Hercules Mountain Prize

The Herkules-Bergpreis is a hill climb event for automobiles and motorcycles that takes place every two years in the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe or in the Hohen Habichtswald in the district of Kassel . The organizer is the Kurhessischer Motosport-Club Kassel eV

Racetrack

The route is 28 km long and overcomes 600 meters in altitude. The current route (since 2015) initially follows the Wilhelmshöher Allee up to the Wilhelmshöhe Palace before about the tulips Avenue of the mountain park height is left and over the Rasenallee the Habichtswald is achieved. Passing Harleshausen , you reach Wolfhager Straße ( Bundesstraße 251 ) at the Rote Pfahl , which is followed past the Gasthaus Ahnetal to Dörnberg . A slalom course with bales of straw is laid out in the village over a length of one kilometer. To the west of Dörnberg, the race track branches off from federal highway 251 and runs down into the Warmetal to south of Bodenhausen . Then Ehlen is reached via an asphalt farm road, where the route briefly follows the federal road 251 again and then leads north-east of Ehlen over the state road 3298 into the Habichtswald. Finally, between Essigberg and Hohem Gras , the highest point of the race track is reached, from which it now goes downhill through the Druseltal back to Bad Wilhelmshöhe .

history

Today's Hercules Mountain Prize was held for the first time from 1923 to 1927 under the name Hercules Mountain Race . Well-known drivers such as Rudolf Caracciola , Carl Jörns , Karl Kappler and Adolf Rosenberger started on the race track from the Gutshof via Wilhelmshöhe Castle , the aqueduct and the cascade restaurant up to the Herkules , which was unsurfaced in the upper part and had an incline of almost 18 percent .

From 1951 to 1954, the Hercules Hill Climb was revived as the Hercules Mountain Ring Race . Up to 80,000 spectators watched the pure motorcycle races on a 4.3 km long circuit through the Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe.

Historic automobiles and motorcycles have been on the market since 2005. Initially organized on the traditional route starting from Wilhelmshöhe Castle via Aqueduct and Löwenburg , the hill climb was organized in 2011 and 2013 on a new race track starting from Wilhelmshöhe Castle via Tulpenallee , Nussallee and Ochsenallee because of the World Heritage advertising for the Bergpark . Since 2015, the Hercules Mountain Prize has been held on a race track that completely circles the Hercules .