Avus [GP of Germany 1959]
Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße Berlin (AVUS)
AVUS, the Cradle of the Autobahn and iconic track of the Silberpfeil. The Berlin Avus was once the fastest race track in international motorsport. Two endless straights, a hair raisingly dangerous banking (Nordkurve) and hairpin on the other end (Südschleife). Driven at maximum speed nearly 3/4 of the time this makes for a unique setup that demands minimal air resistance and stresses your engine to the absolute maximum.
The track was insane by todays standards, and in the 1930s it was the ideal proving ground for the latest engines, aerodynamics and tyres. After 1945 it was becoming obsolete (too fast and dangerous and not a drivers course) but the 1959 Grand Prix of Germany was held in Berlin. For political reasons, and visitors from East Berlin could pay their tickets with East Mark (people could still freely enter West-Berlin until August 13 1961). The Formula 1 event was won by Tony Brooks, then tragedy struck in the sports car race. Previous year champion Jean Behra left the banking, collided with the remains of a Flak position and died. As a consequence no races whatsoever were held for three years. When racing commenced again it was restricted to smaller cars. This went on throughout the 70s and 80s. In 1995 DTM pulled after even more accidents and fatalities even on mitigated layouts. Eventually the track officially ended in 2000 when the Lausitzring (ca 100km from Berlin) opened. Today you can drive the straights yourselves as they have become part of the public Autobahn (with 100km/h limit, and modernized road surface). Some of the buildings still remain, but Nordkurve and Südschleife have been completely dismantled in the 1960s, so historically not much exists of the track.
The AVUS was the very first piece of Autobahn in the world, although it was initially not free to use. The fee was 10 Mark, quite considerable for 1921.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVUS
Mercedes W 154 of 1939
There is also a 2 minute sequence in a 1960s film, that shows how the track would have looked during the Berlin division:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFmIQ_LkoRQ
I did Avus for 2 reasons. First I am a Berliner and second I thought that a real high speed track was missing from the game anyway. On the straights you will hit 400, 500, perhaps even 600 km/h. The track was completely redone and updated version 2.0, and uses a correct aerial photo (ca 1953) instead of the faulty wikipedia version. The wikipedia version was not correct because, even though Avus is shown completely straight on most plans and looks straight from many points on the ground, but from other vantage points (Funkturm) you can see that there is a slight left curve directly after bridge Hüttenweg, as the road makes a little turn around Triebwagenhalle Hundekehle (S-Bahn). I adjusted that and many other things with the aerial image.
Track Version 2.3
There are now two options, one historic (1959) and one for the modern times.The track layout and times are 100% identical, both are the same track version, only with a different background image
Avus 1959
The "realistic" black white version based on the Google aerial image from ca 1953
Avus 1991
A slightly colorized version for the 1991 race. Not 100% accurate but it may be a bit less bleak to look at.
It's not a perfect recreation of the track, but it should be close enough. To win you should make use of the two super long straights. You can reach in excess of 500 km/h with minimal aerodynamic drag. Aero is tricky on this track considering that 2/3 of the track time is spent full throttle.
In the same spirit as strop's Pikes Peak track I have made adjustments that should give high powered turbos a good chance. Kudos to strop for the heads up. Turbos can get better lap times than N/A engines, but this does not mean that the car with the most horsepower will win.
Also see the competitions I run on the track
1990 (finished)
viewtopic.php?f=39&t=8993
1991 (finished)
viewtopic.php?f=39&t=9126