8 replies to this topic

[TonyKaye]

In one of his Formula Junior books, Paul Sheldon lists a race that took place on 9th October 1960. It was won by Willy Lehmann in a Scampolo-Wartburg and took place at 'Kleeblatt'. I would guess that Sheldon was unaware that the German word Kleeblatt means 'clover leaf', which merely suggests that the race was held on part of an Autobahn. I seem to remember that Willy Lehmann was from East Germany and his motive power would certainly confirm that.
If Kleeblatt was not a place as such, but just a reference to the type of circuit, where was the race held? Somewhere in East Germany perhaps?

(Please don't get the impression I'm knocking Paul Sheldon's work. His books remain the most treasured of all in my collection.)

[Ray Bell]

Nothing in Mohkhouse, sorry.

[Francis]

The http://www.formel3register.de site has results for the 'Kleeblatt-Rennen' and calls the circuit Staaken. The race lasted 15 laps of a 3.87 kilometre track.

Staaken is located only a few miles to the west of Berlin.

[TonyKaye]

Francis,
Many thanks for answering my problem.........and also for bringing this wonderful site to my attention. I suspect that I am going to spend many hours going through their data. You say that Staaken is a few miles west of Berlin. I assume that it was in East Germany until '89. Is that correct?

[Hans Etzrodt]

Staaken was just west of Spandau, my birthplace. Spandau and Charlottenburg were the last suburbs (British Sectors) in West Berlin, bordering to East Germany and Staaken the first East-German place. There is no Autobahn Kleeblatt (clover leaf) to my knowledge and I don't know where the race could have been held. My documentation after 1950 is rather incomplete and 'fines' should be much better equipped.
How about it Michael?

P.S. Yes, the border 'Iron Curtain' was lifted July of 1990. I was there and won't forget it.[p][Edited by Hans Etzrodt on 10-28-2000]

[Roger Clark]

My German is terrible, but i think the site is advertising a book, from which the information was taken. There are links to purchase the book. Is this so, and has anyone seen the book?

[TonyKaye]

Roger,
Thanks for alerting us to the book, which I hadn't noticed on the site. I have sent for it, but as they don't accept credit cards for some reason or another it may take a while to arrive.

[fines]

I have an earlier version of the book (1995) and it's more like the "Marlboro Grand Prix Guide" by Jacques Deschenaux - lots of stats, but in no way comparable to the Sheldon books. Yet the PDF files about the German F3 and FJunior races are brilliant; I've copied them all on my hard drive.

As for the Staaken-Kleeblatt, I've no roadmap handy. I checked "Auto, Motor und Sport" and also got nil answer. But I would imagine that an Autobahn was built in the meantime, how else would you explain the name?

[KzKiwi]

Roger and Tony, etc,
In order to read the site in English, use a translation search engine like 'Babelfish'. But be warned, if you are like me I spent hours on the site......

Also, make sure you have 'Adobe Acrobat reader' installed on your computer - for when you want to print data from the site. I consumed a rather large quantity of paper as well as a large part of a printer ink cartridge on this site.....

Regards,
Kirk