AVUS
The Automobil Verkehrs und Übungs-Strasse, better known as AVUS, was a motor racing circuit on the south-western outskirts of Berlin, Germany, between Charlottenburg and Nikolassee.
Nowadays, it is an important part if the public highway system, as Autobahn A 115.
While normal for a road, it is unusually shaped for a race track as it is essentially just two long straights in the form of a dual carriageway, with a hairpin corner at each end.
The circuit through the Grunewald forest was devised by the Automobilclub von Deutschland (AvD), in 1907, as both a motor-sport venue and a testing track for the motor industry. A lack of finances delayed the start of construction for six years, and construction was halted in 1913 for the same reason. During the Great War, Russian prisoners were employed in AVUS's construction, but the track was still unfinished by 1918. The remaining work was financed by business man Hugh Stinnes, and the circuit opened in September 1921.
At the time of opening, AVUS was 19.5 km (12 miles) long - each straight being approximately half that length, and joined at each end by flat large radius curves, driven counter-clockwise. In 1926 the track played host to Germany's first Grand Prix for sportscars, but it soon faced competition from the new Nürburgring circuit. 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. The Silver Arrows of Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union raced only once in 1937 on the banked version, using stream lined cars as in their high speed record attempts. Hermann Lang's average race speed of about 260 km/h was not beaten at Indianapolis for 3 decades.
In early 1938, the popular German race driver Bernd Rosemeyer was killed in an land speed record attempt, and the high speed AVUS was then considered too dangerous for the fast Grand Prix race cars. Also, it was considered important to connect the AVUS to the growing Reichs-Autobahn network by extending it to the south. The South Turn at Nikolassee was demolished and replaced by a junction.
After World War II, the Soviet quarter and the Berlin Wall with its Checkpoint Bravo at Dreilinden/Drewitz came no closer than about one mile to the former South Turn. It is a common yet wrong belief that the Berlin Wall had cut the AVUS in half.
For post-war racing, the extremely long straights were shortened by the introduction of a new south turn roughly in the middle (just before the exit at Hüttenweg, were it can still be seen nowadays), reducing the track length to 8.3 km (just over 5 miles).
In 1954, this shorter track hosted a non-championship Formula One race which was mainly a show by the Mercedes-Benz team, as no serious competition was present. In 1959, AVUS hosted its only world championship F1 Grand Prix, won by Tony Brooks. This race weekend also saw the death of Jean Behra, as his Porsche flew over the top of the north turn banking. This 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.
Racing was continued with a flat north turn, but AVUS only held national touring cars DTM and Formula 3 events. The length of the track was roughly cut in half twice in the 1980s and 1990 as racing on straights became unpopular. Also, chicanes were added to reduce entry speed into the North Curve.
The last real racing events were in 1998. The new Eurospeedway Lausitzring in Brandenburg is considered the replacement for AVUS.
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 is protected as a historic monument.