Avus 51-59 Add-on track for GPL 
by Oversteer
26 April 2004 

--------------------------------------------------------
Information:

Rather than a representation of a particular year, this version of the Berlin AVUS is generally  modelled after the shortened 5.3km layout used during the 1950's decade; when the track was reactivated after WWII. Most features are modelled after the 1959 German GP though, due to the greater availability of information and photographs from this event.         

--------------------------------------------------------
Credits:

Main textures, atmosphere guy and all-round orchestrator: Eric Bourgouin

Additional textures by Paul Jackson (asphalt base), bob_hund (adverts), Oversteer (vehicles,people,tower)
 
AI and flag 3do's by John Basara

Groove by Paul Jackson

Program cover by bob_hund, program inner pages by BAPOM.  Alternate covers by RaulV, bob_hund, Eric Bourgouin.  

Things stolen from other tracks: Most evidently the banner flags from Hockenheim 30's,s/f banner from Andre Streu ...  too many to list. If you see your textures,we simply forgot where we stole them from! Sorry :)

Beta testing by WelfMan,Jürgen Schunke,Mybroga Racing League

F1 setups by WelfMan, F2 and F3 based on F1 setups.  
Replays by WelfMan and jschunke

All the things that went wrong: oversteer


---------------------------------------------------------
Special thanks:

JCT_HYPA and bob_hund, location scouts extraordinaire, for inadvertedly causing me to redo the track more than once.  Good going guys, blame all delays on those two! :)  

John Basara, banking specialist, and for sorting out the difficult bits. 

Paul Jackson and the Speedgeezers network for hosting the track.

The GPL online community at RSC and M4driving.  Thanks to all who posted or sent me pictures and clips:   Arturo Pereira, S.Beuchert, Stewart Fisher, Will Brequin, Scott Przybylski, Mark Beckman, Dibey, BigArv65, Axel Linther, fast Tommi, Jo Fransson ... too many!       

The Nostalgia Forum at AtlasF1 and Yesterday forum at F1Welt; in particular to  McRonalds for a great picture collection.

Lost track of all the websites, but some of the most important:  

Leif Snellman's golden era of GP racing:
http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/t2.htm

8W and Forix:    
http://8w.forix.com/avus.html

Cybersnippets: 
http://www.motorsnippets.com/cars/avus/index.htm

Deutschland aus der luft:
http://www.ausderluft.de/

LAT photo:
http://www.latphoto.co.uk/gallery.html

British Pathe:  
http://www.britishpathe.com/

Ebay Deutschland: 
http://www.ebay.de/
 

Thanks also to Scott Przybylski for having the most difficult last name I've ever heard, and for his first version of AVUS.  

--------------------------------------------------------

Hats off to the folks who made the editing tools!
 
GPLTrk (Peter Prochazka)
TRK23doF (Guru)
OneTwo3do (CW Engineering)
GPL Track Editor (Paul Hoad, Phil Flack)
3DOEd (Paul Noonan)
TrackKam (Stefan Magnusson)
WinMip (Klaus Hörbrand)
MipMan, SRBMan, Sciss, GTKMaker (Phil Flack)
txt2gtk (Phil Flack, Peter Prochazka)
DooDat (DoubleD software) 
GPL TrackInstaller (Martin Granberg)
3doClass (Alain Bosco) 
Groove Editor (Randy Riggs)
Whoever they were who made the alt-height and section help excel sheets!

----------------------------------------------------------
AVUS

The Automobil Verkehrs und Ubungs-Strasse was first conceived in 1907 by the Automobilklub von Deutschland (AvD) as a test track for the motor industry and for the sport. Money was short and it took six years before work on the amazing circuit began. The money ran out and the First World War caused further delays although Russian prisoners were used to do the building work. Despite this the track was only half-finished when the war ended and the post-war economic problems meant that it was not until 1921 that Hugo Stinnes financed the completion of the circuit. The facility opened in September 1921 and five years later AVUS was the site of the first German Grand Prix -- for sportscars -- which was won by the Mercedes of Ruedi Caracciola.

The following year the new Nurburgring was built and at AVUS it was decided that the banking at the North Curve should be increased to a startling 43 degs. Despite this AVUS was in the shadow of the Ring throughout the 1930s. Contrary to popular belief, It was economic reasons and not the division of Berlin after WWII that caused the track to be cut in half; but it was not until 1954 that the circuit was revived with a new unbanked south loop being built. This cut the track to 5.15 miles. The non-championship F1 Grand Prix of Berlin resulted in a Mercedes 1-2-3, with Karl Kling leading Juan-Manuel Fangio and Hans Herrmann. In 1959 the Formula 1 World Championship returned to Berlin but the meeting was overshadowed by the death in a supporting sportscar race on Saturday of French racer Jean Behra who spun his Porsche RSK in damp conditions and was thrown from the car into a flag pole. The Formula 1 race ( a curious affair with the result being an aggregate of two heats) was a Ferrari 1-2-3 with Tony Brooks winning. Herrman was fortunate to emerge unhurt after he suffered a brake failure on his BRM and went off at high speed the car somersaulting dramatically and Herrman being thrown out but without serious injury.

Thereafter the track hosted little more than international Formula Junior races, although German national events continued to visit each year. The north bend was dismantled in 1967, but the character of AVUS remained as it always had been with two fast straights. The track was still used for touring cars until a major accident in the 1990s which led to the death of British driver Kieth Odor.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GRAND PRIX RESULTS: GERMAN GP, 1959
German GP
AVUS
Aug 2, 1959

60 Laps, 8.3 
The German Grand Prix had moved from the Nurburgring to the Automobil Verkehrs und Ubungs-Strasse (AVUS) facility in Berlin. This was little more than a piece of motorway with banked loops at either end but it had been in operation since the 1920s,  political and economic circumstances meant that the track had to be shortened and a new unbanked south loop had to be built over a turn previously used in motorcycle racing. 

Because of fears that there would be tire problems it was decided to run the race in two heats. Ferrari was back in action after missing the British GP but Jean Behra was gone and the team was running Tony Brooks, Phil Hill, Dan Gurney and Cliff Allison. Behra appeared in a Formula 2 Porsche. Cooper had its usual crew of Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren and Masten Gregory with private entries from Rob Walker for Maurice Trintignant and Stirling Moss. BRM ran Harry Schell, Jo Bonnier and local hero Hans Herrmann while Lotus fielded Graham Hill and Innes Ireland as usual.

Saturday was overshadowed by Behra's death in a supporting sportscar race, the little Frenchman spinning his Porsche RSK in damp conditions and being thrown from the car into a flag pole. He died instantly.

Formula 1 qualifying resulted in pole position for Brooks with Moss, Gurney and Brabham with Gurney alongside on the 4-3-4 grid. Behind them on row two were Gregory, Phil Hill and Bonnier . Brooks took the lead in the first heat while Moss was quickly out with transmission trouble. Gregory led briefly but then Brooks was ahead again but he had to battle with Gurney and Gregory, although the latter would retire with five laps to go with an engine failure, which promoted Hill to third and McLaren fourth.

The second heat featured a grid made up of the finishing positions of heat one and at the start McLaren took the lead but he was quickly overtaken by P Hill, Bonnier, Brooks and Gurney. Brooks quickly got to the front and Bonnier dropped back to give Ferrari a 1-2-3. Herrman suffered a brake failure on his BRM and went off at high speed in the South Turn. The car hit hay bales and was launched into a series of somersaults and Herrman was thrown out but escaped serious injury.

When the aggregate times were worked out it was a Ferrari 1-2-3 with Brooks ahead of Gurney and Hill. 

POS NO DRIVER ENTRANT  LAPS TIME/RETIREMENT QUAL POS 
1  4  Tony Brooks  Ferrari D246  60  2h09m31.600s   1  
2  6  Dan Gurney  Ferrari D246  60  2h09m33.500s   3  
3  5  Phil Hill  Ferrari D246  60  2h10m36.400s   6  
4  8  Maurice Trintignant  Cooper-Climax T51  59    12  
5  9  Jo Bonnier  BRM P25  58    7  
6  18  Ian Burgess  Cooper-Maserati T51  56    15  
7r  10  Harry Schell  BRM P25  49  Clutch (pushed Over Line)  8  
r  2  Bruce McLaren  Cooper-Climax T51  37  Clutch  9  
r  11  Hans Herrmann  BRM P25  35  Accident  11  
r  3  Masten Gregory  Cooper-Climax T51  23  Engine  5  
r  1  Jack Brabham  Cooper-Climax T51  15  Clutch  4  
r  16  Graham Hill  Lotus-Climax 16  10  Oil Radiator  10  
r  15  Innes Ireland  Lotus-Climax 16  7  Gearbox  13  
r  17  Cliff Allison  Ferrari D246  2  Clutch  14  
r  7  Stirling Moss  Cooper-Climax T51  1  Gearbox  2  
ns  12  Jean Behra  Behra Porsche-Porsche     Fatal Accident In Support Race  16  
ns  14  Wolfgang von Trips  Porsche 718    Withdrew  17  
 



