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Illustration for article titled Finally, Heres A Guide To Those Buttons On iSpeed Racer/is Mach 5 Steering Wheel

Graphic: Jason Torchinsky/YouTube

Like many kids, I grew up watching episodes of Speed Racer, marveling at the Mach 5’s impressive technology and being horrified and baffled by the shocking similarities in behavior between that kid and that monkey that always used to gorge on candy and stow away, dangerously, in the race car’s trunk. I also recall that most of the Mach 5’s gadgetry was actuated via lettered buttons on the hub of the steering wheel. I can’t say I ever really remembered what each of them was supposed to do, which is why I’m relieved that a video exists explaining it all.

The placement of these crucial features in the center of the steering wheel always struck me as a sort of poor choice, in the same way I always thought the Ford Edsel’s steering wheel-based shift controls were a sort of poor choice.

Photo: Ford

At least on an Edsel the letters actually stood for what the button’s function was, and if you picked the wrong one no one got hacked to death by sawblades, something I can’t say about the Mach 5.

Still, that’s how the engineers over at Mifune Motors designed things, and there’s not much I can do about it now, so I guess the sensible thing would be to just familiarize myself with everything, on the off chance I find myself behind the wheel of the Mach 5 one day.

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This should help:

And, in case you’re in a real hurry—perhaps reading this on your phone as you sprint to the Mach 5—here’s each button’s function broken down:

Screenshot: YouTube

Okay, so, button A looks to be used mostly for maintenance, as it deploys jacks that, really, act as a sort of integrated lift to service the car. Seems like a lot of weight and hardware for a racecar to carry, but I can’t deny it would make servicing easy.

Screenshot: YouTube

Button B somehow makes the tires deploy some manner of high-traction tread and distributes an insane 5,000 horsepower to all four wheels; I guess it breaks down to about 1,250 per wheel, unless there’s like a rearward bias or something? That’s like over three Bugatti Chirons, so I’m guessing go easy on the throttle.

Screenshot: YouTube

Button C seems to me to be a pretty niche sort of feature for inclusion right on that wheel, but what do I know? It deploys a pair of spinning circular saws to cut down trees in heavily wooded areas? I think you’d still have to slow down a lot for this to be effective, and if you deploy it at the wrong time or place, you’re looking at an absolute bloodbath. This one should have at least a little flip-up cover over it, or something.

Imagine accidentally hitting this while waiting for a herd of sheep to cross a road? Oh god.

Screenshot: YouTube

Essentially, button D is the roof. Instead of a canvas top, the Mach 5 has some manner of highly durable clear material. Maybe it’s some kind of plexi? I’m not sure. It’s all clear, so it may get hot in there in the summer. I’t’s not clear if this deploys automatically in the event of a rollover.

Screenshot: YouTube

E is the headlights, but not ordinary headlights—they seem to offer some sort of scanning-beam infra-red option. Conventional lights may have their own controls.

Screenshot: YouTube

Button F appears to transform the car into a sort of sub, enclosing the cabin, deploying a periscope, and displaying a camera feed on the dash. Again, this feels like a niche feature that just adds weight and complexity to the car, and I’d be surprised if it comes up all that often in racing contexts, really, but, again, I’m not the engineer here.

Screenshot: YouTube

The biggest, center-placed button, G, releases what the video calls a “homing robot” but we would know this as a drone. In fact, it’s basically exactly like the drone seen on the futuristic Peugeot from 2017’s Blade Runner 2049. Well, except it’s shaped like an actual bird.

Still, this is perhaps the most plausible of all the Mach 5’s features, and the one you’d be most able to duplicate on your own car, should you be so inclined.

I really hope this helps; there’s nothing more embarrassing than leaping into the Mach 5 and hideously maiming people by cutting off their shins when you just wanted to put the top up. So maybe print this out and keep it in your wallet.

Illustration for article titled YouTuber Building An Eleanor Mustang Replica Has Car Taken Away For Trademark Issues

I can’t say I have much interest in replicas of the hero car from the 2000 movie Gone In 60 Seconds, a customized 1967 Mustang fastback named “Eleanor,” because it’s been done a billion times and, frankly, it’s just not that interesting a car. What is interesting about that particular car, though, is that is is a copyrighted and trademarked design, and the owner of those copyrights and trademarks will, it seems, take your car if you dare to build one. At least that’s what happened to a well-know car-building YouTuber.

The YouTube channel in question is the popular B is for Build, and the project was to take a 2015 Mustang GT, remove the body, and replace it with a 1967 Mustang fastback body. Not a bad resto-mod project, and one that would certainly be tricky to do properly, so you can see why the idea was chosen.

B is for Build decided to make the car into a replica of the Eleanor Mustang from the (let’s face it, pretty crappy) 2000 Nic Cage vehicle about vehicles, Gone in 60 Seconds, as that car has a sort of cult following and, when it comes to YouTube videos, it makes sense to do things that will attract viewers.

Now, it’s not like there’s a shortage of Eleanor replicas out there; hell, people have even turned shitty econoboxes into them. Carroll Shelby even built some for a while, but there were plenty of questionable things happening there, and back in 2004 the holder of the Eleanor copyright, Denice Halicki, sued Shelby and forced the company to stop production.

That’s not unreasonable. A company like Shelby that was building Eleanor replicas and selling them for up to $150,000 should be paying some sort of license fees to the holders of the car’s copyright, I’d think. It’s very clearly a business venture and is using that car’s cachet and look and feel to sell cars.

The B is for Build situation I’m less certain about. Sure, money is still being made, though far less than Shelby could have potentially made, but a one-off build for a YouTube channel strikes me as needlessly aggressive, especially when the penalty is having the car seized, as appears to have happened here.

Of course, copyright holders are required to defend their properties, and on Halicki’s own website, their enforcement of this is very clearly and proudly stated:

“Denice Shakarian Halicki runs her companies, franchises, and brands with faith and strength of believing.

She is a Producer and the gasoline behind the 2000 box office hit, “Gone in 60 Seconds,” starring Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi and Robert Duvall and of course Eleanor the star car character.

Denice and Eleanor WON a Ninth Circuit Ruling in 2008, with a Published Opinion by Judge Miner… setting new copyright law protection for car character’s look/image as they appear in their movies, television and comic books against infringers. Which helped the Batmobile’s look/image to be copyright protected against counterfeit infringers in its 2015 Ninth Circuit Ruling WIN, with a Published Opinion by Judge Sandra S. Ikuta… where she quotes from 1966 Batman TV Series: As Batman so sagely told Robin, “In our well-ordered society, protection of private property is essential.”

I mean, they even wrote both tenses of “win” in all caps, so you know they mean it.

While I’ve heard it suggested that Disney has some ownership of the copyright, since it was a Disney movie. It wasn’t just a Disney movie; it was a Disney movie that lost $212 million, even.

Man, that looks dated.

What’s odd is how many other movie cars that likely have similar protections seem to be built as replicas on a regular basis: Volkswagen Beetles turned into Herbies, for example, are common and also a Disney property.

Bullitt Mustangs are built with some regularity, as are Back to the Future DeLoreans, or even Blues Brothers Mopar cop cars, and yet they don’t seem to be policed as aggressively as Eleanors, which are arguably much less iconic than those other cars.

I’ve reached out to Disney for comment, and will update if I hear back.

In the meantime, just take this as another reason not to bother hacking up a nice fastback Mustang into an Eleanor.

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Finally, Here’s A Guide To Those Buttons On Speed Racer’s Mach 5 Steering Wheel

YouTuber Building An ‘Eleanor’ Mustang Replica Has Car Taken Away For Trademark Issues