little bit country, with a battle of the Fords. This week two 2019 Ford Ranger trucks went head to head to determine whether Hot Wheels or Matchbox really rules the road. Though Matchbox’s gray entry got off to quick lead in lap 1, the white Hot Wheels truck would not be left behind, passing just in time to take an early win. The remaining two laps were just as exciting, with both Fords closely matched every time. You’ll have to watch for yourself to see who ultimately rolled away with the win.
On The Track
On The Track: RTR Diecast Racing League by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom
T
he last two weeks have been filled with all sorts of action at the Canyon. A completely new continuing series has been launched, and the innovative international campaign known as the DIRS came to its ultimate climax as the Beauties and the Beasts ran their final legs, and a special winnertakes-all finale pitted the top drivers from each team against each other to see who kept the original DIRS cars. The Diecast International Racing Series had made previous stops in Alabama, Illinois, and Pennsylvania (all in the USA) and then made the voyage to New Zealand where the fate of the competitors would be settled. The Beauty Division, in which the four cars were all stock vehicles, had been dominated up to this point by
Chaos Canyon’s own Thom “Spanners” Watson. Coming into the fourth round, he had 46 points banked, while his closest competitor, Cross (of Flat Rabbit Racing Club) carried a total of 36. In the best of conditions, that 10point gap wasn’t insurmountable. However, neither Myke Maze nor Phillip DeTank could be expected to have a shot at the championship given their incoming point totals of 16 and 4, respectively. After four runs down the track, DeTank (of Jackson Pass Speedway) did himself proud and more than doubled his overall points by winning one lap and claiming 5 points on that one run. Sadly, he failed to finish all the other laps, and that means his series ended with a
sum total of 9 points. Myke Maze gathered up the same number of points to settle down at 21. Overall, the primary winner of the Beauty Division of the DIRS was carnage. Mayhem abounded, and almost nobody completed more than one lap. Only Spanners made the loop more than once, taking 7 points on the day. Cross chalked up 3. So, in the end, the Beauties, not
(CHAOS CANYON cont. on pg. 23)
November 3, 2020 | 21
On The Track
On The Track: Flat Rabbit Racing Club by Ali Kidder-Mostrom
N
ew Westrock has been invaded! This time, rather than racers taking over the town, it was something much more sinister: giant spiders. Based on the footage coming across the Flat Rabbit Racing Club (FRRC) feed, these atrocious arachnids showed no mercy to SCAR authorities and FRRC alike. However, it was ultimately Glitch (with an assist from visitor MykeMaze) who was able to take out a particularly fearsome beast and clear the road for a little racing action. SCAR had been taken out for the moment by the eight-legged mad
mamas, so the racers decided to take advantage of the wide open roads. The city was still eerily covered in the invaders’ webs when Glitch and Maze took to the streets in a best of five race. It seems New Westrock’s road has had some recent construction, so it was exciting to see how these two racing veterans handled the new track and turns. KNW’s Valen provided full coverage of the race to her defiant radio listeners. And the competition was indeed fierce, with each racer taking their turn at taking the lead. Maze took the first lap, with a slime-green Glitch right on his tail. The next two laps belonged to Glitch, who claimed
lap three by passing Maze mid-air. Maze managed to tie it up in the fourth round, blocking Glitch’s path with a little roadway mayhem. After a full five laps, the Halloween carrot ultimately went to the FRRC leader. However, in the end, both competitors were able to celebrate the day with a Halloween party at Pink’s.
On The Track: I Like Cheese By Ali Kidder-Mostrom
I
n the last week of October, just in time for Halloween, The 2020 Purge arrived at the ILC in an undefeated first edition (2006) Hot Wheels Bone Shaker. This black as death car was out for blood and came to face off against each of the four past ILC Champions. 22 | Diecast Racing Report
This was the last race series to be run on the Baja Cutoff Canyon track, which features the equalizing Danger Changer and is attached to the “Barn of Death”. Whichever racer emerged first from the barn claimed the win in this one-and-done series of races. It’s a cut-throat competition, which – based on the spooky footage aired
with each race – might possibly be taken literally. The first Champion to face off against the Bone Shaker was 2017 ILC Champion Patty Murray, in her black Buick Grand National. Patty Murray just couldn’t catch up to the Bone Shaker, whose lead widened
On The Track throughout the race, and she was eliminated. In the second race, Death (the Bone Shaker) faced off against the Dead Man (JD “The Zombie” Elst). The Zombie is the latest ILC Champion, crowned only last month. It was a tight race all the way to the finish, but Death ultimately won the day, eliminating the 2020 Champ. Next up, 2019 ILC Champion, Skorpio Love Smith, faced the black car of death. There was no contest to this race, with the Bone Shaker ahead of the Infinity all the way through Danger Changer, down the (CHAOS CANYON cont. from pg. 21)
surprisingly, went to the home team. The Beasts Division was a more closely contested series, at least coming into the beginning of this round. Frank “The Guru” Gibbs held the series lead with 34 points, followed by Jason Paul (of RTR Diecast Racing League) at 23. Gnocchi Jack and Glitch were still within striking distance at 22 and 20, respectively. But, if Carnage ruled the day in the Beauty Division, Mayhem came out on top in the Beasts Division. Glitch (of Flat Rabbit Racing Club) put up a goose egg, having not finished a single lap at the Canyon. The first lap saw the two station wagons coming in 1 & 2, which meant that Guru and Paul would not be without points in this round. And, indeed, they were the top point-getters in the day’s heats. When the tally marks were all counted up. The Guru ran away with the title, and the other three barely made it around the track. Needless to say, while each team’s top driver got to make an appearance
straight-away and into the Barn of Death. Having taken out three Race of Cheese Champs, it looked like the Bone Shaker would leave The Purge as it arrived: undefeated. However, when faced with the legendary 2018 Champion, Terry Hill, it was finally the Bone Shaker who fell victim to the Barn of Death. Terry Hill was behind all the way in the finale, there was little doubt as to the outcome prior to the start of the race. Two cars were Beauties and two were Beasts. Dr. Thom “Spanners” Watson was in his stock 8 Crate, and that might have given his competitors a bit of hope, as Gnocchi Jack and Jason Paul were able to take their heavier modified rides to the track. Cross was in his Way 2 Fast from the Beauty Division, and though it isn’t the heavyweight that the modded cars are, the young Fast Rabbit driver knew he had a traditionally quick casting underneath him.
past the Danger Changer, but gave it his all in the final straight-away, passing the Bone Shaker and living up to his label of “The Chuck Norris of Diecast Racing”. was the lack of success from the car representing Jackson Pass Speedway. Gnocchi Jack fell prey to the Canyon’s vicious tendencies, and posted yet another null score for the team from Pennsylvania. (CHAOS CANYON cont. on pg. 27)
As this race was made up of “The Best of the Best”, the fact that there were fewer DNFs over the four laps wasn’t completely unexpected. Nor November 3, 2020 | 23
On The Track
On The Track: Jackson Pass Speedway by Ali Kidder-Mostrom
L
ast week, the Cavalcade of Calamity returned with qualifying race #2.
In contrast to the first batch of competitors, this was a rather light group. Two cars weighing in at only 40 grams and the heaviest (a Plymouth Duster named Power Patriot and driven by Matty Ice) coming in at 57.6 grams. Knuckles (from the FRRC) was in town and driving Dodgin’ Bullitts, a ’65 Mustang Fastback. The other challengers were Dusty Lugnut driving Royal Flush (a ’56 Ford Panel Truck) and Kiwayli Nealy in a blue ’69 Camaro, named NJ Drive Camaro. Kiwayli Nealy had the best qualifying time and started on the pole for the first heat. Power Patriot also started in the front and used it to his advantage, pulling ahead to a quick lead that the other competitors could not overtake. Each competitor had a smooth run down the track this lap and Knuckles even took a moment for a bit of fancy parking. The peace was not long-lasting, however, as chaos hit the Speedway in lap two. Royal Flush tipped over in the final turn and could not finish, but he definitely wasn’t the biggest loser for the run. That dubious honor goes to “the gentleman in the yellow shirt”. 24 | Diecast Racing Report
Matty Ice, having again pulled ahead to a commanding lead, inexplicably careened off the track and right through a group of nearby spectators. The man in the yellow shirt was sent flying onto the track and was subsequently hit by both Kiwayli Nealy’s Camaro and Knuckles’ Fastback. It seems that last one, at least, could have been avoided. Was Knuckles putting him out of his misery? Or, perhaps, had Mr. Yellow Shirt said something unkind about all the drivers’ mothers? We’ll never know. There were only minor injuries among the rest of the crowd and Matty Ice was cleared to continue racing. However, he never seemed to really shake of the tragic crash: recording DNFs for the remaining two laps. Knuckles was the only finisher of lap
3 and started in a good front-row position for the final lap. The last lap was an exciting one, with Dodgin’ Bullitts and the NJ Drive Camaro neck and neck all the way to the end. Though Knuckles flipped his Mustang, he still made it across the finish line in first place. Both Knuckle’s Dodgin’ Bullitts and Kiwayli Nealy’s NJ Drive Camaro will advance through the tournament. Their competitors, on the other hand, gave up and spent the last heat taking a dip in a nearby pond. Finally, on a side note, Tyra’s new hair is looking fierce. You know what they say: “blondes have more fun”… and there’s tons more fun in the cavalcade to come.
On The Track
On The Track: 3DBotMaker by Christopher Kidder-Mostrom
W
hen we last visited Race Mountain, the King of the Mountain Tournament 2 had completed most, but not all, of round one. Naturally, the tournament progressed accordingly, and round one group four took to the track as expected. This group featured a couple of early favorites. The L-J Sisters in Gold Fire Tsunami 2 (a vibrant Chevy Nomad), and Van Solo, which had undergone some alterations since its last appearance, namely the addition of a windshield. Ere we get into the details of this race, one might wonder why 3D and 2D insist on pronouncing Van Solo with the ‘aw’ sound rather than a short a sound. I get that Han Solo’s name is pronounced both ways in the original trilogy and that Hawn is the preferred pronunciation of many, if not all Star Wars fans, but clearly the pun is only truly accomplished if you pronounce it Han, which rhymes with van. Anyway... on to more important things. Dom Woodley came into the group as the best seed, and in the first lap he held his position. The L-J Sisters got stuck in traffic. On the second lap, the L-J Sisters showed off how their straight lines
led to victory in the qualifying round. In lap 3 the two previously top cars in the group managed to take each other out. Their collective DNF opened the door for Obi Juan to ride Van Solo to a first place finish. With three different cars taking a first place lap, this group had the closest scores of the first round going into the final lap. For those who anticipated that the four-car set-up in this KotM tournament might lead to more racealtering crashes, this fourth lap could add weight to your argument. The L-J Sisters were bashed about by each of the other competitors, flipping the Nomad on its lid, and eventually back onto it wheels (though at a dead standstill). Dom Woodley’s #20 Tuner and Handy Rob Frontier advanced to the next round. In Round 2, Dom Woodley and Rob Frontier got to make their appearance right away, coming up against the FGC Family in Kong, and Garbanzo McElroy.
The cars in this round were remarkably well matched. The first two laps were close clean racing. The third lap found the tournament’s number 1 seed on the front row, and Kong never looked back. In both the 3rd and 4th laps, the FGC Family cruised to easy victory, only to be in post-finish line collisions. The trope of observer deaths has gotten a little tired. So many deaths in real racing got the FIA Rally Group B shut down forever. Perhaps adjusting figurine placement would be a good idea at this time. The brazen use of the death to sell product in the very next video was quite humorous, so apparently the trope has a little more life to be squeezed out of it. But, it does seem to be on its last legs. (Please pardon any death-related puns in the previous paragraph).
(3DBOTMAKER cont. on pg. 26) November 3, 2020 | 25
On The Track (3DBOTMAKER cont. from pg. 25) While it would be a lovely segue to shift to talking about the very next video at this point, we should first note that Kong and Garbanzo McElroy are the two moving on from this half of the bracket. They are both strong cars, and should fare well in the final round. The second half of this tournament’s Elite 8 included T-Lamont in Executioner, who has to be one of the tournament’s remaining favorites, and one of the earliest qualifiers, Matt Allen’s The F’n Fifty, In its previous appearance on the mountain, the blue truck Ford pickup proved to be a little loose, and that looked to be its undoing in this round. It’s unfortunate, as Allen is one of the top racers in the RLDDL this year, and its always exciting to see one of the bigger names in downhill diecast racing making an appearance on Race Mountain. But, as the maxim states, Fat Track is the great equalizer, and it clearly nullified any advantage that experience would have given Allen on this day. T-Lamont and Audihouse made it evident that this was a two car race from lap one. Timmy Vincent’s Audihouse kept the winning trend
going on the second lap. The F’n Fifty did have a chance to show his stuff on the third race, taking a win on that lap. T-Lamont’s consistency, placing second twice prior to winning the fourth lap, was just enough to keep Matt Allen from advancing, and that means that Audihouse and Executioner join Kong and Garbanzo McElroy in the finals, as these four cars compete for the chance to unseat the reigning King of the Mountain, Terry Hill in the Dollar General Evo. In the last two weeks there was one other racing event on the 3DBotmaker channel. Not part of the regular racing series, nor the DRC, the Mineraft Mob Race was a return to past years of 3DBotMaker’s channel when he featured a Grand Theft Auto race and a very popular Mario Cart race. Video gamethemed races have been good to 3DBotmaker, and revisiting that genre with a newly styles one-shot track on a new modular support structure was a good way to do it. Now, truth be told, I’ve never played Minecraft. I’m aware of its existence,
(HALLOWEEN cont. from page 14) Need a break from racing, but still in the diecast Halloween mood? Ron’s Muscle Car Die-cast put up a Spooktacular car show featuring monster movie cars. There’s the Munster Koach, plenty of hearses, Christine and more.
26 | Diecast Racing Report
but I don’t have any previous understanding of that a Mob is, or what these specific cars represent. That being said, this course was beautifully laid out and in a configuration we’ve not seen on this channel before. The cars could be eliminated in myriad ways, and while most of the eliminations threatened involved the phrase “you die”, the first few heats had a dissatisfying lack of dying vehicles. Just as in any other race, friction wasn’t a friend, as evidenced by the Spider. Doubling the number of wheels on a Hot Wheels car will always slow it down. And being top heavy isn’t a great help around corners either. In the end, it was nice to see that the final was decided by one of the promised “You Die” moments. And that a car that looked like a car came out on top... Even if that car was quite blocky.
Back in July, Diecast Graveyard put out a call for modders to build their best hearse, for a creepy Halloween Build Off Invitational and, boy!, did they deliver. There are MANY videos out there that individual builders posted in response to this call and Diecast Graveyard put up a video of his own build (turning an Ecto-1 into the “Carcophagus”) which includes a list of the 60 entries.
On The Track (CHAOS CANYON cont. from pg. 23)
All the other teams were within one win of taking it all. But, when all was said and done, the 8 cars would be staying in New Zealand forever. Spanners in the 8 Crate reigned supreme. There had been some joking earlier in the series when Jackson Pass reporter Tyra Marks had asked if the 8Crate should be banned in all future races. The model’s dominance was on display for all to see in every race held as part of the DIRS. But it is likely more of a challenge to the other builders to up their game, than it is necessary to ban the casting. Other cars should be able to beat the 8 Crate in next year’s competition. Warwick Rule, Chaos Canyon’s track owner may be done with one series, but he’s not one to rest on his laurels. While the DIRS was in action, behind the scenes Rule was putting together his next racing innovation: Canyon Outlaws. Chaos Canyon now has an ongoing series in which high level rat rods will be competing on a weekly basis during call-out races. The competitors will claw their way up the ladder to the top spot. After the first week’s video, it’s clear that the races will be intense. Track regulars and DIRS participants make up the field as it currently stands.
The Guru has made his claim to the top spot after the first week in a beautifully modified 8 Crate (Rule’s signature model). This one has been customized into a pick-up, or as the Kiwis call it, a ute. The car’s name is Jade Munky, and it is definitely the one to beat. The second place car belongs to Xanthippe who made her Canyon debut in the NAS-Carnage series this past summer. She makes her return in a modified ‘68 Dodge Dart named “Click” in honor of Tom Magliozzi of “Car Talk” fame. She’s got a fast car that is probably giving Guru fitful nights. As is the tendency with Hot Wheels classic Mopar castings, the car is pretty long and narrow which may mean that she will sometimes roll over in the corners, but if she can stay on her wheels, she may be the fastest car in the field. A lot of fans are rooting for Sharon Tarshish’s entry. Tarshish is known for his custom-made suspension system which makes an appearance in this build. He is currently in 5th place, but his ability to take the track’s infamous jump with aplomb will likely see him climb the rankings regularly. Another fan favorite before the action started was Ugly Betty, an entry
from EnZed Racing, another Kiwi team. Racing in a Chevy 3100, Big Mike probably should have looked into the model’s history at the Canyon. Ugly Betty is currently sitting in 7th place. Speaking of the 3100’s past, the Canyon’s maker of mayhem, Kit Kayem continues to baffle many by bringing a gasser to a road course. Kayem is currently in 4th place in El Dardo de Chatarra (literally, ‘Junk Dart’). Surely, this car will be the source of crazy times to come. Glitch, Phillip De Tank, and Myke Maze are all back to seek a bit of redemption for their recent DIRS losses. Of those three, Glitch is currently doing the best job in his car “Grinder”, which holds down third place. Maze is going to have to climb over Jumping Spider (Tarshish’s car) in order to get into the top 5. While Phillip De Tank’s Barracuda “Nancy Wilson” (nice nod to Heart fans), is looking up towards everyone currently. Sadly, a position he’s not unused to. For the first couple of months, these eight drivers (and possibly a couple more whose cars are caught up in customs/shipping) will battle for position each Friday night. Thereafter other cars will start to join in the action. The public call for cars can be found on the Chaos Canyon website. November 3, 2020 | 27
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