Saarlouis street circuit

Racing events, drivers, cars or anything else from the past.
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John
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#16

Post by John »

Bottom post of the previous page:

Tried calling the German auto federation?
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#17

Post by hollie3sa »

John wrote: 5 years ago Tried calling the German auto federation?
I assume you mean the ADAC?
Yes, I did. Three times, in fact. I called them and sent them an e-mail. The guy I talked to on the phone promised me he would have a look into the topic and call me back. But he never did. And I never received an answer to my mails.

A couple of months later, I heard from another person that most of their archive was destroyed in a flood and that these efforts would have been for nothing anyway.
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#18

Post by John »

hollie3sa wrote: 5 years ago
John wrote: 5 years ago Tried calling the German auto federation?
I assume you mean the ADAC?
Yes, I did. Three times, in fact. I called them and sent them an e-mail. The guy I talked to on the phone promised me he would have a look into the topic and call me back. But he never did. And I never received an answer to my mails.

A couple of months later, I heard from another person that most of their archive was destroyed in a flood and that these efforts would have been for nothing anyway.
Oh what a bummer. :insulted:

Perhaps try contacting Motor Sport Magazine, the amount of knowledge there is insane.
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#19

Post by hollie3sa »

Good idea. I'll send them an e-mail.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As promised: A small update:

1975

Image
Source: Saarbrücker Zeitung, issue of 13 May 1975; Stadtbibliothek Saarlouis

http://touringcarracing.net/Races/1975%20Saarlouis.html
https://www.formel3guide.com/images/erg ... rlouis.pdf



1978

Image
Source: Saarbrücker Zeitung, issue of 16 May 1978; Stadtbibliothek Saarlouis

Image
Source: Saarbrücker Zeitung, issue of 17 May 1978; Stadtbibliothek Saarlouis

The bottom photo shows the major start accident in the Alfa Sud-Cup. One car somehow ended up in the middle of the road, sideways. And that one car caused a mass collision with another 7 (the Sportfahrer-issue 6/78 speaks of another 11) cars. The race was not restarted after that since half the field was eliminated. According to the report, one driver was hospitalized with severe ("erheblichen") injuries. The Sportfahrer-issue states that the accident ended leniently ("glimpflich") for all drivers involved.

If I'm lucky, I might get the original photographs. The photographer is Ralf Ruppenthal. We talked once over the phone.

http://www.racingsportscars.com/results ... 17691.html
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#20

Post by PTRACER »

Good job! At least we know it really existed.
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#21

Post by sadsac »

A couple of images from Saarlouis races
Ariel view
Image
MG's racing in 1954
Image
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#22

Post by hollie3sa »

sadsac wrote: 5 years ago A couple of images from Saarlouis races
Ariel view
Image
MG's racing in 1954
Image
The tiny arrow in the first picture marks the start/finish line
From what I've heard, the paddock was located on the premises. The catering came from the works canteen.


The 2nd photo, however, certainly is not from Saarlouis
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#23

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Is this overlay on a google map the circuit layout?

https://www.milermeter.com/?r=552483

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#24

Post by erwin greven »

@Everso Biggyballies

http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk/racingcir ... louis.html

yes. that was the layout.
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#25

Post by sadsac »

hollie3sa wrote: 5 years ago
sadsac wrote: 5 years ago A couple of images from Saarlouis races
Ariel view
Image
MG's racing in 1954
Image
The tiny arrow in the first picture marks the start/finish line
From what I've heard, the paddock was located on the premises. The catering came from the works canteen.


The 2nd photo, however, certainly is not from Saarlouis
Sorry hollie3sa i thought the same but its from a track in the Saarland
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#26

Post by sadsac »

Some info i thought might be helpful
Saarlouis – Saarland / 1972, 1975 and 1977-1978 (4) / cars
Location: 49°20'35.01"N / 6°46'4.14"E
Auto racing on street circuits became very rare in West-Germany following several dramatic accidents at home and abroad in the
1950s. After the Solitude near Stuttgart was abandoned in 1965, only the Avus in Berlin, the Norisring in Nürnberg, and, briefly, the
fishing harbour course in Bremerhaven remained. Saarlouis was the only new street course for auto racing in the Bundesrepublik
until DTM began racing in Singen in 1991.
Saarlouis, a city in Saarland which from 1936-1945 was named Saarlautern, hosted the Saarland Trophy (later Karlsberg Trophy)
automobile races in the years listed above, each time in May. All meetings included touring cars and GTs, while sports cars and
prototypes, Formula Vee and Formula Ford (all 1972) and Formula 3 (1975) made appearances as well. Further meetings were
announced for June 1973 and September 1976, 1979 and 1980, but for unknown reasons none of these took place.
The 4.94 km circuit was located north of town, partly running over motorways and partly around the Ford factory grounds, which
also housed the paddock. The course was challenging and fast - Günter Kölmel (March-Toyota) clocked the fastest lap of the 1975
Formula 3 race in 1.42,4 = 173.7 km/h - but unfortunately also suffered from poor safety, as it lacked decent run-off areas and
included narrow sections and hazards like bridge pillars. Sadly, the 1972 and 1975 meetings were both marred by a fatal cras
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#27

Post by Michkov »

Was there a pitlane?
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#28

Post by hollie3sa »

I cannot confirm nor deny its existence as of now.

I'll find out. Just be patient, please
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#29

Post by sebbbl »

Thanks for your effort!
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#30

Post by hollie3sa »

Moving this where it belongs:
Motorsportrace wrote: 5 years ago
hollie3sa wrote: 5 years ago
Motorsportrace wrote: 5 years ago
hollie3sa wrote: 5 years ago Well, yeah: 1972.

I have a picture of the accident somewhere. Aftermath footage exists as well. Both cars were badly mangled. The footage is only available in the archive at the premises of the local TV channel (SR). The picture, I might be able to share.
Hidden camera, and you've done it. :cool:

No, I'm joking. I'd like to see the picture, if you still have it.

It would be interesting to get that video. I suppose it would be really expensive, or, even, the TV Station wouldn't give it to private citizens, but only to businesses (as RAI does).
The archive is kept alive by one single, elderly man. He's very kind and likeable as well. Wouldn't want to screw him over
Plus, that small room in the basement of one of their buildings with the rolls of film and the old television set makes modern technology such as a real camera really conspicous :happy:

They actually do sell copies of their programmes. I sent them a list with the items I'm interested in as well shortly after I visited their archive. It's not cheap to acquire material from there but not too expensive. The problem is: When I was there, their contractor who produced a digital copy of their 16mm-footage ceased his services. At the time, they were looking for a replacement.
Good thing you remind me. Will try to give them a call this week and see where we are.



I have the picture. Of course I have. Why wouldn't I? But I wanted to keep it private for as long as I'm working on the Saarlouis circuit stuff. Be patient :wink:

Ok, don't worry, I'll be patient.

Had a quick talk on the phone with the lady from the SR today:

Her predecessor is not working there anymore which is why I never received an update. Another company, apparently, has been found to produce copies from their archived footage.
The problem is the process of publishing the footage. For private use only, copies can be acquired easily. Publishing the footage without their consent might get me into some trouble. Getting their consent probably won't be too easy.

I'll send them an e-mail, probably later today, then update this post accordingly.


@Motorsportrace:

Image

Source: Saarbrücker Zeitung, issue of Tuesday, May 30 1972
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#31

Post by Motorsportrace »

hollie3sa wrote: 5 years ago Moving this where it belongs:
Motorsportrace wrote: 5 years ago
hollie3sa wrote: 5 years ago
Motorsportrace wrote: 5 years ago
hollie3sa wrote: 5 years ago Well, yeah: 1972.

I have a picture of the accident somewhere. Aftermath footage exists as well. Both cars were badly mangled. The footage is only available in the archive at the premises of the local TV channel (SR). The picture, I might be able to share.
Hidden camera, and you've done it. :cool:

No, I'm joking. I'd like to see the picture, if you still have it.

It would be interesting to get that video. I suppose it would be really expensive, or, even, the TV Station wouldn't give it to private citizens, but only to businesses (as RAI does).
The archive is kept alive by one single, elderly man. He's very kind and likeable as well. Wouldn't want to screw him over
Plus, that small room in the basement of one of their buildings with the rolls of film and the old television set makes modern technology such as a real camera really conspicous :happy:

They actually do sell copies of their programmes. I sent them a list with the items I'm interested in as well shortly after I visited their archive. It's not cheap to acquire material from there but not too expensive. The problem is: When I was there, their contractor who produced a digital copy of their 16mm-footage ceased his services. At the time, they were looking for a replacement.
Good thing you remind me. Will try to give them a call this week and see where we are.



I have the picture. Of course I have. Why wouldn't I? But I wanted to keep it private for as long as I'm working on the Saarlouis circuit stuff. Be patient :wink:

Ok, don't worry, I'll be patient.

Had a quick talk on the phone with the lady from the SR today:

Her predecessor is not working there anymore which is why I never received an update. Another company, apparently, has been found to produce copies from their archived footage.
The problem is the process of publishing the footage. For private use only, copies can be acquired easily. Publishing the footage without their consent might get me into some trouble. Getting their consent probably won't be too easy.

I'll send them an e-mail, probably later today, then update this post accordingly.


@Motorsportrace:

Image

Source: Saarbrücker Zeitung, issue of Tuesday, May 30 1972
Thanks for that.
So... that would be the "ill-fated" car, if someone really died in that crash? Or is it the other one that was involved?

Well, you're lucky that acquiring copies for private use is easy.
Ok, you might not be able to post them here, but that's already a good thing, trust me.

Thanks for the update.
Motorsportrace
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