A nine-foot dragster dominated the small living area, but the adoring gaze of Kenneth Azzopardi was fixed on a flashy remote-controlled car that had cost him €4,000 and three months to create.

A huge fan of heavy metal legends, Ozzy Osbourne and Iron Maiden, the 43-year-old has christened his handiwork, Satana's Toy 666, in the hope it will be possessed to drive like a fiend.

Speed was what Mr Azzopardi hoped for as he set out to compete in the Rossa UK RC Car and Bike Speed Championships 2009 that kicked off yesterday in Warwickshire and will end today.

Officials from the Guinness World Records were expected to be present during the event and Mr Azzopardi was in with a good chance to clinch the prestigious title.

However, things did not start off so well for Mr Azzopardi yesterday because the radio crystal of his controller broke during his flight to the UK and he was keeping his fingers crossed it could be fixed in time for the race.

His car is the only one of its kind in this international competition, because it has been equipped with the jet turbine engine of a remote-controlled plane.

The car can reach up to 160,000 revs per minute at full speed, and US judges predict it can reach up to 200 miles per hour, "if it remains grounded", he quickly added. It is powered with aviation fuel and can use up to one litre of fuel in five minutes at full throttle.

The competition is all about speed and he will be racing against a rocket-powered car for a straight stretch of 400 metres.

Walking into an adjoining room, he proudly plays a video on his computer showing Satana's Toy in action - the sound of a plane taking off is deafening. More than 17,000 fans of remote-controlled cars have seen his video that has been uploaded on the internet.

"I have been waiting for 10 years to be able to build this car myself and I'm thrilled I succeeded," he said, just hours before he caught the plane for this weekend's speed event.

The car, made of wood, gleamed, and Mr Azzopardi was not about to ruin its body. So just in case it flew off the track in another race, he built another body, which was not polished, to use during the race.

Mr Azzopardi, and his 11-year-old son Ayrton (named after Senna, the Grand Prix driving legend) were all set to go and they even wore T-shirts emblazoned with photos of Satana's Toy.

The two of them chatted excitedly about the car, opening it up to show its internal computer and waxing lyrical about its specifications and the way they started the car with camping gas and spark plugs - the car's engine reaches 800