Big boys revved their throttles and got down to some serious racing at a meeting of Scalextric enthusiasts in Rayleigh.

In a scene every little boy dreams of, drivers pushed their cars to the limits on the 120ft long, six lane scale track.

More than 45 slot car enthusiasts visited the Green Baize snooker club in Rayleigh Road, Eastwood to race the track, based on the famously tricky Monaco Grand Prix circuit.

Event organiser Graeme Thoburn, 44, from Hadleigh, said race meetings could get quite exciting.

He said: "There are a lot of events around the country, it is quite surprising.

"I bought the track for club and corporate entertainment, but it is rather large for the corporate side of it. I started collecting Scalextric cars when my son was born and got into racing them properly when a club opened in Southend."

The track is put together out of 19 separate boards, and when fully constructed is roughly the size of a badminton court.

Mr Thoburn is planning to find a permanent home for the track at a new venue in Progress Road, Rayleigh, which will share premises with a slot racing shop and will open at the end of May.

To find out more about racing slot cars call Mr Thoburn on 01702 551225.

And they're off - Andy Tomlin takes a close look during one of the races

Picture: MIKE BELLENIE

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.