Gabelbach race

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The Gabelbach race is a hill climb for automobiles and motorcycles in the Gabelbachtal near Ilmenau .

In contrast to conventional circuit races, like all hill climbs, it was completed in a single run, there was only one run. Therefore, there was no opportunity for the drivers to optimize their cornering. This made the attraction and the hardness of the competition. In its time, the Gabelbach race was one of the most famous racetracks.

Route data

Route
Period 1913-1934
Route length 3.3, later 4 km
pitch through. 9%, max 16%
track record 2: 06.1
Average speed 114.2 km / h
driver Manfred von Brauchitsch
brand Mercedes SSK
track record 2: 15.5
Average speed 114.2 km / h
driver Anton Fleischhauer
brand NSU

Course of the route

Heusser memorial stone in Gabelbach

The race originally began in Waldstrasse, later the start was relocated to today's Lessingpark, opposite the Ilmenau-Bad train station, in order to extend the route to four kilometers. After a left curve, the steepest section of the route, Ilmenau's Waldstrasse, lay in front of the drivers. At the Ritzebühler pond, the route left Ilmenau to lead through the wonderful Gabelbachtal. Initially on an almost straight stretch, the tennis court and the curling facility remained on the left, only to turn into a "chicane" after about halfway along the racing driver's curve. At this point, Ilmenau motorsport fans put a commemorative stone in honor of the Thuringian racing driver Huldreich Heusser who died in the Buckow triangle race . After another straight stretch, a right-hand bend introduced the last section. The drivers were able to accelerate again before they had to complete three curves, starting on the ascent to Kickelhahn , in order to finally roll to the finish at Berghotel Gabelbach .

history

At a time when the automotive industry was just developing, which was literally looking for performance comparisons with competitors, in 1913 the chief designer of Apollo Autowerke Apolda , Karl Slevogt , discovered the road in the Gabelbachtal that led out of Ilmenau. In the same year he carried out a test drive here. However, it had to be a long time before a second international race was held in 1921. Year after year until 1928, the crowd of racing drivers met in Ilmenau to say goodbye to this track after a long break with the two races in 1933 and 1934. In 1968 engines roared again through the Gabelbachtal when the racetrack declared a sprint track was part of the "International Wartburg Rally". In 1993, motorsport fans from Ilmenau tried to revive an old tradition and organized a veteran race on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the track , which was re-launched the following year and which took place in loose succession after 2000 repetitions.

Famous participants

Selection of international racing drivers

Thuringian motor sportsman

K. Fuchs ( Gehren ), Löhn, Victorius, Escher (all from Ilmenau), Häfner ( Suhl ), Stahlschmidt ( Erfurt )

Race winner

1913 Slevogt Apollo
1921 Rützler Steyr
1922 Rützler Steyr
1923 Rützler Steyr
1924 Heusser Bugatti
1925 Heusser Bugatti
1926 Heusser Bugatti
1927 Heusser Bugatti
1928 Caracciola Mercedes SSK
1933 von Brauchitsch Mercedes SSK

literature

  • Claudia Fiala, Karl-Heinz Veit, Rainer Paschy, Ilmenau, Goethestadt and Universitätsstadt ISBN 3-89683-123-2
  • Göran Cialla, Martin Bienek (Illustrator): The legendary Gabelbach races. A chronicle of 100 years of mountain races in Ilmenau . P. Cialla, Altenfeld 2013. 161 pages. ISBN 978-3-00-047755-3
  • Thuringian General H.-J. Way - Gabelbach legend. February 12, 2003
  • Hans-Joachim Weise: 1913 - 2013: 100 years of the Gabelbachberg Mountain Race . In: The new privy councilor. City and monthly magazine from Ilmenau. 2013, No. 53 (Jul./Aug.), Pp. 17-21 and 54 (Aug./Sep.), Pp. 20-24. ND media company, Ilmenau. ISSN  2196-2685 .

Web links

Coordinates: 50 ° 40 ′ 0 ″  N , 10 ° 53 ′ 54 ″  E