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Sitting on the grid I can almost smell the high octane fuel. It's as hot as hell and getting hotter.

Tension mounts. The warning lights begin their countdown. Ready, steady... go.

I slam my mean machine into gear and hit the throttle. The wheels spin making a racket. Squeals on wheels, in fact.

At last the rubber grips the tarmac and I'm off like a bat out of hell, following the exhaust trails of the other cars. Hot pursuit, I just love it.

The controls are really simple. Hitting the button puts up the revs, moving the joystick back and forth switches the gears between high and low. Moving the stick left and right steers the car. Easy? In theory, yes, but I lost count of the number of spins and crashes I had before I was able to compete at any satisfactory standard.

Across the top of the screen is displayed speed, gear selection and the track. Your position shown on it as a moving blob. It pays to keep an eye on it because you'll need to think well ahead. Corners have a nasty habit of coming at you before you're ready.

Besides the existing tracks you can design your own, making them as simple or complex as you like. You are provided with a series of track pieces, straight, curves and bends. By positioning an arrow over them and hitting the fire button you can select the track piece by piece. I preferred fairly simple designs, long straights with as few curves as possible. These are the best for high speeds.

World Grand Prix is an ace race action. Great graphics and sound. The crashes are spectacular.