Blade ring
The blade ring in its original form was a course set up for the 1954 road cycling world championships . The route was about 15 km long.
Blade ring mountain award
From 1966 to 1984 the "Bergpreis zu Solingen" or the "Klingenring mountain race " was held by the petrol foxes Solingen e. On the 2nd or 3rd weekend in September (2 exceptions) on a section of today's L 427 between Wupperhof and Orth V. organizes.
The originally 2.2 km long route is still passable for normal traffic today. The length of the route was shortened in the following years to 2.15 km and 2.1 km and finally 1.8 km. With the shortening of the route, the difference in altitude also changed from an initial 147 m to 125 m with a gradient of up to 7%. The track width increased from 6 m to 8 m.
The first race took place on the weekend of October 15 and 16, 1966. 99 entries were made and 82 starters were rated. Had won Jürgen Neuhaus in his Porsche Carrera 6 with 2: 51.4 minutes. The course record for the individual run was 1: 22.10 minutes.
Well-known participants were, for example, Jürgen Neuhaus , Rolf Stommelen and Herbert Stenger . Well-known drivers from the region also took part, such as Willi Bergmeister and Uwe Reich .
In 1971 Udo Hoffmann had a serious accident who died a few days later. He was off the track, hit a tree and then in his Opel Manta A pinched. Because of this accident and a complaint from a local resident, there was no race in 1972.
Blade ring today
The blade ring has not been used for mountain races since 1984 . Even if there are initiatives that are committed to revitalizing this route, the future remains uncertain. Hill climbs are currently no longer held in North Rhine-Westphalia .
literature
- Klingenring-Bergpreis Volume 1, Andreas Seidel, 2016
- Klingenring-Bergpreis Volume 2, Andreas Seidel, 2017
Web links
Motorsport: The 2.1 kilometers from Witzhelden
Coordinates: 51 ° 7 '53.2 " N , 7 ° 5' 22.3" E