Hot Wheels Mainlines....where has the Speed gone?

Cars have been getting lighter... 35g or less

That is a factor for sure, but the above pictured Lotus is 35g and that casting as a whole seems to be fast more times than not, also, the axels seem to be very squirrely nowadays as well...I don't think the plastic tabs in the plastic bases scotch the axels in place as well anymore opposed to the metal bases or the older plastic bases...finding a lot of play in them as a whole outta the blister...QC problem perhaps?  

Weight doesn't matter as much as friction in the wheels unless you start comparing apples to oranges weights of cars like a 35g vs. a 65g. There are older Matchbox and Johnny Lightning Forever 64 models that weight about 35-40g that murder Hot Wheels of the same weight,and even some 50 gram Hot Wheels mainlines and what I notice on them is that the wheels spin better. It's pretty easy to understand the concept. So when you take apart a newer mainline Hot Wheels car, look at the little hubs on the ends of the axles, they've got all kinds of bumpy, rough excess casting junk that the wheels grind against. That's why filing that stuff off with a tiny file was a big deal when a guy on HWC had mail in races (By the way why did he stop and does anyone know where he is?) I remember a lot of guys filed those down to be smooth. Not to mention the plastic wheels of today are junk. Out of round, too much wiggle room in the hole that the axle is ran through it.

I totally agree, even my mediocre to decent FTE cars have no problem beating the current HW Mailine cars, whereas several of my 2012 mainlines of the same casting can beat my middle of the road FTE cars. To my knowledge....2012 as a whole was the last "good year' for the mainline cars. It's most likely a simple matter of QC and the mainline Matchboxes aren't any better. I put my money into flea market, vintage toy shops and Ebay nowadays....I buy cars to race them...not keeping sealed and collectible...and todays HW are just not getting it done on the track.  

Personally, the last year of good Hot Wheels to me was 2012. You will notice that many things changed in 2013.

Chinese factories have been doing things more and more cheaply as of late (meaning, they are trying to save $$). In the past, US manufacturers good push Chinese factories to do a better job for less money...the US had leverage...but, that is no longer the case.

With our company, we are constantly trying to find better quality in Chinese factories, but, it is getting tough! And we, the end consumer, are seeing the results of factories trying to do the job are cheaply as possible.

It's a shame...the mainline cars are only good for collecting and display purposes as of right now IMO, there actual race ability is very lacking and feeble currently, and with virtually no all metal cars even modifying them is useless. I buy the CS for the nickel platted axels and metal base for modifying...but that's all I'm getting off the pegs nowadays.

 I do agree with the consensus that overall quality(and METAL!!) have noticeably decreased in recent mainlines. But then again, whenever I begin to loose faith in Mattel, they always seem to come out with a new product that almost proves that racers, like us, are not forgotten. Case in point, the 2017 Head Starter...

Sure, it's a small car with a short wheelbase and the design is intended to be laughable. But I think that's the most metal Mattel has used on an 'exposed engine' since the Noodlehead! Rearward weight bias is an understatement. Ryu Asada knew what he was doing when he designed this one.

GspeedR