Hockenheimring
The Hockenheimring is a motor racing circuit situated near the town of Hockenheim in Germany. Amongst other motor racing events, it holds the annual Formula One German Grand Prix.
Hockenheimring was originally built as a test track for Mercedes-Benz in 1936. The original circuit was almost eight kilometres long and consisted of two long straights with long corners joining them together. After World War II a new Hockenheim circuit was built. This used to be quite large, with a very long, fast section going through forests followed by a more tight and twisty "stadium" section (so called because of all the grandstands situated there) named Motodrom. This made setting racing cars up difficult, as a choice had to be made - whether to run low downforce to optimise speed through the straights and compromise grip in the stadium section, or vice-versa.
For the 2002 German Grand Prix, however, the circuit had been redesigned by Hermann Tilke. The stadium section remained intact. However, the circuit was dramatically shortened, with the long, sweeping forest section chopped off in favour of more tight corners. As always happens when a circuit is redesigned, this has led to grumbles that the track is not as good as it used to be, although the tight hairpin following the very long back straight offers an overtaking possibility. The circuit has a capacity of 120,000.
