Long Beach Grand Prix followup

[SandiegoPoopButt619]

I went to the Long Beach Grand Prix on Friday and had a great time. Here are some pictures.

A car in the paddock



I snuck onto the race track when no one was looking



And I got to see the president racing his Porsche

[Apples]

I like the livery on that Porsche GT car!

The "track" you show us is pit lane.

That Penske layout is stunning. Will's car is on the scales, checking corner weights.



I missed the first two Long Beach street-circuit motor racing events in '76 and '77 but was there for the first F1 event in '78. While Mario didn't win that particular race, iirc he did win the FIA F1 World Championship that year. It was also the year that Tyrrel ran the 6-wheel car.

I went to several other F1 events at Long Beach but have never been to an Indycar event, there. The whole weekend looks like a lot of fun w/ lots of things to see and do, and with the southern California spring weather on the Pacific coast, it just doesn't get much better (maybe Monaco).

Thanks for the neat photos!

[SandiegoPoopButt619]

Ok here is a picture when I snuck from pit lane onto the race track, I had to dodge the indy cars!!

[george223]

SD, did you take the Aqualink over? The only drawback to taking the boat over is not knowing how crowded the last 2 boats of the day are. I was there with 3 friends and we had our fill by 4:00 so we took the 4:30 boat.  Everybody was getting thirsty and there were beers waiting for us at Ballast Point at the other end of the boat trip. We ended up missing the autograph session and IMSA qualifying. Never really cared about the drifting.  I typically like to go with 1 other person because there is a lot to see and with the 4 of us, it was like herding cats. We got there at about 10:30 and decided to stop at Hooters for lunch before it got crowded. I just wanted a quick bite but my friends were getting comfortable. I had to be the one to say come on, let's go.

We did a walk thru in the convention center and were in the bleachers when the IMSA cars started their session. We sat near the start / finish line. When the Indy cars came out, I suggested that we sit near the start of the straightaway. When that session ended, we started heading toward the boat when we heard the Indy cars coming out again, we went up to the fence at the point where the cars were coming out of the pits. Holy cow! Those cars were flying at that point. If they weren't doing 200 mph, they were close (as far as I can tell).

SD, was the Paddock pass worth it? I have been in the Paddock but not with a pass. Did the pass allow you to get in the pits. And how the heck did you get on the track?

[SandiegoPoopButt619]

I was considering the aqualink but after reading, it seemed like parking on Friday wouldn't be a problem, and the boat crowding might be a problem, so I just found a spot about two blocks north of the main entrance, $30 to park.

I walked to every part of the track, every stand, looking for the best spot. I ended up near the end of the straight for part of it, then walked down to turn 11 at stands 24 and 25 and got a good view of the cars slowing down. There were also some good views (where I took the Trump car picture) at stands 16 and 18 at turn 10.

The paddock pass was cool, with the discount code I got ticket and pass for like 30 bucks. I thought it was worth it though I only took one walk through the paddocks to look at the cars.

I walked on the track because between races, they would open up a few paths to walk across the track instead of going up and over on the stairs. That crossing was at the entrance to pit lane, so I took a few pics down the track and pit lane.

Going on Friday was great, I could walk everywhere, enjoyed a cigar, and then I stopped to see Ape Drums on the way out, which was a lot better than I expected. I stood at the very front and the bass was so strong it was like wind blowing. The crowd was nice, families and stuff up there not a bunch of drunk people looking for trouble. It was a great day!!!!!!!! I think you posted the discount codes right? Thank you for the info, without your post I would have forgotten about LBGP until it was too late to go, like every year past.