MOSCOW (AFP) – In a helmet emblazoned with the emblem of Russia and reaching a speed of 240 kilometres (150 miles) an hour, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Sunday burned rubber on a racing circuit in a Formula One car.

The high-speed session -- unthinkable for almost any other world leader -- was the latest in a series of widely publicised hardman outings for Putin as he seeks to cement his image as the Russian strongman ahead of 2012 elections.

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Putin pushed the car so hard that at one point he overcooked a corner and ending up coming to a halt in a spin, television pictures showed. Over the summer, Putin had spoken of the exhilaration of "living dangerously".

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Putin's blast around the track was in a different speed category to his last public motoring excursion, when he drove across Siberia this summer in a bright yellow Lada Kalina.

After meeting a polar bear in the Far North and chasing a whale in the rough seas of the Pacific this year alone, observers could have been forgiven for thinking Putin had by now exhausted most options for tough-guy exploits.

But while images of Putin posturing half-naked in the Siberian wilderness or diving to the bottom of Lake Baikal in a mini-submarine are a source of amusement, analysts have long pointed out the aims are serious.

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One of manly-man Putin's aims would seemingly be to embarrass the pantywaist wuss running the U.S. government. Mister Putin continues to perform feats of danger and daring, while the only extraordinary thing Mister Obuma does is to blow through the people's money at a prodigious rate... 

Sports analysts point out that Mister Obuma may believe that he has an advantage, coming from Chicago, hometown of the NBA Bulls, and being fluent in bullshit, but they also acknowledge that he runs like a girl and is quite likely to be trampled early in the proceedings when the bulls realize that there's nothing behind his oratorical bullshit.

Until then, Texas says:

Hook 'em Horns!