Berlin
A road that was a racetrack
Driving into west Berlin on the Autobahn 115, you'll pass an enormous, dilapidated grandstand.
If the surreal sight of it makes you feel, for a moment, as if you're hurtling along a race track rather than a highway, the fact is you more or less are.
Because the 'AVUS' - as the A115 is still known by most Berliners - was not only Europe's first custom-built motorway, but also a former racing circuit.


In 1936, the nearby Berlin 'Messe' or Exhibition Centre was completed, and the AVUS received a revamp, too.
An Art Deco-influenced control tower was added, and a new grandstand built alongside the motorway/racetrack. The circuit itself was also reconfigured, and for a short time became the fastest in the world.


Post-war, however, AVUS' fortunes as a racing venue steadily waned.
Now fully integrated within the German motorway system, it became increasingly difficult to re-route traffic during events, and from 1975 the site was only used twice a year for this purpose. Plagued, too, by mounting safety issues, the AVUS staged its last race in 1999.
Today, the control tower and and office building have been converted into a motel, and the grandstand, although a protected monument, slowly decays. Yet its spectator-less ranks of seating still provide one of Berlin's strangest sights as they loom into view on the edge of what's now just another motorway.
See also:
Classic car heaven
A Bauhaus palace of parking
A woodland bar for Berlin's bikers
Former AVUS control tower, now Motel AVUS: Halenseestraße 51 (intersection of the A115 and A100), 14055 Berlin
Former AVUS grandstand, near intersection of the A115 and A100, 14055 Berlin
AVUS speed cyclists bronze monument: Messedamm / Halenseestraße 14055 Berlin