The Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach — one of the region’s biggest events, drawing nearly 200,000 people each year — will return for its 50th anniversary from Friday to Sunday, April 11-13.

The roar returns to the Southern California shoreline this weekend when IndyCar, IMSA racers, high-flying trucks, power-sliding drifters and more are back on the streets of Long Beach. The Grand Prix of Long Beach features on-track events — practice,

Despute several changes and challenges, the Grand Prix has managed to bring large crowds back to the beloved street race in Long Beach.

Ahead of this year's event, the FIA announced a plethora of changes to the track from last year's Japanese GP in an official document. The sport's governing body have revealed that the track has been resurfaced between Turn 1 and Turn 8, while gravel traps have been slightly moved along that section of the track.

McLaren remains the team to beat in Formula 1, but Max Verstappen’s victorious drive for Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix showed only excellence is good enough. Ahead of this week’s Bahrain Grand Prix, here are five takeaways from Suzuka:

Japanese Grand Prix may not have been an edge-of-your-seat thriller, but it did remind us about the sport's fickle nature