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The Mini Cooper is a great little car, but you need a license to drive it. You can get one, but it takes time (plus money, for both the license and the car, of course). It might not be the same kind of experience, but the Thumb-Size R/C Mini Cooper looks even better. (Ok, and I have a thing for miniatures.)
The Mini comes in two colors (red and silver) and one size (2.25″), with a remote control that looks like a mobile phone. It can go forward and in reverse and do right and left turns, but there’s something to keep in mind: the cars, regardless of color, operate on the same frequency, so there is no way to race them; your controller will just drive them both.
One more photo after the jump.
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These little red cars are, of course, Ferraris. Mini-Ferraris we might say, since they are 3-inch long replicas of the real thing.
But, even though they’re not as impressive as a full-size car, the Nano Drive R/C Ferrari Replicas have a lot of things going for them: full control with forward and reverse/right and left turns, turbo button for increased speed and working headlights.
They’re a licensed Ferrari product and only cost $30.
Are you a Ferrari fan and also a parent? Do you have too much money? Well then… if you want to show your son (or daughter) who makes the best cars before they are old enough to drive their own, the Ferrari FXX Exclusive pedal go-kart is waiting for your wallet.
Only the best from Ferrari, of course, even in toys: aerodynamic spoilers, 12 inch lightweight metal wheel rims, 7 gears, double disc-brake, dashboard computer, soft sport seat and a soft-grip leather look steering wheel.
Sounds good? Well, for £1,239 (almost $2500), it’d better.
Of course, if you feel that’s too much you can always go for the inferior model, the Ferrari FXX Racer pedal go-kart, which can be yours for only £415 (about $800). For a comparison of the two models, go here.
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If you don’t know what to buy for your VW fan friend, you can skip all the modern licensed products this time and go for something old-fashioned and original.
Originally launched in the ‘70, the Soundwagon Portable Record Player has been reborn. This retro licensed VW van is actually a record player: if placed on a vinyl, it moves along at 33 1/3 speed and uses its speakers to render the music.
While it can be pretty impressive for people who weren’t around in the golden days of records, the downside is there isn’t a 45 RPM model and, of course, the sound isn’t nowhere near perfect.
Of course, it probably won’t ever be used to play records, but make sure the recipient at least has one 33 1/3 record to show it off to curious guests.
You can get it for $89 at Turntable Lab.
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Some consider solar power the future of electricity, but there are still many issues to be addressed before it can be used on a large scale. So… companies are using it on a smaller scale. Very small, in this case.
Dubbed the world’s smallest solar powered car, this toy measures just 3.3 x 2.2 x 1.4 cm and is completely solar powered (that means no batteries whatsoever). The solar panel on top converts sun rays into electricity, powering the motor. It also works if placed under a strong artificial light source - but it’s more fun if it works on actual solar power, really.
It doesn’t do anything much, but it’s an interesting demonstration of the uses of solar energy, something to keep us entertained until full-size solar powered automobiles are in everyone’s garage.
One more photo after the jump, with the car held in someone’s hand, just so you see exactly how tiny it is.
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The Autonomous Drifter is a project from Chris of PyroElectro, who transformed a regular RC car into a computer-controlled car.
Only the remote was actually modified (through a process explained in detail over on the site), and by connecting it to a laptop the car can be keyboard-controlled. In order to make it “autonomous” like the name says, you have to use a free script and input commands (such as a “W” to indicate the car should move forward, followed by the amount of time it should do that, and so on). Getting it to do something really impressive probably takes a lot of time and skill, though.
This video shows both modes of operation.
More than one Top Gear fan has wondered how it would feel like to be in Stig’s shoes. And, being realistic, he’s realized that it will never happen.
But Scalextric brings the next best thing: the Scalextric Powerlaps set, which includes a Ford GT and Porsche 911 GT3R, a replica of the BBC Top Gear track (including the Hammerhead and Gambon corners) and two special edition Stig hand throttles.
The exact launch date hasn’t been announced, but expect it sometime in March.
If you grew up in the 80s or watched 80s series when you were young, you can’t have missed Knight Rider. A younger and fitter David Hasselhoff and, of course, the Knight Industries Two Thousand or K.I.T.T.
The odds of owning a talking car are slim, let’s face it. Unless you manage to freeze yourself and wake up in the future, you probably won’t see anything resembling K.I.T.T. in your lifetime.
But you can at least get the remote controlled version. The Knight Rider R/C Car is the same customised Pontiac Trans-Am in the series (only smaller). It can travel forwards, backwards, left and right and it has a ‘turbo-boost’ function. The well-known K.I.T.T. features are there: the whooshing sound, the red sensor on the hood, and even the voice. When you push a button on the transmitter the car says: “I am K.I.T.T., whom you may regard as the voice of the Knight 2000.”
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Mattel is celebrating its 40th birthday and what better way to do it than making the most expensive toy car in the world? Uh, ok, a lot of ways, but covering something in diamonds or at least Swarovski crystals seems to be the new trend.
Valued at $140,000, the 1:64-scale Hot Wheels car was designed by celebrity jeweler Jason of Beverly Hills and it commemorates the production of the 4 billionth Hot Wheels vehicle. The car is cast on 18-karat white gold and covered in more than 2,700 blue, white and black diamonds. Blue stones mimick the Spectraflame blue paint, black and white diamonds are used for the engine under the functional hood and for the underbelly, and the tail lights are actually rubies. The car comes in a custom-made case which holds 40 individual white diamonds, signifying each year in the legacy of Hot Wheels.
One rich collector will probably be the very happy owner of this vehickle, while the rest of us will just keep wondering why someone would pay $140,000 for a toy car…
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Did you know you can go green even when having fun, and teach your kids something about protecting the environment, too? All you need is the HF Mach 3.0 from Corgi, a remote controlled car that runs on water, part of a product line appropriately called H2Go. It’s developed in partnership with Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies and powered (obviously) by a hydrogen fuel cell. As it’s only powered by water and sunlight, it doesn’t need any disposable batteries.
The kit is £130 and it includes an RC car, a refueling station, a solar panel and a remote control.
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