Grand Prix Of Baltimore

The Baltimore Grand Prix car racing was another great Maryland event that needs to get going again in Baltimore City or Baltimore County. We love it…

I had every intention of avoiding this event. I actually work downtown and mostly see it as a pain in the rear making my commute much longer than it should be. However, as it seemed all my original Labor Day plans fell through and at the insistence of my 6 year old we ended up in downtown Baltimore on Sunday.
Fortunately, another friend had a free ticket and kids were free! I got to watch a few fast cars blow by but was actually quite impressed with the Family Fun Zone. There were rides, bouncy houses and face painting. My daughter had a blast and we didn’t have to pay an extra cent to enjoy the activities.
The paddock did cost an additional $ 30.00 (kids are still free) and that is a cool experience if you want to get up close and personal with some of the drivers. Since I don’t really know who any of the drivers are, I think I would just skip that next time.
Buzz, buzz, buzzzzzzzz…

Our friend offered us free general admission tickets to the Grand Prix in Baltimore and we decided we’d check it out! Honestly, I had pretty low expectations going in to the event. A lot of Baltimoreans and the media are less than supportive of the Grand Prix, so I didn’t expect much. That being said, we ended up having a great time! I really hope the race organizers and the city can find some way to make it work and keep the race in Baltimore. I feel like continued efforts to manage the traffic and better marketing for the race would go a long way.
The racing is loud, but there are plenty of ear plugs available and I got used to the noise pretty quickly. I’m not much of a car person at all, but it was super cool watching the races! Qualifying races were happening all day, so something was almost always going on.
The grandstands provided ample seating with great views of the race and strategically placed big screens that were loud enough to hear.
Food and drink were expensive, but pretty typical of fair/​sporting event food. I had a piña colada and it was delicious! I don’t find good piña coladas around here too often, so I was a happy camper.
We were able to walk around and see the crews preparing the cars for qualifying, which was really cool. In the Baltimore Convention Center there was also go kart racing for the kids (and adults!).
Definitely a very fun event and I would go back in the future if it stays in Baltimore.

This is for the men loud noise, bad ass cars and beer. Not a place for anniversary date! Not able to sit in the open bleachers was poor taste for the staff. walking around in the heat was not fun. Being able to sit at the eateries was nice. next time Im just letting the guy to go.
make sure to protect your ears

The 2012 Baltimore Grand Prix was a great event. Nothing compares to watching race cars go down Pratt St at 180 mph, it was exhilarating. Great atmosphere, well organized and plenty for anyone of all ages to do, especially considering they had 90 days to put it together this year. Now they have a full year for the 2013 race.
There are plenty of great view points on the track and prices are decent.
The only thing that must change is the blue cloth on the fences on the inside of the track where paid spectators could not see the race. If not for that I would give it 5 stars.

Yeah, I know I’m late with this review, but I wanted to add my thoughts and some photos. I went for the official IndyCar race on Sunday.
First off, I think that the Baltimore Grand Prix was a success for Baltimore, considering the doubts, speculations, and the trees that were sacrificed in making this event what it was. This was the first Grand Prix event within the city, and by the amounts of individuals locals and non-​locals that came out (150,000 throughout the three-​day weekend), the event was received well my most spectators. I’ll talk more on the trees later in the review.
I remember hearing about the Grand Prix on the radio a couple of months in advance, and I wanted to get tickets early in order to sit in the stands. Unfortunately, I was too late to react and I had to buy ground-​level tickets. If the Grand Prix is to occur this year, I will make sure to buy tickets early so that my legs/​feet don’t suffer the agonizing pain of the Baltimore pavement.
The city did a great job in two aspects: 1. Letting people know way in advance of where to park due to road closures and metro routes in order to get downtown; 2. Keeping the large crowd under control without any violent breakouts. Oh, and to add, I drove to and from downtown Baltimore and had no problems with traffic.
The vendors and restaurants that participated were friendly from what I can remember. I remember purchasing a very tasty Strawberry Lemonade drink from one of the stands near the Baltimore Convention Center. Kona Grill was busy pretty much all weekend, and the earplugs they were selling helped to boost business more.
If I to give out some suggestions in order to make the event better, I would say the following: 1. Provide better order with the entrance/​exit process. I noticed throughout, people had problems going through the bridge to go towards/​away from the track because of miscommunication of how people should be routed; 2. Don’t take down the trees. I understand that the trees were getting in the way of the course creation, but breathing in downtown Baltimore is the equivalent of breathing from the inside of a Nike tennis shoe box. Not a good look.
I hope that the Grand Prix occurs this year in Baltimore. If the event becomes finalized throughout, I will be there in order to enjoy hopefully a second year of racing in Baldamor. See what I did there?

What an excellent event for Downtown Baltimore! I attended the practice on Friday and the main event on Sunday. We only had general admission tickets, yet both days were still exciting and invigorating. I had the opportunity to run the first annual Grand Prix 5K on Friday, which was an experience in itself! How many people can say that they were able to run on the same track that the cars had just finished racing on? The experience itself was uniquely thrilling. On Sunday, the main race day, we were able to watch the races from the bars across from Camden Yards. This provided a great vantage point to watch the races from. We were able to walk right up to the fences from multiple locations and view the race cars up close and personal.
As many people have noted, the entryway for the race could be improved upon. Additionally, the signage and the maps could have been presented more clearly, as it was difficult to navigate (especially finding the bridges and cut-​throughs) in such a large and crowded area. These are things that can improve with time. Remember folks, this was an inaugural event here!

There’s nothing like a street race to get your engine running! The first annual grand prix in Baltimore was a ton of fun and a huge success, especially when you consider the many complications of creating a track in a busy downtown area. I was on the grand stand by the Maryland Science Center, and we had a nice view of the straight away and hair pin turn with lots of action. Having a grand prix by the harbor was nice because there were plenty of places to eat and stay with a beautiful view.
Pros: The set-​up by the grand stand had everything you could want, including atms, portable bathrooms, convenient (and surprisingly tasty) food stalls, and a souvenir shop. Everything was a bit expensive, but that’s to be expected at an event like this. They also had plenty of staff to help you find your seat, figure out the schedule of events for the day, and find maps to the other concourses.
Cons: Getting over the main road took a long time because there were only 2 pedestrian bridges to get across the race track. While I appreciate the fact that they constructed a temporary bridge to add another exit, it still took forever and would have been dangerous in the event of an emergency.
What to bring with you: If you want to check out the event next year, which I would completely recommend, make sure to bring ear protection and plenty of cash. The cars are quite loud, but it’s exhilarating watching them pass in front of you. Also, don’t bother paying the extra cash to sit higher up. It turns out that we got a much better view sitting in the front row since we didn’t have any fellow spectators getting in our way and standing up.
There is an incredible amount of work that goes into setting up an event like this, and I thought it was well organized and fun. I’m looking forward to the next one!

Def awesome. I got the VIP passes and the Grand Stand Seats. The VIP passes WERE NOT WORTH THE MONEY, however the Grand Stands were perfect. The entire event was fun and exciting. Great to hear the cars ripping through the streets of Balt. Ear plugs suggested if you want to hear the next day.
All in all I am going back every single year!

Headed down the the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix this weekend, had a great time with some great friends. Overall the whole experience was a great time, the racing was pretty exciting.
Baltimore really put on a great face for the Race, everyone was really friendly and welcoming to the tens of thousands of race fans. The city was clean, and well patrolled by police so I don’t think anyone ever felt unsafe, even when stumbling home late at night.
I was in Grandstand 7 all weekend, so i had the excitement of seeing the cars come into the first turn (lots of wrecks!!) and take off for the hairpin down the course. The only downside was that we were outside the course, so access to the inside (where all the vendors, merch, concerts, paddock and the rest were located) was difficult if not impossible. It was a huge bottle neck going both directions, and not knowing this we missed 40 min of the racing action on Saturday.
Food and drink were at expected prices, really not that bad all things considered. I was however surprised that the vendors walking the stands had no food, only Beer. At one point a guy walked through selling lemonade and he only made it about 50 feet before he was soldout– sitting in the hot humid air, a lot of people want something besides beer i suppose.
Overall a great time, we are all planning on going back next year, but I hope the organizing committee took a lot of notes, as there was a ton of room for improvement.

Admittedly I’m no car nut nor racing fan but I snagged tickets for this event many months ago because I guess I have a need for speed, I was seated in grandstand 27 right along Pratt St.
Entering and finding our seats was a little tricky as everything was caged up.
Seated next to the party zone the access to food and drink was easy, so was the festivities at Camden yards. Plenty to do besides watching the race, super cars on display, driver interviews, a brazillion food and drink vendor, live bands Danica Patrick… nuff said.
Good times to be had by all of us, it was exciting to be a part of Bmores inaugural Grand Prix. the cars were insanely loud and powerful, I could be at work in 10 minutes instead of 25. but I digress.
Pro’s
*180 mph racing down Pratt St.
*A plethora of vendors.
*Great crowd.
*Plenty of spot a pots.
*You could get up close and personal with the cars.
Cons,
*Grandstand seating was not ideal for all day event, benches? cmon guys.
*A vendor tried to sell me a pit beef sandwich on a. freaking hot dog roll. for 9 bucks. no way dude you didn’t.see my Diamond Pub review (it was not them).
Vendors were pricey but these kind of things always are.
One and a half thumbs up for Baltimores First Grand Prix!

I attended the first day of this inaugural 2011 3 day event. It was a bit disorganized and was delayed several hours, but overall it was a very fun experience. It was nice to be able to see various areas of the track and the vendors were all friendly and helpful. I especially enjoyed visiting the paddocks where I could see all of the cars up close and even take pictures and talk with some of the drivers. I look forward to going back again next year!