2010 Toyota Grand Prix

April 18th, 2010 - Long Beach, CA

The IZOD Indy car teams and Firestone Indy Lights returned to the Long Beach road course for another exciting season in 2010. Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe each took home the IZOD and Indy Lights wins respectively.

While the Lights and Indy Cars weren't running, the American LeMans Series was practicing as were the Touring Series vehicles. Between them and the Team Drifting Competition, the Pro Celebrity Race took place where Jimmy Vasser, ex-Champ Car champion and co-owner of the KV Racing Technology IZOD IndyCar team, won the Toyota Pro Celebrity race.

Inside the convention center, the halls were lined with various attractions - one of which was the new Chevrolet Corvette ZR1. Stripped down to its bare-essentials, the ZR1's exposed magnesium steering column and roof panels were marked with special tags as were the balsa wood floors which were sandwiched inbetween two sheets of light-weight carbon fiber. Along side the chassis were cut aways of their titanium connecting rods, carbon ceramic disc brakes, and supercharger system.

Tamiya, a well established model car company had an enormous dispay featuring their various lines of remote controlled scaled to proportion vehicles. Ranging from street vehicles like the Nissan GTR to full race mock ups like the Lamborghini LP560, there were models everyone could enjoy.

Literally every type of car enthusiast can enjoy something here down at the Grand Prix of Long Beach. The hardcore race fanatics had the IZOD, Indy lights, and American LeMans series to enjoy, the younger crowd had stunt side-by-side drifting exhibitions, and the even younger still could enjoy all of the booths and fun interactive displays inside the convention center. The 2011 Grand Prix is definitely something to anticipate if you missed out this year.