2014 IndyCar champ Will Power has many street-course wins on
his résumé, including a hard-fought victory at the last brand-new downtown street track, in Baltimore in 2011 (RIGHT). 2016 season preview
2.25-mile street trACK
SOUTH BOSTON WATERFRONT, mASS.
BOSTON GRAND PRIX
SEPT. 4
WILL
POWER
When you visit a new street
course for the first time, there’s
a process you go through to
learn the track as quickly as possible.
You do the track walk when you first
arrive so you’ve got it all in your head
when you go out for first practice, but it’s
always different when you’re actually in
the racecar. There’s only so much you can
learn from walking it. You’re really just
learning where everything is. Then it’s a
matter of getting out there in the car and
getting those patterns down.
Also, a street course evolves a lot over
a weekend because of the rubber going
down. It starts out very slippery, but gets
better and better, so the lap times come
down dramatically.
One of the differences between a
street course and a road course is that
instead of a big run-off area you often
just have concrete walls, so you have to
be careful in feeling out where the limit is.
But it’s usually pretty easy to sense it, and
it’s something that you creep up on all
through the weekend.
And, obviously you’re always looking at
your teammates’ data, too. All that stuff
comes into play as you learn the track
and it eventually culminates in lap times
that are tenths apart, instead of seconds
apart. You start out by taking big chunks,
and then it’s all about the little details.
Even though you have a pretty good
handle on the place by the time the race
starts, there’s still a lot that you can only
pick up from the race itself. You finish it
and think, “Oh, I learned this, this and
this.” In contrast, when you go to a more
established street course, such as St. Pete
or Long Beach, you feel you know it so
well. I love learning a new street course.
Absolutely love it. It’s just so much fun.
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The newest race in the oldest city... The 2016
Boston GP will take place on a track laid out
around the South Boston Waterfront.
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Every street course has its
own unique character, and
historic Boston will be an
exciting addition for 2016.