1969 Hot Wheels Super-Charger Rally ‘N Freeway Set

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Smackeralcafe

The all purpose Super-Charger set for 1969 is the Rally & Freeway Set. It’s like the Double Action Set but also includes a 12 car Rally Case that acts like a parking structure for the track to go under.

You get 24 feet of orange track (some of it in 12 inch, 6 inch and 3 inch pieces), 12 joiners, 2 half curves, 4 full curves, 2 automatic lap counters, 4 white trestles, 1 twelve car rally case, 2 rally case supports, and 2 Super-Chargers. The instructions come with 5 track layouts: 4 freeways and 1 race way.

Instructions – Page 1. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Instructions – Page 2. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Instructions – Page 3. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Instructions – Page 4. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Instructions – Page 5. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Instructions – Page 6. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Instructions – Page 7. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Instructions – Page 8. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

I am going to build the Tricky Triple-Twist Layout on page 8 for this post and video. And since I don’t have the original white rally case supports I will substitute two of my own. I am going to skip the lap counter as well because I will be running up to 4 cars at one time.

Here’s the Tricky Triple-Twist Freeway ready to go. And here are the 4 cars I am going to use on this set.

L to R: 1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, Corvette Grand Sport, 2010 Ford Mustang GT, 1969 COPO Corvette

Here’s a tour through the course. Out of the lower Super-Charger and heading for the 12 car Rally Case parking garage. Through the parking garage underpass. Heading back to the upper Super-Charger. Out to the second full curve loop. Sweeping past the Super-Chargers. Round the half curve. Through the third full curve loop. And back to the lower Super-Charger. There you have it. The 1969 Hot Wheels Super-Charger Rally & Freeway Set.

It’s still fast! Still fun!

Here’s a link to my YouTube Channel:

1969 Collectors’ Catalogue. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Box art – front. Courtesy eBay.

Box art – front. Close up. Courtesy eBay.

Box art – front. Close up of 12 car Rally Case. Courtesy eBay.

Box art – front. Close up of dual oval race set configuration. Courtesy eBay.

Box art – back. Courtesy eBay.

A nice example of original contents. Courtesy eBay.

1969 Hot Wheels Super-Charger Race Set

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Smackeralcafe

With two Super-Chargers, Mattel said, “you can test your racing skills”. The 1969 Hot Wheels Super-Charger Race Set gives you two ovals to do just that.

The track set includes: 24 feet of orange track, 2 three inch pieces of orange track, 10 joiners, 4 full curves, 2 automatic lap counters, 1 white trestle and 2 Super-Chargers.

Here is the instruction sheet for the Super-Charger Race Set.

Front page of instruction sheet. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Page 2 of instruction sheet. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Page 3 of instruction sheet. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Page 4 of instruction sheet. Mattel’s race set layout. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Page 5 of instruction sheet. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Page 6 of instruction sheet. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

To get the best performance from this track, I placed the Super-Chargers further back to allow for a longer initial straightaway. Cars get a little destabilized by the spinning Super-Charger wheels. So, a little more room to settle down before hitting the automatic lap counter makes for a nicer run. I also elevated the first full curves with 4 white trestles. Only 1 white trestle comes in the Super-Charge Race Set, but 4 white trestles come in the Super-Charger Double Action Set and the Super-Charger Rally ‘N Freeway Set (both of which have instructions for making a dual oval race set). The steeper the banking on the curves, the more speed the cars retain as they go around.

My modified version of the Super-Charger Race Set.

While you could set a race for any distance you wanted, I always thought you should run the automatic lap counters to their limit…namely 100 laps.

The trick with this set is trying to stay ahead of the other guy without wiping out. The faster you go, the closer you get to instability and crashing. Even if you react quickly, a crash will cost you 1 or 2 laps.

Running the course….out of the Super-Chargers.

Into the automatic lap counters.

Round the elevated full curves.

Flying down the joint straightaway.

Across the finish line marker.

Back to the Super-Chargers.

The 1969 Hot Wheels Super-Charger Race Set.

It’s still fast! Still fun!

Here is a link to my YouTube channel. This is a demonstration of a 100 lap race pitting a Corvette against a Mustang.

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1969 Collectors’ Catalogue. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Comic book Ad for the Super-Charger Race Set.

Box art – front. Courtesy eBay.

32 Ford Vicky and ’57 T-Bird come with this set. Courtesy eBay.

Box art – back.

Box art – side.

Box art – other side.

box art – end flap.

1969 Hot Wheels Super-Charger Double Action Set

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Smackeralcafe

Today’s kids are amazed by the original Hot Wheels drag race sets and figure 8 speedways, especially those powered by Rod Runners. But given their own choice of what to build they usually opt for an elongated single lane freeway. Kids love constructing roadways. The 1969 Hot Wheels Super-Charger Double Action Set has this made in spades.

The Double Action Set lets you build 5 different tracks plus whatever else you can come up with using your imagination. Four of the official tracks are freeways and one is a dual oval race set (I’ll do that one on the next blog). To build all this, the Double Action Set includes: 25 feet of orange track, 12 joiners, 2 half curves, 4 full curves, 2 Super-Chargers, 2 automatic lap counters, and 4 trestles.

I’m going to build one of the freeways from this set called “The Over ‘N Under”. In this arrangement, the Super-Chargers are stacked one on the other. The lower Super-Charger needs to run in reverse for this layout to work. Fortunately, all you have to do is put the batteries in backwards to get the foam covered wheels spinning the other way.

Double Action Set instruction sheet – front page. Courtesy eBay.

Layout instructions for the “Over ‘N Under” freeway. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

The freeway is open.

During testing I found 3 of my Mustangs performed really well on this freeway. They all have “Faster Than Ever 1” wheels. The gold car is a 2010 Ford Mustang GT and the other two are 2007 Ford Shelby GT500 cars.

3 Mustangs ready to put on some miles.

How about a lap around the circuit? The gold Mustang enters the top Super-Charger.

Down the ramp.

To the lap counter.

Round the first full turn.

Heading back to the lower Super-Charger.

Into the tunnel.

Flat out to the second full curve.

Round the second full curve.

And back up the half curve.

When I put on the second car and then the third car I wondered what kind of bumping crashes would occur as a faster car caught up to the car in front of it. Turns out that doesn’t happen. The Super-Chargers loose some energy when they propel a car out onto the track. It takes a little bit of time for the spinning power of the Super-Charger’s internal wheels to come back to full strength. As a result, if the second car gets closer to the first car, then it gets less of a push from the Super-Charger and falls back. So the Super-Chargers automatically space out the cars evenly, whether you are running 2 cars or 3. I ran three Mustangs for 30 minutes during video filming for my YouTube channel and the cars never got near each other.

The lap counter makes sense when you are running one car. But when you get 2 or 3 cars going then the counter is just spinning over and over. I must have logged nearly 500 lap counts by the time I was done. And I found the lap counter works best out of the top Super-Charger because it is easier to travel over a flat half curve back into the lower Super-Charger than it is to climb the elevated half curve back into the upper Super-Charger.

All in all, it’s a fun layout. And having multiple tracks to build right out of one box is a Hot Wheeler’s delight.

The 1969 Hot Wheels Super-Charger Double Action Set.

It’s still fast. Still fun.

Here’s a link to my YouTube Channel:

Super-Charger Double Action original artwork. Courtesy www.redlineprotos.com.

Box art – front. Courtesy eBay.

Box art – back. Courtesy eBay.

Super-Charger Double Action instruction sheet. Courtesy eBay.

Extra pic 1.

Extra pic 2.

Extra pic 3.

1969 Hot Wheels Super-Charger Sprint Set

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Smackeralcafe

“Add Power!” “Lap after lap.” These were Mattel’s buzz words for 1969. Gravity race sets dominated 1968. But for 1969 the majority of new track sets were powered by Super-Chargers.

Super-Chargers are battery powered (D-size) devices that contain spinning, foam-covered wheels. The wheels grab the Hot Wheels car as it enters the Super-Charger and propels the car out onto the track at racing speeds.

The basic set for 1969 is the Super-Charger Sprint Set. It consists of 16 feet of orange track, a 3 inch and a 6 inch piece of track, 8 joiners, two 180 degree curves, 2 white trestles, 1 red trestle, and one Super-Charger.

A throttle on the side of the Super-Charger allows you to control how fast the machine is running. With the Sprint Set, the idea is to increase throttle until your car completes each lap under its own momentum. And you can keep increasing power, running laps faster and faster, until the Hot Wheels car becomes unstable and wipes out.

Low centre of gravity cars seem to handle the higher speeds of a Super-Charger best. These cars are more stable out of the Super-Charger and cling to the curves better. You seldom go wrong running a couple of Corvettes on this track. That’s why I use two 1969 Corvettes (current model Hot Wheels) in my YouTube video.

’69 Corvettes: Yellow ZL1 & Red,White & Blue COPO

The yellow car is a ’69 ZL1. Even though it was a factory option, only 2 were ever built. The all aluminum 427 motor that defined the ZL1 was a powerful and pricey extra. The red, white & blue car is a ’69 COPO Corvette. COPO stands for Central Office Production Order. This was a back door way of ordering high performance option packages, including big bore (over 400 cid) engines, without the official approval of GM brass.

Instructions for the Sprint Set.

Front Page of Super Charger Sprint Set instructions. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Layout Instructions. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Back page of instruction sheet. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

The track is ready.

As Mattel said in their ’69 commercials, “In hot……..

…out Hotter!”

Sizzle through the first turn.

Over the red trestle hill.

Round the second turn….lap after lap.

Two at a time.

The 1969 Hot Wheels Super-Charger Sprint Set.

It’s still fast! Still fun!

Here is the link to my YouTube video:

1969 Pre Race Check List: Super Charger tips in the right column. Mattel, Inc.

From 1969 Collectors’ Catalogue. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

Sprint Set Box – front. Courtersy eBay.

Box art – front. Complete set with Chaparral 2G. Courtesy eBay.

Sprint Set Box – back. Courtesy eBay.

Another view of the Sprint Set box art – back. Courtesy eBay.

Sprint Set Box – side. Courtesy eBay.

Box art – side. Close-up.

Sprint Set Box – side. Courtesy eBay.

Sprint Set Box – end. Courtesy eBay.

1969 Hot Wheels Double-Dare Race Action Set

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Smackeralcafe

For Hot Wheels’ second year of production, one new gravity race set was added. By taking the Drag Race Action Set and adding loops from the Stunt Action Set, Mattel came up with the 1969 Double-Dare Race Action Set.

The track components for the Double-Dare Race Set include: 28 feet of orange track, 10 joiners, 1 universal clamp, 1 start gate, 1 finish gate and 2 dare-devil loop bases.

Front page of instruction sheet. Copyright Mattel,Inc.

Back page of instruction sheet. Copyright Mattel, Inc.

It makes sense to secure the loops to the floor with books or tape in order to improve performance. Without anchoring, the entire base shifts forwards, upwards and then backwards as the car goes around. Plus, the orange track part of the loop flexes as the car moves through. This uses up some of the kinetic energy that cars bring into the loops. And the result is somewhat slower moving cars once out of the loops.

My solution for stabilizing the two daredevil loops is to make a dual lane loop holder out of wood. Now the Hot Wheels cars come in fast and go out fast.