{"id":29316,"date":"2022-06-11T08:02:31","date_gmt":"2022-06-11T12:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=29316"},"modified":"2022-06-11T08:02:31","modified_gmt":"2022-06-11T12:02:31","slug":"takin-it-to-the-streets-check-out-the-new-downtown-detroit-grand-prix-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/takin-it-to-the-streets-check-out-the-new-downtown-detroit-grand-prix-track","title":{"rendered":"Takin’ it to the streets: Check out the new, downtown Detroit Grand Prix track"},"content":{"rendered":"

Detroit<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Downtown is gonna\u2019 be fast ‘n’ furious\u00a0next June.<\/p>\n

The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear passed the baton from Belle Isle to Detroit\u2019s\u00a0streets Monday as the race\u00a0returns\u00a0to its Motor City roots next June 2-4 for the first time since 1991. Chevrolet President Mark Reuss, GP Chairman Bud Denker\u00a0and Penske superstar driver Will Power \u2014 who won the last race on Belle Isle Sunday \u2014 held a news conference at the new finish line on Franklin Street just east of the Renaissance Center and gave the media its first tour of the new track, where speeds will hit 180 mph.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m definitely going to miss the island,\u201d said Power, flanked by his Penske teammate Josef Newgarden, who finished fourth on Sunday. \u201cBut it\u2019s going to be great racing around the Renaissance Center and half of the track is going to be free to fans. This is my first glimpse of the track, and it’s\u00a0got a lot of character.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 10-turn circuit\u2019s biggest character is a 7\/10s-of-a-mile long main straight (similar to the epic, main straightaway at Road America Raceway in Wisconsin) down\u00a0Jefferson Avenue running east-to-west from Rivard Street to a 180-degree Turn One at Griswold. The swarm of 700-horsepower IndyCars will take the green flag on Jefferson,\u00a0howl past the RenCen and The Fist monument, before climbing on the brakes into Griswold\u2019s (legal, but just for the race) left-hand turn for the track\u2019s best passing opportunity.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe track is very three-dimensional,\u201d Power said, describing\u00a0the surprising amount of elevation change that takes racers off Jefferson after the Griswold hairpin for a plunge down Bates. After hanging a 90-degree left at Atwater (ignore the stop sign), the course climbs\u00a0to Turns 5-6 \u2014 a tricky, blind, left-right sequence past Renaissance Drive\u00a0West and the Detroit Marriott.<\/p>\n

Then it\u2019s back down the Atwater ramp, heading east\u00a0along the Detroit riverfront with the RenCen\u2019s Wintergarden as backdrop.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI can\u2019t wait to see car racing through the city again, including right past the GM headquarters,\u201d said GM\u2019s Reuss, who remembers attending the first Formula One race through the city streets in 1982 when he was a senior in high school. \u201cWe are returning the Detroit Grand Prix to its roots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ripping past the RenCen\u2019s southeast tower \u2014 GM\u2019s HQ \u2014 race cars will then hang a quick left onto St. Antoine before immediately jogging right onto Franklin Street’s\u00a0wide lanes, which will be flanked by IndyCar\u2019s only dual pit lanes.<\/p>\n