About - The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach traditionally takes place in mid-April around the streets of downtown Long Beach, California. I've been attending the race since 2009 as a marshal, but hope I can pass on some useful information for you if you're thinking of going to spectate. The weather is usually very good, the location fantastic, and being downtown it's one of the few race meetings you can do without needing a hire car!
Race Tickets - Being downtown means that the race circuit is crammed into the available space, and roadblocks and fences make getting around the track tricky, but a general admission ticket will allow you to see a fair bit of the track, and there are plenty of viewing points you can get to on a GA ticket (I'd recommend getting there early for a spot on the promenade at the Expo Centre). An adult 3-day GA ticket for 2013 is $70, which includes grandstand access on Friday & Saturday.
The best viewing spots are the grandstands, either at Turn 1 / Turn 6 90-degree corners, the Turn 10/11 curve & hairpin, or along the start/finish straight looking into pit-lane. An adult 3-day ticket with reserved seating for 2013 is $130 (although a 3-day $88 ticket is also available for a lower tier seat in some of the start/finish line grandstands).
For those wanting Indycar pit & paddock access, there is a $265 'Super Photo' pass you can get - this gives you Indycar paddock access, pit-lane access during practice & qualifying, and access to some special areas for getting the great head-on, low down shots you can't get from behind a barrier or up in a grandstand.
Garage / Pit Access - As mentioned above, you'll need a 'Super Photo' pass for access to the Indycar paddock (all the support race paddocks are accessible, including the ALMS paddock).
Also as mentioned further above, the racetrack is crammed into the downtown streets, so the pit-lane is just as tightly packed in. Fortunately if you have access, this means that the pavement behind the pit boxes lets you get very close to see what's going on. You'll not see much of the track from back there, but if the pits are your thing then it's worth hanging around there for a while.
At The Track - The Grand Prix weekend is a double-header event, with a 2hr American Le Mans Series race headlining Saturday, and the Indycar race on Sunday. Practice day is Friday, and there is also support from the Indy Lights, Pirelli World Challenge (lots of GT cars), Drifting, and the Pro-Celebrity race (usually 'celebs' us UK folk are unlikely to have heard of, although Keanu Reeves was in a few years ago. Bent (or rolled) Toyota's absolutely guaranteed by the end of the race!).
In the centre of the track is the Lifestyle Expo in the Pavillion building. In here is all sorts of displays and exhibitions, as well as doubling up as the paddock for some of the support series. Also from the Expo you can get access to the Rock & Roar Stage for concerts on the Friday and Saturday nights (see the comment about the Pro-Celebrity race and apply the same logic to who you'll see on stage and whether you'll recognise them or not!).
Around the circuit there are plenty of food and merchandise stalls, with the promenade along the front of the Expo being a popular place to buy your gear.
Away From The Track - Downtown Long Beach is nice enough, with a very good transit system in place to get you around (there are bus shuttles around town, and a tram/Metro network for longer trips (see below).
The main sightseeing attraction is the Marina, and the Queen Mary moored across the bay (a bus service will take you there). There is also the Aquarium (close to the famous Fountain turns 2/3), and all the shopping / eating / leisure facilities you would expect to find in a downtown city location.
As well as Long Beach, an hours ride on the Metro will take you into Central Los Angeles, or out to the Hollywood hills or Universal Studios, for example. I'd recommend doing this if you have the time during your visit (especially as it'll only cost you $5 to get there & back.....)
On the Thursday night before race weekend action kicks off, there are usually displays and a concert downtown, together with the cars, drivers, stunts, drifting, pit stop challenges, etc, etc.
Hotels / Travel - As I mentioned much earlier, Long Beach is a race you can attend without needing a hire car for the weekend if you're not bothered about exploring too far. As I'm usually at the track from very early to very late, this is ideal for me rather than paying to have a car sit in a parking lot all day! A free shuttle bus runs from the airport to the Aviation/LAX Metro station, then there's one change at Willowbrook from the Green Line towards Norwalk onto the Blue Line towards Long Beach Transit Mall*. It takes about 40-50mins from the Airport to downtown (through some of LAs less popular but very well known neighbourhoods, such as Compton), and although it's not glamorous it's a frequent and cheap way of getting around ($5 for a day pass (valid on all lines) or $1.50 per trip**, just buy a ticket from the machines located at every stop).
*Note: Long Beach Transit Mall on the Blue Line, not Long Beach on the Green Line (the station names are generally the street interchange names, so Long Beach station is actually Long Beach Blvd, nowhere near downtown Long Beach!).
**Note: The $1.50 fare is per leg of the trip, so for example if you get the Metro from LAX to Downtown Long Beach you'll need a ticket for the Green Line from LAX to Willowbrook, then have to get another ticket from there for the Blue Line to Long Beach. After a long flight and for the sake of a couple of dollars you're probably just as well getting the $5 day ticket at LAX to avoid the hassle as to get a new ticket at Willowbrook means going out of the station area to the machine, then back in again with all your bags, etc.
As for flights, there is a small airport at Long Beach, but you'll pay an awful lot to fly there. LAX is served from most of the major UK Airports, and from Heathrow there's usually a BA, a Virgin Atlantic, an Air New Zealand, and a United flight to LAX within the space of an hour on a normal weekday morning, so it's worth shopping around. The mid-morning flights from London arrive in LA by mid-afternoon, so quite convenient.
There are plenty of hotels from all the major chains downtown. Obviously, if you've got the event on your doorstep then you'll pay the premium for it, but there are other options available a little way from downtown. A lot of the more budget-friendly hotels/motels are around Pacific Coast Highway, about 15mins from downtown. If you are taking the car-free option, and don't want the downtown expense, there's a Best Western hotel with the Pacific Coast Highway Metro station right outside the front door. It's not a fantastic location, but the hotel is clean, the rooms are large, there's an outdoor pool, and because it's not downtown it's good value (being a Best Western you can usually find some good deals on the major hotel booking websites, such as free nights or upgraded rooms). In the morning it's a case of crossing the road to the platform, and buying your ticket to the Transit Mall and from there you're 5mins walk to the track.
Summary - I love traveling to marshal in California, and Long Beach is somewhere I always enjoy going back to. Not just as you get two big series in one weekend with Indycar and ALMS, but the weather is usually very good (except most of this years practice time was washed out!), and seeing the cars on a street course is so different to anything we have available in the UK. The people are very friendly and embrace the big race weekend being in town. I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to experience Indycar in this very historic race venue (2013 will be the 39th Grand Prix in Long Beach!).
Tickets Available Here
Race Tickets - Being downtown means that the race circuit is crammed into the available space, and roadblocks and fences make getting around the track tricky, but a general admission ticket will allow you to see a fair bit of the track, and there are plenty of viewing points you can get to on a GA ticket (I'd recommend getting there early for a spot on the promenade at the Expo Centre). An adult 3-day GA ticket for 2013 is $70, which includes grandstand access on Friday & Saturday.
The best viewing spots are the grandstands, either at Turn 1 / Turn 6 90-degree corners, the Turn 10/11 curve & hairpin, or along the start/finish straight looking into pit-lane. An adult 3-day ticket with reserved seating for 2013 is $130 (although a 3-day $88 ticket is also available for a lower tier seat in some of the start/finish line grandstands).
For those wanting Indycar pit & paddock access, there is a $265 'Super Photo' pass you can get - this gives you Indycar paddock access, pit-lane access during practice & qualifying, and access to some special areas for getting the great head-on, low down shots you can't get from behind a barrier or up in a grandstand.
Garage / Pit Access - As mentioned above, you'll need a 'Super Photo' pass for access to the Indycar paddock (all the support race paddocks are accessible, including the ALMS paddock).
Also as mentioned further above, the racetrack is crammed into the downtown streets, so the pit-lane is just as tightly packed in. Fortunately if you have access, this means that the pavement behind the pit boxes lets you get very close to see what's going on. You'll not see much of the track from back there, but if the pits are your thing then it's worth hanging around there for a while.
At The Track - The Grand Prix weekend is a double-header event, with a 2hr American Le Mans Series race headlining Saturday, and the Indycar race on Sunday. Practice day is Friday, and there is also support from the Indy Lights, Pirelli World Challenge (lots of GT cars), Drifting, and the Pro-Celebrity race (usually 'celebs' us UK folk are unlikely to have heard of, although Keanu Reeves was in a few years ago. Bent (or rolled) Toyota's absolutely guaranteed by the end of the race!).
In the centre of the track is the Lifestyle Expo in the Pavillion building. In here is all sorts of displays and exhibitions, as well as doubling up as the paddock for some of the support series. Also from the Expo you can get access to the Rock & Roar Stage for concerts on the Friday and Saturday nights (see the comment about the Pro-Celebrity race and apply the same logic to who you'll see on stage and whether you'll recognise them or not!).
Around the circuit there are plenty of food and merchandise stalls, with the promenade along the front of the Expo being a popular place to buy your gear.
Away From The Track - Downtown Long Beach is nice enough, with a very good transit system in place to get you around (there are bus shuttles around town, and a tram/Metro network for longer trips (see below).
The main sightseeing attraction is the Marina, and the Queen Mary moored across the bay (a bus service will take you there). There is also the Aquarium (close to the famous Fountain turns 2/3), and all the shopping / eating / leisure facilities you would expect to find in a downtown city location.
As well as Long Beach, an hours ride on the Metro will take you into Central Los Angeles, or out to the Hollywood hills or Universal Studios, for example. I'd recommend doing this if you have the time during your visit (especially as it'll only cost you $5 to get there & back.....)
On the Thursday night before race weekend action kicks off, there are usually displays and a concert downtown, together with the cars, drivers, stunts, drifting, pit stop challenges, etc, etc.
Hotels / Travel - As I mentioned much earlier, Long Beach is a race you can attend without needing a hire car for the weekend if you're not bothered about exploring too far. As I'm usually at the track from very early to very late, this is ideal for me rather than paying to have a car sit in a parking lot all day! A free shuttle bus runs from the airport to the Aviation/LAX Metro station, then there's one change at Willowbrook from the Green Line towards Norwalk onto the Blue Line towards Long Beach Transit Mall*. It takes about 40-50mins from the Airport to downtown (through some of LAs less popular but very well known neighbourhoods, such as Compton), and although it's not glamorous it's a frequent and cheap way of getting around ($5 for a day pass (valid on all lines) or $1.50 per trip**, just buy a ticket from the machines located at every stop).
*Note: Long Beach Transit Mall on the Blue Line, not Long Beach on the Green Line (the station names are generally the street interchange names, so Long Beach station is actually Long Beach Blvd, nowhere near downtown Long Beach!).
**Note: The $1.50 fare is per leg of the trip, so for example if you get the Metro from LAX to Downtown Long Beach you'll need a ticket for the Green Line from LAX to Willowbrook, then have to get another ticket from there for the Blue Line to Long Beach. After a long flight and for the sake of a couple of dollars you're probably just as well getting the $5 day ticket at LAX to avoid the hassle as to get a new ticket at Willowbrook means going out of the station area to the machine, then back in again with all your bags, etc.
As for flights, there is a small airport at Long Beach, but you'll pay an awful lot to fly there. LAX is served from most of the major UK Airports, and from Heathrow there's usually a BA, a Virgin Atlantic, an Air New Zealand, and a United flight to LAX within the space of an hour on a normal weekday morning, so it's worth shopping around. The mid-morning flights from London arrive in LA by mid-afternoon, so quite convenient.
There are plenty of hotels from all the major chains downtown. Obviously, if you've got the event on your doorstep then you'll pay the premium for it, but there are other options available a little way from downtown. A lot of the more budget-friendly hotels/motels are around Pacific Coast Highway, about 15mins from downtown. If you are taking the car-free option, and don't want the downtown expense, there's a Best Western hotel with the Pacific Coast Highway Metro station right outside the front door. It's not a fantastic location, but the hotel is clean, the rooms are large, there's an outdoor pool, and because it's not downtown it's good value (being a Best Western you can usually find some good deals on the major hotel booking websites, such as free nights or upgraded rooms). In the morning it's a case of crossing the road to the platform, and buying your ticket to the Transit Mall and from there you're 5mins walk to the track.
Summary - I love traveling to marshal in California, and Long Beach is somewhere I always enjoy going back to. Not just as you get two big series in one weekend with Indycar and ALMS, but the weather is usually very good (except most of this years practice time was washed out!), and seeing the cars on a street course is so different to anything we have available in the UK. The people are very friendly and embrace the big race weekend being in town. I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to experience Indycar in this very historic race venue (2013 will be the 39th Grand Prix in Long Beach!).
Tickets Available Here
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