Karlsruhe triangle race

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The Karlsruhe triangle race was one of the numerous racing events on temporary motorsport racing tracks that were set up on mostly public roads in Germany after the Second World War . The Karlsruhe triangle race was held on parts of the A 8 and A 5 at what is still known as the Karlsruhe triangle . In some sources the event is named after the Karlsruhe-Durlach district.

Routing

Karlsruhe triangle today
Karlsruhe Triangle (2013)

The start and finish of the 3.4 km long and counterclockwise route was shortly before the exit from the A 8 to the A 5 in the direction of Frankfurt. Shortly after entering the A5, the first hairpin turn (through the median ) was to the left in the opposite direction of the A5 towards Basel. After crossing under two bridges, the next hairpin bend led to the left on the opposite direction of the A 5 towards Frankfurt and from there directly back to the exit to the A 8 towards Stuttgart. The third and final links return was after passing under a bridge on the A8, shortly after passing a grandstand and the start and finish area in the opposite direction. So there was no real straight in the entire course of the route, but only three slight right-hand arcs in addition to the three left bends, similar to the Parabolika on the new Hockenheimring .

history

As early as the 1920s there was a race track in the Karlsruhe Wildlife Park, on which the racing driver Ernst Jakob Henne won his first motorcycle race in a BMW in May 1926 . At the end of the decade, however, the city authorities banned further game park races - the initial spark for the idea of ​​building the Hockenheimring in 1932. The highways, which were still very low- traffic after the Second World War, could be used relatively easily for racing events at times. However, in the emergency of the post-war period, the technical means such as barriers, safety devices, spectator seats and timekeeping were limited. As early as September 1946 there was a sports car race on the Karlsruhe triangular circuit; with around two dozen participants, including well-known racing drivers such as Karl Kling and Hans Stuck (both on BMW 328 ).

Typical of the races of that time was the use of pre-war cars by drivers known from pre-war times, some of whom had poorly restored their sports cars. At the first race event at the Karlsruhe triangle, around half of the participants were canceled. In the same year a motorcycle race took place here, in which BMW driver Georg Meier won the 500 cc class in July 1948 and Thomas Seppenhauser won the 600 cc sidecar class (also on a BMW).

No sports car race is recorded for 1947; only in 1948 was there another one in two classes, with Karl Kling winning the class up to 2000 cc as in 1946, this time on a Veritas RS (BMW conversion). Other sports car races have come down to us from 1949 and 1951, a motorcycle race from 1950, with the number of spectators estimated at around 50,000. After 1951 there were no more official races at the Karlsruhe triangle - apparently because of the increasing volume of traffic on the motorways.

Web links

Coordinates: 48 ° 58 ′ 23.7 "  N , 8 ° 26 ′ 18.8"  E