Hot WheelsToy Car Track Set, Formula 1 Grand Prix Circuit Track Set with 3 1:64 Scale Die-Cast Toy Cars, Two Modes of Racing with a Motorized Booster

This track is SO SATISFYING!! It is a logistical dream on laps completed and winner. It is a track I can come back too over and over to play!

This is a great track set that will make even adult F1 and Hot Wheels fans giggle. It's also a great way to get kids into hot wheels and even Formula 1. I grew up watching F1 and loving Hot Wheels and nothing like this ever existed to merge the 2 so naturally I got pretty excited when I saw it.The track set is easy to assemble and is very well built and sturdy and gets pretty large when fully assembled. The only thing is it's pretty hard to take apart after assembly so you might just want to leave it assembled and put the whole thing out of the way when not using it.To use it, you turn the booster on, line the cars up on "the grid" starting with pole position etc, then you can drop the gate to launch them and start the race. They get launched at pretty good speed and race around the track while hitting the flap to count down the laps left till finish as would be seen on the board above the start/finish line. When it reaches the end, the winning car will get trapped in a gate showing it in first and the others fill in afterwards. This was unexpected the first time it happened and was very delightful. It also comes with 3 F1 cars so you are immediately able to jump into action with a 3 car race.This set has provided hours of fun for my nephew and I and we've found other ways to extend its functionality by using different cars etc. as most standard size hot wheels cars will fit. The noise is minimal, as the booster motors don't make much of a noise and the cars make the usual noise hot wheels cars make going around a track, nothing that will ever disturb anyone. Most of the noise may actually come from you and the kids giggling and shouting at your mini races.Some may argue that it's a little pricey, but I would say that it's pretty good value nonetheless for a pretty functional bit of kit with and the fact that it's fully licensed, meaning there is some element of collectibilty and displayability. Tons of fun and would definitely recommend.

so, me and the kids are Hot Wheels fanatics. We usually love building our own layouts with straights, curves, loops, etc. We generally steer clear of those solo-run, fantasy-style sets that have gimmicks like attacking monsters or cars used as projectiles to take down targets. We like racing!When I first heard about this Formula 1 track set, I was immediately interested. My kids were wowed by the pictures. Funny enough, Mattel’s own site is probably the least up-to-date—they list it as no longer available, even though it just came out.This is basically a tight, long oval powered by a triple booster. Two lanes launch three cars in one direction, and after a giant, switchable banked curve, they merge into a single lane where the third booster propels them toward the opposite banked curve. It’s no surprise that this setup requires four D batteries (which, of course, are not included).The set comes with three F1 cars, and setup was a breeze thanks to matching codes on the underside of each piece—everything snaps together easily for a change. There are no joiners like in most track-building sets, so putting this circuit together takes no time. My kids were able to assemble it with minimal help—just the occasional “Can you help me with this piece?” moment.The cars are loaded into the starting gate—two in one lane (stacked front to back), and one in the other. I was initially concerned that the car behind might be at a disadvantage, but that’s not the case. The starting gate also includes a simple lap counter: you raise the lever to the #6 level, and with each pass, it drops by one increment.To start a race, you turn on the booster and manually raise a special track piece so the cars roll directly into the boosters. Each banked turn has its own diverter, which allows the cars to change lanes automatically—this makes for some very exciting races. One diverter can even be manually controlled for more interactive play.When the leader hits the finish gate, the entire starting track flips up vertically, creating a physical separation between the winner and the two losing cars. A very cool feature. The starting gate can also be switched to "infinite mode," which deactivates the lap counter for endless racing. The one big surprise? The cars actually remain on the track (unlike Mario Kart Circuit) - very rare do two cars hit a diverter at the same time which causes a haltOh—and I almost forgot to mention: the races are loud! Between the booster motor and the cars slamming into those plastic turns, it’s pretty crazy. The set also includes two types of adapters that allow you to connect older standard track pieces to this set. Plus, there are lots of decals that dress up the track—some are just for looks, while others, like the one on the lap counter, help you see which number the lever is set to.OK so what's the problem?You get three beautiful F1 cars—but one is a very dark blue and the other two are black. The racing is insanely fast, so in the heat of the action, it’s impossible to tell who’s in the lead. More distinct, easily distinguishable colors would have been a much better option. Of course, you can always use your own Hot Wheels cars, which helps solve this issue. There's no law saying you can only use F1 cars, but keep in mind, not all Hot Wheels cars are compatible.Mattel did it again. For a set this pricey, it should be easy to store away. Unfortunately—just like one of their older stunt sets which we own — once two of the special pieces lock together, they cannot be taken apart. In this case, it’s the lap tower snapping into the starting gate. Once locked, there's no way to store it back on its box and good luck getting them apart without a screw driver to force the clips inward while simultaneously pulling them away from each other. I managed to finally do it, but it left some stress marks on the plastic. It's obvious it was meant to remain locked. Come on, Mattel—you were heading in the right direction with some of your newer and even much cheaper options like some of the blue tub track builder sets. How did they allow this nonsense, again! Aside from that, while the the entire set is pretty easy to snap together, it's quite the opposite to take apart. The instructions are so basic, that there's no mention of how to separate each track piece. The kids couldn't do it, so it was my job to pry these pieces apart which took a lot of force and felt like they would easily damage doing so. More plastic stress marks followed.

Very cool track with tons of entertainment and replay value.The design is very clever with the way the lap counter works and a convenient single lever to launch all 3 cars. The tracks connect with the same system as all other Hot Wheels tracks do, but honestly there's no need to add to this as it's perfectly adequate and already takes up a good amount of room once assembled. For reference, I have a 6 person dining table and this takes up nearly the entire length when placed up on it.The motor launches all 3 cars very fast and once the lap counter reaches the bottom, a section raises to stop the cars in order from winner to 3rd place. The replay value here is that it's always a different car that ends up speeding through to be first, so you can guess with your kids who will win.Overall, everything is reliable and consistently functions as intended. I did have two times over the past two weeks where cars ended up stopping without enough kinetic energy to make it up past the top of the ramp, but without fixing anything it hasn't happened again since. Both times it was on the right size of the track if you are looking at it from the side where you actuate the levers. Everything from the cars, to the track, to the motor, to the levers is exactly as you'd expect for a name-brand Hot Wheels product: Excellent.The only slight con, which is to be expected, is that with all 3 cars running on the track at high speed and the motor going it can get pretty noisy.Overall for $81, it is a great value considering you are getting an official Hot Wheels product and the replay value. It's also one of those rare toys that is simple enough to use that even a toddler could actuate it, but entertaining enough that adults will enjoy it as well.