The helicopter over the Afghanistan circuit: the Afghanistan racing game

Afghan Grand Prix

Afghanistan Racing GameRace a 4.3 km circuit drawn from Afghanistan's outline

Length: 4.3km
Turns: 10
Main straight: 580m
Slowest corner: 65km/h
Climb: 54m
Setting: Woodland

Ten corners, one border. This Afghanistan racing game takes the country's outline and turns it into a 4.3 km lap, with each bend named after the place it traces. You leave the line for the Sulaiman Range, swing south through Kandahar and Nimroz, run west to Hirat, then head up through Faryab into the Pamirs and Badakhshan before the lap closes at Lunkho. It is a track drawn from Afghanistan's border, corner for corner.

The Afghan Grand Prix is held in woodland parkland with 54 metres of climb, and the mist rarely lifts.

The Afghanistan circuit map

The racing line (orange) inside Afghanistan's outline; ○ is the start and finish. Open the map

T1Sulaiman Range
T2Kandahar
T3Saygilōk
T4Nimroz
T5Hirat
T6Faryab
T7Pamirs
T8Badakhshan
T9Kōh-e Āqblīs
T10Lunkho

Each corner is named after the place on Afghanistan's outline it traces.

Screenshots from the Afghanistan circuit

Through the slowest corner, Kōh-e Āqblīs

On the grid for the Afghan Grand Prix: Afghanistan racing game screenshot — On the grid for the Afghan Grand Prix

The corkscrew, Afghanistan: Afghanistan racing game screenshot — The corkscrew, Afghanistan

Craning over the Afghanistan track: Afghanistan racing game screenshot — Craning over the Afghanistan track

The helicopter over the Afghanistan circuit: Afghanistan racing game screenshot — The helicopter over the Afghanistan circuit

Through the dip, Afghanistan: Afghanistan racing game screenshot — Through the dip, Afghanistan

Around the Afghanistan track

Through the mist you can pick out the Minaret of Jam and the Blue Mosque of Mazar, the two big pieces of scenery on this lap. Closer in, a cliff niche from Bamiyan is cut into the hillside, and adobe houses sit on the highland between wheat fields. Pickups and four-by-fours wait behind the fences, the crowd waves flags, and the welcome banner reads ښه راغلاست · خوش آمدید. Boards for Herat, Kandahar, Bamyan, Panjshir and Kabul run along the barriers.

Minaret of Jam and Blue Mosque of Mazar
Blue Mosque of Mazar-i-Sharif
Bamiyan cliff niche

How to drive the Afghanistan circuit

The 580-metre main straight is the one real chance to breathe, and it ends at the Sulaiman Range, turn 1. From there the lap is a run of hilly woodland bends. The slowest is Kōh-e Āqblīs at turn 9, taken at 65 km/h, and in the mist its braking point arrives sooner than it looks.

Ways to race Afghanistan

Time TrialA lap for the Afghanistan leaderboard, chasing the record holder's ghost. Grand Prix RunRace your way across the world's circuits. One free run every day.

What country is this? Guess Afghanistan from one lap

One lap behind the leader, with the racing line drawing itself as it goes. By the flag it's Afghanistan's outline. Could you name it before the reveal?

With sound: the video has a voiceover.