Hockenheimring

The Hockenheimring sits in the Rhine plain near Hockenheim in Baden-Wuerttemberg and is one of Germany's oldest circuits: Wikipedia records that ground was broken on 23 March 1932 and the track opened on 29 May 1932. Since the 2002 rebuild by Hermann Tilke the current Grand Prix layout is 4.574 kilometres long with 17 turns; that rebuild shortened the previous 6.823 kilometre layout, took out the long forest straights and created the Parabolika as a new long straight. The Motodrom is the stadium section enclosed by grandstands. The operator's own site gives 97 hectares of grounds and 120,000 spectator places and lists tourist sessions and race taxi alongside the race meetings. The German Grand Prix ran here intermittently from 1970 to 2019, the motorcycle Grand Prix from 1957 to 1994, and the DTM has raced here regularly since its revival in 2000. A memorial marks the spot where Jim Clark was killed on 7 April 1968. Our own record has Hockenheim as an asphalt circuit with a fast, technical character. Parabolika and Motodrom pull in opposite directions: high speed into a late, hard braking point, then tight slow corner combinations. If the bike goes vague in the fast sections, top of our cause list is: ride-height and sag balance are off - the bike feels vague at speed; set sag first.