Beijing International Streetcircuit is a street circuit

Street circuit

A street circuit is a racing circuit composed by temporarily closed-off public roads of a city, town or village, used in motor races. Facilities such as the paddock, pit boxes, fences and grandstands are usually placed temporarily and removed soon after the race is over but in modern times the...

 in Yizhuang

Yizhuang

Yizhuang may refer to two places in China:* Yizhuang, Beijing , area of Daxing District* Yizhuang, Xuzhou , town in Tongshan District, Xuzhou, Jiangsu...

, a suburb

Suburb

The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 10 miles (15 km) to the south-east of central Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

. It was first used on the weekend of November 10-12 2006 for the third round

2006-07 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Beijing, China

The 2006-07 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, China was an A1 Grand Prix race, held on November 12, 2006 at Beijing International Streetcircuit, Beijing, China. It was the third race in the 2006-07 A1 Grand Prix season and the first ever meeting held at the circuit....

 of the A1GP

A1 Grand Prix

A1 Grand Prix was a 'single make' open-wheel auto racing series. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, the usual format in most formula racing series. As such, it was often promoted as the "World Cup of Motorsport"...

. China became the only country to host two events in the 2006-07 A1 Grand Prix

2006-07 A1 Grand Prix season

The 2006–07 A1 Grand Prix season was the second season for the A1 Grand Prix series.It began on 1 October 2006, at Circuit Park Zandvoort, and the season ended at Brands Hatch on 29 April 2007. A1 Team Germany won it with 128 points, 35 points lead ahead Team New Zealand.-Teams:24 teams, each...

 series.

It was announced in the Shanghai Daily

Shanghai Daily

Shanghai Daily is an English-language newspaper in China started in October 1999 and owned by Wenhui-xinmin United Press Group. Its primary audience is visiting foreigners, mainly overseas investors and tourists to Shanghai, though many Chinese students read it to improve their English...

on March 23, 2007 that, due to lack of funding, no further A1 Grand Prix races were scheduled to be held in Beijing. The report suggested that preparing the street circuit for the race cost about 20 million yuan ($2.6 million).

Safety issues

The FIA expressed safety concerns about the dual carriageway on this track before the event, so it was feared that it could have led to a "last minute" cancellation decision. However, clearance was given on the morning of November 10 for the use of the circuit for racing purposes. The tight hairpin at the end of the dual carriageway and also the backstraight was literally a 180 degree left turn. Later during the race, the turn was found to be far too tight for the race cars. They tried to negotiate safely by running wide but were still stopping at the mid corner, therefore the sessions were red flagged.

During qualifying, manhole covers on the roads were coming undone due to the racing cars' high downforce and low ride height. Some advertising banners also came loose around the circuit. It was announced the races would start behind the safety car, as the first corner was also deemed unsafe.

Circuit layout changes

As a result of safety issues and difficulties experienced during the first practice session for the inaugural race at the circuit—the A1GP cars found it difficult to negotiate the tight 180-degree Turn 8 hairpin—the circuit was revised overnight prior to practice on November 11, 2006. The straight leading up to Turn 8 was shortened and the turn was made less tight. The shorter circuit was created and creating another less tight hairpin halfway up the straight, bypassing most of the old straight. However, this corner was still not ideal as drivers ran wide despite the corner being wider, and had to avoid the pitlane entry barrier.