AVUS

The AVUS runs through the Grunewald forest in the southwestern districts of Berlin, linking the Stadtring at the Funkturm junction in Charlottenburg with Nikolassee. Planning began in 1907 and construction started in 1913, but the circuit was only inaugurated on 24 September 1921 during the first post-war International Automobile Exhibition. At opening, the circuit measured 19.569 km per lap, each straight being approximately half that length and joined by flat, large-radius curves.

From 1927, the German Grand Prix moved to the newly built Nurburgring, but the AVUS retained its own programme of major international races.

The inaugural 1921 race was won by Rudolf Caracciola in a Mercedes-Benz, establishing his early reputation. The 1926 Grand Prix, the first international race at the circuit, was marred by a catastrophic crash in heavy rain when Adolf Rosenberger lost control, killing two track marshals and a timekeeper's assistant.

The AVUS's most dramatic transformation came in 1937. To create the fastest race track in the world, a steeply banked north turn at 43 degrees was constructed from bricks, dubbed the Wall of Death. With no retaining barrier at the top, cars that missed the turn would fly off the banking. The Silver Arrows of Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union raced the banked AVUS only once, in 1937, using streamlined record-attempt-style bodywork rather than standard Grand Prix cars. In qualifying for the second heat, Luigi Fagioli's Auto Union Type C set the fastest motor racing lap in history to that point. Hermann Lang won with an average race speed of approximately 276 km/h that was not matched on a banked circuit until the 1986 Indianapolis 500.

No major race was held after 1937. In early 1938, the death of Bernd Rosemeyer in a land speed record attempt on the Autobahn Frankfurt-Darmstadt prompted authorities to deem the AVUS too dangerous, and the circuit was also due to be incorporated into the expanding Reichsautobahn network.

Racing resumed on 1 July 1951 with Formula Two and Formula Three cars. The circuit was shortened to 8.300 km by introducing a new south turn in the middle of the original layout, after the original hairpin at Nikolassee had been demolished for the Autobahn connection.

A non-championship Formula One race was held on 19 September 1954, dominated by the Mercedes-Benz W196 of Karl Kling and Juan Manuel Fangio in a field lacking serious competition. The AVUS hosted its only World Championship Formula One race on 2 August 1959, when Tony Brooks won the German Grand Prix. That race weekend was also marked by the death of French driver Jean Behra, whose Porsche RSK flew over the top of the north turn banking in a supporting sports car race, Behra being flung from the car and striking a flagpole.

The banked north turn was dismantled in 1967 to accommodate an expanded road intersection under the Funkturm tower. Racing continued with a flat north turn and reduced track lengths, hosting national touring car DTM and Formula Three events through the 1980s and 1990s. After a fatal accident involving British driver Kieth O'dor in a Super Touring Car event in September 1995, racing at the AVUS wound down. The final races were held in 1998.

The AVUS's extreme speed and the 1937 banked race occupy a distinct place in pre-war German motorsport history. The circuit's round race control tower at the north end survives with its historic sponsorship insignia. Since 2000, the EuroSpeedway Lausitz in Brandenburg has served as the replacement venue for Berlin-area competition. The AVUS itself continues as public road Bundesautobahn 115.