History of Formula 1 - Great Racing Circuits Great Racing Circuits Unique & Limited Gallery Many of the greatest racing circuits exist only in dim memory brought back to life in the flickering images of old newsreels, Victims to a stronger emphasis an both driver and spectator safety, economic or even political upheaval. The ever increasing speeds of modern race cars have made many of these classic tracks obsolete even though la Sarthe, Monza and Monaco live on some of their character has been emasculated with the addition of artificial chicanes. New circuits in emerging commercial markets have been built with little thought to local interest with World TV being the final arbitrator. Holding a major race such as a Formula One Grand Prix has become a way for nations to promote their countries prowess even in the face of their own automotive industry's limited accomplishments.As antidote we bring you the great circuits of Grand Prix Racing. The name of the trace is actually the initials of the proper name; Automobil Verkehrs und Ubungs Strasse which translates roughly to Automobile Traffic and Practice Street. In 1907 the Kaiserlicher Automobilclub (KAC) association devised a fee-financed circuit, as both a motor-sport venue and a testing track for the motor industry.

However, a lack of finances and official authorizations delayed the start of construction until spring 1913. Work was halted during WWI and was not completed until 1921. The track was composed of two two-lane roads each 9.78 km (6.08 miles) separated by an 8 meter (26 ft) grass median strip. At the south end was a chicane while at the north end was a wide-radius loop later rebuilt with a 43 degree banking. In comparison the banking at Daytona International Speedway never exceeds 31 degrees! With a vertical concrete retaining wall at the top of the banking this was definitely a corner that would separate the men from the boys. The circuit was open to the public at a charge of ten Marks but it's doubtful if the actual banking was accessible. On 11 July 1926 the track played host to the first international German Grand Prix for sports cars. The race was won by a then unknown Mercedes-Benz car salesman by the name of Rudolf Caracciola.

Because of the track's close proximity to Berlin, crowds in access of 300,000 would attend the major races of which none were greater than the AVUS-Rennen where both major German teams of the 30s would compete. The 1935 AVUS-Rennen saw the debut by Auto Union new boy Bernd Rosemeyer, the first automobile race for the young German of any type. No race was held in 1936 as the banking on the North Curve was increased to 43 degrees. Herman Lang's winning 1937 race average in a Mercedes Gran Prix car was not bested at Indianapolis until 1967 by A.J. Foyt! Length: 19.29 km (11.98 miles) Fastest Lap: B. Rosemeyer (1937) - 4 min. 4.2 sec. 284.31 km/h (176.7 mph) Bremgarten was built as a motorcycle racing track in 1931 in a large park within the Bremgartenwald (Bremgarten forest) in the north-west of Bern.

The circuit itself had no true straight, instead being a collection of high-speed corners. It hosted its first automobile race in 1934, which claimed the life of driver Hugh Hamilton. Because of the Swiss ban on motor racing after the tragedy at Le Mans in1955 the Swiss Grand Prix is no longer being held but in the 30's it was considered one of the premier tracks in the world, a real drivers circuit. Situated in a forest and located North - West of Bern it was scene of many great battles and was the brainchild of a certain Monsieur Huber. A special signaling area had to be built on the inside of the track due to the distance of the actual pits.From the outset, Bremgarten's tree-lined roads, often poor light conditions and changes in road surface made for what was acknowledged to be a very dangerous circuit, especially in the wet. It was inevitable that during that era the race was dominated by the German teams and their drivers with the winners including Bernd Rosemeyer for Auto Union and Mercedes drivers Rudolf Caracciola and Hermann Lang.

Prior to the previous race at Monza, Auto Union's Achille Varzi had gone missing and team members were dispatched to go and look for him in Rome. He then duly showed up for the Swiss race but now it was clear that there was something seriously wrong with the Italian ace. While Varzi was on the circuit practicing for the 1936 Swiss Grand Prix, Auto Union team manager Dr. Feuereissen made an secret inspection of Varzi's hotel room finding both Varzi's mistress Ilse Pietsch as well as drugs in the room. Varzi would still finish second in the race but his career continued it's downward spiral. Caracciola was a Bremgarten specialist and won there three times but in 1952 he was seriously injured driving a Mercedes 300 SL sportscar during a support race prior to the Grand Prix which effectively ended his racing career. His brakes locked up going into a corner and the car skidded off the road and hit a tree.. The track had already claimed the life of another great driver of the 1930s, Achille Varzi dying in an accident in 1948 during practice at the wheel of an Alfa Romeo.

In the race Italian driver Piero Taruffi scored his only win in a World Championship race, driving for Ferrari. Length: 7.28 km (4.52 miles) Fastest Lap: B. Rosemeyer (1936) - 2 min. 34.5 sec. 170.0 km/h (105.64 mph) The Masaryk Ring near Brno at slightly more than 18 miles was the longest circuit used in Grand Prix racing during the 30's. The site of the Czech Grand Prix was named after their founding President Thomas Garrigue Masaryk. Half the circuit used the national highway and the other half was on local district roads. Starting on the south-western outskirts of Brno itself, the course ran anti-clockwise up to the hills and through the villages of Kohoutovice and Žebět�n, through a series of hairpin bends to Ostrovačice and then a series of long straights and fast kinks to the next village, Bosonohy. After dodging the houses and shops through a series of fast bends, the course headed along the main road back to Brno.

The automobile races were organized by the Ceskoslovensky Automobilovy Klub pro Moravu a Slezsko. The first race was won by the German driver Hermann zu Leiningen in his Bugatti, with Louis Chiron taking the next three victories Prior to the 1934 race a local mechanic/driver, Josef Br�zdil found himself in jail. Louis Chiron appealed to the authorities to release Br�zdil so he could take part in the Grand Prix, returning to jail after the race. Early on Friday morning before the track was officially closed for practice, Br�zdil, who had gained his temporary freedom went out with his Maserati and disappeared. On his very first practice lap his car hit a tree and Br�zdil was thrown out and died from a broken spine. An investigation into the accident found no sign of braking or any problems with the car, and astonishingly ruled the crash a suicide! The race itself seemed almost like an anti-climax and was won by Hans Stuck driving an Auto Union. The following year the race would see Bernd Rosemeyer win his first race also in an Auto Union. Because of the length of the circuit crowd control was problematical.

In 1937 Herman Lang lost control and crashed into a crowd of spectators who were standing in a prohibited area. Two spectators were killed and 12 others were left injured. The organizers suggested to Mercedes team manger, Alfred Neubauer that he get Lang out of the country as quickly as possible before his driver got arrested pending an investigation. Length: 29.14 km (18.10 miles) Fastest Lap: R. Caracciola (1937) - 11 min. 59.3 sec. 145.9 km/h (90.66 mph) "For days on end I went over the avenues of the Principality until I hit on the only possible circuit. This skirted the port, passing along the quay and the Boulevard Albert Premier, climbed the hill of Monte Carlo, then passed round the Place du Casino, took the downhill zig-zag near Monte Carlo Station to get back approximately to sea level and from there, along the Boulevard Louis II and the Tir aux Pigeons tunnel, the course came back to the port quayside. Today, the roads comprising this circuit look as though they were made for the purpose.

But then!" This is how the birth of the famous round-the-house circuit was described by cigarette magnate Anthony Noghes, Founder-President of the Automobile Club de Monaco took place in 1928. The first race, held on 14 April 1929 and was won by William Grover-Williams driving a Bugatti. In 1934 the Monaco Grand Prix was one of the first races to award grid positions based on qualifying times rather than a lottery. Heavy rain in 1936 contributed to a series of accidents, while a broken oil line on the Alfa Romeo of Mario Tadini led to so many wrecks in the chicane out of the tunnel it was almost impassable. The Mercedes-Benzes of Chiron, Fagioli, and von Brauchitsch, as well as the Auto Union of newcomer Bernd Rosemeyer were all eliminated. Tazio Nuvolari in the Alfa Romeo 8C benefited from the chaos, only to suffer brake fade, and Rudolf Caracciola went on to win for Mercedes followed by the Auto Unions of Varzi and Hans Stuck.

1937 saw a fierce battle between Mercedes Benz drivers von Brauchitsch and Caracciola after the former driver had ignored team orders and won the race over his more senior team member. The race was run until 1938 before experiencing an eleven year hiatus because of money and political problems. 1970 saw any chance of a race win falling away lap after lap yet Rindt driving his Lotus on the ragged edge it seemed certain that he must crash. Rindt would later remark that he had never driven a car faster than that day and hoped he would never have to again. Still there seemed no chance for victory but as stated earlier other factors were hard at work. With four laps to go Brabham was still nine seconds in front but on lap 77 he encountered Jo Siffert�s weaving March as he attempted to find the last drops of fuel to make it back to the pits. Five seconds were lost before Brabham was able to make his way past.

The gap was now 2.4 seconds and Brabham sensing that things were getting a little dicey increased the gap the next time around by 2 seconds as Rindt loss time in one of his many near-misses with the Armco. Rindt then matched Brabham�s fastest lap of 1m24.4s with his own time of 1m23.3s. It was now the final lap and at Tabac, Brabham came upon three backmarkers and had to struggle to get pass. Rindt just behind forced his way through and was now just behind the leader but still it seemed impossible that he could get past, another lap maybe but not now. Approaching the Gasworks hairpin Brabham came upon the slow moving de Tamaso of Piers Courage. Left or right � all seemed closed off. Brabham for an instant thought of following the stricken car through and had he done so all might have been different but fearing that Rindt was closer than he actually was decided to pass but by then he had missed his braking point and in an instant he was in the straw bales as Rindt flashed past.

Rindt could actually be seen looking across at Brabham and shaking his head in disbelief. The next scene saw the famous cap thrown in the air signifying another win by one of Chapman�s cars. The race, still largely unchanged is now the most prestigious event on the Formula One calendar. "It's difficult to say why he was so special, but he had such a charisma, you know, with his cap, his moustache and his sense of humour. He would sit in the sun, enjoying a beer and when the fans came he would listen to them all and have a joke with everybody. Even the French were charmed by him, and you know sometimes we are not so good with humour." Rosie Bernard, proprietor of the legendary Rosie's Bar, Monaco describing Graham Hill five-time winner of the race. Length: 3.18 km (1.98 miles) Fastest Lap: R. Caracciola (1937) - 1 min. 46.5 sec.

107.49 km/h (66.79 mph) Industrialist Alexandre Lamblin hired Ren� Jamin to design the 2,548.24 metres (1.58�mi) oval shaped track for up to 1,000�kg (2,205�lb) vehicles at 220�km/h (140�mph). It was initially called Autodrome parisien, and had especially high banking. A road circuit was added in 1925. The first race, the French Grand Prix, was held on 26th of July, organized by The Automobile Club de France Grand Prix. It was a race in which Robert Benoist in a Delage won; Antonio Ascari died in an Alfa Romeo P2. The Grand Prix revisited the track in 1927 and each year between 1931 and 1937. In 1939 the track was sold to the government, deprived of maintenance, and again sold to Union technique de l�automobile et du cycle (UTAC) in December 1946.

The first race, the 1925 French Grand Prix, was held on 26 July 1925 and organized by the Automobile Club de France. Robert Benoist in a Delage won; but Antonio Ascari died in a crash of his Alfa Romeo P2. France, the birthplace of motor sport, was now behind the Italians and the resurgent Germans in the Grand Prix pecking order. In an effort to reverse their fortunes the French government instituted the Prix du Million to encourage constructors to build new cars. The prize was a million francs to be awarded to the French car and driver winning a race against the clock at the famed Montlh�ry circuit. For the speed attempt Dreyfus drove a specially prepared Delahaye. The peculiar rules stated that the car must do 200 kilometers at an average speed of at least 146 km/h from a standing start. The difference in this race over others was that only the clock was your opponent and the clock never made a mistake. Everyday that summer they tested and when the day finally came there was a large crowd including reporters from all of the major newspapers.

After the standing start there would be no turning back without a tremendous loss of face. He was off - faster and faster he drove trying to raise the average speed to the magic number. By mid distance he was there, but on lap 13 disaster struck. The Dunlop tires were showing the white warning strip and the Dunlop man was gesturing for Dreyfus to abandon the attempt. Nothing could stop Dreyfus now, he had come too far. On lap sixteen the flag fell and the deed was done. See more at: Length: 12.492 km (7.762 mi) Fastest Lap: L. Chiron (1934) - 5 min. 6 sec. 147.0 km/h (91.3 mph) Built in 1922 by the Milan Automobile Club it allowed Milan to wrest control of the Italian Grand Prix from the rival club in Brescia. Situated in an old royal park in the town of Monza just north of Milan.

Work began on May 15th with completion date set for August 15th: 3,500 workers, 200 wagons, 30 lorries, and a narrow gauge railway 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) long with 2 locomotives and 80 cars were employed. The autodrome was completed in the record time of 110 days. The circuit incorporates a banked speed bowl with 13 grandstands facing the main straight. 1924 saw a dominating victory of the Alfa Romeo team and their new P2 with Antonio Ascari leading four other Alfas to victory with the veteran driver Louis Wagner coming in second. During much of its life it was famous for close slip-streaming racing but in 1934 it was temporarily shortened with new chicanes added in the hopes of favoring the Italian teams over the new German race cars. This was all to no avail as the German teams won the next five races with Nuvolari scoring the final victory before the beginning of WWII driving and Auto Union. The Grand Prix cars would not return to Monza until 1949.

In 1957-58 they held a race they called The Race of Two Worlds. The 500 Miglia Di Monza was meant to be a contest between ten of the best of the Old World against an equal number from the New World. The race utilized the banked portion of the track leading to concerns among the European drivers that flat-out racing on the banking would be too dangerous, and ultimately only the Ecurie Ecosse and Maserati represented European teams. The American teams had brought special Firestone tyres with them which were reinforced to withstand high-speed running on the bumpy Monza surface, and the race was dominated by the Americans who showed their experience and the fact that their cars were meant for this type of racing, taking the first three places with Jimmy Bryan taking the victory and the prize of $26,801, an enormous amount of money for a European event. In 1971 the fans at Monza were treated to one of the closest Formula One battles of the modern era. Heading towards the Parabolica, the last corner, François Cevert had victory in his sights, leading Ronnie Peterson with Peter Gethin up to third.

Eyes lighting up with the prospect of victory, Peterson threw his March down the inside of Cevert's Tyrrell, taking the place but forcing both cars slightly wide. As Cevert and Peterson scrambled for grip, Gethin pounced, positioning the BRM perfectly to blast past both his rivals on the run to the line. Gethin somehow found time to raise his fist as he crossed the line, leading home a blurring flash of cars � Gethin, Peterson, Cevert, Mike Hailwood � all covered by 0.2 seconds, with Ganley a further 0.4 seconds back. Across 25 lead changes, the eight separate leaders set a record that stands to this day, and Gethin's winning margin stood at 0.01 seconds � the smallest possible margin given the timing system of the time. It remains a record for closest finish by time between first and second, but also from first to third (0.09s), first to fourth (0.18s) and first to fifth (0.61s). Length: 6.99 km (4.35 miles) Fastest Lap: T.

Nuvolari (1938) - 2 min. 34.2 sec. 163.26 km/h (101.44 mph) The origins of the Nurburgring can be traced back to the Kaiserpreis in 1907. After the success of this inaugural race it was felt that Germany needed its own permanent circuit to be competitive with the French who dominated racing in the beginning of the century. A location in the Eifel Mountains near the town of Adenau was selected as a means of alleviating the crippling unemployment in the Coblenz-Cologne region. World War I intruded and the project never got beyond the planning stages. After the war it was revived as a way to bring tourist and employment to an area of the country that was in desperate need of both. The organizers were led by a Councillor for the Eifel District, Dr Otto Creutz.

The original plan as conceived by Dr Creutz was for a 28.27 km (17.56 miles) circuit consisting of two loops, a Sudschleife 7.75 km (4.81 miles) and a Nordschleife 22.8 km (14.17 miles). With the support of the government a veritable army of 25,000 construction workers built a course with 172 corners. With 88 left-handers and 84 right-handers the circuit rose from 310 m (1017 ft) above sea level to 616 m (2020 ft) at the start / finish line. A massive pit, grandstand and paddock complex was constructed. The paddock contained 70 garages similar to Gasoline Alley at Indianapolis. The entire complex cost a staggering 14.1 million Reichmarks.

On September 27th 1925, Dr Fuchs, Supreme President of the Rhineland laid the foundation stone for the "first German mountain and essay track" and within two years 150,000 fans saw the inaugural race and the legend of the Nurburgring began. The well known British journalist W.F. Bradley would remark, "The dominating impression is that a drunken giant was allowed to reel around the Eifel mountains, and then road contractors followed in his tracks". The sharpest corner on the circuit is the Karussell with a radius of 32m (105ft). The track climbs steeply uphill to the Karussell and at the exit of the 180 degree corner the road continues climbing to Hohe-Acht. The corners's banked section used today was originally an unpaved drainage ditch with the circuit running above the ditch. Legend has it that prior to the 1931 German Grand Prix Mercedes-Benz mechanics Wilhelm Sebastian and Willi Zimmer drove Rudolph Caracciola�s racing car on the unpaved banked ditch. After checking the ground clearance they discovered the quickest way around the corner was to use the drainage ditch.

Sebastian informed Caracciola who used the information to win the grand prix. It wasn't long before other drivers were using the drainage ditch and it was soon paved over to become the standard line through the corner. In 1966 rising star Jacky Ickx entering his first Grand Prix at the N�rburgring driving a Matra MS5-Cosworth 1-litre F2 car, entered by Ken Tyrrell. qualified third on the grid, behind only two more powerful 1.5-litre F1 cars. As Ickx was racing in the separate F2 class, he started the race behind all of the F1 cars, but within four laps of the 28 km circuit he was up to fifth place, having overtaken twelve F1 cars. Length: 22.80 km (14.17 miles) (Nordschleife) Fastest Lap: H. Lang (1939) - 9 min. 52.2 sec.

138.5 km/h (86.06 mph) Set into an Austrian Styrian foothills in , the Osterreichring has gone down in F1 folklore as one of the sport's most exciting circuits. Dramatic elevation changes and super-fast sweeping curves made it a real drivers' circuit and the small run-off areas and ludicrously-narrow pit straight made it exceptionally dangerous. Most dangerous of all was the 180 degree Bosch-Kurve, where close barriers all the way around the outside loomed ominously to punish the slightest mistake. At the start of the lap drivers immediately faced a steep climb that led to Hella Licht, a blind right-hander over a brow taken at close to top speed. The cars then proceeded at full speed along the side of a hill towards a fast and banked right-hander at the Dr Tiroche-Kurve, where the track almost doubled back on itself, and they then crested the brow of a hill and reached the fastest part of the track before a downhill approach to the Bosch-Kurve.

Austrian Gerhard Berger once noted that at this point of the �sterreichring track while on a qualifying lap in the heights of the sport's turbo era with 1400 bhp behind him 'you felt like you were sitting on a rocket'. The Bosch-Kurve was a long and plunging downhill right-hander, where a barrier and a grandstand awaited on the outside for those who got it wrong. Following this, now on the downhill leg of the track, there was the Texaco-Schikane, which was not actually a chicane in the modern sense. Then another brow, and another downhill plunge to the fast Rindt-Kurve, another banked 180 degree turn with little leeway for error. The �sterreichring was popular with drivers as well as local spectators who would be joined by the tifosi from across the border in Italy. As the grid formed up for the 1975 race, there were reports of rain at the far side of the track. Thunderclouds were forming ominously and the cars were returned to the pits to change to wet tyres.

Austrian Niki Lauda led off from pole followed by James Hunt and Patrick Depailler who had shot up from the fourth row. Before the end of the first lap Vittorio Brambilla had shot through the spray to gain a magnificent third place, with Ronnie Peterson leaping from tenth to fourth. By lap 15 Hunt had passed into the lead as Lauda began to fade but with an engine operating on only 8 cylinders he was soon being challenged by Brambilla's March. Passing some backmarkers Brambilla seized the lead. With conditions only getting worse the race was called on lap 29. As Brambilla took the chequered flag, he crashed into the barriers but was able to extricate his damaged car! Brambilla, the oldest driver in the race at 37, had won his first and only Grand Prix. Length: 5.911 km (3.673 miles) Fastest Lap: N. Lauda (1975) - 1 min. 34.85 sec.

224.29 km/h (139.37 mph) The longest and probably most dangerous circuit in Formula One history held just one championship grand prix in 1957. The layout consisted of two long straights joining the towns of Capelle, Monte Silvano and Pescara as well as a wild ride through the Abruzzo hills, a mile of which was on cliff-top roads with 500 foot drops to one side. The circuit was used by manufactures in Italy to test their motor bicycles, motorcycles and cars. In 1924 the course hosted the first Coppa Acerbo automobile race named after Tito Acerbo, the brother of Giacomo Acerbo, a prominent fascist politician. Following Italy's defeat in World War II, and the consequent demise of fascism, the race was renamed the Circuito di Pescara, and in some years was also referred to as the Gran Premio di Pescara.

The first race was won by a then-unknown junior driver by the name of Enzo Ferrari driving and Alfa Romeo and from then on a victory in the Coppa Acerbo was considered a victory above all others and was dominated in the early years by home-grown cars and drivers, chief amongst these was Alfa Romeo which won seven of the first nine races. Alfa Romeo's domination of the race came to an end with the introduction of the 750 kg Grand Prix regulations in 1934, a race that was also marked by tragedy when Guy Moll, one of the most promising young drivers of the day, was killed. Fagioli would take a somber victory for Mercedes. Germany's Silver Arrow teams of Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union would come to eclipse all their rivals for the next five years. During the 1952-53 seasons when F2 cars were run in the World Championship the organizers of the Automobile Club of pescara decided to organize a sportscar race, the 12 Ore di Pescara which was won by Ferrari in both years.

Finally on 18 August 1957 a Formula One motor race was held on the circuit which was won by Stirling Moss driving a Vanwall in front of 200,000 spectators. Ferrari had decided not to participate in protest to the Italian government's proposal to ban road racing. Describing the circuit 40 years later in Richard Williams' The Last Road Race, Moss said of Pescara: "I thought it was fantastic. It was just like being a kid out for a burn-up. A wonderful feeling. What racing's all about." Length: 25.80 km (16.03 miles) Fastest Lap: A. Varzi (1935) - 10 min. 35 sec. 146.25 km/h (90.9 mph) The Reims circuit was used for the first time in 1925 for the inaugural Grand Prix de la Marne organized by the Automobile Club of Champagne. Thirteen years later the Automobile Club of France used it for the French Grand Prix; it held F1 races between 1950 and 1966.

Reims included a massive permanent grandstand as well as permanent pits that were unmatched in their day. The triangular course utilized the Route Nationale No 31 before reaching a very tight right-hander onto the finish line straight then downhill again to the village of Gueux. Right turn and uphill the cars would race towards Garenne. Reims competed yearly for the honour of being the fastest road course in Europe, with its two long straights (approximately 2.2 km in length each) they allowed maximum straight-line speed, resulting in many famous slipstream battles. The first Formula 1race held on the circuit saw Juan Manuel Fangio put in a stunning display with a 116 mph practice lap. In 1953 the circuit was the scene of what is popularly known as the "Race of the Century" because of the sixty lap battle between Briton Mike Hawthorn and the Argentinean Fangio. Hawthorn won the duel after they reportedly swapped the lead at virtually every corner on the Reims circuit. In addition, after 500 km of racing, the four lead cars were less than 5 seconds apart.

On July 4, 1954 Germany reemerged as an international automobile racing power. Mercedes Benz rejoined Formula One motor racing after a fifteen year absence, sweeping the 1954 French Grand Prix in futuristic new streamlined Silver Arrows cars. As if they had never left the Mercedes of Fangio and Kling finished the French Grand Prix in nose-to-tail formation as per team orders, more than a lap ahead of the third-placed Ferrari. No history of Reims would be complete without some mention of Toto Roche, the flamboyant local race official. Invariably it was Roche who held the starter's flag and his technique was to give the start at any time after the 30 second board. This meant that the drivers had to keep their cars in gear for over half a minute. Racing cars are not designed to be held on the clutch with no air passing through the radiators for that length of time. Roche's "piece of resistance" was to give the starting signal while standing in the middle of the road. It must have crossed the mind of more than one driver to start the race with a French hood ornament were it not the damage it would have caused their race.

Length: 7.83 km (4.86 miles) Fastest Lap: H. Lang (1939) - 2 min. 32.9 sec. 182.46 km/h (113.38 mph) From its opening in 1950, Rouen-Les-Essarts was recognized as one of Europe's finest circuits, with modern pits, a wide track, and spectator grandstands. The circuit (which originally ran on public roads) had a few medium straights, a cobbled hairpin turn (Nouveau Monde) at the southernmost tip, and a few blind corners through a wooded hillside The appeal was greatly enhanced by the downhill start to the climb from Nouveau Monde at 56 metres to Gresil at 149 metres. The circuit had a number of different configurations. From its construction in 1950 until 1954 it was 5.1�km (3.2�mi) in length. In 1955 major works increased the circuit's length to 6.542�km (4.065�mi), its most famous configuration.

In 1952 World Championship promoters switched their races for the next two years to Formula 2 cars and the Ferrari of Alberto Ascari won the Grand Prix that year leading a Ferrari 1-2-3. Non-championship races were held for the next two years before the French Grand Prix returned in 1957. In 1964, American Dan Gurney won driving a Porsche 804, the only F1 victory ever claimed by the Porsche as a chassis builder. Gurney would repeat his victory two years later now driving a Brabham. Rouen hosted five Formula One French Grand Prix races, the last one in 1968 resulting in the tragic death of Jo Schlesser in a Honda, at the fast downhill Six Frères curve. Spectators claimed that they heard the engine cut out at the worst possible moment for the popular local French driver he car slid wide and crashed sideways into a bank. Construction of a new Autoroute across the circuit saw a new section of track built and the length of the circuit reduced to 5.543 km (3.444 mi).

Finally, in 1974 a permanent chicane was built at Six Fr�res and this part of the circuit was renamed Des Roches. The circuit continued to host major Formula 2 events until 1978, after which it was used for various French Championships. The circuit was closed down in 1994 due to economic and safety reasons, since it is very hard to organize a race on public roads if modern safety standards are to be met. Length: 6.542 km (4.065 mi) Fastest Lap: J. Rindt (1968) - 1 min. 56.1 sec. 202.85 km/h (126.047 mph) Rivaling Indianapolis as the most famous racing circuit in the world, Le Mans can undoubtedly lay claim to the distinction of hosting the most famous race in the world. The 24 Heures Du Mans has been an annual institution since 1923, the only interruption coming in 1936 (due to the poor state of the economy) and from 1940 to 1948 (World War 2).

Racing had been held in the Le Mans area by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) since 1906, but the familiar layout we see today derives from a 10.71 mile course from Pontlieue to Mulsanne and Arnage, first used in 1921. The circuit rose to international prominence thanks to the 24 Hour race, the origins of which can be traced back to a letter received by Georges Durand, secretary of the ACO, on October 9, 1922. It was from Emille Coquille, director of the French subsidiary of Rudge Whitworth Wheels. Coquille offered 100,000 francs to help the ACO to organize a race - and set no stipulation as to the format. Seizing on the offer, the ACO decided on an endurance test for production cars to help drive technology forward. The first race took place on May 25 and 26 1923 and was won by Lagache and L�onard in a Chenard-Walcker. Amazingly, 30 of the 33 starters made it to the finish.

In 1926 a fierce argument broke out between the ACO and some of the landowners on which some of the facilities were built. The ACO moved its main grandstand and paddock to a racecourse adjacent to the circuit but by the following year a financial agreement was reached and the circuit returned to normal. That year also saw the Pontlieue to Mulsanne section asphalted and car parks for some 3,000 vehicles constructed. The first major alteration to the circuit layout was made in 1929, when a link road was inserted to bypass the section through the Pontlieue suburbs. The Rue du Circuit left the Pontlieue road 440 yards before the houses and joined the Route Nationale to Tours via two right-hand bends. However, by 1932 even this had been rendered unsuitable for the racing cars, with the section leading to it considered too narrow to be safe. As a result, the ACO purchased a strip of land from the pits to Tertre Rouge, constructing the Dunlop Curve and the famous Esses as a new link road.

World War 2 provided an unhappy interruption to proceedings, with the circuit taken over during the German occupation to serve the airstrip which ran alongside. It took until 1948 to revive the circuit and the race resumed the following year. While the roads had survived the war intact and in good condition, all of the circuit facilities had been razed and needed to be re-built. Five new covered grandstands were constructed, along with a new pit building and shops, with restaurants and bars soon also springing up. Length: 13.492 km (8.384 mi) Fastest Lap: Hawthorne (1955) - 4 min. 6.6 sec. 196.963 km/h (122.387 mph) The end of Second World War had left Britain with no major race track but an abundance of airfields. One of these surplus airfields was located outside the village of Silverstone and being roughly in the middle of England was seen as an ideal location, to bring back international motor racing to Britain. By 1948 The Royal Automobile Club arranged a 1 year lease with the Air Ministry in the spirit of optimism and possibility that characterized the times.

An ex-farmer, James Wilson Brown, was employed by the RAC and given just two months to turn the site from a wartime airfield and farm into a race track for the first RAC International Grand Prix. On the 2nd October 1948, with hay bales and ropes protecting the piggery and the crops in the middle of the circuit, and canvas barriers stopping the drivers from being distracted by cars coming the other way, an estimated 100,000 people flocked to see Luigi Villoresi beat a field of twenty others in his Maserati. Silverstone racing history had started. Silverstone was also the site where in 1951 Froilan Gonzalez driving a Ferrari had won their first race and beaten the Alfa Romeos. The Turbo Era year of 1985 saw cars approaching the 160mph mark during qualifying and on his very last lap Keke Rosberg decided to go for broke. Just as he had on his first flyer, Rosberg driving his 1000-bhp Williams-Honda approached his final lap with maximum attack, his car wriggling, sliding and spewing sparks as he wrung out every last drop of performance.

He�d stop the clocks at 1m 5.591s for an average speed of 160.924mph. �It was probably one of the few occasions when I felt I had lost my self-control,� said Rosberg on reflection. �I should have stayed in the garage and said: �I�ve got pole, thank you very much.� But sheer enjoyment overtook professionalism�� It would be another 17 years before the Finn�s monumental average speed record was surpassed, by Juan Pablo Montoya during qualifying at Monza in 2002. A contemporary report from the 1973 British Grand Prix summed up the reason many grand prix fans were buying tickets for the races at that time: "Watching Ronnie Peterson drift a Lotus 72 through Woodcote Corner was worth the price of admission alone." Length: 4.711 km (2.944 mi) Fastest Lap: R. Peterson (1973) - 1 min. 16.3 sec.

223.544 km/h (138.904 mph) Early in 1920, a meeting at the Hotel des Bruyeres, between two people well-know in the car racing world at the time, Jules de Thier, manager of the newspaper " La Meuse ", and Henri Langlois Van Ophem, Chairman of the Sports Commission at the Royal Automobile Club Belgium dreamt of a racing circuit taking taking the rough form of a triangle drawn by the roads connecting the villages of Malmedy, Stavelot and Francorchamps in the Ardennes woods south-east of Liège. The first event to take place on the track was a race for motorcycles held in 1922. Two year later saw the 24 Hours of Francorchamps, only one year after Le Mans. In 1925 the first real big international race for single-seaters, the European Grand Prix, was run in 1925. Seven cars took part in this event which saw the victory of an Alfa Romeo driven by Antonio Ascari.

The circuit quickly gained a reputation for its broad sweeping curves with numerous overtaking areas which when you are driving a Mercedes W154 along the Masta straight at 310 km/h (193 mph) should not have been a problem! The most famous curve in all of racing, Eau Rouge still reigns supreme, in fact there used to be a hairpin just after the curve which was eliminated in 1939 allowing a tremendous run up the hill to Les Combs. Always treacherous because of the unpredictable weather, Spa was the scene of Richard Seaman's fatal crash in 1937 while driving for the German Mercedes Benz team. Because of it's length it was notorious for raining on one part of the track while another was in bright sunlight. Jimmy Clark never liked Spa thinking it too dangerous, though he won the race four times in succession, something that was later duplicated by the Brazilian Ayrton Senna. The 1960 Belgian Grand Prix was Clark's introduction to Spa and only his second ever Formula One race, at the extremely fast and dangerous circuit. Two drivers would lose their lives that day Chris Bristow and Alan Stacey who was Clark's teammate.

Clark was later quoted as saying in a 1964 interview: "I was driving scared stiff pretty much all through the race", even though he finished 5th and scored his first points finish. The famous British motorsport journalist Denis Jenkinson rated Spa above all else, in fact he would just as rather declare the winner of Spa as that year's World Champion. Seeing Stewart on the course flashing past someone remarked that next time through he'd better take the Masta Kink at full speed, where upon hearing this Jenks noted that at least now he had the entire lap to think about it. Stewart had suffered his own serious accident at Spa back in 1966 when he ran off the track while driving 165 mph in heavy rain. Stewart proceeded to crash into a telephone pole and a shed before driving into a farmer's outbuilding. A ruptured fuel tank filled the cockpit with fuel, and could have ignited at the tiniest spark with Stewart trapped inside. He was extracted from what could easily have been a fatal crash, having suffered shoulder and rib injuries. Stewart, as was commonplace at the time had been driving without a seatbelt when he crashed.

Stewart emerged from the experience a lifelong champion of safety reform and never again drove without a seatbelt, full-faced helmet, and fireproof racing suit. Length: 14.50 km (9.06 miles) Fastest Lap: H. Lang (1937) - 5 min. 05 sec. 175.6 km/h (109.1 mph) Top 10 Best Racing Circuits Around The World - YouTube Top 10 Best Racing Circuits Around The World Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Mar 16, 2014 Title : Top 10 Best Racing Circuits Around The World 1. Pescara Circuit ( Race Track, Length : 25.8 KM, Italy) : The Pescara Circuit was a 16.032 miles road race course near Pescara, Italy. The track boasted two long straights between villages, as well as demanding corners in the seaside town.

The roads were both narrow and bumpy, and the length was the longest of any open-wheel championship event. Like many long circuits (such as the original Nürburgring and Spa-Francorchamps circuits) Pescara was extremely dangerous. Location : Pescara, Italy. Major events : Formula One Pescara Grand Prix. Source : 2. Sebring International Raceway (Race Track, Length : 8.356 M, Sebring, Florida, USA ) : Sebring International Raceway is a road course auto racing facility located near Sebring, Florida. Sebring Raceway is one of the oldest continuously-operating race tracks in the United States, its first race being run in 1950. Sebring is one of the classic race tracks in North American sports car racing. Address: 113 Midway Dr, Sebring, FL 33870, United States. Source : 3.

Reims-Gueux ( Race Track, Length :8.302 KM, Reims, France): The circuit Reims-Gueux was a Grand Prix motor racing road course, located 7.5 km west of Reims in the Champagne region of north-eastern France, established in 1926 as the second venue of the Grand Prix de la Marne. Major events : Grand Prix de la Marne French Grand Prix, 12 Hours of Reims. Source : 4.Motel Avus ( Race Track, Length : 8.3 Km, Berlin, Germany ) : The 'Automobile traffic and training road', better known as AVUS, is a public road in Berlin, Germany. Opened in 1921, it is the oldest controlled-access highway in Europe. Until 1998 it was also used as a motor racing circuit. Today the AVUS forms the northern part of the Bundesautobahn. Address: Halenseestraße 51, 14055 Berlin, Germany. Source : 5.

Charade Circuit ( Race Track, Length : 8.005 Km, Clermont-Ferrand, France ) : The Charade Circuit is a motorsport race track in the Auvergne mountains in France near Clermont-Ferrand, the home of Michelin and Patrick Depailler. The French Grand Prix motorcycle racing events were held at Charade from 1959 to 1967, and 1972 to 1974. Address: Route de Manson, 63122 Saint-Gènes-Champanelle, France. Source : 6. Circuito da Boavista ( Race Track, Length : 7.775 Km, Porto, Portugal ) : Circuito da Boavista was a street circuit in Oporto, Portugal used twice for the Formula One Portuguese Grand Prix. Address: Avenida da Boavista 4663-4685, 4100-412 Porto, Portugal. Source : 7.

Ain-Diab Circuit ( Race Track, Length : 7.618 Km, Casablanca, Morocco ) : The Ain-Diab Circuit was a Formula One road circuit built in 1957, south west of Ain-Diab in Morocco, using the existing coast road and the main road from Casablanca to Azemmour. The 7.618 km course was designed by the Royal Automobile Club of Morocco. Source : 8. Circuit Bremgarten ( Race Track, Length : 7.208 Km, Bremgarten, Switzerland ) : The Circuit Bremgarten was a 7.28 km motorsport race track in Bern, Switzerland which formerly hosted the Formula One Swiss Grand Prix and the Swiss motorcycle Grand Prix. Major events : Formula One (1950–1954) and Grand Prix motorcycle racing (1949, 1951–1954). Source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_Bremgarten 9.

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps ( Race Track, Length : 7.004 Km, Spa, Belgium ) : he Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps motor-racing circuit is the venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix. It is one of the most challenging race tracks in the world, mainly due to its fast, hilly and twisty nature. Address: Route du Circuit 55, 4970 Stavelot, Belgium. Source : 10. Rouen-Les-Essarts ( Race Track, Length : 6.542 Km, Rouen, France ) : Rouen-Les-Essarts was a 6.542 km motor racing circuit in Grand-Couronne, near Rouen, France. From its opening in 1950, Rouen-Les-Essarts was recognized as one of Europe's finest circuits, with modern pits, a wide track, and spectator grandstands. Major events : French Grand Prix, Formula 2, French Touring Car Championship. Race Circuits UK | UK and European Tracks Race Circuits Information Anglesey ( Wales ) In early 2007 Anglesey had almost the entire circuit re-designed.

It now boast 4 circuit layouts including a Full (GP), Club, National and 'Coastal' circuit. Originally the Bodorgan Estate owned the land on which the circuit is situated. The land was sold to the army briefly in 1941, when it was developed as a rocket launching area. The estate was able to buy back the land, complete with the entire road network the army had installed. In common with other race circuits in the UK the roads were joined together and this created the circuit. Anglesey track days now hosts a large amount of car and bike races and track days. Aragon ( Spain ) Motorland Aragon is a brand new multiple layout circuit in Spain and host to the MotoGP and World Superbikes amongst other world class racing events. This 2.5 mile main circuit has its own ‘Laguna Seca’ style corkscrew and downhill 1.2km straight. This new Spanish circuit is, in Valentino Rossi’s words, “quite complicated but it's a lot of fun and it's fast!”. Its variety of corners allow for plenty of safe overtaking.

Bedford Autodrome ( East Midlands ) Rebuilt in 1999 and owned by former Racing Driver Jonny Palmer, Bedford Autodrome was designed for the enjoyment of high performance road cars. As well as an excellently designed and challenging layout, it also has lots of run off areas making it one of the most safest track day circuits in the country. For this reason, Bedford Autodrome track days are popular for Novice drivers. The Circuit has 2 layouts, the Grand Turismo at 4.1 miles and the SEN Circuit at 2.3 miles. Bedford Autodrome is also a popular location for corporate driving events. Blyton Park ( East Midlands ) Blyton Park offers a fun and challenging 1.6 mile track day circuit and the new Eastern Circuit. The new high grip surface has excellent run off and is therefore ideal for beginners where as the more technical layout of the Eastern Circuit is more suited to an experienced driver or rider. On site you will find toilet blocks and shelter in the paddock as well as an admin and race control building. In addition to own vehicle track days we also offer Blyton Park driving experiences.

Brands Hatch ( South East ) Brands Hatch has been home to British Motor Sports since 1926, constantly updated and upgraded it is now home to some of the best car and motorcycle races in the world. As well as Brands Hatch track days in your own vehicle we also offer Brands Hatch Driving Experiences. Castle Combe ( South West ) Since its opening in 1950, some of the most famous names in motor racing have left their tyre tracks around Castle Combe's challenging tarmac, including drivers like Moss, Salvadori, Mansell, Senna, Surtees, Hill and Coulthard. Marques like BRM, Ferrari, Vanwall, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Lotus have thrilled the crowds. The track's 1.8 miles are regarded as having some of the most challenging corners in British Motorsport. Once visitors arrive they find first class facilities in an attractive park-like setting. Some 15,000 lorry loads of earth have been landscaped into fine viewing areas all around the circuit. Tarmac roads allow easy vehicle movement around the circuit's 240 acre site. Castle Combe are proud of their location and have added to its visual impact with a massive planting scheme.

Castle Combe is high in speed and high in action. The track is a good length at nearly two miles and viewing is plentiful with banking at most points. Castle Combe gets booked very quickly so plenty of time should be allowed to reserve a space. Below you will find the list of up and coming track days as well as information on noise limits. Catalunya ( Spain ) Ideally situated next to Barcelona in Spain. This world class circuit is one of the few with privileged premier status and able to hold both MOTOGP and Formula One. A great combination of corners and fast straight make this a nice all-rounder. Croft ( North East ) Croft is an International Motor Racing Circuit which as well as hosting track day events is used for the British Touring Car and British Superbike Championships. Racing at Croft can be traced back as far as the 1920s, when cars were in their infancy. Due to a limitation on the number of events that can be run in a Year, Croft track day are few and far between and its always advisable to book early to avoid disappointment. Jerez ( Spain ) The Jerez GP circuit is world class and hosts top motor racing events. The most famous motor racing circuit in Spain.

A seemingly perfect combination of corners to test man and machine. There are no chicanes and the result is a fast and flowing circuit located in the dry southern tip of Spain. A favourite with the the MOTOGP paddock and trackday riders and drivers. Everybody loves this circuit. Le Mans ( France ) Within the boundaries of the historic huge 24 hour Le Man Circuit (Le Mans Circuit Des 24 Heures) there are 2 smaller Circuits. The Bugatti Circuit, a permanent circuit used for racing throughout the year and the 'Maison Blanche' Circuit which is a tighter Circuit just South of the Bugatti Circuit that can be adapted to different lengths ranging from 1.9 - 2.9 miles. Nurburgring ( Germany ) Nurburgring is designed as a dual-purpose test track and race circuit. 13 miles long and at least 73 bends add up to what even racing drivers describe as the most demanding circuit in the world. There are 2 main layouts: The Nordschleife Circuit and the GP-Strecke.

Oulton Park ( North West ) Oulton Park Racing Circuit is situated in 320 acres of glorious Cheshire countryside proving spectacular car and bike racing from April to October including British Superbikes, British Touring Cars, Formula 3 and Family Fun Days. Free parking, restaurant, bar facilities. Experience the thrill for yourself with our racing, rally and early drive activities. Corporate and conference facilities, plus race day hospitality. Situated 2 miles off the A49 near Tarporley. Oulton Park race track has been extended over the years, and boasts the distinction of having three circuits in one, namely Fosters, Island and International. Unusually, it is also able to seat spectators in beautiful undulating parkland within the perimeter of the circuit, providing unrivalled views of the action during race meetings and driving experiences alike. You can book your Oulton Park trackday using the calendar below.

A Lap of Hockenheim A Lap of Hockenheim Fastest race lap: 1:41.591 (R.Patrese, Williams, 1992); Fastest Qualifying Lap: 1:37.960 (N.Mansell, Williams, 1992) Along with Monza, Hockenheimring is one of the two fastest circuits currently visited by the Formula One teams. Main features are a pair of dauntingly fast straights, now interrupted by chicanes, that hurtle off into dark coniferous forests, as well as the so-called "stadium" section, best described as a large, natural amphitheatre. Chassis set-up is actually more complicated than at first appears to be the case: the long straights, where cars can reach speeds of up to 350 km/h, dictate a low-downforce chassis set-up, but the second-gear chicanes require good braking and chassis stability, as does the fast, fourth-gear corner that leads into the stadium section.

As a result, the optimum chassis set-up for the latest generation, narrow-track Formula One cars at a circuit like the Hockenheimring is to run them with some downforce. This is at the cost of a slight increase in drag, but on balance, a driver can actually win more time under braking and through the tight corners than he loses through marginally lower maximum speeds on the straights. If you want to read the driving instruction while looking at the map, Click here to open the map in a separate window As the cars pass the start/finish line, they do 290 km/h in sixth before braking to 175 km/h for the Nordkurve right-hander. The drivers then have a few moments to relax, or pass an opponent, before braking heavily for the Jim Clark Kurve. Approaching at 330 km/h, the cars have to change down four gears and lose 235 km/h before negotiating this tight chicane. Since the teams remove all unnecessary car downforce for the straights, these twisty sections become doubly treacherous and the slightest slide can quickly turn into a bone crunching collision with the armco.

The cars pass along another sixth gear straight, brake for another slow chicane, and continue another straight before entering the fast Ayrton Senna kurve. This is one of the quickest chicanes in Formula One, despite its alterations in recent years, and offers the better drivers a real chance to gain on an opponent before the stadium section. As the cars come out of the forest and enter the final series of turns, they are greeted by the packed grandstands and their fanatical occupants. This set of corners - a fast right hander, a left hand hairpin and a couple of slow right handers - require all of the driver's skill to hold an ill handling car before he engages another lap of this fast and challenging circuit. A Lap of Hockenheim with Pedro de la Rosa: "The first corner is 90 degrees so you have to be very careful not to over-brake it, and you have a very long straight afterwards, where you go up to 6th gear from 3rd at the corner.

"The first chicane is a typical chicane where you have to brake late, use all the kerb you can and then power early on exit because you can get good traction on the way out which is good for the long straight after. Ostkurve is the next chicane, which is nice but bumpy. Again, you have to push for the kerbs, otherwise it is too slow and you have to get as much of a straight line as possible and have a soft line over the kerbs. "There is another straight before Ayrton Senna chicane, again a typical one, which leads into the entry of the stadium. It's very hard braking but also high speed, so you end up using all the track on the exit and going over the kerb, sometimes onto the grass, then you get to the first hairpin of the stadium, a left hander which is very slow and you're running very little down force so the car can be all over the place. "You just have to keep the speed slow and relax a little bit or you'll overdrive the car.

This takes you to the last 2 corners before the pit straight which are quite slow, 2nd gear, but it's important to keep the rhythm and not overdrive the car. The corners are quite easy but it's also easy to make a mistake." Facts and Stats about Germany Forty-seven German Grands Prix, plus five more European (including in 2000) and two Luxembourg Grands Prix means that Germany has been the scene of more Grands Prix than there have been years in the World Championship. In 2000 it hosts its 48th race and the 24th at Hockenheim. This year, Hockenheim will move ahead of Nurburgring as the location of the German Grand Prix, although Nurburgring has those European and Luxembourg Grands Prix to its credit. Germany, of course, has become much more of a force to be reckoned with in the last ten years, thanks to the emergence of Michael Schumacher, his brother Ralf and Heinz Harald Frentzen, plus the involvement of Mercedes-Benz and the recent return of BMW. But Germany has a long history in motor racing and Grands Prix.

The Nurburgring was built back in the 1920s and was opened in 1927, the first race was won by Mercedes, later to take on Auto Union in massive confrontations around Europe. In World Championship terms, German drivers have just moved into fourth in the all-time rankings of wins. Wolfgang von Trips was the country's lone winner for many years (two wins in 1961) until Jochen Mass squeezed in with his half-points victory at the Spanish Grand Prix in 1975. Since then, however, Schumacher and Frentzen have taken the tally up to 46 wins and Schumacher, of course, has won two World Championships. There have been 39 German Grand Prix drivers plus another nine who failed to qualify. Some of these have been virtual unknowns: early German Grands Prix included a class for Formula Two cars and two of them failed to complete a single lap - although that lap was 22kms (13miles)! However, others were pre-war Grand Prix heroes such as Hermann Lange and Hans Stuck Snr.

Hockenheim was first used just before the last war and the famous Tripoli 1.5 litre Mercedes were tested there before a brief, but successful, race in North Africa. The track had to be shortened in 1966 when an autobahn was built and the compensation financed the current massive grandstands. Nurburgring hosted early World Championship Grands Prix until the end of the fifties when a single race was run on the autobahns of Avus, just outside Berlin. But then the Grand Prix returned to the Nurburgring again. Hockenheim had its first Grand Prix in 1970 and then, after Niki Lauda's accident at the Nurburgring - one of only two German Grand Prix race stoppages, incidentally - the race returned to the circuit by the Rhine in 1977, briefly returning to the new Nurburgring for the 1985 race. All subsequent races have been at Hockenheim. What is it about the Germans and length?

The Nurburgring is often thought to have been the longest Grand Prix circuit in history and its early configuration did make it the longest circuit until 1957, when Pescara ran a single World Championship race. This Adriatic circuit was 25.579kms/15.894 miles long and remains the longest Grand Prix circuit of all time. However, the current Hockenheim is still long, at 6.825 kms (4.240 miles), second only to Spa (6.968 kms/ 4.329 miles) which is the longest circuit in current use. The first three German Grands Prix were all won by Ferrari from pole position. In 1952, Ferrari filled the first four positions and in 1953, 34 cars started the race, more than in any other Grand Prix - but that included Formula Two cars. Three years later, however, only five cars finished, the second fewest number of finishers of all time. Fangio won, the second of his three consecutive German Grand Prix wins - all from pole position.

The finishers included Louis Rosier who was three laps - 66 kms (40 miles) behind! The 1959 German Grand Prix at the Avus was the only Grand Prix to have been run intentionally as a two part race. Cliff Allison set pole position time but was a reserve driver and had to start at the back. So Tony Brooks won from pole position, flag to flag and set fastest lap. He headed a Ferrari 1-3. There were 22 leadership changes in that race. Two years later Nurburgring hosted the 100th race in the World Championship while in 1965 Jim Clark clinched his second World Championship title with a flag-to-flag victory at the 'Ring from pole position with fastest lap. It was the seventh race of the year, with three still to go. In 1968, Jackie Stewart won the first of his three - and two pole positions - at the Nurburgring while his 30secs. win in 1971 over 12 laps was the shortest in terms of laps, even if they were each 22 kms (13.6 miles) long.

Jackie Ickx headed one of Ferrari's four one-two finishes in 1972 when he started from pole, led every lap and also set fastest lap. Jacques Laffite scored Williams's first ever Formula One rostrum placing with second in 1975. Williams has won seven times, with two one-two finishes. Nelson Piquet won the first of his three German Grand Prix victories in 1981. Four years later, Patrick Tambay and Derek Warwick were joined by Francois Hesnault in the Renault team, the last time a team ran three cars in a Grand Prix. None finished. In 1988, Ayrton Senna won the first of his three successive German Grand Prix victories, all of which he started from pole for McLaren. The team has won six times in Germany, four times with the drivers in first and second places. Less successful was Mika Hakkinen in 1994 when he triggered a first lap accident which not only caused the race to be stopped but eliminated 10 cars, the most retirements ever on the first lap. A year later, Michael Schumacher won his home race, the first time for a German driver.

However, now with Ferrari, he will be hoping to contribute to the team's remarkable record in Germany. Ferrari has won the race 15 times, twice as many as any other team, and has scored four one-two finishes. Related Links

Question: At 14.17 miles long, which is the longest circuit ever used for a Formula 1 motor race?
Answer: Nurburgring