Hot Wheels AcceleRacers: Ignition

Two years after the World Race, Gelorum returns fully repaired with a new army of Racing Drones. She attempts to steal the Wheel of Power, forcing Dr. Tezla to confront her in Highway 35. Tezla is gravely injured during the confrontation, the Drones seize the Wheel, and Hot Wheels City becomes their new headquarters.

Back in present-day California, former World Race drivers Vert Wheeler, Kurt Wylde, Taro Kitano, and Mark Wylde have joined two street teams, the Teku and the Metal Maniacs. The drivers continue racing while a looming threat from Tezla's absence grows. The stage is set for a new call to action.

During a coastline grudge race, Gig, Tezla's robotic assistant, appears and explains that Dr. Tezla needs their help. The revelation shifts the drivers from rival racers to potential allies in a larger conflict.

The drivers travel to Tezla's old World Race base and find it partially destroyed, a sign that his search for the Wheel's power is far from over. The base's ruined state signals that the Drones are still advancing. The group steels themselves for what lies ahead.

Former Dune Ratz driver Brian Kadeem appears and escorts them to the AcceleDrome, Tezla's new base for Acceleron studies. The team begins to grasp the scale of Tezla's discoveries and the danger posed by the Drones.

Inside the AcceleDrome cavern, Tezla appears as a hologram and explains the latest Acceleron knowledge from the Wheel's research. He details how the Drones stole the Wheel and now control the dimension portals.

Tezla clarifies that each symbol on the Wheel maps to a Racing Realm, with fifteen total in the series. Realms stay open for only one hour, and the Wheel can act as an inter-dimensional portal syncing with the Drones' own portals.

In the Realms, the first driver to finish a track earns an AcceleCharger, granting mastery over the realm's element and letting the car traverse related conditions. The Chargers become critical keys as the race to stop the Drones intensifies.

The drivers enter the Realms to halt the Drones, but the Wheel's control over access makes progress precarious. Tensions among the Teku and Metal Maniacs rise as the challenge grows.

A new enemy force, the Silencerz, emerges armed with Wheel-hologram tech, complicating the conflict for both humans and Drones. They threaten to upend the balance of power across the Realms.

As the Realms race edges toward a conclusion, the Acceleron experiment's purpose comes into view: the Realms were designed to forge the perfect driver, and AcceleChargers are keys to opening a portal to the Acceleron home world.

The saga notes there are 15 Realms in the series, twelve shown onscreen, and three already completed by the Drones before the present events. The three AcceleChargers shown hint at a wider, multi-world scope of the Wheel's power.