15 Awesome Car Destinations You Can Visit Without Leaving The House

From museums to factories and race circuits, there are too many cool car places in the world to ever visit all of them. Happily, however, that marvel of Google Street View means you can visit many without even leaving your sofa...

Matt Robinson

27 Apr 2015

1. Abarth Factory

Fans of furious Fiats can take a thorough look around Abarth’s Turin HQ, checking out the collection hall, a reproduction of founder Karl Abarth’s office, and the factory floor.

2. Top Gear track at Dunsfold

If the lack of Top Gear on TV right now is getting you down, don't worry, you can take a virtual tour around the famous Top Gear track at Dunsfold Aerodrome, unleashing your inner Stig.

3. Mazda Museum

If you're ever in Hiroshima Japan, Mazda's free museum is definitely somewhere you should be visiting. However, if you're not going to Japan any time soon, there's this online solution.

4. Mount Panorama Circuit

Famous for its Bathurst 12 Hour and Bathurst 1000 races, Mount Panorama is a place petrolheads the world over would love to visit. But if you can't afford flights to New South Wales, Australia, don't worry. It's a street circuit, and is open to the public when there isn't a race on, and therefore was open for Google's camera car when it was in that part of the world.

5. Ducati Museum

OK, so this isn't quite car related, but a lot of us can appreciate some two-wheeled action, surely? And if you're going to virtually visit a motorbike museum, Ducati's Bologna-based shrine is a damn good choice.

6. Reims-Gueux pit straight

Used as a Grand Prix circuit from 1926-1969, the old pit building and grandstands of this former road circuit are still standing, and there's a non-profit organisation working to preserve the surviving track features. Speaking from experience, it's a spooky and intriguing place to visit in person, but if you can't make the trip, you can check it out virtually.

7. Honda Collection Hall

There are some incredible motors at Honda's Twin Ring Motegi-located museum, but if you want a break from the cars, you can also see all sorts of creations from the Japanese manufacturer, including lawn mowers and various iterations of the ASIMO robot.

8. McLaren Technology Centre

Our man Darren Cassey managed to get inside the Bond villain lair-like MTC, but for most, it’s a tricky place to get access to. So why not enjoy all the incredible road and race cars with an online tour?

9. Pagani

A small firm like Pagani doesn't have a huge amount in the way of facilities to tour, but having a poke around the foyer of the factory is great fun, with all sorts of interesting things on display.

10. National Corvette Museum

When we’re talking about the ‘Vette museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, it’s normally something to do with the sinkhole which swallowed up a load of its exhibits. However, the museum behind all those dramatic news stories is a great place to poke around, with countless must-see motors for ‘Murican car lovers.

11. Indianapolis Motor Speedway

A lap of the 'Brickyard' is the stuff petrolhead dreams are made of, but many of us won't ever get the chance. Happily, the circuit is fully mapped online.

12. Toyota Automobile Museum

What makes this museum - located near Nagoya, Japan - interesting is that historically significant cars from other manufacturers are also on display.

13. Lamborghini Museum

As if being able to gawp at old Miuras and Countachs at Lambo's Sant'Agata Bolognese museum wasn't enough, this virtual tour will also let you sit in them.