Grenzlandring

The Grenzlandring (German for "border-region ring"), sometimes written Grenzland-Ring, is a former high-speed race track oval in the Lower Rhine area of Germany, around the town of Wegberg, located close to Mönchengladbach and the Dutch town of Roermond.

The Grenzlandring, to many foreigners also known as Wegbergring or Wegberg-Ring, is told to be "discovered" nearly undamaged after World War II when during one dark night in 1947, Dr. Carl Marcus (during WWII a double agent for the Nazis as well as the MI6, codenamed 'Dictionary' by them), the town mayor from the nearby city of Rheydt, drove along a more or less straight looking country road. When he passed a bicycle rider more than once, he suddenly realised that this road must be a full circle. In fact, a 9,005 metres (5.595 mi) long and 6.8 metres (22 ft) wide egg-shaped concrete ring road had been built prior to WWII around Wegberg and the neighboring village of Beeck and completed in 1938 or 1939, at total costs of about 3.3 million Reichsmark. As it was intended for military purposes, the construction had not made been public nor was the road shown in maps. This story today is considered part of a marketing strategy, since parts of the ring had been used by US and British military immediately after the war and had in no way been unknown.