Life-sized Hot Wheels Loop to debut at X Games

The real life Hot Wheels Double loop, shown here in a digital rendering, is modeled after an iconic childrens' toy. (ESPN / Mattel)

On June 30, two professional stunt drivers will be taking on the world's largest double vertical loop at the X Games in Los Angeles.

The loop in question is almost identical to the bright orange Hot Wheels toy it's modeled after, only much larger and much more dangerous.

At six stories high and 60 feet in diameter, drivers will come up against sevens time the normal amount of gravitational force as they drive through the loop according to ESPN.

Scarier still? Both cars will be performing the stunt at the same time. An error on either driver's part could prove fatal for both.

Two-time Formula Drift champion Tanner Foust and Hollywood stunt driver Greg Tracy are the drivers behind the life-sized Hot Wheels cars. They'll be attempting the double loop live on television at the X Games.

"We've done large-scale stuff before,"said Dave McKay, of Laissez Faire, the company that designed and created the physical structure for the stunt for Hot Wheels to Wired.com."But this is the biggest stunt that I've ever been apart of."

McKay said that understanding the physics of the structure and having drivers at the precise correct speed will ensure safety for everybody. The team has been preparing since Fall of 2011, when former NASA lab experts, roller coaster engineers and stuntmen came together to design the life-sized track.

To prepare themselves for the even, Foust and Tracy took flight training courses.

This is not the first time Hot Wheels has attempted an outrageous stunt of this sort. In 2011, Foust landed a 332-foot long jump at the Indianapolis 500 for Team Hot Wheels, breaking the world record for longest four-wheeled vehicle distance jump.


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