TheAutomobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße ('Automobile traffic and training road'), known asAVUS (German pronunciation:[ˈaːvʊs]^ⓘ), is a public road inBerlin,Germany. Opened in 1921, it was also used as amotor racing circuit until 1998. Today, the AVUS forms the northern part of theBundesautobahn 115.

Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße (AVUS)

Grand Prix Circuit (1951–1967)
Location	Berlin,Germany
Time zone	CET (UTC+1) CEST (DST)
Coordinates	52°28′50″N13°15′05″E / 52.48056°N 13.25139°E /52.48056; 13.25139
Opened	24 September 1921; 103 years ago (1921-09-24)
Closed	3 May 1998; 26 years ago (1998-05-03)
Major events	Formula One German Grand Prix (1926, 1959) Porsche Carrera Cup Germany (1986–1990, 1993, 1995, 1998) Super Tourenwagen Cup (1995–1996) DTM (1984–1995) German F3 (1975–1976, 1983–1985, 1987, 1989–1995) Interserie (1977, 1984–1985, 1987) DRM (1978, 1983, 1985) BMW M1 Procar Championship (1980) European F3 (1976) FIM EWC (1963) World Sportscar Championship (1962)
Grand Prix Circuit with Chicane (1994–1998)
Length	2.660 km (1.653 miles)
Turns	6
Race lap record	0:53.440 (Stefano Modena,Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI,1994,Class 1)
Grand Prix Circuit (1992–1993)
Length	2.639 km (1.640 miles)
Turns	4
Race lap record	0:54.920 (Max Angelelli,Dallara F393,1993,F3)
Grand Prix Circuit (1989–1991)
Length	4.879 km (3.032 miles)
Turns	4
Race lap record	1:30.050 (Hans-Joachim Stuck,Audi V8 Quattro,1991,Group A)
Grand Prix Circuit with Unbanked Nord Kehre (1968–1988)
Length	8.109 km (5.039 miles)
Turns	4
Race lap record	2:02.130 (Volkert Merl,Porsche 956,1983,Group C)
Grand Prix Circuit (1951–1967)
Length	8.300 km (5.157 miles)
Turns	4
Banking	43° (Nord Kehre)
Race lap record	2:04.500 (Tony Brooks,Ferrari Dino 246,1959,F1)
Grand Prix Circuit (1937–1939)
Length	19.291 km (11.987 miles)
Turns	4
Banking	43° (Nord Kehre)
Race lap record	4:11.200 (Bernd Rosemeyer,Auto Union Type C,1937,GP)
Original Grand Prix Circuit (1921–1936)
Length	19.569 km (12.160 miles)
Turns	4
Banking	10° (Nord Kehre)
Race lap record	4:32.000 (Auto Union Type B,Hans Stuck,1935,GP)

The highway is located in the southwestern districts of Berlin, linking theStadtring at theFunkturm junction inCharlottenburg withNikolassee. It runs through theGrunewald forest along the historicKönigsweg road from Charlottenburg toPotsdam and the parallelBerlin-Blankenheim railway line.

While normal for a road, it is unusually shaped for a race track as it is essentially two long straights in the form of a dual carriageway, with a hairpin corner at each end. The north curve featured a steep banking from 1937 to 1967. While the original layout was 19.569 km (12.160 mi) long, the southern turn was moved several times, to shorten the track to 8.300 km (5.157 mi), then 8.109 km (5.039 mi) without the banking, 4.879 km (3.032 mi) and finally 2.639 km (1.640 mi).

In 1907 theKaiserlicher Automobilclub (KAC) association devised a fee-financed circuit, as both a motor-sport venue and a testing track for the motor industry. A developing company was established in 1909; however, a lack of finances and official authorisations delayed the start of construction until spring 1913. During theGreat War works discontinued, and thoughRussian Armyprisoners were temporarily employed in AVUS's construction, the track was still unfinished. From 1920 the remaining road work was financed by businessman and politicianHugo Stinnes. The circuit, including a gate building and several stands, was inaugurated during the first post-warInternational Automobile Exhibition (IAA) with a motor race on 24 September 1921. Afterwards the road was open to the public at a charge of tenMarks.

At the time of opening, AVUS was 19.569 km (12.160 mi) long – each straight being approximately half that length, and joined at each end by flat, large-radius curves, driven counter-clockwise.

While theGrand Prix motor racing scene still evaded German tracks, the circuit from 1922 was also the site ofmotorcycle races. On 11 July 1926 the track played host to the first internationalGerman Grand Prix for sports cars, organised by the Automobilclub von Deutschland, the former KAC. The 1921 roadway turned out to be insufficient: Already, in practice two days before, the young Italian driver Enrico Platé (not to be confused with the Argentinian driver and team owner of the same name) was involved in a crash that killed his mechanic. During the race, in heavy rain, two track marshals died whenAdolf Rosenberger lost control and hit the indicator board and the timekeeper's box, with a third employee succumbing to his injuries in hospital a few hours later. The Grand Prix was won by his fellow team-member, the so-far unknownMercedes-Benz salesmanRudolf Caracciola, fromRemagen, driving a private, eight-cylinder "Monza"Kompressor type. The fastest lap of 161 km/h (100 mph) was set byFerdinando Minoia in anOM.

From 1927 the German Grand Prix was relocated to the new and more secureNürburgring circuit in the Western GermanEifel range, while the AVUS received a newasphalt surface and served as an experimental track forrocket cars.

On 23 May 1928Fritz von Opel ("Rocket Fritz") achieved a speed record of 238 km/h (148 mph) in anOpel RAK2.

Due to theGreat Depression annual auto races were not resumed until 1931, when Caracciola again won in aMercedes-Benz SSK, succeeded byManfred von Brauchitsch the next year after Caracciola had switched toAlfa Romeo.

The competition on 22 May 1932 saw further notable participants like theEarl Howe,Hans Stuck and SirMalcolm Campbell. TheCzechoslovak driver, Prince George Christian ofLobkowicz, died when hisBugatti Type 54 crashed in the southern hairpin. The following events were won byAchille Varzi (1933) andGuy Moll (1934), to the great annoyance of the newNazi rulers, who declared the victory of German drivers and cars a matter of national pride. They strongly backed the construction of the newSilver Arrows (Silberpfeile) generation of Mercedes-Benz andAuto Union.

In 1935Luigi Fagioli won the race in aMercedes-Benz W25; however, the track was no longer adequate for cars reaching average race speeds of far over 200 km/h (124 mph). In an effort to make AVUS the "world's fastest race track", the 1936 season was skipped and while the track hosted thecycling road race, the marathon and 50 km walkathletic events of the1936 Summer Olympics, the north curve was turned into a steeply banked turn (43°) made of bricks.^[1] It became dubbed thewall of death, especially as it had no retaining barrier, so cars that missed the turn easily flew off it.^[2] The Silver Arrows raced only once on the banked version, in1937. As the AVUS race did not count towards the championship, non-GP cars were allowed, which permitted the use of streamlined cars, similar to the cars used for high speed record attempts. This race was run in two heats; during qualifying for the second heat, Luigi Fagioli stuck his Auto Union Type C on pole position, with a time of 4 minutes and 8.2 seconds at an average speed of 284.31 km/h (176.66 mph) - which was the fastest motor racing lap in history until this time was bettered byTony Bettenhausen in qualifying for the 1957Race of Two Worlds at Monza. It was also bettered by four drivers during the 1971 Indianapolis 500. Mercedes driverHermann Lang's average race speed of about 276 km/h (171 mph) was the fastest road race in history for nearly five decades, and was not matched on a high-speed banked-circuit until the mid-1980s at the 1986 Indianapolis 500.^[3]

No major race was held after 1937 as, in early 1938, the popular German race driverBernd Rosemeyer was killed in a land speed record attempt on a straight section of the AutobahnFrankfurt–Darmstadt (present-dayBundesautobahn 5), at which point the high-speed AVUS was considered too dangerous for the fast Grand Prix race cars. Furthermore, it was to be connected to the growingReichsautobahn network in 1940 by extending it south towards theBerliner Ring, therefore the original hairpin atNikolassee was demolished and replaced by a junction. A planned banked south turn was never built; the cleared grounds in theGrunewald forest were used as a proving ground ("Keerans Range") by theAmerican occupation forces afterWorld War II.

The first AVUS race after the war was held on 1 July 1951 forFormula Two andFormula Three cars, won byEast German driverPaul Greifzu. For post-war racing, the original extremely long straights were shortened by the introduction of a new south turn roughly in the middle (just before theHüttenweg exit, where it can still be seen), reducing the track length to 8.300 km (5.157 mi). After World War II, theBerlin Wall, with itsCheckpoint Bravo at Dreilinden/Drewitz, came no closer than about one mile (1.6 km) to the former South Turn. It is a common yet incorrect belief that the Berlin Wall cut the AVUS in half.

It was not until 19 September 1954 that this shorter track hosted a non-championshipFormula One race. This "Grand Prix of Berlin" was mainly a show dominated by theMercedes-Benz W196 driversKarl Kling (the winner) andJuan Manuel Fangio. No serious competition was present, as many teams had refused to show up and the German Grand Prix was still held on the Nürburgring. Finally AVUS hosted its only world championship Formula One race with the1959 German Grand Prix on 2 August, won byTony Brooks. This race weekend also saw the death of French driverJean Behra in a supporting sports car race, as hisPorsche RSK flew over the top of the north turn banking, as there was no wall or fence. German driver and journalistRichard von Frankenberg had previously walked away from a similar spectacular crash at the same site, but Behra would have no such luck as his body impacted a flagpole head-first after he was flung from his car.

After 1961, Grand Prix racing did not race on banked circuits until2000. The banked sections atAutodromo Nazionale Monza andAutodrome de Linas-Montlhéry were considered dangerous by international racing standards. They were used in connection withchicanes for some time, then abandoned. Banking only returned to Formula One in 2000 when the series used a road course at theIndianapolis Motor Speedway. The AVUS banking was dismantled in 1967 to give way to an expanded intersection under the Funkturm tower. From the top of this tower, one can see that the AVUS is not perfectly straight.

The old banked circuit can be seen in the filmA Dandy in Aspic (1968) featuring period racing cars.

Racing was continued with a flat north turn, but AVUS only held national touring carsDTM andFormula Three events. The length of the track was roughly cut in half twice in the 1980s and 1990 as racing on straights became unpopular. Also,chicanes were added to reduce entry speed into the North Curve. Yet, some incidents and accidents occurred. The BMW ofDieter Quester rolled over when exiting the last corner, and crossed the finish line sliding on its roof, with sparks flying, for a podium finish. The car ofJohn Winter hit a barrier and exploded into a fireball in North Curve, which he survived.

In 1995, the race 2 of DTM had to be cancelled, after a multi-car pileup blocked the circuit; later that September, British driverKieth O'dor was killed in a Super Touring Car event when his car spun and was rammed sideways, with the impact on the driver's side.^[4]

After the fall of the Berlin wall, the closure of the AVUS for race events became increasingly problematic over traffic and associated environmental concerns. After the last races in 1998, a farewell event with veterans was held in 1999. Since 2000, the newEuroSpeedway Lausitz inBrandenburg is considered the replacement venue for competition.^{[citation needed]} The round race control tower at the north end still remains with its prominentMercedes-Benz andBosch sponsorship insignia. It was used as a (now closed) public restaurant and motel. The old wooden grandstand is protected as a historic monument.

The fastest official race lap records at AVUS are listed as:

• List of Formula One circuits
• Lausitzring

• 1936 Summer Olympics official report. Volume 2. pp. 644–7, 682-5, 932-5.
• FORIX about the AVUS track
• Historic Purpose Built Grand Prix Circuits on Google Maps