What goes around... comes around!
Race tracks occasionally spring up as if from nowhere, either on airfield perimeter roads, flat-out blasts in the open countryside or around twisty city streets. But uniquely, the Grenzlandring (literally Borderland Ring) emerged in post war Germany entirely by accident.
At the beginning of the WWII (June 1939), German soldiers needed a route to transport men and machinery to the 'Westwall' - the German/Dutch border.
The public road from Erkelenz via Beeck, Dorp, Wegberg to Roermond was too small, so construction began on a new road, at the cost of three million Reichsmark. Heavy army vehicles travelling over it meant that, unusually, concrete was used for the entire 9km length and some 434,300 hours of labour between June 1940 and June 1942 was required to finish the project.
Following the war, it reverted to public use, forming a ring road around Wegberg, although its former use meant it did not appear on many contemporary maps. It was while driving on this stretch of road that the mayor of Rheydt suddenly realised its potential. After overtaking the same cyclist twice, it became clear to him that the road must be a perfect oval - and the 5.597 miles Grenzlandring was born.
With no banking and only a 6.8 metre width, the circuit was fast and dangerous, with little room for error. Hermann Lang once described it as "the longest flat-race-track in the world."
Formula 2 racing topped the bill at the circuit when racing began in 1949. Immediately it gained a reputation as one of the fastest circuits in Europe, a fact which was proved Georg Meier set a fastest lap on a supercharged 500cc BMW motorbike, at an incredible 196.8 kmph...
Hermann Lang once described Grenzlandring as "the longest flat-race-track in the world."
This high speed did cause competitors a few problems, however. Bill Paterson was astounded when he arrived with his Cooper JAP. "We looked at the works cars of Brandon and Brown and they had huge sprockets on the crankshafts of their Norton engines," he said. "We didn't have anything like that, so we rang JAP and got them to send the biggest ones they had..."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Grenzlandring proved popular with spectators, but it was destined to have only a short competition life. Racing was brought to an abrupt end on in August 1952 when Helmut Niedermayer, a race driver from Berlin, came off the road at the Roermonder Kurve. He careered into a crowd of people, killing 14 and injuring over 40 people. The local authorities were quick to act, and racing was banned.
Today the track is in use as local roads surrounding the city of Wegberg and, bar a few minor alterations, race fans can still make a pilgrimage to the site and drive around the old circuit - although well within the speed limits!
In 1999, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the start of racing, a celebration run was held over part of the course for vintage racing cars.
Part 4: Ovals of today - and tomorrow! >>
Discuss this article in in the e-Tracks forums.
