IT was fingers at the ready this weekend when the National Scalextric Challenge visited the region.

Hundreds of men forgot about the World Cup and returned to their childhood to battle it out on the latest Scalextric track for a chance to win through to the final of the Rally Great Britain in Cardiff.

Visitors were also invited to take test drives and be entered into a national draw to win a four-day holiday at the 2003 Rally Sweden, which is one of the fastest events in the world rally calendar.

And visitors could also test-drive a Ford Focus similar to the designs set for former rally champions Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz.

Richard McVay, new car sales manager at CD Bramall, in Darlington, where the event was held, said that despite England's World Cup match with Denmark, the turn-out was very encouraging.

He said: "A few hundred people turned up for the event, and for many of them it gave them a chance to have a go on the Scalextric and also test-drive a rally car based on the type driven by world rally champions.

"We had a lot of people taking cars out on test drives and we were really delighted with the response we received.

"Even the winner of last year's rally challenge visited, and he went on to win our heat of the Scalextric challenge."