| CAN - CANADA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TORONTO, EXHIBITION PLACE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SORRY, SOME DATA ARE NOT TRANSLATED YET | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Not to be confused with | Toronto Motorsport Park - Toronto, Lake Shore | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Description | Thanks to great interest about Cart championship (now Champ Car), in 1984 Molson Breweries acquired exclusive rights for the first race of that championship in Canada, the later famous Molson Indy. They want to create a street circuit in Toronto town center, following the example of Long Beach. While waiting for final proposal, Molson Indy was raced on Sanair trioval course (Quèbec). On November 26th 1985 final proposal was finally revealed: it was located in Exhibition Place, an exhibition area not far from Ontario Lake. Some of these streets should have already been used for Lake Shore Boulevard circuit, proposed in 1968 and 1977 and never developed. First race was held on July 20th 1986, the winner was Bobby Rahal (March Truesport), in front of 60,000 spectators sit on grandstands. The circuit has 11 corners, quite gast with two long straights and a more slow section. At the end of longer straight (Lakeshore Boulevard) max speed is approx 305 km/h - 190 mph. Before 2006 GP, best lap was scored by Gil de Ferrand, average speed 177.939 km/h - 110.565 mph The track was changed in 1996 (and not in 1997, as reported by some sources), because on a section of the old circuit was built The National Trade Centre, a great exhibition complex, the biggest in Canada. The section changed was in Princes’ Boulevard, towards start/finish line, i.e. the last two fast corners of the circuit (Turn 10 and Turn 11). According to first proposal by Cart, left-hand Turn 9 just after Nova Scotia Avenue should have been unchanged; then, after a short straight, it should have had the new right hand Turn 10, the the new long left hand Turn 11 that should have taken back to start/finish straight. Nevertheless this proposal was later modified according to drivers’ suggestions. Final layout has "left-right-left" turns as well, but they are much closer. Turns 10 and 11 have a wider radius and they have been moved back in order to have a longer start/finish straight. Turn 1 was changed as well: the new one is much slower and tighter. This layout is the same still in use today (2006) except that some minor changes. Please note that Turn 1 is just in front of Princes’ Gate According to official website for hosting Molson Gran Prix of Toronto 2006 2000 steel-reinforced concrete barriers, 76 cm - 30 inches high will be used, as well as 3352 m - 11000 ft chain-link debris fences (3 m - 10 ft high), 5791 m - 19000 ft of chain-link spectator fences and 487 m - 1600 ft tyre walls. In future the circuit could be changed again, as in the narrow Exhibition Place area a new football statium should be build for FIFA Under 20 World Cup Canada 2007. According first rumors, the new track layout should be quite similar to the 2006 one but start/finish straight that should be moved from Princes’ Boulevard to the adjacent parking, the should be widened after the construction of the stadium near Ontario Drive As I said, track layout was changed only once, between 1995 and 1996 races, so from 1996 to 2006 the layout was never changed. Oddly official length in 1996 was still the previous one and the new layout was measured only in 1997. In 1999 Cart changed its measurement criteria, so the circuit was remeasured, even if it was unchanges (like it happened i.e. at Cleveland in 1997) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Toronto ON - Ontario - Eastern Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Along Toronto lakeshore, Exhibition Place, 13 km - 8 mi from City center | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Latitude - Longitude | + 43°37'59" - 79°24'54" 43.633056 -79.415 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UTM Coordinates | X = 627857.332 - Y = 4832338.976 - Zone 17T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Aerial photo / Map (*) |  OpenStreetMap - Google Maps - Bing Maps - Flash Earth - Wikimapia - MapQuest | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Altitude AMSL | 80 m - 262 ft | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Inauguration | July 20th 1986 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Closing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Designer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sources and links (Translation) (**) |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Exhibition Place | |||||
| Description | |||||
| Years | 1986÷1995 | ||||
| Direction |  Clockwise | ||||
 Proposal |
NO | ||||
| No longer operational | YES | ||||
| Car Circuit | YES | ||||
| Motorbike circuit | |||||
| Type | Street course | ||||
| Inauguration | July 20th 1986 | ||||
| Closing | 1995 | ||||
| Last update of this page | September 6th 2007 | ||||
| Info last update | |||||
| Designer | |||||
| Distinctive points | Princes’ Boulevard - Lakeshore Boulevard West - Ontario Drive - Princes’ Boulevard - Manitoba Drive - Nova Scotia Avenue | ||||
| length | 2871 m | 9419 ft | 1.784 mi | (3) | |
| Exhibition Place | |||||
| Description | Preliminary 1996 proposal (see general description) | ||||
| Years | 1996 | ||||
| Direction | Clockwise | ||||
| Proposal |
YES
| ||||
| Proposal not developed | YES | ||||
| Car Circuit | YES | ||||
| Motorbike circuit | |||||
| Type | Street course | ||||
| Inauguration | |||||
| Closing | |||||
| Last update of this page | September 6th 2007 | ||||
| Info last update | |||||
| Designer | |||||
| Distinctive points | Princes’ Boulevard - Lakeshore Boulevard West - Ontario Drive - Princes’ Boulevard - Manitoba Drive - Nova Scotia Avenue | ||||
| Exhibition Place | |||||
| Description | In 1996 track layout was the same used in 1997-2006, but it was not remeasured and official (wrong) length was the same of the previous layout (1986-1995) | ||||
| Years | 1996÷... | ||||
| Direction | Clockwise | ||||
| Proposal |
NO | ||||
| No longer operational | |||||
| Car Circuit | YES | ||||
| Motorbike circuit | |||||
| Type | Street course | ||||
| Inauguration | 1996 | ||||
| Closing | |||||
| Last update of this page | September 6th 2007 | ||||
| Info last update | |||||
| Designer | |||||
| Distinctive points | Princes’ Boulevard - Lakeshore Boulevard West - Ontario Drive - Princes’ Boulevard - Manitoba Drive - Nova Scotia Avenue | ||||
| length | 2871 m | 9419 ft | 1.784 mi | 1996 Official length (wrong) | (3) |
| length | 2824 m | 9266 ft | 1.755 mi | Official track length from 1999, when measuring system was modified (track unchanged) | (3) |
| length | 2770 m | 9087 ft | 1.721 mi | Official track length 1997÷1998 (track unchanged) | (3) |
Toronto, Exhibition Place 1986÷1995
Toronto, Exhibition Place: 1996 proposal not developed
Toronto, Exhibition Place 1996÷...
| Updates | |||||||
| Date | Track layout | Years | Description by | Map by | Thanks to | Note | |
| October 22nd 2024 | Guido de Carli | Update | Sources and links | ||||
| April 21st 2007 | Lorenzo Tommasi | Update | Description | ||||
| July 9th 2006 | Guido de Carli | Guido de Carli | Lorenzo Tommasi | Update | Description with map | ||
| July 4th 2006 | Guido de Carli | Guido de Carli | Lorenzo Tommasi | New | Description with map | ||
| June 9th 2006 | Lorenzo Tommasi | Lorenzo Tommasi | Update | Description | |||
| August 12th 2005 | Guido de Carli | Update | Description | ||||
| August 7th 2002 | Guido de Carli | Update | Description | ||||
| Not all eventual updates issued in last years are already visible in this list | |||||||
