Hamburg city park race

The International Hamburg City Park Race was a motorsport event in Hamburg that was held several times on a non-permanent circuit in the Hamburg City Park between 1934 and 1952 and was first held again in 1999 as Moto Revival , today Hamburg City Park Revival with old vehicles.

history

Origin in the 1930s

In 1934 the first event for motorcycles and sidecars, which was part of the German motorcycle road championship , was held in front of around 80,000 spectators on a six-kilometer-long runway . The winners at the time included greats such as Ernst Loof , Otto Ley and Hans Soenius . Heiner Fleischmann won his very first race as a badge driver here, and Bernd Rosemeyer came to Hamburg for the last race of the season as the leader of the championship standings in the 500 cm³ class. However, he had an accident in training, was banned from starting the race on Sunday, and so missed the title.

For the second event in 1938, extensive construction work took place. Cobblestones were partially covered with a concrete layer and manhole covers were brought to street level. These changes made it possible to host sports car races , which were first part of the program in 1938.

In 1939 the so-called Entenschnabel ( Borgweg curve ) was passed through for the first time , the length of the route grew to over 6.5 km. This tapering 180 ° curve with a slight elevation of the curve owes its name to the route layout: Seen from the east, the route around and through the city park corresponded to a bird's head with a distinctive beak. In the 500 cc race for motorcycles this year, BMW factory driver Karl Gall won , who had an accident a few weeks later while training for the senior TT at the Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man and died shortly afterwards. In that TT race, Gall's teammate Schorsch Meier was the first non-Brit to win the senior TT (class up to 500 cm³). Meier only did a few training laps on the BMW in the Hamburg city park. In that season, the Bavarian also drove the Auto-Union - Silver Arrow , including two demonstration runs in Hamburg's city park. In 1938 Schorsch Meier was runner-up in the half-liter class, winning all five post-war Hamburg races in this class, making him the most successful driver of all Hamburg city park races.

After that, motorsport in the city park was suspended due to the Second World War .

Resumption after the Second World War

In 1947 the first post-war race for motorcycles, sidecars and sports cars was held on a track that was shortened to 4.1 km, and from 1950 the entire pre-war route was used again. In 1952 the last race took place in Hamburg's city park. The reason was a fatal accident in the team race of the ID driver, in which a team got off the track and killed three spectators. The unlucky race was the second run of the day, despite the catastrophe, the race was brought to an end, as was the entire subsequent racing program.

Memorial race in the 21st century

Since 1999, the Hamburg city park race has experienced a revival as a classic car event for historic cars, motorcycles and sidecars (classic cars built up to 1978 and young timers up to 1984) with demonstration races and regularity tests . During the two city park revivals in 1999 and 2000, a 4 km long route partially ran through the park. Saarlandstraße and the south ring that turns off are sections of the historic racing track.

A 1.7 km long course east of the park has been in use since 2004. The course leads from Saarlandstrasse to Südring and back. At the 9th Hamburg City Park Revival on 4th / 5th September 2010 more than 330 motorcycles, cars and racing vehicles took part.

Winners list

Edition	date	class	winner
1.	September 30, 1934	250 cc	Walfried Winkler ( DKW )
		350 cc	Ernst Loof ( Imperia - Rudge )
		500 cc	Otto Ley ( DKW )
		1000 cc	Hans Soenius ( NSU )
		Carriages (350 cm³)	Ernst Loof / unknown ( Imperia - Rudge )
		Carriages (600 cm³)	Josef Lohner / unknown ( Rudge )
		Carriages (1000 cm³)	Paul Weyres / unknown ( Harley-Davidson )
2.	May 8, 1938	250 cc	Ewald Kluge ( DKW )
		350 cc	Karl Bodmer ( NSU )
		500 cc	Karl Gall ( BMW )
3.	May 7, 1939	250 cc	Walfried Winkler ( DKW )
		350 cc	Ernie Thomas ( Velocette )
		500 cc	Karl Gall ( BMW )
4th	August 31, 1947	250 cc	Hermann Gablenz ( DKW )
		350 cc	Kurt Mansfeld ( DKW )
		500 cc	Georg Meier ( BMW )
		Carriages (600 cm³)	Loni Neussner / Ihler ( NSU )
		Carriages (1000 cm³)	Sepp Müller / Josef Wenshofer ( BMW )
5.	August 29, 1948	125 cc	Carl Döring ( DKW )
		250 cc	Hermann Paul Müller ( DKW )
		350 cc	Wilhelm Herz ( NSU )
		500 cc	Georg Meier ( BMW )
		Carriages (600 cm³)	Loni Neussner / Fred Minderlein ( NSU )
		Carriages (1000 cm³)	Sepp Müller / Karl Fuchs ( BMW )
6th	September 4, 1949	125 cc	Carl Döring ( DKW )
		250 cc	Hermann Gablenz ( DKW )
		350 cc	Siegfried Wishes ( DKW )
		500 cc	Georg Meier ( BMW )
		Carriages (600 cm³)	Max Klankermeier / Hermann Wolz ( BMW )
		Carriages (1000 cm³)	Max Klankermeier / Hermann Wolz ( BMW )
7th	3rd September 1950	125 cc	Hermann Paul Müller ( DKW )
		250 cc	Ewald Kluge ( DKW )
		350 cc	Heiner Fleischmann ( NSU )
		500 cc	Georg Meier ( BMW )
		Carriages (600 cm³)	Hermann Böhm / Karl Fuchs ( NSU )
		Carriages (1000 cm³)	Wiggerl Kraus / Bernhard Huser ( BMW )
8th.	August 24, 1952	125 cc	Hermann Paul Müller ( FB Mondial )
		250 cc	Bill Lomas ( NSU )
		350 cc	ex-aequo Ewald Kluge ( DKW ) and Siegfried Wünsche ( DKW )
		500 cc	Georg Meier ( BMW )
		Carriages (500 cm³)	Eric Oliver / Lorenzo Dobelli ( Norton )
		Carriages (750 cm³)	canceled due to an accident

literature

• Hein Schlüter: The Hamburg City Park Races - Motorbike and Sports Car Races 1934 to 1952 and City Park Revivals from 1999, ISBN 3-00-028491-5 Hamburg ( Edition City Park ) 2009, 120 pages, hardback
• Hein Schlüter: The Hamburg Stadtpark Revivals - Annual classic car events in the tradition of the historic motorsport races from 1934 to 1952, ISBN 978-3-00-046487-4 Hamburg ( Edition Stadtpark ) 2014, 112 pages, hardback

Web links

• Official website of the Hamburg City Park Revival
• Route map at landkartenarchiv.de ( Memento from July 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
• Winner list of the races 1934–1952 at racingmemo.free.fr (French)
• The engines roar - Hamburg's Oldtimer Grand Prix

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Oldtimer in the city park. In: Alster Magazin from August 15, 2008, p. 17
2. ↑ Around 330 classics at the start of the Stadtpark Revival. In: Hamburger Abendblatt of June 12, 2010, p. 41