In the golden age of stock car racing, horsepower was king and cubic inches was how you got more hooves out of your engine. But as we came to the end of the 1960’s, mechanics had wrung out all horses they could with the big blocks and stay within the rules (nod-nod, wink-wink). So what was the next new way to gain an advantage and eek out another horse or too? Aerodynamics! Not new to racing, but stock cars back in the day were STOCK bodied cars. The manufacturers even had rules to produce so many of a given body style in order to be allowed to race. Ford, Dodge and Plymouth started looking for that wind cheating advantage, starting as early as late 1968. Fastbacks were the first shot at gaining a slippery silhouette, but the nose of the cars were still like a concrete block, adding speed robbing drag. Ford answered the problem with the Torino Talladega and Mercury Cyclone Spoiler. Longer noses with “boxed out, flush grills” made for an aerodynamic package that left the other two power players looking at their tail lights. Dodge took a similar swing with the Dodge Charger 500 with a tunnel filling fastback and flush front grill, but it still struggled to keep up with the Fords and Mercs. Then the gloves came off and Dodge brought out the Charger Daytona. A aero, pointed nose and huge rear wing to tack the rear wheels down changed the whole stock car game. A year later, Plymouth took the next step and improved the nose making even more slippery and relocated that massive wing a bit further forward and improved the rear window layout to keep the rear tires down on the track. The “Aero-Wars” were fully engaged and the powers that made the rules were concerned about the speeds and even the if the manufacturers would keep playing the game. So winged warriors had a very short lifespan in the racing world, but their impact would be felt for decades to come. Auto World’s new race set, Winged Warriors, has a pair of these iconic cars including a newly tooled Plymouth Superbird body. Decked out in Richard Petty’s livery and Bobby Isaacs Charger Daytona will bring lots of cool racing action. They are mounted on the Xtraction Ultra G Flamethrower chassis. The Flamethrower has a new electrical layout. We’ll get into the details down below.
Everything in the set comes neatly packed, has the supports to extend the banking and has retainer walls to complete that super speedway look.
Here’s the parts list showing everything that comes in the set.
Here is the layout for the speedway banked oval. You can boost the banking with the track supports to add to the all out speed.
The set comes with color coded controllers and the new adjustable power supply.
#1 1970 Plymouth Superbird – Blue-White #43 – Richard Petty New Tooling
#2 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona – Orange-White #71 – Bobby Isaacs
Let’s take a closer look at the changes to the Auto World Xtraction Ultra G Flamethrower chassis.
The pink arrows point to the changes made to the electrical connections for the lighting. New tabs extend from the pick up hangers allowing for the lights to be directly connected. The pick up shoes now only have the coil springs for tension, with the old leaf springs being eliminated from the design. This change takes the bounce out of the pick up shoes and retains the performance and stability the non-lighted version of the chassis has. Below is the old design and the pink arrows show the differences from the new design above. The pictures include the old leaf spring layout under the pick up shoes that connected the lights.
The banking brings some fast, all out racing. The retaining walls keep the action on the track and adds that super speedway feel.
The stock car Aero Wars was a unique phase in racing and brought some truly awesome cars onto the race track. The Auto World Race Set (SRS349) Winged Warriors brings some of that historic action into out HO scale racing world. Look for this race set to hit the shelves at your local hobby shop or favorite web store in July/August 2023!
