Baltimore Grand Prix Announces New Race Date and Improved Track Layout
Today, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Baltimore Racing Development (BRD) announced that the dates for the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix have been moved to September 2-4, 2011. BRD further announced a series of improvements to the track layout that slightly alter the planned race circuit and will allow for new opportunities for fan attractions. The Labor Day weekend dates replace the previously announced dates of August 5-7, 2011.
“We are very excited to be able to schedule the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix for the weekend that we originally wanted,” stated Jay Davidson, president of the Baltimore Grand Prix and Baltimore Racing Development. “We have always planned to market the Baltimore Grand Prix as a destination event, and we are expecting race fans from throughout the region and around the world to travel to the race. Having the Grand Prix on Labor Day weekend makes it even easier for fans to make travel plans to attend this action-packed ‘three day festival of speed’ in downtown Baltimore.”
BRD worked closely with the City of Baltimore and the IZOD IndyCar Series in order to make the Labor Day weekend dates possible.
“I’m very pleased that BRD and IndyCar are now able to accommodate the City’s preferred date for the Baltimore Grand Prix,” said Mayor Rawlings-Blake. “Labor Day Weekend will provide another full day for racing fans to enjoy all that Baltimore has to offer and with any luck, slightly cooler temperatures.”
The newly designed course includes some significant updates to the track, while maintaining the general footprint and key visual anchors of the original layout including Camden Yards to the west and the Inner Harbor to the east. The most notable change is that pit lane has been moved from Russell Street on the west side of Oriole Park, to the east side of the complex in the shadows of the historic B&O Warehouse.
With the new pit location, the race track will now encircle Oriole Park and open up many opportunities for fan amenities within that area. Two new turns have been added on Conway Street to slow the cars as they approach pit lane, which will also create additional excitement for fans watching from the planned hospitality areas on the Baltimore Convention Center balconies. The new layout also features a reconfigured turns 10 and 11, as the previous tight turns become fast, sweeping “S” turns back onto Pratt Street. Turns one through four, especially the highly anticipated turn one and the hairpin turn three along the waterfront, remain unchanged.
“We are excited about the improvements we were able to make to the layout of the Baltimore Grand Prix track layout,” said Martyn Thake, a veteran track designer and director of operations for the Baltimore Grand Prix. “The new pit lane and resulting changes to the track make what was already a good layout into an even more thrilling and fan-friendly one. At the same time, we have preserved the very best aspects of the original design that we are so excited about—the tremendous visual anchors of Camden Yards and the Inner Harbor, as well as the long start/finish straightaway on Pratt Street. This will be not only a very exciting race circuit, but a tremendous layout for the festival-type attractions we are planning within it.”
Another key motivator for the changes was that the new layout allowed organizers to move the paddock for the IZOD IndyCar Series inside the Baltimore Convention Center. The paddock is the area where participating race teams set up shop for race weekend. It is a popular attraction where fans can get a close-up view of teams working on race cars.
Davidson added, “We are looking forward to having one of the only indoor paddocks in the Series next year. The lower level of the Baltimore Convention Center provides plenty of wide-open space for the racing teams to set up for the weekend, and having the paddock indoors will give our fans the opportunity to see this very popular attraction in air conditioned comfort.”
About the Baltimore Grand Prix:
Baltimore Racing Development, LLC was formed in 2008 with the intention of bringing a “Grand Prix” street race to Baltimore in 2011. The group retained a world-class team of professionals to assist with their efforts, including two-time Indy 500 winner, Al Unser, Jr. On June 2, 2010, the group formally announced that Baltimore had been awarded a race in the IZOD IndyCar Series for 2011 and that the Baltimore Grand Prix would be a fixture on that circuit for the next five years. For more information, visit www.BaltimoreGrandPrix.com
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