The Fastest Race in the World - 1937 AVUS-Rennen - Assetto Corsa

they say nearly 400 000 spectators showed up in 1937 to watch the avis renin an open grand prix style race near berlin germany at the avis circuit the ava circuit first started holding grand prix racing in the 1920s and held the german grand prix on and off throughout the 1920s and 1930s the circuit itself really was a proving ground in the early days for speed it's literally a highway section that the cars travel down in a straight line for 10 kilometers or six miles or so do a turn and then come back the other direction in the early days it was absolutely one of the quickest tracks in the world and being that motorsport was really a way to test cars and reliability it was a great place to race but by the 1930s other circuits started popping up such as tripoli and the nordschleife and the circuit itself at avas had really lost some of its luster so the circuit was closed down for the 1936 season with one motive in mind let's make the quickest circuit in the world the germans wanted to reclaim the quickest grand prix cars the quickest circuits from the italians and so a massive banked corner was constructed on the north side of the circuit known affectionately as the wall of death this massive banked corner was constructed entirely out of brickwork and is banked at 43 degrees which to put it in perspective that's over 10 degrees higher than daytona speedway so when it was announced there would be an open grand prix race in 1937 around this high banked circuit everyone knew speeds were going to be high mercedes and auto union were the two main competitors for grand prix racing in germany in the 1930s and both developed special streamlined bodywork versions of their cars for this race in particular the auto union type c is one of the best pre-war grand prix cars available for assetto corsa but recently the streamlined version has become available as well and this is essentially the same car just with streamlined bodywork on top of it taking a look at it they just essentially covered every inch of the car with as smooth as metal as they could to get the air to flow over it nice and smooth and the mercedes team with the w125 did the same thing although they had some issues with the wheel covers actually causing the car to lift going down the straightaways and so for the race they removed those so both mercedes and auto union entered some streamlined and non-streamlined cars into the races here i think there were a couple maseratis as well but it really was an all-german show just to put on a show to see how fast german cars could go in a straight line and they could go really really fast these things topped out at over 240 miles an hour which is nearly 400 kilometers an hour as fast as a modern-day indy car hits on the straightaways at indianapolis but in 1937. if you think about that for a second this is crazy they raced with open cockpits leather or cloth helmets down these highways that just had exposed poles and different objects on the side of the road going 240 miles an hour with everything on the line so the race itself was a pretty huge success they were worried about the tires wearing and blowing because of the high speeds and tire wear actually was a big issue in 1937 so it was run in in the case of a couple heats and then a finale race and in the finale hermann lang won that race at an average speed of 171 miles an hour which stood as the fastest average lap speed over a course of a race until i think 1985 at the indianapolis 500 so an absolute high point as far as technology goes with racing uh in the 1930s and it was quite a number of years before this type of performance was matched we all know it happened right after 1937 of course but it's still a very interesting thing to read about and just to see the technology that was in place at this time so because the car is available for a set of corsa i wanted to try to take this out on the track and i've assembled a shortish grid which represents pretty much what ran uh at the 1937 avis renin we've got a few 125s unfortunately no streamlined version we have three i'll be driving one of them but three of the streamlined auto union c's then i have a couple of the non-streamlined version as well which also ran so i'm gonna do three laps around the circuit um it's a very interesting or not interesting circuit depending on how you look at it so i think three laps would be a sweet spot it's pretty long lap anyway but let's get started with this let's see if i can hold on for three laps around ivas in the 1937 streamlined auto union type c alright so here we are at the back of the all silver grid short grid of cars lights are up out we're underway smoke from the cars in front will just slowly ease off the line getting squeezed in the middle there these cars are geared to go ultra fast so they're not graceful off the line but there we go picking up speed trying to see if the non-slip streamed out of union here pulls out in front able to do so we're actually a little slower right off the line in the slipstream cars just because they're a bit heavier but once we get going get up to third gear here we should obviously be quicker my compatriot they're pulling in front of me i'll let them squeeze up there follow them past the non-slip stream version you can see them side by side get up to fourth gear then top gear hitting 200 miles an hour as we head down the circuit basically on a public highway or that's really what it is come through a gentle right-hander there it's all flat out and straight we'll come up on this non-slip stream how to union switch lanes with them pretty sure you're not supposed to pass on the right side but make an exception here and this is pretty much avis it's flat out it's a little scary passing cars there's some bumps here and there you gotta be careful for but ultimately it's just hold that pedal down and go however it's punctuated by two very sketchy sections we're coming up on the first one now which is the south curve or the such life as it was called and it's just so hard to get these cars slowed down so i really need to make sure i hit that braking zone i'm just looking for a hay bale there it is on the right side and right as i get to that i want to basically stomp on the brakes get the gears down all right there we go down to third gear get it down a second you see here the tires lock up as i try to squeeze on the brakes down to first oh just slow it down there we go just guide the car around well almost a lazy spin there everybody's quite slow now get back on the accelerator dab of smoke in front from the mercedes slipping gear a little bit there but now back on the north we're headed north oh all right so the corners at each end of the circuit are worth the price of admission just worth i guess your pay to be able to get through in these cars these cars are tricky enough on a normal type of circuit where you've got a corner and break a lot but when your usage is going flat out and you're over 200 miles an hour it's so hard to get them slowed down enough but we'll head up the north side now and it's actually a bit faster on this side i think just because we're headed downhill maybe not able to quite hit that 240 though that these cars were claimed to have hit in the real race 221 miles an hour that's plenty fast looks like i'm gaining on the group in front will come through as a little bit of a left-hander but more importantly this hill here which is a little sketchy bounce over that the car does love to understeer at a high speed all right in the slipstream though of the one two fives unfortunately they don't have that slipstream bodywork we'll pass one of them we're coming up i can see the garages on the left and that's pretty much my braking zone or breaking marker for the northern turn all right get it down to third gear oh try not to lock up the brakes and just guide it on through sketchy right hander don't want to run wide there but now come to the wall of death and i don't want to enter this at much more than 120 miles an hour i've found oh even then just over the lines they thankfully painted the guide you oh there we go back on to the south side of the circuit complete the first lap i think he wants a second already not too bad i think i'm chasing rossa meyer who unfortunately lost his life he was one of the stars of the german racing scene talked about him a little bit on fiascioli crashing out there retiring at least getting up to fourth gear rosso meyer the car in front of me he was one of the stars of the german racing scene throughout the 1930s and he actually had something to do with this race being cancelled for 1938 amongst other things but he uh died in a testing accident trying to hit an ultra top speed i think in a car very similar to this i put a little bit of a damper on the whole program so we'll see if i can catch him but we'll come down to the self curve again and just really can't help break myself there's not a lot you can do if you find yourself braking too late it's the easiest way to get into trouble with these cars 205 miles an hour though alone in 1937 it's insane speed all right i can see the trees coming up in the middle so just look out for that hay bale on the right side there they are you just see them now right at the first one can't break my own rules down to third gear hopefully down a second before this right-hander just slow the car down locking the brakes so much would not be good for the tires oh gonna almost lazy spin there well there we go rosso meyer kicking up a little smoke as he gets back on the accelerator the ai are very good at accelerating these cars luckily didn't have to play around with him too much to get him to slow down but i love how you can see the cars coming towards you on the other side oh and herman lang out of the race so the real winner out of the race as well not many cars left then i think we started with eight all right up to fourth gear then headed north i can just see rossemeyer i don't know if he'll be on the video overall this version of davos is it's not too bad i think it was originally made for our factory and it's been converted of course like like the car as well uh to acetyl corsa and it's it's all right it's showing its age i think the biggest problem is it doesn't have the same atmosphere i think this race had in 1937. it was look at some pictures of it and i recommend googling davis ren in 1937. the crowds are insane and they're everywhere i don't think on this section but especially around the north curve the death wall the crowds are just so deep and honestly you don't see anything like that today i mean even indianapolis doesn't really come close and just how that looks all right i can see the garage is there on the left though so that's where i started slowing down a little bit just don't go too fast pitch the car in pretty good there through that right-hander almost scare myself every time i go through there but now on to the big north curve oh the bricks bumpy luckily modeled into the sim ross meyer kicking up some smoke so we'll come to the line start the final lap i think i'm a little closer now so one lap to go we got crashiola behind me nine seconds though so plenty plenty not to worry about behind all right up to fourth and this circuit was actually raced after 1937. there's some shots of formula one cars going around that corner in the 50s so it was revisited after the war and everything which is quite cool but this was really the pinnacle of the whole german engineering thing leading up to the second world war and how the government was just pumping money into these car manufacturers to build just cars that demonstrated how powerful germany was and i talked about it in the donington 1937 grand prix video i did but these cars were just so much more advanced than anything that the italians or the british were turning out and even if these cars exact cars raced in the 1950 f1 season you know some almost 15 years later they still would have been competitive if not quicker all right we'll come towards the self curve though love this weather pattern too the sun dips in and out of the clouds makes it tricky to see at some stages getting very dark now but here we go here's a hay bale just jump on the brakes nose dips down a bit get it down to second gear before i turn off and this part of the circuit's one of the most different i think from pictures oh locking up the brakes there try to get back on that throttle as soon as i can without spinning the car out just catching the oversteer i don't know if i'll have it in the carts to catch rossa meyer he's just a little quicker in a straight line and there's not enough corners for me to out out turn him but that corner especially you'll see pictures from it and there's basically a carnival going on alongside the circuit you also see spectators just right up on the edge of the tarmac there are some of the auto unions down the left side there very cool a couple more the spectators are just lining the circuit and they're not no safety nothing separating the cars from them pretty wild times for many reasons but cool to experience even a little bit i thought about doing this a while back when i was first looking at these 1937 cars and i'm glad i waited for one of the slipstream ones to come out i hope more 30s type cars come out for a set of corsa and other sims really it's a really cool era of technology kind of the cars are hard to drive so a lot of folks don't quite relate to them or they'll take them out for a quick spin because they look cool but then can't can't handle it but if you learn the quirks they're quite rewarding to drive here we come up to the garages there on the left so that's where i'll break let's jump off the accelerator down to third gear just lightly on the brakes any more than half application in the car will lock up get on the throttle a little earlier than you think you can but now into the death wall one last time you can see rossemeyer in front of me there so not able to catch rossa meyer but not a bad person to come in second to a little bit of powerslide there out of the north curve so not the most exciting circuit to race in a sim but crazy stuff to read about just the events surrounding and how the auto manufacturers built these specific cars for this event and cool to experience it a little bit in a sim just to see what it was all about i love this era of motorsport like i was saying and the more i read about the 1930s with racing it's just so interesting what was going on at the time in the world and what car manufacturers and things were doing to turn out the quickest cars when the automobile really wasn't that old overall so hope you enjoyed this it'd be fun to do a little more exploration this time period i want to see what other circuits and stories are out there for me to uncover but that's all for this one so thank you for watching and i'll see you all again next time now this you

Channel: GPLaps

Views: 639,132

Keywords: streamliners, avus, auto union type c, mercedes w125, bernd rosemeyer, herman lang, wall of death, german grand prix, 1937 avusrennen, assetto corsa, prewar, lets play, papyrus nascar, nascar, champshiop, part 1, livestream, dale earnhart, dale earnheart, gpl, GPL, wet, formula, formula 1, iracing, rfactor, sim racing, jim clark, ayrton senna, fast, commentary, f12020, classic racing sim, vintage, classic, classic race sims, avus grand prix

Id: 1wm-ZNYuFz0

Length: 19min 2sec (1142 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 03 2021