The Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße ('Automobile traffic and training road'), known as AVUS, is a public road in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. Opened in 1921, it was also used as a
motor racing
Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...
circuit until 1998. Today, the AVUS forms the northern part of the
Bundesautobahn 115
is an autobahn in Berlin, Germany. It connects the Bundesautobahn 100, Berliner Stadtring with the Bundesautobahn 10, Berliner Ring, using parts of the old AVUS race track. AVUS was opened in 1921 as Germany's first limited access road. After Wor ...
.
Circuit
The highway is located in the southwestern districts of Berlin, linking the
Stadtring at the
Funkturm
The Berliner Funkturm or Funkturm Berlin (Berlin Radio Tower) is a former broadcasting tower in Berlin. Constructed between 1924 and 1926 to designs by the architect Heinrich Straumer, it was inaugurated on 3 September 1926, on the occasion of ...
junction in
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...
with
Nikolassee
Nikolassee () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') of Berlin in the borough (''Bezirk'') of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, named after the small Nikolassee lake. Located in the affluent Southwest of the city, the area comprises parts of the Schlachtensee neighbou ...
. It runs through the
Grunewald forest along the historic ''Königsweg'' road from Charlottenburg to
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
and the parallel
Berlin-Blankenheim railway
The Berlin-Blankenheim railway or Wetzlarer Bahn ("Wetzlar Railway") is a railway line in the German states of Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt. It is a section of the Kanonenbahn (''Cannons Railway'') between Berlin and Metz, built between ...
line.
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2007-0625-501, Auto-Reichsfahrt, Avus, Berlin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-2007-0625-501%2C_Auto-Reichsfahrt%2C_Avus%2C_Berlin.jpg)
While normal for a road, it is unusually shaped for a race track as it is essentially two long straights in the form of a dual carriageway, with a hairpin corner at each end. The north curve featured a steep banking from 1937 to 1967. While the original layout was long, the southern turn was moved several times, to shorten the track to , then without the banking, and finally .
History
In 1907 the
Kaiserlicher Automobilclub (KAC) association devised a fee-financed circuit, as both a motor-sport venue and a testing track for the motor industry. A developing company was established in 1909; however, a lack of finances and official authorisations delayed the start of construction until spring 1913. During the
Great War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
works discontinued, and though
Russian Army
The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска В Sukhoputnyye voyska V, also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces.
The primary responsibilities of the Russian Gro ...
prisoners
A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison.
...
were temporarily employed in AVUS's construction, the track was still unfinished. From 1920 the remaining road work was financed by businessman and politician
Hugo Stinnes
Hugo Dieter Stinnes (12 February 1870 – 10 April 1924) was a German industrialist and politician. During the late era of the German Empire and early Weimar Republic, he was considered to be one of the most influential entrepreneurs in Europe.
...
. The circuit, including a gate building and several stands, was inaugurated during the first post-war
International Automobile Exhibition (IAA) with a motor race on 24 September 1921. Afterwards the road was open to the public at a charge of ten
Mark
Mark may refer to:
Currency
* Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
* Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927
* Fi ...
s.
Race track
![Bundesarchiv Bild 102-02915, Berlin, AVUS, Großer Preis von Deutschland](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-02915%2C_Berlin%2C_AVUS%2C_Gro%C3%9Fer_Preis_von_Deutschland.jpg)
At the time of opening, AVUS was long – each straight being approximately half that length, and joined at each end by flat, large-radius curves, driven counter-clockwise.
While the
Grand Prix motor racing
Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition, has its roots in organised automobile racing that began in France as early as 1894. It quickly evolved from simple road races from one town to the next, to endurance tests for car an ...
scene still evaded German tracks, the circuit from 1922 was also the site of
motorcycle races
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruisin ...
. On 11 July 1926 the track played host to the first international
German Grand Prix
The German Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history; the Nürburgring in R ...
for sports cars, organised by the Automobilclub von Deutschland, the former KAC. The 1921 roadway turned out to be insufficient: Already, in practice two days before, the young Italian driver Enrico Platé (not to be confused with the Argentinian driver and team owner of the same name) was involved in a crash that killed his mechanic. During the race, in heavy rain, two track marshals died when
Adolf Rosenberger
Adolf Rosenberger (Born: 8 April 1900 in Pforzheim, Germany. Died: 6 December 1967 in Los Angeles, California, USA) was a successful Jewish businessman who mainly raced Mercedes and Benz cars in the 1920s. His successes and records included wi ...
lost control and hit the indicator board and the timekeeper's box, with a third employee succumbing to his injuries in hospital a few hours later. The Grand Prix was won by his fellow team-member, the so-far unknown
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
salesman
Rudolf Caracciola
Otto Wilhelm Rudolf CaracciolaBolsinger and Becker (2002), p. 63 (30 January 1901 – 28 September 1959) was a racing driver from Remagen, Germany. He won the European Drivers' Championship, the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One Wor ...
, from
Remagen
Remagen ( ) is a town in Germany in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in the district of Ahrweiler. It is about a one-hour drive from Cologne, just south of Bonn, the former West German capital. It is situated on the left (western) bank of the ...
, driving a private, eight-cylinder "Monza"
Kompressor type. The fastest lap of was set by
Ferdinando Minoia
Ferdinando "Nando" Minoia (2 June 1884 – 28 June 1940) was an Italian racing driver with an exceptionally long, distinguished and varied career. In 1907, he won the Coppa Florio driving an Isotta Fraschini. In 1923, he drove the world’s ...
in an
OM.
![Berlin, International Avusrennen - 1931](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Berlin%2C_International_Avusrennen_-_1931.jpg)
From 1927 the German Grand Prix was relocated to the new and more secure
Nürburgring
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
circuit in the Western German
Eifel
The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...
range, while the AVUS received a new
asphalt
Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
surface and served as an experimental track for
rocket car
A rocket car is a land vehicle propelled by a rocket engine. A rocket dragster is a rocket car used for competing in drag racing, and this type holds the unofficial world record for the 1/4 mile.
Fritz von Opel was instrumental in popularizing ...
s.
On 23 May 1928
Fritz von Opel
Fritz Adam Hermann von Opel (4 May 1899 – 8 April 1971) was a German rocket technology pioneer and automotive executive, nicknamed "Rocket-Fritz". He is remembered mostly for his spectacular demonstrations of rocket propulsion that earned him an ...
("Rocket Fritz") achieved a speed record of in an
Opel RAK2.
Due to the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
annual auto races were not resumed until 1931, when Caracciola again won in a
Mercedes-Benz SSK
The Mercedes-Benz SSK (W06) is a roadster built by German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz between 1928 and 1932. The name is an abbreviation of ''Super Sport Kurz'', German for "Super Sport Short", as it was a short wheelbase development o ...
, succeeded by
Manfred von Brauchitsch
Manfred Georg Rudolf von Brauchitsch (15 August 1905 – 5 February 2003) was a German auto racing driver who drove for Mercedes-Benz in the famous "Silver Arrows" of Grand Prix motor racing in the 1930s.
Racing career
Brauchitsch won th ...
the next year after Caracciola had switched to
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." ...
.
![Bundesarchiv Bild 102-13505, Berlin, Automobilrennen auf der Avus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-13505%2C_Berlin%2C_Automobilrennen_auf_der_Avus.jpg)
The competition on 22 May 1932 saw further notable participants like the
Earl Howe
Earl Howe is a title that has been created twice in British history, for members of the Howe and Curzon-Howe family respectively.
The first creation, in the Peerage of Great Britain, was in 1788 for Richard Howe, but became extinct on his ...
,
Hans Stuck
Hans Stuck (pronounced ''"shtook"''; sometimes called Hans Stuck von Villiez; 27 December 1900 – 9 February 1978) was a German motor racing driver. Both his son Hans-Joachim Stuck (born 1951) and his grandsons Johannes and Ferdinand Stuck b ...
and Sir
Malcolm Campbell
Major Sir Malcolm Campbell (11 March 1885 – 31 December 1948) was a British racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times, using vehicles called ''Blue Bird'', including a 1 ...
. The
Czechoslovak
Czechoslovak may refer to:
*A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93)
**First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38)
**Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39)
**Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60)
**Fourth Czechoslovak Repub ...
driver, Prince George Christian of
Lobkowicz
The House of Lobkowicz (''Lobkovicové'' in modern Czech, sg. ''z Lobkovic''; ''Lobkowitz'' in German) is a Czech noble family that dates back to the 14th century and is one of the oldest Bohemian noble families. The family also belong to the Ge ...
, died when his
Bugatti Type 54 crashed in the southern hairpin. The following events were won by
Achille Varzi
Achille Varzi (8 August 1904 – 1 July 1948) was an Italian Grand Prix driver.
Career
Born in Galliate, province of Novara (Piedmont), Achille Varzi was the son of a textile manufacturer. As a young man, he was a successful motorcycle ra ...
(1933) and
Guy Moll
Guillaume Laurent "Guy" Moll (28 May 1910 – 15 August 1934) was a French racing driver.
Moll was the son of a French father and Spanish mother who had emigrated to Algeria, then a French colony. He had only started racing in 1930, running a ...
(1934), to the great annoyance of the new
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
rulers, who declared the victory of German drivers and cars a matter of national pride. They strongly backed the construction of the new
Silver Arrows
Silver Arrows (german: link=no, Silberpfeil) was the nickname given by the press to Germany's dominant Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union Grand Prix motor racing cars between 1934 and 1939. The name was later applied to the Mercedes-Benz Formula ...
(''Silberpfeile'') generation of Mercedes-Benz and
Auto Union
Auto Union AG, was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony. It is the immediate predecessor of Audi as it is known today.
As well as acting as an umbrella firm f ...
.
![Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-P016402, Berlin, Rennen auf der Avus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Bundesarchiv_B_145_Bild-P016402%2C_Berlin%2C_Rennen_auf_der_Avus.jpg)
In 1935
Luigi Fagioli
Luigi Cristiano Fagioli (; 9 June 1898 – 20 June 1952), nicknamed "the Abruzzi robber", was an Italian motor racing driver. Having won his last race at 53 years old, Fagioli holds the record for the oldest Formula One driver to win a race, and ...
won the race in a
Mercedes-Benz W25
The Mercedes-Benz W25 was a Grand Prix racing car designed by Daimler-Benz AG for the 1934 Grand Prix season, in which new rules were introduced, and no championship was held. In 1935, the European Championship was resumed, and it was won by Ru ...
; however, the track was no longer adequate for cars reaching average race speeds of far over . In an effort to make AVUS the "world's fastest race track", the 1936 season was skipped and while the track hosted the
cycling
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
road race, the marathon and 50 km walk
athletic events of the
1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...
, the north curve was turned into a steeply banked turn (43°) made of bricks. It became dubbed the ''wall of death'', especially as it had no retaining barrier, so cars that missed the turn easily flew off it. The Silver Arrows raced only once on the banked version, in
1937
Events
January
* January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua.
* January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...
. As the AVUS race did not count towards the championship, non-GP cars were allowed, which permitted the use of streamlined cars, similar to the cars used for high speed record attempts. This race was run in two heats; during qualifying for the second heat, Luigi Fagioli stuck his Auto Union Type C on pole position, with a time of 4 minutes and 8.2 seconds at an average speed of - which was the fastest motor racing lap in history until this time was bettered by
Tony Bettenhausen
Melvin Eugene "Tony" Bettenhausen (September 12, 1916 – May 12, 1961) was an American racing driver, who won the National Championship in 1951 and 1958.
Bettenhausen was nicknamed the "Tinley Park Express" in honor of his hometown. He was n ...
in qualifying for the 1957
Race of Two Worlds
The Race of Two Worlds (Trofeo dei Due Mondi in Italian), also known as the ''500 Miglia di Monza'' (500 Miles of Monza), was an automobile race held at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Italy in 1957 and again in 1958. It was intended as ...
at Monza. It was also bettered by four drivers during the 1971 Indianapolis 500. Mercedes driver
Hermann Lang
Hermann Lang (6 April 1909 – 19 October 1987) was a German racing driver who raced motorcycles, Grand Prix cars, and sports cars.
Prewar racing
Born in Cannstatt near Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, at age fourteen, Hermann Lang had to ...
's average race speed of about was the fastest road race in history for nearly five decades, and was not matched on a high-speed banked-circuit until the mid-1980s at the 1986 Indianapolis 500.
No major race was held after 1937 as, in early 1938, the popular German race driver
Bernd Rosemeyer
Bernd Rosemeyer (14 October 1909 – 28 January 1938) was a German racing driver and speed record holder. He is considered one of the greatest racing drivers of all time. Though he was not a member of the Nazi party, he was made a member of the S ...
was killed in a land speed record attempt on a straight section of the Autobahn
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
–
Darmstadt
Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...
(present-day
Bundesautobahn 5
is a 445 km (277 mi) long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the Hattenbach triangle intersection (with the A 7. The southern end is at the Swiss border near Basel. It runs through the German states of Hessen and Baden-Wü ...
), at which point the high-speed AVUS was considered too dangerous for the fast Grand Prix race cars. Furthermore, it was to be connected to the growing ''
Reichsautobahn
The ''Reichsautobahn'' system was the beginning of the German autobahns under Nazi Germany. There had been previous plans for controlled-access highways in Germany under the Weimar Republic, and two had been constructed, but work had yet to star ...
'' network in 1940 by extending it south towards the
Berliner Ring
is an orbital motorway around the German capital city of Berlin. Colloquially called ''Berliner Ring'', it is predominantly located in the state of Brandenburg, with a short stretch of in Berlin itself. It should not be confused with the ''Ber ...
, therefore the original hairpin at
Nikolassee
Nikolassee () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') of Berlin in the borough (''Bezirk'') of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, named after the small Nikolassee lake. Located in the affluent Southwest of the city, the area comprises parts of the Schlachtensee neighbou ...
was demolished and replaced by a junction. A planned banked south turn was never built; the cleared grounds in the
Grunewald forest were used as a proving ground ("Keerans Range") by the
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
occupation forces after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Post-war
The first AVUS race after the war was held on 1 July 1951 for
Formula Two
Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name retur ...
and
Formula Three
Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One driv ...
cars, won by
East German
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
driver
Paul Greifzu
Paul Greifzu (7 April 1902 in Suhl – 10 May 1952 in Dessau) was a German motorsport racer and constructor from Suhl. He was successful before and after World War II with motorcycles and sports cars. He also made Formula Two cars labeled under ...
. For post-war racing, the original extremely long straights were shortened by the introduction of a new south turn roughly in the middle (just before the ''Hüttenweg'' exit, where it can still be seen), reducing the track length to . After World War II, the
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
, with its
Checkpoint Bravo
Checkpoint Bravo ("Checkpoint B") was the name given by the Western Allies to the main Autobahn border crossing point between West Berlin and the German Democratic Republic. It was known in German as . Drewitz is a community nearby, and Dreilin ...
at Dreilinden/Drewitz, came no closer than about one mile (1.6 km) to the former South Turn. It is a common yet incorrect belief that the Berlin Wall cut the AVUS in half.
![Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F003014-0006, Berlin, Autorennen auf der Avus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Bundesarchiv_B_145_Bild-F003014-0006%2C_Berlin%2C_Autorennen_auf_der_Avus.jpg)
It was not until 19 September 1954 that this shorter track hosted a non-championship
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
race. This "Grand Prix of Berlin" was mainly a show dominated by the
Mercedes-Benz W196
The Mercedes-Benz W196 was a Formula One racing car produced by Mercedes-Benz for the and F1 seasons. Successor to the W194, in the hands of Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss it won 9 of 12 races entered and captured the only two wor ...
drivers
Karl Kling
Karl Kling (; 16 September 1910, Gießen – 18 March 2003, Gaienhofen on Lake Constance, Germany) was a motor racing driver and manager from Germany. He participated in 11 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 4 July 1954. He achieved 2 podiums - ...
(the winner) and
Juan Manuel Fangio
Juan Manuel Fangio (American Spanish: , ; 24 June 1911 – 17 July 1995), nicknamed ''El Chueco'' ("the bowlegged" or "bandy legged one") or ''El Maestro'' ("The Master" or "The Teacher"), was an Argentine racing car driver. He dominated t ...
. No serious competition was present, as many teams had refused to show up and the German Grand Prix was still held on the Nürburgring. Finally AVUS hosted its only world championship Formula One race with the
1959 German Grand Prix
The 1959 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungs-Straße in West Berlin on 2 August 1959. It was race 6 of 9 in the 1959 World Championship of Drivers and race 5 of 8 in the 1959 International C ...
on 2 August, won by
Tony Brooks. This race weekend also saw the death of French driver
Jean Behra
Jean Marie Behra (16 February 1921 – 1 August 1959) was a Formula One driver who raced for the Gordini, Maserati, BRM, Ferrari and Porsche teams.
Appearance and personality
Behra was small in stature, stocky, and weighed 178 pounds.''B ...
in a supporting sports car race, as his
Porsche RSK RSK may stand for:
* RSK Group, a UK consultancy group
* Republic of Serbian Krajina
* Robinson–Schensted–Knuth correspondence in mathematics
* Ribosomal s6 kinase, protein kinasesr
* RSK Sanyo Broadcasting, Japan
* Red Skin Kingz, Native Am ...
flew over the top of the north turn banking, as there was no wall or fence. German driver and journalist
Richard von Frankenberg
Richard von Frankenberg (4 March 1922 in Darmstadt – 11 November 1973 in Beilstein) was a Germans, German journalist and race car driver.
In 1952 he created and published the (later) official Porsche magazine Christophorus (magazine). The visua ...
had previously walked away from a similar spectacular crash at the same site, but Behra would have no such luck as his body impacted a flagpole head-first after he was flung from his car.
After 1961, Grand Prix racing did not race on banked circuits anymore. The banked sections at
Autodromo Nazionale Monza
The Monza Circuit ( it, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, , National Automobile Racetrack of Monza) is a race track near the city of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. Built in 1922, it was the world's third purpose-built motor racing circuit after ...
and
Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry
Autodrome de Montlhéry (established 4 October 1924) is a motor racing circuit, officially called L’autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry, owned by Utac, located south-west of the small town of Montlhéry about south of Paris.
History
Industrial ...
were considered dangerous by international racing standards. They were used in connection with
chicane
A chicane () is a serpentine curve in a road, added by design rather than dictated by geography. Chicanes add extra turns and are used both in motor racing and on roads and streets to slow traffic for safety. For example, one form of chicane is ...
s for some time, then abandoned. The AVUS banking was dismantled in 1967 to give way to an expanded intersection under the Funkturm tower. From the top of this tower, one can see that the AVUS is not perfectly straight.
The old banked circuit can be seen in the film ''
A Dandy in Aspic
''A Dandy in Aspic'' is a 1968 neo-noir Technicolor and Panavision British spy film, directed by Anthony Mann, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Derek Marlowe and starring Laurence Harvey, Tom Courtenay, and Mia Farrow. Costumes by Pi ...
'' (1968) featuring period racing cars.
Racing was continued with a flat north turn, but AVUS only held national touring cars
DTM
DTM may refer to:
Sport
* Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, a motor-racing series staged annually in Germany since 2000
* Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, a motor-racing championship staged in Germany from 1984 to 1995
Computing
* Deterministic T ...
and
Formula 3
Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One driv ...
events. The length of the track was roughly cut in half twice in the 1980s and 1990 as racing on straights became unpopular. Also,
chicane
A chicane () is a serpentine curve in a road, added by design rather than dictated by geography. Chicanes add extra turns and are used both in motor racing and on roads and streets to slow traffic for safety. For example, one form of chicane is ...
s were added to reduce entry speed into the North Curve. Yet, some incidents and accidents occurred. The BMW of
Dieter Quester
Dieter Quester (born 30 May 1939 in Vienna) is an active touring car racing driver from Austria. Dieter has participated in 53 24-Hour Races. He competed in a single Formula One race in which he finished ninth.
Starting with motorboats in the 1950 ...
rolled over when exiting the last corner, and crossed the finish line sliding on its roof, with sparks flying, for a podium finish. The car of
John Winter hit a barrier and exploded into a fireball in North Curve, which he survived.
In 1995, the race 2 of DTM had to be cancelled, after a multi-car pileup blocked the circuit; later that September, British driver
Kieth O'dor
Kieth O'dor (5 April 1962 – 11 September 1995) was a British racing driver, born in Salisbury, who competed primarily in touring cars. He scored Nissan's first win during the super touring era in both the British Touring Car Championship and ...
was killed in a Super Touring Car event when his car spun and was rammed sideways, with the impact on the driver's side.
Search Results
/ref>
AVUS today
After the fall of the Berlin wall, the closure of the AVUS for race events became increasingly problematic over traffic and associated environmental concerns. After the last races in 1998, a farewell event with veterans was held in 1999. Since 2000, the new EuroSpeedway Lausitz
The Lausitzring (formally known as the Dekra Lausitzring for ownership reasons) is a race track located near Klettwitz (a civil parish of Schipkau, Oberspreewald-Lausitz district) in the state of Brandenburg in northeast Germany, near the bor ...
in Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...
is considered the replacement venue for competition. The round race control tower at the north end still remains with its prominent Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
and Bosch sponsorship insignia. It is used as a (now closed) public restaurant and motel. The old wooden grandstand is protected as a historic monument.
Lap times
The official race lap records at AVUS are listed as:
See also
* List of Formula One circuits
Formula One, abbreviated to F1, is currently the highest class of open-wheeled auto racing defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motorsport's world governing body. The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules t ...
* EuroSpeedway Lausitz
The Lausitzring (formally known as the Dekra Lausitzring for ownership reasons) is a race track located near Klettwitz (a civil parish of Schipkau, Oberspreewald-Lausitz district) in the state of Brandenburg in northeast Germany, near the bor ...
References
External links
1936 Summer Olympics official report.
Volume 2. pp. 644–7, 682-5, 932-5.
Historic Purpose Built Grand Prix Circuits on Google Maps
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avus
Venues of the 1936 Summer Olympics
Olympic athletics venues
Formula One circuits
German Grand Prix
Defunct motorsport venues in Germany
Roads in Berlin
Sports venues in Berlin
Olympic cycling venues
Motorsport in Berlin