AVUS 1921-36
Circuit info:
- Circuit length:
- 12.160 miles/19.569 km
- Circuit type:
- Semi-permanent road course
Circuit history:
Has there ever been a crazier race circuit in the world? A flat-out blast through the streets of Berlin, AVUS was the venue for evocative names such as Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz to battle it out and prove their prowess.
The Automobil Verkehrs and Übungs-Straße - to give it its full name - was conceived as early as 1907 by the Automobilklub von Deutschland (AvD) as a test track for the burgeoning motor industry, but it took six years to raise the money to begin construction.
Taking the form of a section of autobahn in the Grunewald district of south west Berlin, the road linked Charlottenburg to Nikolassee, with lightly banked return loops at either end.
In total, the track measured over 12 miles in length - if you find it hard to comprehend the scale, simply scroll down this page!
Funds had dried up by 1913 with only half the track built and the outbreak of World War One meant building work would not resume for some years.
Entreprenueur Hugo Stinnes rescued the project from the post-war financial abyss and it finally opened for business in 1921.
The track hosted the first German Grand Prix in 1926 for sportscars, won by the great Mercedes driver, Rudolf Carraciola. The race was plunged into tragedy when Adolf Rosenberger crashed into a scoring hut, killing all three occupants.
The AVUS-rennen also became a familiar fixture in from the 1930s onwards, Carraciola winning the first running in a Mercecdes-Benz SSKL in 1931.
Competition from the new Nürburgring, however, prompted modifications to the circuit which would see it take on its ultimate form in 1937.
In an effort to make AVUS the world's fastest race track, the north curve was turned into a steep banking (43°) made of bricks. This enabled speeds to raise dramatically, as the banking near the start line could now be taken virtually flat out. Average speeds jumped by around 20mph, with Hermann Lang winning that year's AVUS-rennen at 162.063 mph in his streamlined Mercedes-Benz W125.
But despite the continuing success of the AVUS-rennen races (which saw the works Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz teams battling it out for glory) and a number of speed record attempts, the Berlin circuit still found itself overshadowed by the Nürburgring.
Before the organisers could do anything more to tempt the German Grand Prix back, war had once again broken out in Europe, and the racing engines fell silent for 14 years.
When World War Two finally ended with the collapse of Germany, some of the first to visit the AVUS circuit were American GIs. What they found was a circuit in need of repair, with debris including a wooden bridge blocking the curves.
With Germany once more in financial ruin, it took a long time for racing to resume. The circuit - rather like the Norisring in Nuremburg - found itself used on one occassion as a marching ground, when President Trueman inspected US troops during the Potsdam conference.
Previous plans to connect the AVUS to the growing Reichsautobahn network by extending it to the south had led to the demolition of the South Kurve at Nikolassee to be replaced by a junction. A new, unbanked, southern loop was thus added, cutting the circuit in half and racing resumed on this revised course in 1951.
The new, shorter track was still a flat-out blast and seemed to be gathering a bigger international reputation. Mercedes swept to an impressive 1-2-3 finish in the non-championship Formula One Berlin Grand Prix in 1954.
In 1959 the AVUS finally managed to wrest the German Grand Prix away from the Nürburgring. The race was notable on two counts: firstly, it remains the only World Championship Grand Prix to be run over two heats. Tony Brooks triumphed in both to win overall for Ferrari.
Secondly, and more signifantly, the event was remembered for the death of Jean Behra in a supporting sportscar race. The French ace flipped his privateer Porsche over the banking, sadly giving the nickname the 'wall of death' unwanted resonance. It spelt the end of the course as a venue for major international events but AVUS remained a staple part of the German national racing calendar.
By 1968, rising speeds and safety concerns spelled the end of the fearsome banking. It was torn down and replaced with a flat corner, although it followed the same route as before.
Racing continued unabated on this new configuration for 20 years. After a few years out of use, the AVUS-Rennen trophy was revived, firstly for Formula 3 cars in 1976. Swedish driver Conny Anderson took his March-Toyota in that first running.
After a gap of a year, international racing resumed with a sportscar race in 1978, won by Toine Hezemans in a Porsche. The fantstic BMW M1 Procar series paid a visit the following year, Manfred Schurti winning, while the German sportscar championship raced at AVUS in 1983, with Bob Wollek taking victory in his Porsche 956 at record speed for the shortened track.
But it was with the arrival of the DTM touring cars in 1984 that the circuit underwent a mini-revival, with the Berlin venue proving extremely popular with race-starved fans in the north of the country.
AVUS was shortened for a second time in 1989, with a new, tighter, SÜdkurve hairpin being built closer to the pits than before. National championship racing continued with the DTM touring cars and supporting classes. The old battles between the 'Silver Arrows' were even revived for a time when Audi re-entered the fray to battle against the hordes of works Mercedes.
Another added draw for the crowds were the antics of Gerd Ruch and his team of Ford Mustangs, which despite being developed on a shoestring and being raced under dispensation, always ran near the front thanks to their prodigious straightline speed. Handling on the corners was not a strong point though, and Gerd would find himself swamped as he fought for control under braking and then see-sawed round the corners!
Rising speeds forced another shortening of the track in 1992 and the addition of a chicane on the return leg opposite the pits.
The final AVUS layout was established in 1994 with the addition of yet another chicane before the Nordkurve. The DTM boys continued to be the main attraction for a few years, with Stefano Modena steamrolling the oppositon to win the double for Alfa Romeo in 1994, while Kurt Thiim won twice for Mercedes in 1995 when the DTM morphed into the ITC.
With the series moving away from its German heartland the following year, the Super Touring championship took over. Armin Hahne took an unexpected victory in the first heat for Honda, while Emanuele Pirro won for Audi in the scond. But the event was totally overshadowed by the death of Nissan driver Keith Odor, killed instantly when the Audi of Frank Biela ploughed into the side of the Primera during an unavoidable multiple collision.
The Super Tourers vowed never to return, and apart from a brief flirtation with the production tourers, the accident - and the constrcution of the Lauztizring - spelled the end of more than 70 years of racing. The final races were won by the Opel Calibra of Stefan Kissling in May 1998, with a farewell event for veterans the next year. After this, the autobahns of south west Berlin reverberated to the sound of racing engines no more.
The round race control tower (with prominent Mercedes-Benz and Bosch sponsorship) still remains at the north end, and is used as a public restaurant and motel. The old wooden grandstand also remains, protected as a historic monument.
