Italiano   Visualizza questa pagina in Italiano
Home Page HOME PAGE
Legend and translations
USA - UNITED STATES
CLEVELAND, BURKE LAKEFRONT
SORRY, SOME DATA ARE NOT TRANSLATED YET
Description Airfield circuit laid on Burke Lakefront Airport: once a year (every year since 1982, usually at beginning of July) it is closed and it host ChampCar race (previously Cart and IndyCar). It uses runways, taxiing routes and some links. For this reason it has characteristics that made this a very unique circuit:
  • it has nearly no walls
  • it’s very wide, as it uses the whole width available of the track: for this reason of course many track line are possible at each corner
  • Mostly its surface is in concrete, but the straight before the last chicane and pits area is asphalted. This means that each surface has a different grip and drivers have some problems to find correct setup for both sections
On July 5th 2003 it hosted the first race under the lights for a open wheel formula on a not-oval circuit.
Location Burke Lakefront Airport
OH - Ohio - Midwest
Location Burke Lakefront Airport, on the shore of Lake Erie (Ohio)
1501 N Marginal Rd, Cleveland, OH

From Cleveland Hopkins Airport: take Airport Freeway (237) North to I-71 North. Follow to I-90. Exit I-90 at East 9th Street. Follow E. 9th St. towards Lake Erie through Downtown to North Marginal Road. Turn Right on North Marginal. Follow North Marginal to Burke Lakefront Airport
Latitude - Longitude + 41°31'01"     - 81°40'59"
41.516944     -81.683056
UTM Coordinates X = 443004.95  -  Y = 4596370.53  -  Zone 17T
Aerial photo / Map (*) Aerial photo / Map (*) OpenStreetMap  -   Aerial photo / Map (*) Google Maps  -   Aerial photo / Map (*) Bing Maps  -   Aerial photo / Map (*) Flash Earth  -   Aerial photo / Map (*) Wikimapia  -   Aerial photo / Map (*) Microsoft Research Maps  -   Aerial photo / Map (*) MapQuest
Altitude AMSL 174 m - 571 ft
Inauguration July 4th 1982
Closing  
Designer  
Sources and links (Translation) (**)
(1) English World Motor Racing Circuits: A Spectator’s Guide (page 36)Author: Peter Higham, Bruce Jones - Published by: Andre Deutsch - year: 1999 - ISBN: 0-233-99619-2
Description
(2) English ForumForum --> Chat in English --> Aerials of circuits [ENG]
(3) English German ForumForum --> North America --> USA: Midwest --> Cleveland, Ohio - Burke Lakefront Airport [ENG, GER]
(4) English en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Prix_of_ClevelandWikipedia
(5) English (United States) findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_19990919/ai_n13833038News in brief about proposed oval track
(6) English (United States) www.clevelandgrandprix.com/tickets.asp
(7) English (United States) www.geocities.com/formulamundial/Pistas/cleveland-01.jpgAerial photo of the hairpin
(8) English (United States) www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=29497&FS=IRLNews in brief about proposed oval track
(9) English (United States) www.musco.com/newsev/images/cleveland.jpgAerial photo
(10) English (United States) www.portalbrasil.net/images/f_cart_2003_etapa09.jpgAerial photo
(11) English www.racingcircuits.netMotor Racing Circuits Database
(12) Italian Autosprint 28/1990 (page 71)Accorciata la pista di 178,6 metri
(13) English (United States) www.grandprixofcleveland.comOfficial website

(*) NOTE: a complete and detailed view of the circuit can be found (if available) on Street View by Google Maps and/or Bird's Eye and 3D views by Bing Maps for Enterprise (former Microsoft Virtual Earth): both can be reached using their own link in Aerial photo / Map cell.

(**) For on-line not-English speaking sources, click on each small flag and you open the corresponding Google Translator page with automatic translation.

Burke Lakefront Airport
Description This circuit was inaugurated on July 4th 1982: a Cart GP was raced and won by Bobby Rahal (March). It had been unchanged until practice of1990 event (included). 1990 race was run on a modified track layout because section just after start line was too bumby and dangerous. This layout had 12 corners. My two sources have a slighly different track length, I don’t know what is the right one.
Years 1982÷1990
Direction Clockwise   Clockwise
Progetto Proposal NO
No longer operational YES
Car Circuit YES
Motorbike circuit  
Type Airfield course
Inauguration July 4th 1982
Closing July 7th 1990
Last update of this page June 19th 2007
Info last update  
Designer  
Distinctive points  
length 3991  m 13094  ft 2.48  mi   (6)
length 3999  m 13120  ft 2.485  mi   (1)

Burke Lakefront Airport
Description Just before 1990 race (and after practice) the circuit was modified. New first corner bypassed the former left-right kink after the pits, because this section was too bumpy and dangerous. Start/finish straight ends with directly with right hairpin and old track now forms part of the new longer pitlane. This track layout was confirmed also in the following years and it is still in use today (2006). It’s funny to notice that in 1997 the circuit was remeasured and - even if unchanged - new official length was much shorter than the previous one used calculated from 1990 to 1996.
Years 1990÷...
Direction Clockwise   Clockwise
Progetto Proposal NO
No longer operational  
Car Circuit YES
Motorbike circuit  
Type Airfield course
Inauguration July 8th 1990
Closing  
Last update of this page June 19th 2007
Info last update May 25th 2006
Designer  
Distinctive points  
length 3812  m 12508  ft 2.369  mi Official length from 1990 to 1996 (wrong) (1)
length 3389  m 11119  ft 2.106  mi Official length from 1997 (right) (1)

Burke Lakefront Airport
Description In 1999, after some discussion with CART and because organization of the race was too expensive, Cleveland accepted to sign an agreement with IRL (now Indycar): it should have hosted from 2000 for three years an IRL event on a temporary oval course to be built on airport runways.
After having signed the agreement, the proposal was not approved by FAA (agency with authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S.) because this circuit would have stopped the airport for more than the usual week necessary for preparing all facilities for Cart/Champ Car events. Moreover, some more expensive works (and unnecessary to the airport) should have done.
On September 9th 1999 Mayor of Clevelans, Micheal R. White, gave up the patronage of the event that was canceled. For this reason, organizers went on with Cart events.
Years 2000
Direction Anticlockwise   Anticlockwise
Progetto Proposal Proposal  YES
Proposal not developed YES
Car Circuit YES
Motorbike circuit  
Type Oval course
Inauguration  
Closing  
Last update of this page April 23rd 2010
Info last update  
Designer  
Distinctive points  
length 1609  m 5280  ft 1  mi    
length 1931  m 6336  ft 1.2  mi   (8)

Burke Lakefront 1982÷1989 + 1990 practice

Burke Lakefront 1982÷1989 + 1990 practice

Burke Lakefront from 1990 race till now

Burke Lakefront from 1990 race till now


Updates
Date Track layout Years Description by Map by Thanks to Note
April 23rd 2010 Burke Lakefront Airport 1982÷1990 Guido de Carli   borough82 Update Description
June 19th 2007     Lorenzo Tommasi     Update Description
May 25th 2006     Lorenzo Tommasi Lorenzo Tommasi   Update Description with map
August 23rd 2005     Guido de Carli     Update Description
May 7th 2003     Guido de Carli     Update Description
August 6th 2002     Guido de Carli     Update Description
Not all eventual updates issued in last years are already visible in this list
 
Webmaster:
Guido de Carli
(Italiano - English - Español)
Home Page HOME PAGE
DISCLAIMER (in Italian)
}»