With the 2026 Long Beach Grand Prix coming to an end many race fans may have had their close friends watch along with them. All the terms can be extremely confusing for people just getting into racing or even those who only have a little bit of knowledge of the sport. Knowing the difference between each grouping allows you as a race fan to access more content from your favorite drivers and what to expect as they switch between groups.
Historic Cars
Mainly using cars from the 70s to the 90s, the historical races take the cars that are mainly held in museums and puts them back out on the track for people to watch.
While not as serious as the other races, the historic grouping offers a much more unique type of racing for people to enjoy. Cars in this grouping include the Chevrolet Camaro, Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang and notably the famous Audi Quattro.
Porsche Cup
The Porsche Carrera Cup is a professional racing league that serves as a stepping stone for drivers to move up to other higher leagues within the motorsport world.
A comparison to this can be the minor leagues for baseball, something that allows for people with exceptional skill to show off and potentially have their career boosted. The cars you can expect to see are all 992.2 Porsche 911 GT3 cup cars, which carry a top speed of over 200 miles per hour. In person at the Long Beach Grand Prix, you could feel that speed.
Super Trucks
Like the title suggests, this category is just trucks. Showcased in the photo, these trucks may seem a little different than the Fords and Toyotas you may see on the streets.
That’s due to the fact that these are heavily modified to handle completely different conditions such as jumps, drifts, and quick straight aways. In this race there is lots of theatrics for everyone in the crowd to be impressed by.
Formula Drift
Formula Drift is another organization that focuses completely on the art of drifting. Instead of a normal race where the drivers win via coming in first place, they are judged on how well they can keep control of their vehicle. Cars from this category you can see all around you in day to day life. Of course they are heavily modified, but vehicles like the famous drift car the Nissan 350z are in no short supply.
IMSA – International Motor Sport Association
IMSA is a motorsports governing body that combines two different groups of cars to create one massive race
GTP – Grand Touring Prototype
GTP cars are the main IMSA event. They are the most futuristic looking cars on the track that you can see today. These cars produce over 670 horsepower and can go above 200 miles per hour on hybrid drivetrains. Each vehicle represents the best of the best technology the manufacturer has purpose built just for racing. Here at Long Beach you are able to see notable vehicles such as the Porsche 963, the extremely loud Cadillac V-series R and the Acura ARX-06.
GTD – Grand Touring Daytona
These GTD cars are more production style racecars. While you can recognize the frames, the internals are almost completely different. Parts are completely stripped from the car to make it a pure racecar with no unneeded amenities. Almost every major manufacturer has a team in this section. At the Grand Prix, you’re able to see Lexus/Toyota, Ford, Porsche, Corvette/Chevrolet and even Ferrari or Lamborghini.
Other events
While not featured here IMSA also can consist of other groupings such as LMP2 which allows for private teams to race at a high level that focuses on driver skill over budget, and GTD Pro which separates the GTD category into two different categories based on team and driver.
Indycar
While often confused with Formula 1, Indycar is a much more barebones type of racing. Cutting out things like traction control, and power steering. Focusing more on strategy than anything else, Indycar drivers rely heavily on their teams to make sure they are able to maintain their positions on the track whenever they need fuel or tires.
While all the chassis are the same the rules allow the teams to select between Chevrolet or Honda engines. Indycar is the main event that is focused on at the Long Beach Grand Prix and rightfully so because of how action packed the races are with cars zipping past spectators at 240 miles per hour.
The cars were only a small part of the excitement at the Long Beach Grand Prix. The fans, food, and community are all what the Grand Prix was originally created for. Being a home for the motorsports fans of the West Coast and beyond bringing in everyone young and old to watch the excitement. On top of all this there are still so many more experiences within the world of motorsports not showcased in Long Beach that you can expect to watch throughout the coming weeks.
