James May isn't usually the person you expect to break records with a car - though it might help if he isn't in it at the time.

Last Sunday the presenter, aided by 400 enthusiastic volunteers and cheered on by thousands more, set a Scalextric track in Weybridge which was the longest ever built. It was hosted by the Brooklands Museum, currently holding a Scalextric festival.

It wasn't merely a matter of laying all the pieces - 20,000 at the last count - out flat either. The cars had to cross rivers, not to mention roads created for cars of a somewhat different scale for their 2.75 mile trip. The museum's director, Allan Winn, was delighted with their ingenuity and determination.

"To see James May and the volunteers surmount so many obstacles to join the whole of the original Outer Circuit together again after 70 years, and for them to then go racing on it, was almost overwhelming."

Brooklands banked racing circuit will be known to many racing fans, though there hasn't been a full competitive lap there since 1939. But the tiny cars went round the complete track to the satisfaction of Guinness World Records.

The feat will be shown in James May's Toy Stories, along with the construction of a life-size lego house.

Toys can be collectible if they're well-made and invoke nostalgia, with Dinky Toys being a famous example. Scalextric have been creating toy cars for 50 years and people have been collecting vintage examples, such as the1960 Scalextric C55 Vanwall, for nearly 30 years. 

____________________________________________________________