A quick update. Today on a whatsapp video my great nephew aged 2 said he wanted to drive Duncle Dohns Morgan followed by lots of beep beep & brm noises. They are coming to us once they can so I thought I should test if once started and released the start button engages the starter. The answer is it doesn't which is one up on the ignition switch.
I still love the drama of pressing the button & it adds to the grin factor immensely.