IT'S eyes down and fingers at the ready for the latest craze to be sweeping Lancashire's pubs -- snail racing.

The lettuce munchers more well known for leaving a slimy trail across your garden path have been given a racy new image, courtesy of Guinness.

Brewery chiefs are using the super-snails as part of their latest promotion -- based on the TV ad featuring a high-speed snail race -- and the folk of East Lancashire are catching on fast.

O'Neill's bar on King William Street have now installed their own racing track where punters and race their chosen mollusc round a series of high speed loops and bends.

Up to 32 contestants can take part in one race, which consist of two teams, with five rounds per team and five laps in each round.

But before animal lovers pick up the phone to complain of snail cruelty, the six-inch "racing snails" have been created from specially adapted Scalextric cars, and the game has been renamed by pub-goers as Snailextric.

Team coach David Barlow, based at O'Neills, said: "People that have tried it think it is a great laugh -- it could be the next big thing.

"There have been no major crashes so far, they don't really go fast enough because they are quite heavy but one or two have flown off the track.

"We'll be doing it for the next six weeks so it should be quite good fun."