The Observer

I've got a new motorsport hero - and no, it's not Lewis Hamilton.

Of course, I'm as excited as anyone by the 'Tewin terrier' (I just love the patter of the British tabloids!). We've had a feeling that Lewis is special for years, and it's simply astounding to watch what he is doing at the moment.

But I have to admit, my admiration has been diverted elsewhere in the past week - despite Hamilton's latest Alonso-drubbing podium - to a chubby comedian from Bolton who's previously been more interested in roads to Amarillo than roads to Albert Park and the like.

Peter Kay is arguably the funniest man in Britain at the moment. He's a good old-fashioned yet contemporary end-of-the-pier comic, whose routines include stories about dunking biscuits in tea and those kids who always end up sliding across dance floors on their knees at wedding receptions.

So what's the link to motorsport? Well, Peter Kay is the voice of Big Chris, ace mechanic to another young racing hotshot currently making his name.

Roary the Racing Car © Channel 5

Roary the Racing Car is a new children's programme being shown on British terrestrial TV station Channel 5 - and it's absolutely brilliant. If you have kids, it's a must. If you don't, watch it anyway. And if you're reading this from somewhere other than the UK, don't worry - it's bound to get a worldwide syndication deal at some point.

Somewhat bizarrely, this stop-frame animated series is narrated by none other than Sir Stirling Moss, although the legend's voice-over is only used briefly, at the beginning and end of each episode. He doesn't sound completely at home in this unlikely context, but my wife reckons his famous plummy tones are perfectly suited to the job.

Still, funny what heroic Mille Miglia winners find themselves doing fifty-plus years later!

The hero is Roary, a talking racing car that looks like a red Formula Ford with front wings that probably don't create much downforce, but do come in handy as arms - well, sort of.

Roary has a big cast of friends including an arrogant Italian F1 car called Maxi, who actually looks more like a mixture of an A1GP Lola and a Van Diemen RF82!

Then there's an American NASCAR-styled stock car called Tin Top, whose catch phrase is 'Tape me up, hammer me in and send me out'. The writers have clearly done their homework.

Roary and his friends get up to lots of adventures around their home circuit - it's called Silver Hatch. And what a fantastic circuit. Sort of reminds me of Elkhart Lake!

And they always seem to be having monster shunts. Every episode involves a race at some point, and they always drive more like Gilles Villeneuve than Thierry Boutsen. But the accident damage is never too much for Big Chris to sort out!

The cars are great, but it's Big Chris who steals the show. The writers have made the most of Kay's talents, and some of his catchphrases from his TV shows are slipped in here and there. Big Chris's main concern seems to always revolve around food and it's fair to say this curly-haired chap wouldn't make it past the application stage if he went for a job at McLaren.

The best storyline I've seen is when Big Chris drops Silver Hatch's warning flags in an oil slick and decides to stick them in the washing machine. But the cycle hasn't finished when the race is due to start. Big Chris has to think on his feet.

So he decides to use his just-clean laundry as flags instead - without telling the cars what is going on ...

A pair of yellow Y-fronts come in handy as the caution flag, and then when Maxi breaks the one-move rule and weaves to block his rivals (yes, really), he is shown a black sock and a white sock in place of the driver warning flag. Quite understandably, the cars have no idea what Big Chris is doing - and the race ends in a big pile-up.

Alonso with your karters in Spain © XPB/LAT

Steve McQueen and Le Mans, eat your heart out!

The producers of Roary the Racing Car couldn't have launched their programme at a better time. These are exciting days to be a motorsport fan and there's every reason to believe that what we are seeing at the pinnacle of the sport could hook a new generation of young fans. Roary should catch the imagination of the really little ones.

At Autosport, we're always concerned that kids aren't being drawn to the sport in the numbers they used to be. The world is a very different place to the one I grew up in. Once upon a time, your choice of what to do on a Sunday was limited: play out with your mates, do your homework, go to church or head off with your dad for a race meeting.

My preference was to avoid the middle two and go for either of the first and last of those choices.

These days, kids have so many things demanding their attention. Sundays are just another day of the week and there are so many more distractions and hobbies to get in to. Motor racing has a problem directly in common with religion - how to keep its audience and get bums on seats.

That's why the emergence of Lewis Hamilton is such a shot in the arm for motor racing (religion isn't so lucky - young, trendy vicars won't pull anywhere near as big a crowd). If youngsters aren't drawn to motorsport by this likeable, down-to-earth 22-year-old - who only stands apart from them because of his incredible talent - we haven't got a hope.

It's a lot to put on his young shoulders, but the truth is Lewis Hamilton is the most important figure to emerge in this sport since Michael Schumacher - and his influence could be a lot more positive for F1. Schuey was a worldwide star, but did he really appeal to many kids outside of Germany? You'd have to say no.

Sir Jackie Stewart has given the perfect example of Lewis's youth appeal. Last Christmas he invited Hamilton to be the star of his annual Springfield Boys' Club event in the tough East London borough of Hackney.

The kids Lewis met that day come from backgrounds completely alien to the rarefied world of F1. They wouldn't be easily impressed by some prima donna dropping by to patronise them.

But Lewis wasn't like that. He won them over just by being himself.

"He was magic," says Stewart. "It was mostly one-parent families, mostly black, a very mixed group and he just was the best guest ever.

"Senna, Mansell, Brabham, Scheckter, Clark, Hill, they have all been there. He gelled better than anyone.

"This is a troubled area with gangs that shoot people. Lewis is the kind of guy who shows kids that if they think a little differently they don't have to go this route.

"I prepared a Q&A with Lewis because most drivers need it. He didn't. He just knows. He mixed with everyone and made everybody feel at home. That was a mark of what was coming."

There you have it. That's real influence, real power. And the best thing is that Lewis could be an inspiration to young fans around the world, not just in his home country. That's got to be great news.

So with the help of Roary the Racing Car and Lewis Hamilton, the next generation - from any background and any country - have every chance of catching the motorsport bug. Let's hope it continues to be really contagious.