Long Beach Street Circuit

The Grand Prix of Long Beach is the oldest and best-known street race in American motorsport. Travel agent and racing enthusiast Chris Pook conceived it in the mid-1970s to revitalize the downtown Long Beach waterfront, and the first event ran in 1975 for Formula 5000 cars. Formula One followed from 1976 to 1983 before the race switched to CART/IndyCar in 1984, where it has remained the centerpiece of the calendar ever since. The Grand Prix Association of Long Beach still organizes the event, now under Penske Entertainment ownership.

The circuit is a temporary street course laid out on the city streets around the Long Beach Convention Center. The current Grand Prix configuration, settled around 2000, measures 1.968 mi (3.167 km) over eleven turns, run clockwise. Like every version since 1975 it is anchored by the long Shoreline Drive front straight along the waterfront.

Shoreline Drive and Turn 1

The fastest moment of the lap is the run down Shoreline Drive into Turn 1. Cars reach roughly 170 mph along the waterfront front straight before braking hard for the tight 90-degree left-hander (the headline overtaking spot, where the race is routinely decided) which spills the field into the fountain complex.

The Fountain and the Hairpin

After Turn 1 the cars thread the slow fountain complex (Turns 2–3), curling around the landmark Long Beach dolphin fountain between flowerbeds and concrete walls. The circuit’s signature corner is the hairpin at Turn 11: a tight, first-gear right-hander taken at around 30 mph and arguably one of the most famous corners in IndyCar. It has anchored every layout since 1975. Reached after the long, sweeping left of Turn 10, the hairpin dominates lap time and setup; getting it right launches the car back onto Shoreline Drive toward the start/finish line.

Corner-by-corner

Turn 1

Left

A hard-braking 90-degree left-hander at the end of the Shoreline Drive front straight, decelerating from near top speed; the circuit's prime overtaking spot, where the race is routinely won and lost, leading into the fountain complex.

The Fountain

Right

The roundabout corner curling around the landmark Long Beach dolphin fountain that Turn 1 feeds into: the opening of the signature fountain complex, threaded between flowerbeds and concrete walls.

Turn 3

Left

The second part of the fountain complex, a tight 90-degree corner threading out of the roundabout between the plaza walls toward Turn 4.

Turn 4

Right

A corner where the track falls away on entry, washing out the front end and pushing cars toward the exit wall.

Turn 5

Right

A corner where the circuit begins to widen noticeably, with a multi-tiered curb drivers strike to pick up speed onto the following chute: one of two curb-strike spots on the lap.

Turn 6

Left

A tricky corner with a downhill entry that makes the car hard to slow, before the road rises again mid-corner and falls away once more toward Turn 8.

Turn 7

Left

A corner critical to a good lap, setting up the run up the infield toward the Turn 8 left onto Seaside Way.

Turn 8

Right

The corner onto the Seaside Way back straight, where drivers take extra curb to gain speed down the longest run of the lap.

Turn 9

Right

A fast corner at the end of the Seaside Way back straight, taken under a pedestrian bridge as one of the quickest corners on the circuit.

T10

Turn 10

Left

A long, sweeping left in full view of the grandstands, requiring sustained braking and offering little room to accelerate before it feeds the final hairpin.

T11

The Hairpin

Right
late apex

The slow right-hand hairpin and final corner of the lap, taken in first gear at around 30 mph; cutting close to the inside wall sets up the launch back onto Shoreline Drive toward the start/finish line.

The hairpin is Long Beach's defining corner: arguably one of the most famous corners on any IndyCar track. A tight, first-gear right-hander, it has featured in every iteration of the circuit since 1975, and the slow- motion image of the field threading it onto Shoreline Drive is the picture most associated with the Grand Prix of Long Beach.