James May and Scalextric race away to set World Record

Scalextric, set a new world record on Sunday 16th of August 2009 by recreating the famous Brooklands banked circuit entirely out of Scalextric, near Weybridge in Surrey.  The incredible stunt was recreated with Scalextric for the television show James May’s Toy Stories.

Brooklands opened in 1907 and was the world’s first purpose-built motorsport venue.  It hosted its last race in 1939 and now plays host to Brooklands Museum.  James May and 300 volunteers used approx 20,000 separate sections of track to recreate the 2.953 miles circuit.  Scalextric shattered the current record for a slot car track which was replicated in Berlin on October 2007 by 2,189.82 metres.  Once the mammoth challenge was completed, two Scalextric model cars, a maroon Aston Martin DBS and a silver Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren roared around the newly created track.

Paul Chandler, Scalextric Marketing Manager, commented: “Many doubted whether this could really be done but we are delighted James and the team have pulled it off.  To recreate the Brooklands circuit, the birth of Motor racing, was a dream for James and Scalextric fans in general.  This shattered the previous world record and a lot of hard work went on behind the scenes to make this all possible”.