Belt up and enjoy this 365-day ride as you cruise past the most momentous motoring events in history. Packed with fascinating facts about races, motorists and the history of the mighty engine, this is a must-visit web site for any car enthusiast.
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A random selection of interesting facts about the roads and motorways of the world.
Britain’s shortest street is also the world’s shortest. Ebenezer Place in Wick, Caithness is only 2.06m long and comprises the front door of Mackays Hotel. The tiny street originated in 1883 when the owner of the hotel was instructed to paint a name on its shortest side. It was officially declared a street in 1887.Ebenezer Place was only recognised as the world’s shortest street in 2006 when the Guinness Book of Records officially placed it ahead of 5.2m-long Elgin Street in Bacup, Lancashire.
Several motorways are 1 mile (1.6 km) or less in length. Although there have been conflicting claims, but it now appears that the A635(M), which is joined to the A57(M), Mancunian Way, is the shortest at about 300 metres.
I-95 is the most expensive US interstate highway route, costing $8 billion. The 1,919 mile highway serves metropolitan areas such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, and Richmond, Fayetteville, Savannah, Jacksonville, and Miami in the Southeast. I-95 also goes through the largest number of states, 16.
The Pan-American Highway is the longest road in the world. It runs from Fairbanks, Alaska to Buenos Aires, Argentina, stretching 29,800 miles (47,958 km). But it was never completed. A portion called the Darien Gap, mostly jungle about 100 miles (160 km) long located in Panama and Colombia, remains uncompleted. Cars and passengers are transported around the gap by ship. The Pan-American Highway is a network of roads, each with its twists and turns. Measuring the highway’s distance as the crow flies makes it about 16,000 miles (25,750 km) long.
The M40 was the last long-distance route on an new line to be constructed. Originally the M40 had run from London to Oxford along the line of the A40, but in the late 1980s traffic on the M1/M6 route from London to Birmingham had become unbearable and a single motorway link between Britain's two largest cities was at last agreed to. The M40 was extended north from Oxford to connect with the M42 south-east bypass near Birmingham. The route was completed in 1991. Nothing on a similar scale has been contemplated since.
