A tribute to Hot Car Track, from start to finish
Australian Diecast Channel Racing
My tribute to:
Hot Car Track – From Start to Finish!
By Marc D
Where to start?
I actually wrote this while cruising the Sth Pacific over a month ago, time flies.......…..
A few weeks ago, I met up with Simon from Hot Car Track, (youtube channel) for a couple of hours. Simon is now in the process of moving (in stages) to Thailand, starting to set up for retirement over there. Thus closing a chapter of Aussie Diecast Racing/Channel, and also his 3D Printing Business with it. A sad day for local fans.
For me, yeah….A time to reflect on his great contribution to Aussie Diecast content, and racing!
The views and recollections here are all mine. Happy to hear your historical input!
Myself, I started (back) into diecast after discovering youtube around mid 2018, initially finding/watching customisation channels, then eventually finding myself into early fat track racing on “Guitarded and Broke” and early 3D Botmaker and the like content.
Early on on made some great online friends who also commented on the content. I then recall one good mate “Po’Boy” emailing me, around early/mid 2019, that he had seen an Aussie Channel start up, go and check it out!
Indeed, Hot Car Track, HCT, had begun!
In later conversation with Simon his inspiration was from watching the early “grassroots” version of 3D Botmaker. Simons’s basic goals was to create relaxed, good quality/production races, between mates, enjoy a wine, beer, etc, chill out, and get away from day to day work stress.
Very quickly, a core of us locals and others, got behind Simon, and formed a small email group.Incl Po’Boy, EnZed, Hot Wheels Boys, Metal Mania 3D, Power Drive Racing,and on. The idea was to provide support and suggestions, brainstorming.
I know Simon had other good support and liasons from other channels, ie Tune Trax Racing, Chaos Canyon and also(future) top builders incl Blue Line Racing, Fractal Panda, Redline Salvage Inc, 100 Proof Racing,etc.
The initial Hot Car Track Vids were all about sharing the track build. No membership fee required here! Just sharing with the community, the wins, the losses and experience of building and tuning a track. We all shared in his track journey.
He then kicked off with ”The Summer Racing” Series and other pilot events.
But, to me, the real break through was in Jan 2020 with the release of the “Monday Night Hot Rod Season!” Great dual, open track Fat Track racing, with stock, HoT Rod themes cars! Many, many viewers got involved with “drives” as well as mailing in cars. Popularity grew, as did the production and racing. Though with Simon’s background in film, pro phots,etc it was always great!
Cars started arriving from all over the world!
BOOM ! The Road Warriors Seasons began! Modded, sent in cars up to 120 grams!
The production and racing at the time was leading edge stuff, a true credit to Simon. Great support from world class builders from the US, Canada, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, and more!
There was no other Aussie Content out there at this time. Simon pioneering the way.
More cars flooded into HCT.
In chatting with Simon, he was immensely appreciative, humbled, blown away, by the support, generosity of the diecast community. He was also dismayed that he was unable to “track” all the 100’s of cars sent in, but again, so thankful to all who assisted his adventures.
However, with Simon moving on from Diecast Racing, he has forwarded that legacy of cars to assist racing programs at other channels, ie ADRL (Aussie Diecast Racing League) etc, so hopefully they will eventually all get air time. I have received quite a few of what I call “historics”. Cars that have raced (mods) at HCT and were not requested/paid to be sent home. You will see them again, as I will be showcasing them in some manor on my channel.
2021 on HCT saw USA Vs Aus in a Truck/Utes race off. Again a hit, and fun. Then Minis Vs Mustangs, which then led to the Blockbuster…….
VANTASTIC and 80+ Vans from around the world! A truly cracking “Bigger than Ben Hur” series!
Simon had always wanted to build a Bathurst type track, but always held back by track part limitations…..Not to be held back, Simon used his creativity/design genes and got into 3D printing! Initially for himself, but then helped the community by doing all sorts of track pieces, buildings, diorama, figurines etc. Successfully assisting the diecast community!
Simon certainly had hoped/tried to get Australian Diecast Racing on the map, as a hobby, but yeah, sadly, that secret still has to be unlocked.
His journey has been a hard thing to do on your own at times, and sometimes made even harder when many trolls/fan boys, overtime take a toll on one being positive. Sad part of the hobby that I know many have had to deal with….
I think we all here have seen many a great, real, race channel, with great production and grassroots energy, really not able to push ahead and survive. I certainly can’t fathom much of it.
So, with my last arranged meeting with Simon ( A very long coffee at Maccas (McDonalds) he needed to clear some things before heading off to Thailand. I bought some 3D gear to assist my part in the hobby, but he also passed the torch with some “Historics”of HCT. Some Season 1-3 of the Road Warrior Builds, as well as many from Vantastic.
I hope to showcase many of these on my channel going forward, and also contribute to those that help make HCT a great place to race and contribute. I will comment / msg those still in the hobby when I post up. Message me if needed.
To me, Hot Car Track was/is an icon of Aussie made Diecast Content, a pioneer, countless unpaid hours of grassroots input into the hobby, all for us diecast racers and viewers.
So, I raise a glass to my Aussie mate Simon, for all the good times, and wish him well into the future!
Cheers, Marc D
P.S. If you ever have a rainy day, new racers, kids, etc and want to watch some great historical diecast racing, check out Hot Car Track, playlist and see some great content!
Discussion
Man Hot car track was a great racing channel. Hope things goes well for him.
- It was a great time. Made many good memories, and made some top friends from it! Cheers. — CutRock_R_Marc_D
Man I used to love HCT. His races were fun and his production was fantastic. I was honoured to be able to do a joint commentary with him on one of his races, it was great fun.
I have missed his races and maybe he'll make a beers and racing track once he retires in Thailand, you never know.
- Hey the Warwick, thanks for your input. Hey, I'm sitting here having breakfast on a Saturday morning, and one thing is missing, your show! Hope the move and all is going well mate. Yeah, there is a racer in Simon out there! Cheers, Marc D — CutRock_R_Marc_D
Thanks for this Marc. 2020-2021 was a great time in diecast racing. Simons early Hot Rods and Road Warriors races were as good as anything I've seen on YT until this day. I think what I really loved was how welcoming he was and how excited he was to have people actually that actually wanted to send him cars all over the world. It motivated me to want to send him something to be proud of. Losing HCT, D64, DCR, Red Pill and others has really made it hard to stay motivated. Diecast racing isn't quite the same these days. We have seen many come and go and more have gone than come. I hope it doesn't take another pandemic to get back to those days.
My advice to new hosts is don't do this for views or to make money. Do it for fun and because you love it. Pace yourself and don't bite off more than you can chew. If the day comes this can be something you can make a few bucks doing then great but it is highly unlikely. Do it because you love it and it will be much more satisfying and something you're likely to continue doing for years to come.
Thanks for all the fun Simon and good luck in your retirement.
- Thanks BLR, Tim. Also some great advice. Do this because you love it, connect and make good friends, from all around the world. A great hoibby, sport, passtime. Cheers all ! — CutRock_R_Marc_D
- words of wisdom, my containment field is fun — dr_dodge
Thanks for telling the tale. It's a great one to read and think about. It's great hearing how a local community can come together all while still sharing the fun with the world. Bravo to you all that were involved, will continue, and to Simon's retirement.
And double thanks for even just sharing the story here, where it can live as a reference to others to read and look back on. I know most of the connections are happening on everyone's social but those platforms can be more fleeting than a site like RLD, so it's great to have a marker in the history of diecast racing like this. Thank you.
- Thanks Brian. I think it was a chapter worth telling, and a great era. We try out best to support, / get Aussie/NZ diecast racing happening, but yeah, tough. We have a great small email group to spur and support, great mates. Cheers. — CutRock_R_Marc_D
HCT's "RoadWarriors" (still say that in my head with the Aussie Accent) was the first thing I ever entered in Diecast. I was immediately taken with Simons production. To say his races were a gold standard would be an understatement. HCT was perfect...and of course you couldn't get a nicer dude than Simon. I'm happy that I came into Diecast at a time that allowed me to participate at his track (even though it didn't go well for this fledgling builder) as it fueled my want to get better. I'm wishing all the best for Simon in Thailand...and a big thank you to MarcD for the exhaustive bio of Simon and HCT. It was a great read and a real part of the Diecast racing history.
- Many thanks CC. I certainly enjoyed watching your builds and support of the channel! All the best to you out there. Cheers, Marc D — CutRock_R_Marc_D
- I read all the above, and am in...well, i don't know how to say it, but all of y'all inspire me often, — dr_dodge
- is simon the concrete bathurst simon, too? (rookie question) — dr_dodge
- Dr Dodge , no, Bathurst concrete track is Lee. A great track to follow as well — EnZedRacing
Like most people I came across diecast racing via 3D. I was actually looking up on YouTube how to straighten MBX axles!
When Simon came along I was excited because it meant we in NZ could send a car to race and it would take less than a week to arrive. A few of us in NZ supported Simon as he supported us: Chaos Canyon and Hot Wheels Boys to name a couple. It was...IS still a small community of mates that talk cars and life in general.
I've made some good mates through Simon and I will always be grateful for pulling us through those 2 years where the world went silly.
Shout out to Marc for writing this up, cheers mate. PoBoy for always making sure the email group stayed in touch and and to Craig, Lee, Macey, KC (hurry up and get better ya old dog!) Tim and Frank "The Guru" Gibbs for all sharing ideas, hints and tricks.
- Thanks Enzed, great comments/input. Good luck out there on the tracks, and see you in a pub one day! — CutRock_R_Marc_D
I'm going to watch some Monday Night Hot Rods right now!! And I'm rereading the comments as I go! You knew you were watching something special that was about lto grow out of control. But in that moment it was still manageable enough for Simon and his subscribers to interact individually. My current collection started as a bunch of hot rods that never got shipped before Simon announced that he had too many cars.
- Thank yoy Ruckus for your input! Unfortuneate you missed racing there, but sure great to watch! Cheers Marc D — CutRock_R_Marc_D
- By “collection” I mean the giant cardboard box and both contractor bags. Plus the modding tools and supplies. Your fault Simon! I blame you! — Ruckus_Racing
Being a complete noob in this sport, I have not seen HTC's early work until just now...wow! Fab quality productions.
Before I started in this scene, I searched "Mt Panorama Bathurst Hotwheels" and Simon's channel came up and I tell you what, I was so excited to see that thing in action.
But good old life gets in the way, which is a great shame for us fans of his.
I trust things will work out great for Simon in Thailand...maybe that Bathurst track will eventuate with time.
Thanks for sharing Marc and all good wishes to Simon.
- Great to see your current input into the Aussie Diecsat Racing scene. Yes, I'm glad this has spurred you on to check out some of his productions, and I hope others too, as there are always things one can learn! Great productions, great fun, great racing, ha, laughs with mates, and a good drink at the end of it! — CutRock_R_Marc_D
- Absolutely! — Bathurst_Diecast_Racing
wow, thanks for sharing that
dr