AVUS

The Automobil Verkehrs und Ubungs-Strasse, better known as AVUS, is a motor racing circuit on the south-west outskirts of Berlin, Germany, between Charlottenberg[?] and Nikolassee[?]. It is unusual in as much as it is essentially just two long straights in the form of a dual carriageway, with a hairpin corner at each end.

The circuit was devised by the Automobilklub 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 banked curves. 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 attempt to make AVUS the world's fastest race track, the north curve was turned into a banking with 43° in 1937. Hermann Lang's average race speed was not beaten at Indiannapolis for 3 decades.

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 South Turn of AVUS at Nikolassee[?]. Anyway, the very long straights were shortened by the introduction of a new south turn, reducing the track length to 8.3 km (just over 5 miles). In 1954, this shorter track hosted a non-championship Formula One race, and in 1959 it held its only championship F1 event, won by Tony Brooks[?]. This race weekend also saw the death of Jean Behra[?] on the banked north loop (which was dismantled in 1967), and subsequently, AVUS has only held national and Formula Junior[?] events. The last racing events were in 1998, as the new Eurospeedway Lausitzring was considered ist replacement.