Hot Wheels BMW M3 Converted Into RC Drift Car

Hot Wheels is a brand of toy cars owned by Mattel. Since the late 1960s, Hot Wheels has produced many hundreds of die-cast cars. While there are certainly lots of Hot Wheels replicas of production cars, many Hot Wheels are limited editions or based on entirely fictional vehicles. But, as fun as Hot Wheels cars are to fling down floppy orange tracks, they are only capable of rolling and can't drive under their own power. YouTuber Jakarta Diecast Project has addressed that by converting a Hot Wheels BMW M3 toy car into a fully-functional RC drift car.

RC (Radio Control) technology is now more approachable than ever before in history, with plenty of affordable components available on the market. But a typical RC car is far larger than a Hot Wheels die-cast car, which is why this project stands out. Furthermore, Hot Wheels cars are just die-cast bodies on plastic frames with simple solid-axle wheels. Not only was Jakarta Diecast Project able to give this little car steering and suspension, they were able to outfit it with an electric motor, battery, steering motor, and an RC receiver.

This project started with a '92 BMW M3 Hot Wheels car with a green and white paint job and marked with "POLIZEI" (German for "police"). Jakarta Diecast Project disassembled the car and began hacking at the frame and axles. The rear wheel axle received a pair of tiny springs for suspension and a drive gear. The front wheels were mounted to a steering linkage. The radio receiver is a RadioLink R4FGM and power comes from a small 200mAh lithium-ion battery. The rear wheels are driven by a little DC motor through a miniature ESC (Electronic Speed Control) module and a servo motor actuates the steering linkage.

A lot of very delicate work was required to fit all of those electronic components into the die-cast M3 body. The rest of Jakarta Diecast Project's work was cosmetic. They stripped the original paint and resprayed the car in a beautiful orange and black livery. They even went so far as to add more details, like an intercooler. With some hard tires, the car drifts like a champ around itty bitty race tracks.