Has anyone pictures of the Detroit street circuit?

**Whitehouse** · May-30-10, 06:21 PM

From 1982 till 1991 Detroit was one of the rounds in the CART championship and Formula 1. Along with Monte Carlo these were the only circuits in the world which featured a tunnel.

This is the wiki.

Is there anyone who has pictures of these days?

**leland_palmer** · May-30-10, 06:32 PM

http://en.sevenload.com/videos/7EQoN...Street-Circuit

**Russix** · May-30-10, 08:09 PM

Originally Posted by leland_palmer

http://en.sevenload.com/videos/7EQoN...Street-Circuit

They come out the tunnel, and no hill in front of RenCen, is that how it use to be?

**detlump** · May-30-10, 09:46 PM

I remember going to the practice sessions with my dad, he worked in the penobscot. The sounds of the cars bouncing off the buildings was awesome. I always rooted for Martin Brundle but he never won a single F1 race. I like the underdog.

**EastsideAl** · May-30-10, 10:59 PM

I worked on every Formula One race in Detroit, except for the first one. The tunnel was under Hart Plaza. There was also a small underpass where the cars went downhill towards the river on Civic Center Drive by the Veterans Memorial Building before making a left turn into the tunnel. This was the only real grade change on the circuit. There was no hill by the Ren Cen.

The circuit started in the Ren Cen parking lots by the river. It ran counter-clockwise. Here is a just slightly inaccurate map showing how the circuit was situated in downtown Detroit:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...et_Circuit.svg

There is a book, Postcards from Detroit: Remembering Formula 1 in the Motor City by Roger Hart, that has a lot of pictures of the circuit and the races.

**EastsideAl** · May-30-10, 11:22 PM

There is a gallery of pictures from the book here:
http://www.motortrend.com/classic/fe...oit/index.html

YouTube has a bunch of videos of the street circuit races, including the complete 1987 F1 race.

**Mikeg** · May-31-10, 07:44 AM

A friend and I attended the Detroit Grand Prix qualifying trials on Saturday, June 5, 1982. We had the basic pass that did not provide entrance to the grandstands, so we did plenty of walking around that day while I took a roll of 36 slides with my 35 mm SLR. I have located those slides and when I get some free time in the next day or so, I will scan them and make them available for viewing here.

**Downriviera** · May-31-10, 10:40 AM

I worked for Theodore Racing, Toleman Group Motorsport, Benetton, and Zakspeed during the Detroit GP years. I have a ton of pics. When I get a chance I'll scan some and post them.

**Downriviera** · May-31-10, 10:53 AM

Originally Posted by Russix

They come out the tunnel, and no hill in front of RenCen, is that how it use to be?

Out of the tunnel and uphill into a right than left hand turn. Then a chicane before the front straight. They took out the chicane for the indy cars and they were still about 10 sec slower than the F1 cars.

**5speedz34** · May-31-10, 08:22 PM

What I always found interesting was how the race cars would fair on city streets? Did the city maintain the streets used in the circuit meticulously?

**leland_palmer** · May-31-10, 08:45 PM

Not that well, that is part of the reason they moved to Belle Isle. They also had to weld all of the man hole covers shut for the race.

**xphillipjrx** · May-31-10, 11:19 PM

Originally Posted by leland_palmer

That is part of the reason they moved to Belle Isle.

Drivers also thought the course was a Mickey Mouse course. As cool as it was to have cars on city streets, there was no way to carve out a challenging course when the only choices are mostly 90 degree turns.

**5speedz34** · June-01-10, 01:43 AM

Originally Posted by leland_palmer

Not that well, that is part of the reason they moved to Belle Isle. They also had to weld all of the man hole covers shut for the race.

Arguably, a waste since it lasted all of two years and somewhat took away from the actual "park" setting of Belle Isle. Didn't they build some bleachers that people where against?

**Gannon** · June-01-10, 08:42 AM

5Speed,

They covered many acres with CONCRETE for the paddock, that is what many were upset about.

We can USE grandstands, but they took those away.

And Belle Isle was run for MORE than two years, it stopped and then came back, if memory serves correctly.

But at least that time was immortalized in the 2001 Stallone film, Driven.

I've always wanted to make a driving game out of the freeways of downtown Detroit, and then have the two race courses bonus rounds if the freeway system was mastered. We've got some of the greatest sweeping ramps of ANY city, THAT is where they should've run races.

Come to think of it, the motorcyclists do now, I hear them in the wee hours, but NEVER see 'em.

In 1982, we had someone drop us off on Jefferson for the race. That was in the middle of the circuit, so we actually never bought tickets, and had nearly full access. Afterwards, I did mostly the free-day Fridays, because that showed me the whole thing was better seen on the telly...except perhaps for the F1 groupies. Whoa.

But the absolute best time was attending with a frat brother who's father owned one of the huge display manufacturing companies for the auto shows...they set up their own grandstand INSIDE Cobo Hall, at the end of that one stretch before the 90-degree turn onto Washington Blvd, to the bridge across Jefferson...just before that turn to go down and through that tunnel.

THAT was amazing, with the cars screaming straight at us behind the glass...and a very liberal free-drink policy. It seemed appropriate to drink Absolute Kamikaze's the whole day.

MOST of the guardrails are still existent from that time, too.

Cheers

**Downriviera** · June-01-10, 08:52 AM

If the Detroit circuit was Mickey Mouse, than Monaco must be Daffy and Goofey combined. Most of the drivers I talked to loved the course, loved the city and the people. There were a few that complained, but they complained about all the tracks and they always got the press to listen to their whining, The reason F1 left was mainly because the city would not build permanent garages next to the pits. We had to work on the cars inside the Cobo basement, then move them and all the equipment a mile down the river to the pits, which was a big hassle. We had the same problem in Montreal, but later they built the garages in the pits.

**Whitehouse** · June-02-10, 10:58 AM

Gosh! I love those stories! It must have been one of the very few track on which you could compare the capacity difference between a F1 car and an Indy car. But to be fair I think an Indy car will perform better on a speed oval. When I get home I'lll be sure to check those pictures.

Meanwhile our blog has a gallery up of formula 1 pictures from the seventies, when safety was still for pussies! Hahaha! [[I'll post the link on Friday, I'm writing this on my mobile phone which makes things a llittle harder.)

**Downriviera** · June-02-10, 11:16 PM

Its all about the setup for the car. If a F1 team were to setup their car for an oval they would be faster than an indy car. And the reason is simple economics. Top F1 teams spend many millions more than indy car teams. Indy cars are great, but they are the minor leagues compared to F1. The other place where you could compare times between indy cars and F1 cars was Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.

**grumpyoldlady** · June-03-10, 01:49 AM

Oh those were the days! Having to walk blocks out of my way to get to work, wear earplugs because the noise from the cars was so loud we couldn't concentrate on our work. That was when I worked at One Woodward, which was in the middle of the course. Not much better when I worked at the Ren Cen. Seeing Paul Newman out of our office window was a treat.

**Downriviera** · June-03-10, 09:01 AM

Yes, those were the days. People from around the globe coming to Detroit for the race to spend money at our businesses. The Brazilians doing the samba in streets. Hart Plaza packed with people listening to music and having a good time. A billion viewers around the world watching the race on tv. For one weekend the eyes of the world shined on Detroit for something great.

**Mikeg** · June-04-10, 01:09 AM

Here are some of the photos I took on Saturday, June 5, 1982 during the Detroit Grand Prix practice and qualifying runs.

Downtown from Hart Plaza [[scan0035.jpg)

The Blue Cross building - "Buy American Made Cars" [[scan0002.jpg)

Vintage race car pit area [[scan0014.jpg)

Looking east along Jefferson at the Chrysler service drive [[scan0005.jpg)

Nigel Mansell practicing in his John Player Special [[scan0013.jpg)

More practice action [[scan0026.jpg)

The Ren Cen, looking west down the Grand Trunk RR right of way [[scan0033.jpg)

Click here to view high-resolution versions of these photos along with the rest of the roll I took that day. An index will appear that lists all of the images in that folder. Open any image in the index by clicking on its file name. Use your browser's BACK button to return to the index.

**Downriviera** · June-04-10, 10:44 AM

Nice pics Mikeg. Brings back some great memories. F1 is coming back to the USA in 2012. No more temporary street courses this time. A full blown track will be built in Austin, Texas.

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlin...0/5/10824.html

**EastsideAl** · June-04-10, 11:12 AM

Thanks for the pictures! That brought a lot of memories back.

When I was a car-crazy little kid my father made the mistake of taking me to see the movie Grand Prix on the giant screen at the old Summit Theater downtown. I was completely enthralled and became a Formula One fan, seeking out what little information was available to us Americans in those days. The only race we would actually see back then was Monaco on about a two week tape delay and cut down to about 30 minutes on ABC's Wide World of Sports, and once or twice Watkins Glen, and that was it.

It was impossible to imagine back then that about a decade and a half later I'd be walking through the pits, weaving between the tires, crews, and drivers, on my way to my post in the first turn of an actual F1 race. A race that was incredibly only a couple of miles from my house! I was thrilled beyond words, and remember those several weekends I worked on the Grand Prix as some of the best of my life.

**Whitehouse** · June-04-10, 02:02 PM

Here's the link I promised. Formula one cars, 1977-1984. There might be some Detroit pics inthere.

Originally Posted by Mikeg

Here are some of the photos I took on Saturday, June 5, 1982 during the Detroit Grand Prix practice and qualifying runs.
Looking east along Jefferson at the Chrysler service drive [[scan0005.jpg)

Raul Boesel [[18, Bra.) in a March followed by the ATS of the late German Manfred Winkelhock.

Nigel Mansell practicing in his John Player Special [[scan0013.jpg)

Back when the smoking industry still had a grip on the sport. These days in some countries you're not even allowed to race vintage cars with tobacco ads on the side...
How times have changed.

More practice action [[scan0026.jpg)

Eddie Cheever [[USA), 25) in his Ligier-Matra followed by Jean Pierre Jarrier [[Fra.) in an Osella.

**Mikeg** · June-05-10, 11:10 AM

Whitehouse,

Are there any additional scanned images on the index page where you can identify the cars and drivers? If so, post the filenames along with your identification information and I will make new, better-quality scans and put them all on this web page along with the captions.

**Whitehouse** · June-05-10, 10:40 PM

Originally Posted by Mikeg

Whitehouse,

Are there any additional scanned images on the index page where you can identify the cars and drivers? If so, post the filenames along with your identification information and I will make new, better-quality scans and put them all on this web page along with the captions.

I'll do my best.