BELLE Vue superstar Jason Crump, winner of 27 of his last 30 races at home, will tackle a unique challenge to his supremacy at the Kirkmanshulme Lane circuit later this month.

Crump, the fastest man ever round the track, will race against three cars driven by former Grand Prix and Le Mans ace Tiff Needell, who is now a presenter for Channel Five's Fifth Gear programme.

Needell, a world class driver in many different aspects of four-wheel racing, has picked up the challenge to race against double world speedway champion Crump in a feature for the next series of the show.

Needell will race against Crump in three different vehicles which are to be confirmed.

They are likely to be a Rage Buggy, a Formula 1 stock car and the Citroen Xsara belonging to Mad Mark Watson, the current British Rallycross Open Champion.

A Rage Buggy should be quite spectacular as it has a 900cc engine to the 500cc of a speedway bike and can go from 0-60 mph in three seconds.

How it handles the tight Belle Vue bends remains to be seen but the stock car should have no problem as they race regularly at the stadium. A spokesman for Fifth Gear said: "We have no idea what type of car stands the best chance so Tiff's idea is to try something small and light in the first race, like a Rage Buggy.

"Then we'll go a bit more brutal in race two, maybe with an F1 stock car. Finally, we'll go for a full blown Rallycross monster in race three. We're taking this challenge very seriously and will give it our best shot."

Aces' chief David Gordon said: "We are delighted that Fifth Gear and Tiff Needell accepted our challenge and there is no doubt he means to give Jason a real test.

"Obviously, we think Jason will take a lot of beating around our track but it will be fascinating."