The AVUS (Automobil Verkehrs- und Uebungsstrecke – motorcar traffic and test road) is the earliest precursor to the Autobahn that we know today. It was an intersection-free race and test track in Berlin, Germany.
AVUS History
Construction of two 26-foot wide lanes, separated by a 30-foot median strip, began in 1912 and was completed in 1921. Initially, the AVUS was 7 miles long and funded by private automobile and racing interests. When the group fell into financial difficulties, the hugely successful German industrialist and auto enthusiast, Hugo Stinnes, purchased the race track. Under his ownership, the test road was expanded to four lanes and lengthened to just over 12 miles. Stinnes had seven children. His daughter, Clärenore, was the first person to circumnavigate the world with an automobile. The year was 1929. That is worth a story in itself. Stay tuned for more.
Rocket-Fitz
The 1920s were the glory days of the AVUS. Some races drew crowds of 300,000. In one of the most spectacular races of that time, Fritz von Opel had test-driven his own invention, the rocket-powered RAK2. That was in 1928.
http://www.3sat.de/page/?source=/ard/sendung/176629/index.html Fritz von Opel was the outrageous grandson of Adam Opel, founder of the Opel car manufacturing company. Fritz’s race car was sleek, black and cigar-shaped, had truncated wings, enormous tail pipes, and was driven by 24 solid-fuel rockets. In the race, the RAK2 reached a record speed of 143mph, which earned him the nickname, “Rocket-Fritz.”
The RAK2 driven by Fritz von Opel in a 1928 race on Berlin’s AVUS
(Opel Classic Archiv)
AVUS Today
AVUS-Races came to a halt during WWII and slowly resumed in the 50’s. The last event I vaguely remember was the 1959 Grand Prix race. In 1998, following reunification, the AVUS was put out of commission. Only the historic grand stands remind of its earlier grandeur. Today the AVUS is part of the public Autobahn network. My only other memory of the AVUS goes back to the time before the fall of the Berlin Wall. At that time, motorist returning from West Germany were forced to observe the 60mph speed limit on their transit through East Germany. It was always a liberating feeling to be able to press the pedal to the metal once Berlin Ring was behind us and we had entered the outskirts of West Berlin. During those last few miles we were always glad to be back in the West again. “No speed limit” became a symbol for the West for us.
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Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
