Ahh yes. My local racing event of the year. Anyone going?
If you're not familiar with it, it's a collection of race events at the historic street circuit in Long Beach, California, USA. The city has seen the like of Formula One, Champ Car, and American Le Mans on its streets.
Here's some pics from last year.
http://fullerton.facebook.com/album....af&id=19905668
http://fullerton.facebook.com/album....77&id=19905668
http://fullerton.facebook.com/album....f0&id=19905668
http://fullerton.facebook.com/album....d4&id=19905668
http://fullerton.facebook.com/album....74&id=19905668
This year will be special. First, Long Beach will induct Mario Andretti, Parnelli Jones, and Gary Gabelich to the
Motorsport Walk of Fame, who will join the likes of Phil Hill and Dan Gurney. This will happen during the first Thursday events of the Grand Prix, which will include an extra chance to see Le Mans-spec racers practicing.
This year also sees the Formula Drift competition moved to a week earlier. The Long Beach GP website still shows Formula Drift competitions during the grand prix, so I'm wondering if those are two separate events or not.
One awesome addition to the Grand Prix is the DARPA Urban Challenge race. It'll be a race between autonomous vehicles that can navigate through the course without any external input. These cars are amazing. They look silly, but amazing.
Finally, this is the
FINAL Champ Car race.
Since the merger (absorption) of Champ Car and IRL, all other races in Champ Car calendar has been cancelled (including Grand Prix of Houston and Grand Prix of Toronto). So. It's the end. Hopefully, everything returns to Long Beach next year. (with Danica Patrick, I hope.
Long Beach GP is technically safe till 2015, but if no one's racing...)
featured racing series
-Champ Car World Series
-American Le Mans Series
-SCCA SPEED World Challenge Championship (GT Class only)
-Atlantic Championship
-DARPA Urban Challenge
-Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race
Long Beach GP Report (Pics & Vids)
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