The idea never really got off the ground because I was concerned that the paper wouldn’t survive the constant stress of going around the rollers.  Well recently two things came to my attention that made this worth attempting.  First, the roller mechanism from an old voltage meter/recorder.  This had a toothed roller and perforated paper that would prevent slipping.  Second was the fact that my landlord has a laminating machine in his office.  By laying the image over the perforated paper and feeding them together through the laminator I was able to come up with a very durable solution (after I went back and punched holes through the plastic to line up with the perforations).

Sections of middle ground figures are mounted on stand offs to increase the sense of depth and distance.  This will also provide good places to mount lights.

You can see from the video that I chose to have the paper run backwards.  The thinking is that I intend to build a small sculpture of one of the racers in the foreground, and I want to convey the impression that he is actually faster than everyone else (even though he will be fixed in place).  None the less I chose a DC motor so that I can easily reverse the direction if I change my mind.

I plan to mount the whole scene inside and old bakelite radio cabinet. 

Below is the early stages of the racer I hope to mount in the foreground.