The must-have present for budding Lewis Hamiltons... if their parents have £6,800 to spare

And parents with £6,800 to spare will be pleased to know that Audi's Silver Arrow does not have an engine.

The car is pedal-powered and is for drivers no more than 4ft5in tall. They sit in a leather-upholstered cockpit, complete with a speedometer - top speed about 8mph - and a rev counter.

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The car has a lightweight aluminium frame clad in aluminium panelling, hydraulic disc brakes and custom-made wire wheels.

The steering wheel even comes off to help budding Lewis Hamiltons to get in and out.

Audi has made just 999 of the mini-supercars, modelled on the legendary Auto Union Silver Arrow Type C that dominated Grand Prix racing in 1936.

Audi was one of four German car manufacturers that combined to form the pre-war Auto Union conglomerate.

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The car got its name after the team hit on the idea of scraping off all its white paint in an effort to bring it within the weight limit imposed at the time. This exposed the silver-coloured aluminium body.

Hubert Watl, head of toolmaking at the Audi factory in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, who was in charge of building the replica, said: "I was proud to make a copy of this special car for children."I was a brilliant test driver ... I hit every cone

The Mail on Sunday asked Harry Thomas, aged 31/2, from Chiswick, West London, to test-drive the car. He reports:

I got in and the seat was very hard. Daddy said that was because it was a racing car.

I have a plastic car with pedals at home and I really like driving that into the walls and having really good crashes.

But Daddy said I couldn't crash this one because he would have to sell all my toys to pay to fix it. I was a really good test driver. I hit every cone that they put in front of me.

I went really fast and the wind went in my face.

I had to wear a helmet that was really old. It was a bit heavy and gave me itchy ears.

There were goggles as well but they weren't like my swimming goggles because I couldn't see out of the side very well.

The Audi man showed me how to change gears and I really liked them because my car at home doesn't have any. It made the car go faster.

I would like to have this car. Daddy said I could either have the car or 100 toys because they cost the same.

I think I would like a robot.