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Hot Wheels celebrates 40 years with design contest

Honda shows off its Honda Racer model as part of Hot Wheels' design contest.

Wayne Cunningham Managing Editor / Roadshow
Wayne Cunningham reviews cars and writes about automotive technology for CNET's Roadshow. Prior to the automotive beat, he covered spyware, Web building technologies, and computer hardware. He began covering technology and the Web in 1994 as an editor of The Net magazine.
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Honda Racer
The Honda Racer was designed by Honda for Hot Wheels' 40th anniversary. Honda

Honda announced its participation in the Hot Wheels 40th anniversary design contest by unveiling the Honda Racer, a 1/64th scale model designed at the automaker's R&D facility in Torrance, Calif.. Other entrants include Chevrolet, with the 1957 Corvette-inspired Chevroletor; Ford, with the Gangster Grin; Dodge, with the XP-07; and Mitsubishi, with Double Shotz. The design competition centered on the Hot Wheels motto of power, speed, and performance. The toy company obviously ceded the virtue of economy to Matchbox, which has models of the Mazda2 and Smart Cabrio.

Honda provided the following specs for the Honda Racer:

  • Layout: Mid engine/ rear-wheel drive
  • Seating Capacity: 2
  • Length x Width x Height (cm): 7.0 x 3.0 x 2.2 cm
  • Curb Weight: 40 grams
  • Body/ Frame: Real die-cast metal, plastic
  • Fuel: Gravity and a child's imagination
  • Engine: Die-cast Honda V-10 (theoretical)
  • Valvetrain: DOHC VTEC, four valves per cylinder (theoretical)
  • Displacement: 20 liters/1,220 cubic inches (theoretical)
  • Suspension: Solid front and rear axles
  • Tires: Low-friction hard plastic

Hot Wheels' Batmobile
My own desktop car collection, with the Hot Wheels' Batmobile front and center. CNET Networks

Unfortunately, there's nothing about power-to-weight ratio, but with a 20-liter V-10 and a 40 gram curb weight, it has to be astronomical. The Honda Racer arrives on store shelves in May 2008.