Street courses

A street circuit is a circuit composed by temporarily closed-off public roads of a city, town or village, used in motor races. Facilities such as the paddock, pit boxes, fences and grandstands are usually placed temporarily and removed soon after the race is over but in modern times the pits, race control and main grandstands are sometimes permanently constructed in the area. Since the track surface is originally palnned for normal speeds, race drivers often found it bumpy and lacking grip. Run-off areas may be non-existent, which makes driving mistakes more expensive than in purpose-built circuits with wider run-off areas. Street circuits are often called pejoratively 'concrete canyons' because of the closeness of walls and narrowness. Local governments sometimes support races held in street circuits to promote tourism. This is in contrast with illegal street racing, where racers don not ask permission to the authorities. This was the original location of a racing circuit comprised of local roads which were blocked off a few days before the events, and re-opened to the public by Monday morning. The Miami Grand Prix was the first ever to host an IMSA event, and it took place in downtown Miami. The 1,87 mile circuit used nearby Biscayne Boulevard as well as connecting roads to the port of Miami, access roads leading to the MacArthur causeway, and link roads inside of Bicentennial Park. It was organized and designed by Ralph Sanchez in 1983, and used until 1995, for a variety of different types of racing. The track changed in 1986, as it would use a much more race friendly track, still a street circuit, nonetheless. The very first IMSA street race wascut short by heavy rains in 1983. The following years, however, the race was deemed a success, drawing crowds and drivers from all over the world. It would soon become one of IMSA's premier events and scheduled shortly after the 24 Hours of Daytona. It would become a classic in the IMSA schedule. It would also remain the only street venue in the IMSA schedule. It would be emulated in 1985 by Columbus, San Antonio, West Palm Beach, Tampa, New Orleans and Del Mar. Street racing was brought to IMSA racing in 1983, but it was not a new idea. It was first popular in Europe before crossent the ocean. Miami was the first to try the venture and many cities would have a go at it. Since it must meet FIA regulations, several tasks had to be performed, and it was not as easy as it seemed. A sanctioning agreement had to be acquired, and a staff had to be recruited. The circuit was to be surrounded by barriers and tire walls. The budget set up for such an event would rise up to $2.7M in the mid eighties. Around three or four races were held during that period, which was something which was not to be improved, would say IMSA president John Bishop. The people involved in such projects were well established figures in their area and could probably do as well developing permanent race tracks. The effort involved in running street races was more important than running on a permanent track, in terms of safety, budget and entertainment. The opposition met by many promoters had to be overcome, which was on easy task. A great job of conviction was done. One of the most controversial event to be run was the West Palm Beach race, which met a real strong opposition, but in the end got a lot of support by them in terms of promotion. It also meant two years of work to achieve and run the event. Each street race needed to get Insurance for the event as well as the safeness of the place. IMSA's responsibility was great, as the place should provide a good show, be safe to the spectators and drivers. The track layout had to be inspected by an FIA representative to get the needed agreement. the track then got built and improvements made when necessary. Acquiring a race date finally proved to be the toughest problem to face, thanks to an overcrowded schedule. The problem was that up to 18 races were run, which was quite too much for the teams. A few years later, the street courses fad would shrink. Modern racing was dedicated to real race tracks.

The Miami Grand Prix circuit layout back in 1983.