Then it’s up to Hot Wheels to get them on shelves. Once the designers have nailed it down, they start chatting with their manufacturing partners in Asia, who actually make the toys. ![]() Moving from prototype to final design can take a few days to a few weeks. Among nine unique trials the cars have to ace: a “launcher on speed 2” test, assessing the stability of the die-cast car in a low-powered Hot Wheels launcher a “launcher on speed 4” test, which gauges the stability of the car in a high-powered launcher a “slide slam launcher” test, which tests whether the car can maintain stability after being shot out of the more extreme Hot Wheels “slam launcher.” No tiny crash dummies are harmed in the testing of Hot Wheels products, Wu says. Wu says Hot Wheels designers have the classic orange mini tracks in their El Segundo, California, design studios, so they can ensure that their test vehicles are zooming just as any 6-year-old knows they should. “We’ve got it down to a pretty regimented cycle schedule,” Wu says. Hot Wheels, which is owned by multinational toy company Mattel, can take a full-size vehicle and transform it into a teensy one on store shelves in 12 to 18 months. “One of my designers was so excited about the 2JetZ that he started modeling it immediately, on the off chance it would be the winner,” says Ted Wu, Hot Wheels’ head of design. And as soon as Hot Wheels’ designers saw hobbyist Luis Rodriguez’s creation, on the tour’s final leg in Las Vegas, they knew the hot rod would look great in miniature. The goal was to find one that might make a 1:64-scale die-cast toy that your neighborhood orange mini track enthusiast would love. Last year, the tour made 15 stops around the country to check out 3,600 custom cars. ![]() The 2JetZ is the first winner of Hot Wheels’ Legends Tour. Which means something more miraculous: It is someone’s job-really, a few people’s jobs-to transform a custom, 1,650-pound, open-wheeled jet car into something that might fit in the palm of your kiddo’s hand. There were no shrink rays involved in the making of the 2JetZ Hot Wheels toy.
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