​The table below has a summary of which brand has the fastest cars for diecast, gravity racing.  This is organized by the number of distinct castings across my top speed tiers.  I'm not including the lower fast tiers (1-star and 2-star) in the counts, as I'm focused here on who makes the "best of the best."

Some quick information to provide context:

• I race on a two-lane, 27 foot Derby Magic track (equivalent to about one-third of a mile).  The Derby track is 22% wider than a typical Hot Wheels orange track, allowing me to race more car sizes/scales.  
• I've applied graphite to the cars, which really brings out the speed potential for diecast.
• 5-star performers are the most elite.  4-star performers are the next, etc.  
• See the home page for more details on track design, testing, etc.

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A quick breakdown of the results.  Note that I have details for the 5-star cars in the Top 100 plus list, plus pages for the brands and series within those brands elsewhere on the site.  

• #1.  Hot Wheels.  Diecast racing starts with Hot Wheels, of course.  59% of the highly ranked cars are from this brand.  That said, Hot Wheels has easily produced the most number of models.  So Hot Wheels is the big one, but using a baseball analogy, lots of hits, but lots and lots of at bats.
• #2.  Johnny Lightning.  As shared in the Johnny Lightning section, the fastest JL cars are from the first 13 years of their relaunch (1994-2007), which covers the Playing Mantis ownership years.  I believe I have the vast majority of the fast JL models, so this count may not change much.  But please share feedback if you have some input.
• #3.  Matchbox.  Although Matchbox is third overall, they are #2 for 5-star cars at 13.  The Matchbox brand over the last 10-12 years has produced very little elite speed, so not expecting many new entries, unless I can discover some older models.
• #4.  Mattel.  The Mattel brand has produced two key series outside of the Hot Wheels and Matchbox lines : the Fast & Furious (1/55th scale) release from 2017ish and various Mattel/Pixar releases based on the Cars films.  I still have 3 of the F&F cars to acquire, so some upside potential, plus the Pixar cars are showing life.
• #5.  Kenner.  This vintage U.S brand has 26 cars in the top tiers and this is all the more impressive considering they are from one series (the Fast 111's).  That series was produced from 1980 through 1983 and consisted of just 38 models.​​
• #6.  Siku.  All of the fastest Siku cars are the metal based models from the 1980's and early 1990's with a specific wheel.  Still, with additional models yet to buy, I expect more 4 and 5-star additions to be added.
• #7.  Tomica.  This Japanese maker has more potential, both with contemporary cars and the vintage models.
• I could use more information on fast Majorette (French brand) models.  I have 3 fast really fast ones and know there are many more to discover.
• Ertl (U.S. brand) and Corgi (vintage UK brand) are likely limited for speed potential, but I'll keep looking. 
• Jazwares has come out in 2025 with their Amazing Metals series from the show Amazing Spidey and his friends.  They are heavy with good quality.  But they are too wide for the standard orange racing tracks.
• Auto World has their Deluxe series which features plastic wheels.  I have the F-150 which is a 2-Star car.  I'm testing more cars from the series to see if they have potential.
• Some other brands don't show up in this assessment, but do have 1-star or 2-star entries including ​Tiger Wheels, Metal Machines (by Zuru), Realtoy, Lionel (via the Revolvers cars), Maisto and Zee Toys.
• Road Champs produces mostly oversize trucks, vans, etc.  There are some very fast entries, but they are mostly in the Super Heavyweight class and are not counted here.  But I'll break those out in the Weight Class rankings. 
• No speed yet from Lonestar, Playart, LLedo and Racing Champions despite several attempts.

Note that with only a few exceptions, there are not any redundant castings by brand in the rankings.  I only count the fastest version.  For example, the Probe Funny Car from Hot Wheels is counted once, the '69 Camaro from Johnny Lightning counted once, etc.

Brand	5-Stars	4-Stars	3-Stars	Total of Top Tiers
Hot Wheels	46	101	184	331
Johnny Lightning	7	25	40	72
Matchbox	13	16	21	50
Mattel	8	11	17	36
Kenner	7	10	9	26
Siku	9	7	9	25
Tomica		8	4	12
Majorette		1	2	3
Jazwares		1	2	3
Corgi			2	2
Ertl		1	1	1
Road Champs	0	1	0	1
TOTAL	90	181	292	563