5 replies to this topic

[Pikachu Racing]

Is it true that the track is almost a oval? It has two straights, one heavily banked corner and a hairpin? The Avus race was ran in two heats?

[Darren Galpin]

First used in 1921 and venue for the first German GP in 1926, this was used for one championship GP, in 1959. The race was run in two parts, and Ferrari enjoyed a rare 1-2-3 with its Dino 246 - race winner Tony Brooks set the fastest lap.
At that time, Avus still incorporated the steeply banked north bend, linking two parallel straights (part of the Autobahn); there was a new flat south curve as the Berlin zonal border cut across the pre-war track. With the north bend, the lap distance was 5.15miles/8.29km, less from 1967 (3.030 miles/4.99km).

http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport

[Leif Snellman]

Take a look at
http://www.kolumbus....snellman/t2.htm

[prettyface]

It had at least one right turn, just before the north banked curve, and a gentle hill (hump?) somewhere in the back straight IIRC, so technically it wasn't an oval-like track in the sense that it wasn't strictly a "turn left" thing all the time. I suppose people prefer the term "high speed proving grounds". But it must have been a boring track for drivers. About the 59 GP there Stirling Moss said something along the lines of it being the worst track he ever raced on.

That's funny, I wonder what his opinion was of the Caracas urban track of the Venezuelan GP (1957 or 58, I'm not sure).

[ry6]

I read somewhere that AVUS meant a high speed testing road.
One book I have refers to it as a double road joining Berlin to Postdam.
It was the fastest track in the world apparently back in the early 30's.
I once saw a snippet of the track in a video and can clearly remember Guy Moll in the streamlined Alfa beating the Auto Unions.
1933?
Can our German friends tell us a bit more about the track?

[Michael Müller]

Topic has been handled in the following threads:

http://www.atlasf1.c...&threadid=18026
http://www.atlasf1.c...&threadid=11777
http://www.atlasf1.c...&threadid=10822

Last year I wrote something in 8W (why of the month 1st picture):
http://8w.forix.com/8w-82k.html