Currently reading: How to get your motoring fix at home: Websites and online

Looking for some automotive fun to keep you occupied while sitting round the house? Of course you are. Here are Autocar's top things to do online to satisfy your motoring appetites

As coronavirus lockdown continues, the traditional ways of feeding your passion for cars, such as driving, are becoming more tricky. But never fear - travelling on roads may be limited, but there are still plenty of things you can do to placate your inner petrolhead.

How to get your motoring fix at home: Films and TV | websites | computer games | books

One solution is to sample the cornucopia of car-related activities that can be enjoyed online. From Esports sim racing to archive videos on Youtube, these are just some of the things you can do on the web. So get clicking. 

Circuit-spotting on Google Maps

This is an activity that can keep you occupied for weeks. With a bit of time, research and the Google Earth app, you can visit any track you choose – but the obscure and forgotten ones are best. Trace the layouts of places like Germany’s Südschleife, Crystal Palace in the UK or even Spain’s recently abandoned venue in Valencia. JD

Online emulators

Computer games were better in the old days, right? Well, dig around the Internet Archive (archive.org) and you’ll find a host of in-browser emulators, allowing you to play some old racing classics, such as the Commodore Amiga version of Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge. Be warned: they’re not all as good as you remember. JA

Classic & Sports Car Classifieds

7 Classic and sports car classifieds

You know how sometimes a nagging ache is enough for you to tell yourself you won’t take feeling well for granted? This reminds me of that, but on a bigger scale: life’s too short to own boring cars. And Classic & Sports Car has loads of interesting ones. MP

The Samba

6 The samba

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You might not have a project car in the garage that you can work on in times like these, so why not watch someone else finish theirs? This US-based forum, aimed at classic Volkswagen owners, allows readers to track the course of Beetle, Microbus, Buggy, Karmann Ghia and even vintage Porsche builds from start to finish. FP

Esports sim racing

4 Esports sim racing

With motor racing postponed for the foreseeable future, ‘real’ racers are going online to take on sim racers, and you can watch it live or streamed. Some good fun that could very well exceed your expectations. Search ‘The Race’ on YouTube for the best of it. MP

Car configurators

5 Car configurators

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Shortly after Land Rover unveiled the new Defender, it put its online configurator for the model live. Within seconds, social media was flooded with ‘here’s one I made earlier’ creations. Sure, they’re ultimately there as buying tools, but configurators have become a source of entertainment by themselves. JA

Download car colouring books

3 Download car colouring books

Need to occupy kids? Well, get them colouring in some cars. Audi is offering a free-to-download colouring book (audi.us/33JasCr), while former Jaguar design chief Ian Callum’s new agency has put some designs on callumdesigns.com/downloads. Actually, both look much too fun to set aside for the kids… JA

Grace’s Guide

Upon his retirement from the world of industry, Andrew Tweedie set about shedding light on the fascinating early history of British industrialism by founding Grace’s Guide. The charity is run by volunteers with niche areas of knowledge, and its daily updated encyclopaedic website currently has some 139,000 articles and 225,000 images for you to enjoy, covering companies, people, events, machines and inventions. Autocar (founded 1895, doncha know) has proved one of the key sources of information. KC

VHS Rallies

2 Vhs rallies

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An anonymous rally fan has dedicated this channel to rescuing footage gathering dust on video cassettes and bringing it into the digital world. And we should all be grateful. The result is a hotchpotch of action from jaw-dropping rally talent from yesteryear (loosely speaking the Colin McRae-and-Richard Burns era backwards), plus several amusing specials, from 1981 champion Ari Vatanen in a jacket and tie on Sport Friday to national rally hero Gwyndaf Evans being interviewed while driving a school bus. JH

Archive video on YouTube

1 Archive video on youtube

Experience joy by watching racing at Brooklands in 1935. Kay Petre clocked 134.24mph in her 12-cylinder Delage, making it the fastest lap yet driven by a woman. The defeated Gwenda Stewart shook her hand at the end and said with all the grace she could muster: “Jolly good show, I’m very glad you won.” Yeah, right. Squint and you can see The Autocar advertised. RB

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How to get your motoring fix at home: Films and TV 

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Peter Cavellini 12 April 2020

F1 the App.

Download this app and you access to past and present F1 races and more!

si73 12 April 2020

I've been watching 90s super

I've been watching 90s super touring btcc footage on YouTube.