Fun with Google Earth

First of all, if you don't have Google Earth, you're way missing out.

Anyway, somebody out there has made a Google Earth grand tour of all the F1 tracks. It's pretty fresh. You save it on your computer and zoom in on a given track. Then, when you click on the name of a new one, you zoom out again, fly to the next one, and zoom back in. You can view the tracks from different angles, too.

To get it, download this:

http://home.comcast.net/~jsaunders51/cv/F1_2005_Circuits.kmz

Once you have it, unzip it, then open the file in GE. It's wildly, savagely money.

Below is a GE shot of a track that somehow didn't make the list: The Crystal Palace nitro track in London. This is the home/official testing track for Team Wong Motourspourt, Ltd. To view it on Google Earth, just type in "Crystal Palace, London" and you'll fly to a spot about 1km SW of it. Scroll over and zoom in, and there you are: Nitro Mecca.

BTW, this is also the home track of the London RC Club. But just because they built it and operate it (exclusively) doesn't take away from its place in the Lore of Team Wong. We've ruined many a scale hub carrier at this aulde course....

Here's a couple of live pics. The driver's stand is alongside the back straight.

FYI I think I was managing ~20 second laps in qualifying at this track. However, I did clock TW co-driver Juan F. at sub-00:19:00 on his cell phone's stopwatch during testing one day. It's a shame I didn't have my car dialled in back then as well as I do now. My inconsistent driving skills aside, that thing is without question a 16-18 second ride these days.