Top 10 Motoring Attractions You Can Explore from Home…

Let’s start off close to home, Buckinghamshire. This is the joint-longest serving track on the F1 calendar after its inception back in 1948 and one full lap is 3.66 miles long. The track includes the world famous Maggotts-Becketts complex which is, arguably, the most difficult corner in the F1 calendar, except for maybe Eau Rouge, Spa. Drivers are expected to enter this S-bend at up to 180mph then under heavy braking (and two downshifts) throw the car to the right then almost immediately back over to the left under almost 5G’s of force.

Next we’re heading over to Abu Dhabi and the Yas Marina F1 Circuit. Completed in 2009 at the cost of £800million, the race circuit is actually built upon an island roughly 30km east of Abu Dhabi. The F1 race always begins in daylight and then ends at night time. This is when the world's largest permanent lighting system ever fitted to a sport facility creates an enchanting spectacle for fans and drivers alike.

Now, over to Italy and the home of, arguably, the most decorated manufacturer in automotive history. Thanks to google street view we can take a look inside the Maranello museum and explore some of the most iconic cars, both past and present from the famous Prancing Horse. Go ahead, have a nosey and see what takes your fancy...

Staying in Italy and bordering Switzerland, explore one of the greatest driving roads in the world. You may recognise the Stelvio Pass from countless Top Gear episodes and Magazine photoshoots. At it’s highest point the Stelvio pass is 9,054 feet above sea level and descends rapidly with 75 hairpin bends which entangle the steep face of the hill.

Mr Clarkson did give this road the label of the best driving road in the world, but he then changed his mind and said this title is for the Transfagarasan Highway in Romania.

This muddy excuse of a road has been heralded as the most dangerous in the world. Labelled ‘Death Road’ or ‘The Road of Fate’ due to the fact that between 200 and 300 road users die on it every year because of the 2,000ft drop from the unguarded, single lane road. There are some safety precautions though, drivers going uphill have the right of way, so faster drivers going downhill are forced to stop so passing can be done safely. Cars also drive on the opposite side of the road so that drivers have better judgement of where their car is in relation to the cliff face.

Staying in Europe, and this time the glamourous South of France, we’ve planted you on the starting grid of the famous Monte Carlo street race, for 360-odd days of the year the road is open to the hustle and bustle of the super-rich, but for one week the roads are closed for qualifying and race-day, in one of the most famous road races in the world.

Even on Street View you can see the grid markings on the tarmac which are left there for the entire year. F1 fans should be able to navigate their way around the track quickly on Street View, probably quicker than traffic would allow you to drive it in the real world.

There are very few places on earth where you can put your Bugatti Veyron through its paces, which is probably a good thing. We did a bit of searching and found ourselves on the other side of the world, at an arrow-straight 90 mile stretch of road through the Australian outback. Perfect if you own a muscle car; incapable of negotiating a slight bend. The straight takes you from Balladonia to Caigunia, and although there are a few longer straights in the world, such as one in Abu Dhabi, this is the longest we can get on street view so it’ll have to do. Wouldn’t you love to just floor it down there? (Don’t though, it still has speed limits.)

Sometimes it’s not the layout of the road that makes it a driving pleasure, sometimes it’s the road itself. Above, we’ve left you on Europe’s biggest road & rail bridge, which connects Malmo, Sweden, to Copenhagen, Denmark. This megastructure is 5 miles long but the fun doesn’t stop there, as the bridge touches down on an artificial island, Peberholm, the road goes subterranean and turns into a 2.5mile tunnel under the water and continues to Denmark. Interestingly this road also carries the data cable which is the ‘backbone to Internet transmission between central Europe and Sweden/ Finland.  

There are fewer better ways of putting a small grin on a motor enthusiasts face than a quick blip on the throttle while going through a tunnel on your morning commute. In an almost exorcistical way a nice, confined tunnel can bring out the inner devil in all of us, providing aural pleasure with short bursts of acceleration. The lucky individuals in Goschenen and Airolo, Switzerland have the Gotthard Road Tunnel on their doorstep. This is a 10.5 mile tunnel, which was the longest in the world when it was opened back in 1980, cutting under the Swiss Alps. The shape of the tunnel will echo your exhaust in a primeval manner, another megastructure you have to see to believe.

And we’ll finish this list off back on home soil... The Evo Triangle is a motoring enthusiast’s heaven. Just over 32 kilometres of Welsh open roads with breathtaking views, swooping bends and plenty of space to put your foot down. We’ve zoomed in on one particularly attractive point in the route but it’s all rather magical, and there’s no official start point. Just visit this link for the route layout and you’ll see exactly why this is a must-visit place for any petrolhead. Best served at about 5AM on a summers morning, when the sun is creeping up. We’d plead that you restrain yourself in the few built up areas on the course and do be wary of locals, police and oncoming traffic. There is an abundance of footage on youtube where drivers are seen taking blind corners on the wrong side of the road. This isn’t a race track, respect it, enjoy it, and let’s keep this domestic treasure an experience we can all admire for years to come.