The Fastest Race in the World - 1937 AVUS-Rennen - Assetto Corsa

Purpose-built Streamlined cars and a corner affectionally named the “Wall of Death”. That would peak 400,000 spectator's interest in what became the Fastest Race in the World for almost 50 years, only eclipsed by the Indianapolis 500 in 1985. Auto Union and Mercedes both fitted cutting-edge 'streamlined' bodywork to their cars and the course at AVUS had a 43-degree high-banked brick covered corner added, to ensure speeds would be the fastest of all time. The historical accounts today read as something like a science fiction novel. Hold on, and don't stray above the white painted lines!

0:00 Intro
1:46 Streamliner
4:48 Race
17:02 Final Thoughts

[willlasdf]

1930s high end racing is awesomely ridiculous.

Designers were like "see that airplane engine. Put it in a car with bike tires and see what happens"

[MiguelGLD]

Bernd Rosemeyer died on the highway between Frankfurt and Darmstadt during a land speed record attempt. You can visit the location where he died, there's a parking place there now with a small memorial if you follow the path into the bushes. Last time I visited someone had placed flowers there. Nice to see he's not forgotten.

[razvanmazilu]

For me the 30s are one of the most interesting eras of racing.

Engines were starting to produce copious amounts of power, but chassis, suspension or brake technology were so far from being a match for available horsepower that it resulted in some amazing beasts. Lethal weapons in almost every sense of the word.

Of course this continued for a while after the war, but by the end of the 50s racing cars were becoming more well rounded.

[brianmerz]

One of my ancestors, Otto Merz, was killed at this track in 1933. He was in a streamlined Mercedes SSKL. He went off the course at high speed in wet conditions.

[vitameat]

Let's not forget the bricklayers, who put that curve up one brick at a time!

[maplemayhem]

I am impressed by just how sketchy the brick wall seems to drive on

[Argent_]

The world record trials that would claim Bernd Rosemeyers life are a pretty fascinating story in onto itself. The cars used were developments of the respective streamliners (with canopies added to the cockpits) but because the W125 and type C were effectively obsolete at that point (new regs for 1938; which yielded the Mercedes W154, which I consider the linear ancestor of all post-war F1 cars), Mercedes effective decided to go for broke and more or less started a technological arms race with Auto Union for the record. MB started by essentially covering up all the radiator inlets and using dry ice for cooling. Even so, the engines weren’t gonna last terribly long at full blast, but hey, they were museum pieces anyway. Auto Union were a bit taken aback by this and turned to Ferdinand Porsche to see if he couldn’t work a little magic to see if he couldn’t squeeze more out of the type C.

What he came up with was...well...fundamentally, revolutionary. He came very close to creating a proper ground effects car fully 30-40 years before Jim Hall and Colin Chapman. He did so without really a lot of the research and development into aerodynamics that either of those gents had to draw on and the undertray of the car didn’t completely conform to the Venturi-style that became the norm in the late ‘70s, but the skirts and the notion of creating a vacuum effect to push the car down into the pavement the faster it went were all in play.

By all accounts, what followed was the first ground effects accident, with the vacuum bubble delaminating (the exact reason still being a mystery - a small bump in the road or the implosion of some of the rear wheel bodywork being usually cited) and the car went up, flipped and pretty much exploded from the force of impact (wasn’t enough fuel on board to creat a blazing inferno.) Rosemeyer was hurled clear (no seatbelts) and though he looked all but uninjured was dead before anyone got to him. For my money, he was the Ayrton Senna of the pre-war era - a masterfully virtuoso driver taken much to soon.

(As an aside - I think if someone could recreate the cars and settings of the 1939 Tripoli Grand Prix, that would make for a great video. Oh, and the Alfa Bimotore anywhere against anything. Cuz it’s just kinda bonkers.)

[playsilover]

I once saw an actual Audi Streamliner in person. This Thing is sooo wide an looks like something Alien made. Cant imagine how people felt seeing this in the 1930s

[villehursti]

Next the Fiat Lingotto test track on top of the factory!

[VITORB]

Legends say drivers would use their massive balls to balance the cars on those baking curves.

[SiqueScarface]

AVUS is the abbreviation for Car Test and Exercise Track.
It was used as an inner city motorway when no racing was going on, but it was primarily constructed and built as a test- and race track.

[brett-Jett-the]

I love the way you talk about the history or story of what you're about to drive. Racing history just isn't as talked about as I wish it was! I love this!

[dinsmark]

14:07 This actually kinda happened!

In 1951 there was a series of two races held in a street circuit in Buenos Aires just before the start of the season. Mercedes wanted to trial getting into Grand Prix racing again but didn't have a brand new car, so they used their cars from the 1939 GP season.
Alongside Lang they also got Fangio to drive one of their cars, against mostly local opposition in Ferraris and Maseratis from the period.
The Mercedes (from more than a decade earlier) locked out the front row of the grid and led most of the two races, until mechanical issues prevented Fangio from taking the win in any of them, handing the victory to Froilan Gonzalez in a Ferrari.
Despite not winning, it showed Mercedes clearly could get back into Grand Prix racing with few tweaks and still be competitive, so they set to work on a new car and entered the 1954 season. We all know how that ended.

[imperialmodelworks]

To further put that speed into perspective, most commercial airliners and military bomber aircraft weren't that fast in 1937.

[N-Collective]

This is my favorite “is no more” track. It was just insane. To see one of these races and cars IN PERSON at the time must’ve been a sight to behold. You really don’t know what you had till it’s gone...

[Armageddon_]

The DTM raced there until the late 80s or early 90s. Thats still insane to me.

Edit: Minus the death turn ofcourse.

[StreetLugeNetwork]

They actually had planned to build a second wall of death at the other end of the circuit in 1940... but that didnt happen for obvious reasons... I would love to try the double banked layout in a sim!!!

[bobmcl]

I have said it before, but I love your historic recreations. You add so much by integrating your background info with your real-time in-car commentary. This is what keeps me coming back. Please keep it up!

[sarsmask]

I'm a simple woman. If I see a GPLaps video, I click like. If I see a GPLaps video about pre-war racing, I SMASH that like button.

[gsmiley]

Parts of the circuit still exist. The section in front of the grand stands in particular. I was in Berlin 2 years ago, and suddenly realized where I was. Berlin! What a town.