The 10 best street tours in the world Car News

It’s Monaco week, the grand prize that overtakes the others. Why? The story, the sheer familiarity of every inch, the sparkle of otherworldly sequins – and the blatant anachronism that the place still hosts grand prix in the 21st century. Who said running in Monaco was “like riding a bike in your living room?” Nelson Piquet? Or was it Jackie Stewart? Someone says that every year, surely… because, like all good clichés, he wears a ring of truth.

We missed the Monaco GP last year following its cancellation from Covid. Or at least some of us have. There are those who hate running, dismissing the near impossibility of passing (cleanly) as the main reason she’s over-excited. They have a point. But tradition is too often rejected – and we would say no sports site has any more. Therefore, Monaco still matters.

But is it the best street track for motorsport? Let’s be clear here: we’re talking about urban venues, where races circle homes, not big road races – which is another thing entirely. The old Spa, the Mille Miglia, the Targa Florio, Pescara – these are the great courses on the road. But these are not street tracks according to our definition of “downtown”. With that in mind, here’s our countdown of Autocar’s urban favorites, past and present. Which one did we miss, or is our order messy? You’ll let us know in the comments, right …

10 St. Petersburg, Florida

Founded in the mid-1980s originally as a sports car site, St Pete has hosted Indycar racing since 2003 and is a modern favorite in American racing circles. The waterfront is scenic, and the races usually close on a circuit that combines traditional right-angle turns with a main “ straight ” based on a local airport runway – a pleasant contrast of challenges.

9 Pau, southwest of France

“Little Monaco” is almost as old as its brother, hosting races for the first time in 1930, a year after the first Monaco GP. Jim Clark won his first F1 victory in Pau, but the Grand Prix is ​​probably best known for its Formula 2 and Formula 3000 races. Still active today as a blue-ribbed single-seater and historic racing site, though. that Covid sabotaged it for 2021.