Russ Swift, UK's top stunt driver, was hired by Microsoft to burn a good luck message with skid marks onto the parking lot of Battersea Power Station for Formula One racer Lewis Hamilton.

Swift created the Project Gotham Racing 4 stunt with a sports car, a motorcycle and three sets of tires. The end result: a 50-foot Go Lewis, meant to cheer Hamilton on for this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix.

Hit the jump for the full press release and unfortunate Freudian Slip.

LONDON WISHES 'GOOD LUCK' TO LEWIS HAMILTON WITH GIANT MESSAGE MADE OF CAR SKID MARKS

October 18th 2007: Battersea Power Station was engulfed with engine noise and screeching tyre smoke this morning, as a special message of good luck was embezzled onto the ground for Lewis Hamilton ahead of this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix, which could see him walk away as Formula One World Champion.

As these pictures show, the message was created entirely by the skid marks of a sports car and a motorbike, using blistering wheelspins and breakneck handbrake turns to lay rubber onto the tarmac to produce the words 'Go Lewis!' in giant 50-foot lettering.

And while bemused onlookers assumed the stunt was related to the filming of the new Batman movie, currently taking place at the iconic Battersea landmark, it was in fact nothing to do with the the caped hero of Gotham City - but a very different type of Gotham. The message was created for the launch of the biggest racing game yet on the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, 'Project Gotham Racing 4™' (Bizarre Creations/Microsoft Games Studio), a high-adrenalin arcade racing title which rewards players with death-defying slides and sideways driving. The concept of 'Skid Art' is also the theme of the Project Gotham Racing 4 TV advertisement currently being aired.

Driving the Caterham sports car in the pictures was the UK's top stunt driver, Russ Swift, who got through three sets of tyres to create the image.

Xbox wishes Lewis Hamilton the very best of luck in Brazil this weekend!

Confession: I want a Mini Cooper. Passé, I know. Even this horribly gaudy/tacky Xbox 360-mobile that popped up in Singapore contest looks pretty neat. The car was driven around the country and parked in secret locations. Folks who spotted it got a chance to compete for Project Gotham Racing 3 goodies, but not the Cooper. No Mini? Come on. Brian Ashcraft

The Controller On the Hood Is Odd [Xbox 360 Fanboy]

Over the weekend, I packed up the fam and took at road trip to Nagoya, where we stuffed our faces with miso katsu, marveled at the spacious city roads and headed over to the Toyota Automobile Musuem.

Featuring vintage American, European and Japanese cars, the museum traces the dawn of the car and follows it up right through the present day. There are the requisite halls of old cars, as well as an exhibit that ties automobiles to Japanese history.

The exhibit goes generation by generation. There are a Meiji-era rickshaw and a pre-World War II Osaka-made Chevrolet, which are contrasted with clothes or photos from the period. The post-war period gets sports cars and electronics and antique cameras.

The entire exhibit culminates in a several giant TV screens that were showing Dragon Quest. Important products from this period include the calculator, the Walkman, the Game & Watch and the Famicom. Both Nintendo products do carry a huge cultural impact in Japan. But, so does Sony's game machines, and to a lesser extent, Sega's. Guess we know which console Toyota is looking forward to this autumn. Brian Ashcraft

Late last week, we posted a "PWN3D" license plate from New Hampshire, which lead to a trickle of leet speak tags. Reader Xenocide sent us a pic, along with this short note:

I think my plate is is better.

Not only that but your place of residence (Vega$) and your wheels (Pontiac Solistice). No offense to our three readers in the great state of New Hampshire. Brian Ashcraft

You might think you're a Zelda fan, but you're no real Zelda fan. This Corvallis, Oregon guy's a real fan. Check out that attention to detail. The Zelda map is suposed to be exact down to the individual trees. Brian Crecente

Update: Score one for our image eating MT. Updated to with the image this time.