Baltimore GP truly the Long Beach of the East

Baltimore Track Layout

Per Michael Levitt, race photographer for LAT: "Now that construction has begun on the 2-mile, 13-turn street circuit for the Baltimore Grand Prix, I recently made a trip to the city to check on the photo locations, place the photo holes and make sure we can shoot this race. Having done dozens of street races located in slums, parking lots, and abandoned areas of town, I was shocked to find that the track runs around Camden Yards and the Inner Harbor, passing dozens of landmarks along the way, and surrounded by restaurants, hotels, and attractions. It's incredible (See photos below).

"The track looks great, and like a real racetrack, wide, with good lines, a variety of high, medium and low speed corners, with plenty of room to race, try different lines, and pass. There's also a ton of stuff to do right around the track with the Inner Harbor just feet from the racing surface. Construction is well along, and the level of prep and the quality of the materials is great, nice fence, block and grandstands.

"For the photographers there will be plenty of holes, plus bridges, roofs and overhead locations. Blame me if you hate where the holes are. The fence is the 4" FIA fencing so there is plenty of room to poke a lens through the holes and shoot just about anywhere on the track. Martyn Thake, who designed and built the track, is totally committed to making sure we can capture great shots of his masterpiece – and I visited the track at his request.

"I am predicting a great race for the drivers, and maybe the best race for photographers ever. I'm not kidding. It's the Long Beach of the east, America's Monaco. Seriously. This is going to be great." Photos