The quiet air of Knavesmire, York, was shattered as The Hollywood Hell Drivers roared into town with the "world's greatest show on wheels".

The high-octane, high-decibel stunt extravaganza which gives its final performance at York Racecourse tonight, features two monster trucks with 66-inch tyres, a human cannonball and a 20-foot transformer named Vorian among many other attractions.

The show is the brainchild of American co-ordinator Steve Street, a stuntman with a vast array of Hollywood movie credits including Titanic and the last two Bond films, Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies.

His stuntmen and women - mainly British - slam the two 11ft, four-ton monster trucks, Goliath and Bandit, over lines of crushed cars, winding up each 512 big block Chevvy engine to capacity. Monster truck driver Steve Flaherty said: "We're not very popular with the neighbours!"

The show boasts a human cannonball act, one of the oldest and most popular stunts, with a cannonballer being shot out of a 30-foot barrel raised 20 feet into the air. Also performing is a 30-foot long drag racer which transforms into the huge robot Vorian, to blast a 50-foot high tail of fire and rockets from its arms.

A human torch, quad stunts and motorcycle jumps round off the show which is expected to perform to an audience of about 1,000 on Knavesmire.

You can also catch the stunt stars when they continue their country-wide tour in Harrogate on Friday. The tour will end in October when the Hell Riders head for New Zealand.

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