Ten Q’s w/ TranSport Diecast Racing

We asked ten questions of John Tran, the founder of TranSport Diecast Racing. John is currently hosting Miatas at the Crest, an epic event in which every entry is a Mazda MX-5 Miata. Tran caught the attention of many through his construction of a really long track with laned and open track segments not limited to a standard S-curve shape.

1. Q: Where did you grow up?

A: I grew up in Long Beach and have spent most of my life in Southern California.

2. Q: Did you play with Hot Wheels as a Kid? If so, how? What was your favorite car?

A: I played with Hot Wheels as a kid but I mostly crashed them with my brother. Whoever flipped over lost. Our hands took a beating. We got most of our Hot Wheels in McDonalds Happy Meals. My favorite car back then was the 93 Camaro with the green and yellow krackle paint. I just found out now that it's a Camaro!

3. Q: You have a sizable race course. Exactly how long is it? What inspired the track?

A: The track is about 65 ft from start to finish. It started out with a 4ft x 8ft footprint in its current location and then eventually grew to a 6ft x 10ft footprint. I kept wanting to go bigger and bigger. My track was heavily inspired by 3DBotmaker's DRC and KOTM tracks. I love both of his tracks, favoring DRC more, except for its short length. I wanted my track to be a combination of the two with a little something different. For the diorama, it's loosely based on the Angeles Crest Highway, a 30 minute drive from me. I originally wanted to model it after Mt. Akina from the anime Initial D, but that would've required a lot more work which I wasn't willing to do at the time. I'm going to change it later on when I rebuild my track in my garage.

4. Q: You’re currently running a race of 100% modified Mazda Miatas. How is that going? Is there anything unexpected about running a competition that is one-model-only?

A: Miatas at the Crest is going well! If I had to pick something, I would say that the results have been unexpected. The fastest qualifier is almost 30g lighter than the next two! We'll see if the weight plays a bigger role when they're on the track together. The interest has been unexpected as well. I wasn't sure how many people would be interested in participating or watching, but people seem to love watching these little cars fly around the track.

5. Q: Do you have a Holy Grail of cars? One that you have been looking for forever, and it would be something special if you found it?

A: I apologize for the boring answer, but I don't, actually. I've only recently gotten back into collecting due to quarantine, and since then, I've never looked for must-have cars. I just buy whatever appeals to me. I do wish Hot Wheels would make a NB generation Miata.

6. Q: Do you have your next event in the pipeline? If so, what is it?

A: I have 2 official events in my pipeline right now. There are more in planning. The first event is the Tournament of 32 that begins at the end of December. It's a 32 car tournament where I'll be introducing people to 4-car racing on my track. I'm using my own cars but I've allowed the already-selected drivers to submit their own cars as substitutions. The second event is my 65g KOTM, or KOTC (King of the Crest). I'm hoping to start that at the end of February or beginning of March. It's using the same rules as KOTM but the weight limit is 65g. It may get moved back a little to accommodate the DIRS event.

7. Q: You were recently asked to be one of the DIRS courses for 2021. How’s that feel?

A: It's a great feeling. I've always wanted to do a multi-track series but it takes a lot of time and effort to plan one. I'm very grateful to Chaos Canyon for taking this on. The first DIRS event went great and it's only going to get better! I can't wait to get started.

THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD – The twists and turns and ups and downs make each run of Miatas at the Crest unique.

8. Q: If you were to do another one-model-only race series, what would be the next model you’d want to tackle?

A: I'm actually planning to do a lot of one-model-only events in the future. I really like the idea of everyone building the same car. It's a much better way to test your skills. After my 2 events I have lined up, I'm planning on doing an NSX-only event. I'd also like to do a Tooned Chevelle event, I love the way those castings run together.

9. Q: Since the beginning of your channel, you’ve shared all of the testing of your track and its features in public videos. Were you at all nervous about showing the unfinished bits of your project with the world?

A: I wasn't nervous at all. The track was never going to be finished (it still isn't finished now, I'm always tweaking things), so I didn't care to wait before sharing. I had also shared many videos on 3DBotmaker's page before so it was all the same to me. I wish I had taken pictures of the build process so I could share it with everyone!

10. Q: If you had one piece of advice some someone building their own track, what would it be?

A: Don't use the slow cars for testing while tuning. You can either build a track for slow cars or for fast cars, but not both. Well you can, but the racing won't be as good as it can be. If I'm building a track for slow cars, I have to use lower banks on the curves so that the slow cars don't slide down. If a fast car takes that same curve, there isn't enough bank to push the car so it'll fly into the outside wall.