Pedralbes
In 1946 the Penya Rhin Grand Prix was held at
a brand new street circuit at Pedralbes in Barcelona, Spain. Before the
Penya Rhin Grand Prix came to Pedralbes it was held at Villafranca and
Montjuich, which was also a district from Barcelona. In 1947 there was no
Penya Rhin Grand Prix but in 1948 they came back to Pedralbes.
The street circuit of Pedralbes was a 4,465
km (2.79 Miles) long triangle, formed by the streets Avenida del
Generalisimo Franco (Now Avinguda Diagonal) where the start/finish was, the
Carretera de Cornella a Focas de Tordera (Now Avinguda d’Esplugues) and the
Avenida de la Victoria (Now Avinguda de Pedralbes). There where three long
straights and one part with fast sweeping corners which was the only
challenging part of the circuit while all the other corners where street
corners to connect the roads. Despite the lay out was not very challenging
the fast circuit was very popular by the drivers and the spectators.
The lay out of the circuit. Click on the map for a lap.
In 1950 the Penya Rhin Grand Prix was an inagural Formula 1 race.
For this event the circuit was expanded with the Passeig de Manuel Girona and
the Carrer de Numància. The length of the circuit was now 6,316 km (3.947 Miles)
with a 2 km (1.25 Miles) long start/finish straight! During the Grand Prix top
speeds of 280 km/h (175 Mph) where held on the long straight which makes
Padralbes the fastest city circuit of its time.
In 1951 the race was counting for the Formula
1 World Championship, it was the first official Formula 1 race in Spain. In
1954 Formula 1 came back at Pedralbes after two years with no Spanish Grand
Prix. For this event a small change to the circuit was made which brought
the length now at 6,333 km (3.958 Miles). It should be the last race at
Pedralbes ...
After a grave accident during the 24 Hours of
Le Mans in 1955, which took the lives of more than 80 spectators, races all
over the world where cancelled including the Spanish Grand Prix. As a result
of the accident, safety standards for the circuits where increased. This
meant the end of the very fast street circuit of Pedralbes which was never
used again.
Today you can still make a lap at the old
street circuit, however some things have been changed. In the middle of the
50 meter wide Avinguda Diagonal is now a tramway and at the site of the
first corner is now a motorway. The section with the fast kinks is almost
unimpaired, only at the first kink is now a roundabout.
A roundabout at the most challenging section of the former street
circuit!
Click here to see how the
track looks nowadays.
