THE competitors are hand-picked for agility and speed, and the drivers are selected for their good looks, but this event has none of the glamour of the Canadian Grand Prix. It is Yorkshire Pudding racing.

Every year, competitors hope to batter each other in the eccentric main event at The Shed weekend festival, at Brawby, near Malton, North Yorkshire.

Glamorous Barbie dolls are strapped into motorized Aunt Bessie Yorkshire Puddings and raced round the village pond - or, due to foot-and-mouth restrictions still in place at the weekend, in the nearest available bath.

With divers on standby to rescue any Barbies falling overboard, nothing is left to chance, as Aunt Bessie PR man Steve Cordingley explained.

"The race's brainchild, Simon Thackray, goes to our factory in Hull and selects Yorkshire Puddings for agility and speed.

"Once he's picked the best, he hooks them up to a remote control, attaches a rudder and straps in a Barbie doll. It could have been Action Men of course, but we wanted to do our bit for sexual equality. When the race is over the puddings are free to live out their lives next to the gravy."

If you think this race is one pudding short of a packet, it could be worse. It's been scaled down from original plans to race people across the pond in giant, chicken wire-reinforced Yorkshire Puds.