Hot Wheels V-Drop Super Velocity Track Set
Hot Wheels V-Drop Super Velocity Track Set Features
- Not for use with some Hot Wheels vehicles
- It’s insane height and adjustable ramp gets Hot Wheels cars to reach extreme speeds and catch sick air
- It has a cool elevator that lifts a Hot Wheels car all the way to the top
- V-Drop super velocity track set is a super-tall gravity set that hangs over the top of a door
$24.99
Fun. I don't use on a door, but put on the edge of a table. -- Hot wheels track
As a father of six sons, we've had a lot of Hotwheels sets around the house over the years. This one is just the way they should be--relatively simple, and providing hours of fun! The only thing I wished I knew before I bought this one is that Hotwheels actually makes a two-lane version (see http://www.amazon.com/Mattel-WHEELS-2-Lane-V-DROP-Track/dp/B000W5TKJ0).
So may of the other sets (e.g, the track like a big fireball/meteor, one with the attack dinosaur, the big criss-cross raceway) have so many parts that the boys ended up losing a critical piece fairly early (in the first six weeks), making the sets worthless. If you have only one or two kids and a big house where you can leave one of those set set up all the time, fine, but for us, they had to be taken apart and put away after each use.
This one makes it easy for the kids (boys and girls) to set up a high start with a jump. Once my wife, one of our eldest kids, or I hang the elevator/bracket with the track, they are good to go. Hey, I remember trying to wedge an orange track into a closet door when I was a kid, so this is, perhaps, the most primal Hotwheels set of all. It has fewer parts in all, the most complex being the elevator (which I'm going to leave hanging on our designated door). The rest are basic track (something we already have around) and the jump (something we can always make from books or Lego blocks). The elevator, itself, was easy to assemble (and that's not even the right term). I comes as one jointed piece. You simply unfold it, make sure the joints snap together, and make sure the string falls into the slot. It was simple.
[*BONUS* for Moms and Dads: this set had no stickers to apply. The time from opening the box to being ready to play was about 5 minutes.]
I do wonder how long the elevator mechanism will keep working, especially when the string is tugged by smaller hands, but even if that stops working, we'll still have a great set, given the price (as of this writing, you can find it as low as $10-15). [If it does stop working, we'll move the brack to the footboard on the top bunk bed and run the track into the hall.]
BTW--I gave this toy three stars in the educational category because you can use it to start talking to your kids about concepts like gravity and friction. Sometimes people don't think about simple toys as educational, and think that everything must be a "Leapster" type product to have any intellectual merit. Well, I always think its best to teach using the resources you have at hand. When your kids are interested in sending cars hurtling down a track and over a jump, then you can teach about gravity. When that one car with the bent axle always comes down slower than other cars, you can talk about friction. Make the best of the moment, and enjoy this toy! -- A simple set, and simply fun!
