KEY POINTS:
Ask any adult-age boy and he'll tell you this is a match made in car-heaven _ a collaboration between British sports car maker Lotus and the Hot Wheels die-cast model brand.
The Lotus Hot Wheels Concept has been built in 1:5 scale and was displayed at the
annual Speciality Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas last month. It will also be produced as a 1:64 Hot Wheels model as part of the toy maker's 2008 range.
The Lotus model marks the 40th anniversary of Hot Wheels.
The Mattel-owned toy brand approached several car companies and asked them to submit concept-vehicle designs that looked like Hot Wheels cars, but also embodied their own engineering and brand philosophies.
Not surprisingly, the Lotus concept is a minimalist open-top two-seater, albeit with the space-age styling and massive rear wheels characteristic of so many Hot Wheels die-cast vehicles.
"This was a dream job for the design team," says Lotus head of design Russell Carr.
"For many of us, when we were children, it was Hot Wheels that first ignited out passion for cars and design.
"We relished the opportunity to design a concept that was free from the typical technical and legal constraints of a full-size car.
"In addition, the design offered unique challenges because it has to work as a toy and we therefore had to remember how specific views, features and tactile qualities of toy cars fascinated us as children."
The Hot Wheel Concept project was headed up by Lotus design manager Steven Crijns: "Hot Wheels cars are barely 75mm long, so specific attention went to create a bold shape that would work well at this scale.
"Another challenge was to create an exciting design that would work well as a toy. The car needed to be recognisable as a Lotus without having to turn it over to look at the badge underneath, so I took elements from the Elise and Exige _ such as the headlight design, the Lotus `mouth', the wheelarches and trademark bonnet graphics.
"The top exit radiator at the front, a distinctive Lotus design feature, the rear diffuser and a large rear wing all provide downforce."
Downforce? At the scale of 1:5, presumably.