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May to attempt Scalextric record
James May will attempt to re-create the famous Brooklands circuit
Top Gear presenter James May plans to re-create the famous banked track at Brooklands in an attempt to build the world's longest Scalextric track.
May will use 20,000 separate sections of track to match the original 2.75 mile (4.42km) circuit and beat the current record of 1.59 miles (2.56km).
Brooklands, in Weybridge, closed in 1939 and the track will have to cross a river and roads to complete a circuit.
Its construction will be filmed for the BBC series James May's Toy Stories.
Local residents and museum volunteers will race against a team of Scalextric Club members and enthusiasts once the track has been completed.
Fighter aircraft
The world record attempt will take place during the Pendle Slot Racing Festival, which is being held at Brooklands Museum on 16 August.
The current longest slot car track measures 1.59 miles and was built in Berlin, Germany, on 5 October 2007.
Brooklands was the world's first purpose-built motor racing circuit.
It opened on 17 June 1907 and closed at the outbreak of World War II in 1939, when the aerodrome was requisitioned by the government and was devoted to the production of Vickers and Hawker aircraft including the Hurricane fighter plane and the Wellington Bomber.
It had two huge banked sections nearly 30ft (9m) high and cost £150,000 to build - a massive sum in those days.
Hundreds of people helped May create a life-sized house out of Lego in the middle of the Denbies Wine Estate on Saturday.
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