Portland International Raceway
Portland International Raceway | |
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Location | Portland, Oregon |
Races | CRL Modified Division Portland.com Grand Prix 2012 TM Lights Round of Portland V8 Champ Car |
Portland International Raceway (PIR) is located in Portland, Oregon, USA's, Delta Park complex on the former site of Vanport, just south of the Columbia River. It is west of a light rail station and less than a mile west of Interstate 5. In 1948, the Vanport housing projects were destroyed when the Columbia River flooded the area. Local racing enthusiasts began racing on the abandoned streets. This evolved into the Portland Raceway.
The road course is almost perfectly flat and runs clockwise. Two track configurations are possible. One includes a hard chicane at the end of the front straight, known as the "Festival Chicane", and involves twelve turns at length of 1.967 miles (3.17 km). Without the chicane, the track has nine turns and a lap length of 1.915 miles (3.08 km).
The City of Portland is working to establish the track as carbon neutral.
The track hosts the Portland.com Grand Prix for the CRL Modified Division and hosted the 2012 TM Lights Round of Portland. The TM Lights event used the Festival Chicane. V8 Champ Car also uses the Festival Chicane as well.