Hockenheimring
The Hockenheimring is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The circuit was first opened on 29 May 1932. The track was first called “Dreieckskurs” meaning the triangular course as the circuit was triangular in shape. A few years later, the track was cut down which was originally 12 km to 7½ km and was renamed as “Kurpfalzring”. The circuit was damaged during world war 2 and finally rebuilt and was renamed to what we know as the Hockenheim Ring.
Now, the track is 4.57km long with 17 turns with 11 rights and 6 lefts. A car can reach a speed of 313kmph. It has 3 drs zones. The first one is between turn 4 to 6. The second one is on the starting grid and the third is on the straight between turn 1 and 2. Turn 6 is a hairpin and just before the hairpin is a speedtrap. The track has the highest elevation of 152.5m around turn 2, 3 and 4. From turn 4 to 6, is a long parabolic track.
In 1965, when the new Autobahn A 6 highway separated the village from the main part of the track, a new version of Hockenheim circuit was built, with the "Motodrom" stadium section. The circuit had two long straights and after the crash of Jim Clark, a famous British Formula 1 racing driver, in 1968, 2 fast chicanes were added by 1970. The first chicane was named after him as a memorial and the second was later named as Senna after he died in a crash at the San Marino GP in 1994. Another chicane was added in the “ostkurve”(east curve) after Patrick Depailler, a French F1 driver, died in a crash during a private test session in 1980.
Hockenheimring had a lot of problems. It had changeable weather conditions. Most of the overtakes used to happen in the chicanes in the forest sector, so the spectators would miss out all the exciting stuff. The fuel was restricted to either 220, 195 or 150 litres for the turbo era of formula 1. This resulted in many drivers ending up dry before finishing the race. One such event in 1986 where multiple world Champion Alain prost had ran out of fuel just before the finish line and had to push his McLaren. The security at the ring was also weak as anyone would easily jump on the track. Many drivers wouldn’t even finish the race due to engine and transmission failures as the car had to stay at high speeds for a long period of time.
All these problems caused the FIA to protest as it had become clear that it was no longer suited for Formula 1 racing.
In 2002, after being threatened to discontinue racing, the government shortened the track and redesigned. The forest section was cut off and tighter turns and a parabolic stretch known as “Parabolika” was added. All the infamous chicanes were cut out. The new track was criticised by a lot of people since it didn’t give a challenge like the previous track.
Hockenheimring can hold a seating capacity of 120,000 people with the help of grandstands sponsored by Mercedes Benz. It is also used for drag strip events held occasionally during both day and night.
The fastest lap ever was set by a German, Sebastian Vettel, at a qualifying at the 2018 German GP. He set a record of 1:11:212 in his Ferrari. However the official lap record for Formula 1 is held by Kimi Raikkonen in his McLaren at a record time of 1:13:780 at the 2004 German GP.
GP2 record was set by Sergio Perez at 1:23:110 in his Dallara and GP3 was set by Esteban Gutierrez also in a Dallara at 1:31:854 both in 2010.
FIA World RallyCross [WRX] record was set by Peter Solberg in a Citroen DS3 at 1:43:764 in 2015.
There were several fatalities on the track in the past.
Jim Clark died in 1968 when his car veered off the track and hit a tree. He suffered neck and skull injuries and died before reaching the hospital.
In 1972, Bert Hawthorne, a New Zealand driver died a horrific death when his car crashed head on to the barriers and and the car caught fire while he was still inside.
Markus Höttinger in 1980, died instantly during an F2 race when a wheel from another car ahead fell loose and hit his head.
Tony Boden, a drag racer, died in a drag race meet in 1986.
The most recent fatality was, Albert Fleming, in 2014 during a Jim Clark memorial event.
