The second American Grand Prix for Formula 1 cars, which counts towards the World Championship, was held at Riverside Raceway on the edge of the South Californian desert.
The Raceway is an artificial road circuit running over the undulating desert for a distance of 3.275 miles. The course consists of a 1.1mile straight with a long 180deg turn past the pit road (pits are separated from the track by a low earth bank) and into a fast left-hander. This is followed by a 500yd straight, another fastish right-hander and a 1/2-mile climbing section with right-left-right almost flat kinks, with a slow double-bite right-hander which is the highest point. Two 500yd straights take the cars into the infield and out again with a fastish 180deg turn at the bottom of the V. A long right-hander which suddenly tightens up, followed by an immediate left-hander returns the cars to the straight.
Weather during practice varied from hot and still to hot and gale force gusts which sent great clouds of fine desert sand driving across the track, getting in everywhere and reducing visibility to a few yards.
