Formula London!

They didn't worry about the congestion charge, observing bus lanes or slowing for speed cameras. Not even red lights fazed them.

Yesterday, some of the world's best racing drivers screeched down London streets normally jammed by lines of double-decker buses.

Stars of Formula One roared around the West End in supercars able to reach 200mph. The aim was to raise interest in adding a London street circuit to the F1 calendar.

Eight drivers including Jenson Button, Martin Brundle, Juan Pablo Montoya and former champion Nigel Mansell raced around a one-mile circuit closed to other traffic.

Thousands of cheering fans jostling for pole viewing position were drowned out by the roar of engines as the cars leapt from the starting grid in Waterloo Place.

Despite a laughable request from Westminster-City Council for drivers to stick to 30mph, they passed 75mph within seconds.

Mansell - making his first appearance in an F1 car for nine years - thrilled onlookers with a flamboyant series of spins in his Jordan which sent up clouds of smoke from his tyres.

The fearsome sound of the cars could be heard drifting across St James's Park as far away as Downing Street.

Afterwards, Montoya said he would love to race in a London Grand Prix. 'Hyde Park corner would be really good,' the Colombian added. 'All those corners around there - even in your own car that's really fun.'

Mansell said: 'They have the infrastructure, they have the organisation. It could be absolutely sensational.'