Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!

The invitation to agency staff is to participate in a fun, adrenaline-filled computer game that will culminate in the chance for media speed junkies to spend a day at the racetrack, making that virtual race a real-time experience.

There, they will test their mettle on the skid-pan and track, as well as off road, in a Hummer. And that's not all: the top two performers on the day will find out what it's like to be an F1 driver in a white-knuckle Fantastic Racing experience.

Car's changing demographic is the key to the game: by answering a few qualifying questions on the magazine and its consumers – the answers to which are provided by clicking on cartoon characters representing Car's readers – planners and strategists will gain entry to the Media Speed Freaks Challenge.

CommentsCar's marketing services manager, Andrew Stodel: “We decided on a more lateral approach to communicating our message to advertisers and potential advertisers. The game will create hype at agency level and engage planners and strategist in a fun activity as they get to know our broad readership even better – the actual race days will be a blast!

“The fact that we here are all hooked on the game indicates the enthusiasm the challenge will encounter and bodes well for viral spin-offs.”

The challenge launches in agencies in mid-September 2007. Once media staff have had a chance to play the game, it will be opened to a wider audience who will also have the chance to win prizes.