By Alan Baldwin

LONDON - Lewis Hamilton is about to become bigger than ever in Britain thanks to a car-crazy artist who paints by buzzing remote-controlled toy racers across his canvas.

Birmingham-based artist Ian Cook has been skidding and steering the tiny cars around an 8x12 metre spread this week to create a giant portrait of McLaren's 23-year-old Formula One hotshot.

The picture, commissioned by Hamilton's sponsors Reebok, will go on open display in the shadow of London's Tower Bridge from Oct 29 until after the title-deciding Brazilian Grand Prix on Nov. 2.

By the time he returns to Britain, Hamilton could be hailed as the sport's youngest champion as well as the first black driver to take the title.

Cook's technique reflects one of Hamilton's boyhood passions, with the Briton a champion radio-controlled car racer before moving into go-karts.

"This concept started last Christmas when I received a radio-controlled car from my then-girlfriend and she said 'don't take it down to your studio and don't get paint on it,'" the artist told Reuters.

"I thought 'Ah, that's a good idea'.

Reebok say the picture could cover a three-storey building.

'AUTO DRAWINGS'

Cook, who takes inspiration from installation artist Michael Landy and coined the term 'popbang' to define his own style of 'auto drawings', lists a sculpture made of his childhood die-cast toy cars among other works.

He has around 40 cars at his disposal, including a Mercedes-McLaren SLR, with the wheel arches modified to cope with the paint and each with different speeds and characteristics.

The paint is applied to the tyres, or occasionally the canvas, with the cars powered up while the public wander in to watch the work in progress in the vacant shop premises off Piccadilly Circus.

Sometimes full size car tyres are rolled across the backdrop for added texture but no paintbrush or roller is used at any stage.

After staring at Hamilton's image for days on end, the artist was even starting to sound like him.

"It won't go wrong. I'm confident. I've done it enough to know what I need to do and what the cars are capable of," said Cook.