(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Michael Fassbender doesn't understand why little boys love cars so much but aren't interested in kettles.

The actor has been obsessed with mechanics ever since he was a toddler. He knows many young kids are the same, but can't fathom what it is that is so appealing about vehicles.

"When I was four, I just wanted to drive, I collected toy cars," he revealed. "Where does that sort of thing come from? In hindsight you go, Oh, liked it because of this.' Maybe it's just the wheel.

"Why does a three-year-old, and it's usually boys, want to drive the tractor or have machinery and be in control of it? I don't know. [If it's because it's grown up] why wouldn't you ask to boil a kettle or something? Maybe you would, I dunno."

It's not just driving which interests Michael, he is fascinated by racing cars.

He has thought about why they are so interesting and thinks it is because the sport is quite dangerous.

"Initially it's the speed [which appeals]," he told Esquire magazine. "I always wanted to drive cars, when I was 12 I was taking a car out Then I started watching Formula 1 when I was probably 15 or 16, started getting into it. I don't know, there's the excitement. I was the speed and the danger I think that were initially attractive to me."

The 35-year-old does have some hobbies which aren't quite so daring. He is currently embroiled in a lengthy table tennis contest with some of his friends.

"I'm fairly competitive, we've got a little ping-pong tournament going on in my [apartment] at the moment, which has been an on-going thing," he said.

"I gotta say man, it brought so many hours of just pure joy, that little table. It's a miniature ping-pong table." (C) Cover Media