The sound of screeching tires and roaring engines ripped through Long Beach on the opening day of the Long Beach Grand Prix on Friday.
The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach has worked in conjunction with the Grand Prix Foundation since 1991, surrounding the nearly two-mile race circuit with food, games and entertainment to heighten the excitement of the traditional racing scene.
The racers at the Long Beach Grand Prix were among the top international racecar drivers in the world, fighting time to qualify for the IZOD IndyCar Series and Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series on Saturday and Sunday.
Fans admired the great value and power of the cars that tore up the Downtown Long Beach streets. Five classes of sports cars, including Ferraris, Corvettes and Porsches, were driven by famous drivers like Helio Castroneves and Will Power.
In the stands, spectators gaped, beers in hand, heads moving smoothly to follow cars as they passed.
For the first time, the Long Beach Grand Prix also hosted a drifting competition in which 16 of the world’s best drifters competed for a $250,000 prize. While spectatorship was patchy throughout the day on Friday, most of the racing fans flocked towards the drifting track in the evening.
The drivers in the drifting competition were judged on four criteria: the speed at which they approached the sharp turns, the angle of their car as they drifted, their perpendicularity in relation to their line of motion and the overall excitement they evoked from the already enthusiastic crowd.