205 mph is a scary speed. Especially when the object in question is two-foot long, attached to a pole via a bit of wire and hurtling around an oval. Welcome to Tether Car racing: a mixture of mini NASCAR and supersonic swing ball. The centrifugal forces alone are capable of catapulting it into another planet.

It started in America during the 1930s when, because of the depression, money was scarce and people were bored. So to keep entertained, a bunch of people started putting model airplane engines in toy cars, attaching them to some wire and letting them fly around a metal pole at silly speeds.

People are still doing it nowadays with cars that are two foot long and built like Bloodhound. They have mini car bits in them too; including a combustion engine, exhaust pipe, air intake, flywheel, gearbox driveshaft and speedy wheels. At top speed they can pull a cheek-wobble-worthy 91G and look like they’re going to puncture a hole into a new time zone.

We haven’t seen something move this quickly round a pole since The Stig took up pole dancing.