Being that 2016 was an Olympic year, Hot Wheels decided to release a 10-car series in this year’s mainline to coincide with the summer games. Olympic branding was never part of the series, nor any other license for that matter, as this series was dubbed “HW Games” and all 10 vehicles chosen were #Unlicensed Hot Wheels. Of the 10 vehicles, only the MR11 (soccer) and this new casting, Tour de Fast (cycling) paired the event with the casting inspiration.

Hot Wheels Tour de Fast from the 2016 HW Games series … also a 2016 New Model (rear shot)

Obviously, the name Tour de Fast is a “spin” on cycling’s most popular event in the Tour de France — see what I did there??? In the Tour de France, cyclists are part of teams and since the race is so long, they have support teams that follow them in various areas of the journey. These support teams consist of bicycle mechanics that carry extra bikes along with anything else the cyclist may need. Depending on the team size, you can see numerous bikes mounted to the tops of these cars … just like how the Tour de Fast casting is set up.

If something about this casting looks very “French” to you, past the name of course, it may be because it bears a striking resemblance to the Hot Wheels Avant Garde casting which we know was designed by Hot Wheels designer Jun Imai with a French influence in mind — so it would not be surprising to learn that he designed this casting as well. UPDATE 09/23/2016: this casting was designed by one of the newer Hot Wheels designers, Tyler Charest.

The Hot Wheels Tour de Fast is a brand-new casting that was just released here at the end of 2016 starting in the “P” case assortment (NOTE: 2016 cars end with the “Q” assortment). Collectors haven’t been extremely warm to the Tour de Fast yet but that hasn’t swayed my opinion of it as I was eager to get my hands on it — I have it in my Top 10 New Models for 2016!

Now that I have obtained it, I can see this one being popular in the years to come. Hot Wheels has a long history of castings with #Bike(s) in Tow so it would not be surprising to me if collectors started snagging these off the pegs. I can already see the customizers licking their chops, waiting to detail those bikes and give this thing #Real Riders.

RELEASE DETAILS: Red Body (metal). Clear Windows. Black Interior. Yellow Trapezoid 5-Spoke (TRAP5) Wheels. Yellow Base (plastic). Made in Malaysia. Toy# DHP35. Released in 2016 as #10 of 10 in the HW Games Series (also a 2016 New Model).