Sixty years ago, the Ford GT40 made history as the first (and so far only) American car to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In this anniversary year of Ford’s spectacular victory over Ferrari, the GT40 has achieved another astonishing feat of endurance on a small scale.
diecast endurance There is a YouTube channel that focuses on very specific content on driving diecast cars to the point of failure. It recently put a Hot Wheels GT40 (in this case, a Mark IV like the one that gave Ford its second Le Mans victory in 1967) through the ringer. The little Ford ran for five days, one hour, 10 minutes and 42 seconds before breaking down. The entire race was live-streamed in 12 parts, but for those of us with less patience, here’s an edit summarizes the whole thing In about five minutes.
A belt sander mounted on its side acts as a dynamometer. A plastic clip held the car in place but still allowed the wheels to rotate freely and the body to move up and down normally. With that setup, both the Hot Wheels GT40 and a camera remained on until the car could move. Before breaking up, it traveled 13,549 scale miles at a speed of 111 mph.
The wheels proved to be a point of failure. Grinding against the rough belt sander, they were slowly destroyed until the front part came off. As they did, they deposited a layer of microplastic dirt that any model-car maker would be proud of. The car looked like it had participated in a real endurance race. The wheels had deep grooves, and the paint on the inner fenders of the wheels was also damaged due to vertical motion.
Run #1 Ford GT40 MKIV – 5 Days in 5 Minutes – Includes Autopsy
Hot Wheels cars are tough enough, but if the testing hadn’t been stopped when it happened, a belt sander could have turned the entire car to dust (yes, someone even made a video of it). It’s possible that the GT40 could have lasted even longer by using a purpose-built dyno, or more durable wheels to limit friction and keep the car from getting chewed up.
Controlling the speed also seems to help. Diecast Endurance Has Already Done another livestream The Z30, along with the Toyota Soarer (first generation Lexus SC to Americans), achieved a top speed of 214 mph, but with a shorter range of 7,964.8 scale miles in three days, four hours, 41 minutes and 49 seconds.
