Hot Wheels AcceleRacers: Ignition 2005

Dr. Peter Tezla continues to study the Wheel of Power two years after the World Race, but Gelorum has returned fully repaired, leading an army of Racing Drones and intent on stealing the Wheel again. Tezla ventures into Highway 35 to stop her, but the Drones overwhelm him, injuring him badly as they seize the Wheel. He manages a dangerous escape back to Earth, while the Drones convert Hot Wheels City into their new headquarters.

In present-day California, Vert Wheeler, joined by other former World Race drivers, including Kurt Wylde, Taro Kitano, and Mark Wylde, now race with two teams—the Teku and the Metal Maniacs. During a heated coastline grudge race, Tezla’s robotic assistant, GIG, reappears to coax the group into aiding the scientist. They head back to Tezla’s old World Race base, only to find it partially ruined. A former Dune Ratz driver, Brian Kadeem, guides them to the AcceleDrome, Tezla’s new command hub.

Inside the cavernous base, Tezla’s holographic presence explains a surge of new Acceleron knowledge drawn from the Wheel of Power’s research. Now that the Wheel has been torn from its spire, the Drones control the dimension’s portals, forcing the drivers to act quickly. The Wheel’s symbols correspond to fifteen Racing Realms—inter-dimensional tracks designed to push a single element to its extreme, with twelve Realms shown on the journey and three already mastered by the Drones before the events begin. The Drones have access to their own Wheel hologram portal, a consequence of capturing the real Wheel. The teams must push through the Realms, entering them to halt the Drones, but the Wheel itself decides when each Realm will open, and each one stays available for only one hour, with no way out except crossing the finish line.

As the race intensifies, drivers become trapped within the Realms, old grudges flare between rivals, and a new adversary—the Silencerz—enters the scene, wielding the Wheel hologram technology against both the Drones and the human racers. The finale uncovers the hidden purpose of Acceleron’s test: the Racing Realms were designed to forge “the perfect driver,” and the AcceleChargers serve as keys that unlock a portal to the Acceleron home world, tying the fate of the racers to a destiny far beyond any single circuit.