The Schauinsland is a mountain in the southern Black Forest with a summit elevation of 1,284 metres, located approximately ten kilometres south-east of central Freiburg im Breisgau. The hillclimb course followed the Schauinslandstraße — the main paved road ascending the mountain — over a distance of 12 km from Horben up through the Holzschlägermatte, continuing to the cable car station near the summit.
The road's character, combining sustained climbing gradient with technical sections through forested Black Forest terrain, gave the event a distinctive character among German hillclimbs. The route used entirely public roads, typical of the era's hillclimb events, and the full ascent required drivers to manage both pace and mechanical durability over an extended course.
The ADAC Schauinsland-Rennen ran from 1923 to 1984, a span of over six decades that covered the interwar golden age of hillclimbing, the post-war revival of European motorsport, and the modern era of specialised hillclimb machinery. Its long run on the calendar established it as a traditional fixture in German motorsport, with ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club) providing the organisational backbone for the event across its entire competitive life.
The event attracted a range of participants from touring cars to dedicated racing machinery across the decades, reflecting the evolution of the sport from the relatively accessible hillclimbing culture of the 1920s through to the highly specialised cars of the 1970s and early 1980s.
The competitive Schauinsland-Rennen ended in 1984. In the same year, the Schauinslandstraße was closed to motorcyclists between 1 April and 1 November as well as at weekends and public holidays — a restriction that marked the road's transition away from motorsport use.
From 2000 onward, a reduced-distance event on a shortened route up to the Holzschlägermatte has taken place as a parade for classic and historic cars, preserving a ceremonial connection to the hillclimb's heritage without competitive timing.
Since 2007, an annual cycling hillclimb event called the Schauinslandkönig (Schauinsland King) has been held on the L-124 route from Horben to the chairlift station, covering 11.5 km with 770 metres of elevation gain. The event attracts over 1,000 participants per year across a broad range of human-powered disciplines, demonstrating the continued appeal of the Schauinsland ascent as a competitive challenge, albeit now in a very different form from its motorsport origins.
The ADAC Schauinsland-Rennen occupies a notable place in the history of German hillclimb racing. Its 61-year competitive lifespan bridged the pioneering era of motor sport through to the modern period, and its reputation as a "legendary" venue reflects both the quality of competition it attracted and the scenic drama of the Black Forest setting. The combination of the full 12 km route and the ADAC's consistent organisation gave the event a prestige within Germany that persisted throughout its long history.