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Originally Posted by Catfish
Hmm, Avus race track?
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Quite right.
The 43 degree banked north curve of the AVUS racetrack in Germany known as
'The Wall of Death', constructed in 1936 and dismantled in 1967. No doubt one of the most impressive corners in motor racing history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVUS
Quote:
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In an effort to make AVUS the "world's fastest race track", the 1936 season was skipped and while the track hosted the cycling road race, the marathon and 50 km walk athletic events of the 1936 Summer Olympics, the north curve was turned into a steeply banked turn (43°) made of bricks. It became dubbed the wall of death, especially as it had no retaining barrier, so cars that missed the turn easily flew off it. The Silver Arrows raced only once on the banked version, in 1937. 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 (176.7 mph)- which was the fastest motor racing lap in history until this time was bettered by Tony Bettenhausen in qualifying for the 1957 Race of Two Worlds at Monza. It was also bettered by four drivers during the 1971 Indianapolis 500. Mercedes driver Hermann 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.
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Over to Catfish.
