One of the staples of seasonal gifting since the late 1960′s, die cast cars such as Lesney’s Matchbox and Mattel’s Hot Wheels have always been a favorite with car nuts young and old alike. Building loops and straightaways, and seeing who could get their car across the finish line first has always been a right of passage for young makers. Left unchecked this can get a little out of hand. Let’s just say that some of us take it to a whole ‘nutha level.

Artist Chris Burden and a crew of eight assistants are in the midst of erecting his latest work, titled “Metropolis II“. Consisting of 1,200 custom die cast cars cycling across 18 lanes, Burden claims that 100,000 cars circulate through the miniature cityscape every hour. Imagine the box this would come in. [via RetroThing]