This amazing phograph taken by Abel Lourenço dos Santos at the Circuito da Gávea in 1935 shows the fatal accident of Irineu Corrêa (who had won the race the previous year) on Avenida Visconde de Albuquerque on the first lap.
One way or another all racing circuits have a degree of danger, some more than others. One of the tracks with a fair degree of danger was the 'Trampolim do Diabo', which translates to the 'Devil's Trampoline'.
The course was located in the Leblon district of Rio de Janiero where the Gávea rock rises 842 meters almost directly from the beach between the Rio Cachoeira and the Ponta do Marisco, that makes up part of the Maciço da Tijuca. The name was given by the Portuguese because from the sea it looked like the topsail (Gávea is Portugese for topsail) of a boat.
The 11.6 km circuit was known as the 'Trampolim do Diabo' because of the Rocinha climb, a 2 km long section of the track that rose 170 meters and contained a number of challenging Z shaped hairpins, which they called springboards, hence the origin of the nickname.
From there it ran along the top of the cliffs before turning inland into the hills to return to Leblon via another series of hairpins. With over 100 corners and different surfaces (asphalt, cement, gravel and dirt, the racing was a true challenge to the skill and bravery of the drivers. And, as it was located at the end of the local tram line beyond Ipanema, the cars also had to cross the slippery tracks, further increasing the level of danger.
This amazing phograph taken by Abel Lourenço dos Santos at the Circuito da Gávea in 1935 shows the fatal accident of Irineu Corrêa (who had won the race the previous year) on Avenida Visconde de Albuquerque on the first lap. He hit a tree and the car shot into the air, straight into another tree. The car broke up and basically flew into the Leblon canal. (Image copyright: the Cariocadorio Collection). He was taken to hospital in Copacabana but was dead on arrival.