AVUS, the Berlin Highway That Raced

A Berlin highway that doubled as a racetrack, with two long straights and a steep brick banking, AVUS hosted one World Championship Grand Prix, in 1959.

Drivers on the northern stretch of Berlin's Bundesautobahn 115 are traveling, whether they know it or not, on a former racetrack. The name AVUS abbreviates the German for an automobile traffic and training road, and from 1921 until 1998 this public highway in the southwest of the city also served as a racing circuit, cutting through the Grunewald forest beside the historic royal road to Potsdam. It was conceived in 1907 as both a competition venue and a proving ground for the motor industry. Construction began in 1913 and then stalled for years, so the opening race did not take place until the 24th of September 1921.

As a circuit it followed an admirably simple plan: two long straights of dual carriageway with a hairpin at either end. For 1937 the north curve became a brick banking of 43 degrees, with nothing at the top to keep a car from leaving it, and the streamlined Silver Arrows lapped it at speeds that remained records for decades. After the war a new south turn cut the straights short, leaving a lap of 8.300 km.

The 1959 German Grand Prix was the only World Championship round ever held there, and Ferrari had the run of it. Tony Brooks won from pole, with his teammates Dan Gurney and Phil Hill second and third. Jean Behra died that same weekend, when his Porsche went over the top of the north banking during a supporting sports car race.

The banking was demolished in 1967 to make room for a larger road junction. Touring cars and Formula Three kept racing on progressively shorter versions of the course until traffic and environmental concerns brought the racing to an end in 1998. The circular race control tower survives at the northern end, and the wooden grandstand is now a protected historic monument, watching over traffic that no longer keeps score.

Every Grand Prix here

• 1959 German Grand Prix