Here it is, at last. To see a large version in a new window, click the thumbnail above; to see it in this same window, click here.

This diagram of the course is said to represent "...how Torrey Pines, California's most fascinating raceway, appears from 10,000 feet." The picture (minus S/F and direction information), was printed in the program for November, 1953, sports car races on March Air Force Base, near Riverside, California.

The longest dimension of the track runs roughly parallel to Pacific Coast Highway (Route 101). North is at the bottom of the picture, the Pacific Ocean to the right.

March AFB is less than a mile south of the location where Riverside International Raceway was built and eventually disassembled. To see the shape of March Air Force Base's course, click here.

(You may click on the small photos to see the larger ones; hover the cursor to see a caption)

From the North-going Start-Finish straight ,
     Turn One is a left-hander of about 90 degrees onto a downhill straight on the bluffs, headed toward the ocean.

                     A right-hander
                                           and another doubles back to        the East , but not quite so far
as to reach the S-F straight before a long left to a very short straight more-or-less parallel to the S-F.

A right at the north (bottom) end of the course and a short uphill to a sharper right onto the back straight. In this second right turn Ken Miles slid a Spyder off the road and landed it upside down. Interviewed by the public address announcer, he said, "Looks as if I bent a wheel!"

The back straight had a kink or two in it (putting it mildly), taken flat out in all but the fastest cars, and flat out in the fastest cars when driven by the likes of Miles, Gurney, and the McAfees (no relation).

I presumed there were two r-turns at the South end of the course. I don't remember ever having got there, even though I know we made at least one lap of the course in the Jag before the course workers arrived and hooked strings of flags across breaks in the snow fence.

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