Hockenheim in the red

The red financially, not the Ferrari red: The track is highly indebted and with a decrease in Schumacher-mania the fans aren't buying the high priced tickets in advance anymore.

There are currently plans to restructure their finances, but if they fail the track might close for good.

I hate to say this, but that would be for the better: They killed Hockenheim when Tilke cut out its heart and soul by eliminating its famous straights through the forest. Now it is another glorified go kart track that should be put out of its misery. Not that the modern Nuerburgring is any better. Sadly.

 

This would be sad news indeed. I hope we don't see a trend here with the talk about Monza, Silverstone, Hockenheim, Spa, etc. all being taken out of the F1 circuit because of noise, money, tobacco, etc. These are some of the most sacred tracks in motoracing. Granted most all have changed from their original orientation and they aren't like the newer and more facility friendly tracks of today but..

On a side note wasn't there talk about opening a track in Mexico or reusing the one in Argentina in the near future?

 

Argentina is AFAIK out of the picture (I missed the last race there by a hair, darn).

Mexico is supposedly to have its new circuit in Cancun in 2007. Was scheduled for 2006, but somehow they didn't finish the track on time.

 

Hockenheim is pretty much dead in my eyes too, I agree with Andreas, the real hockenheim ring is out in the forest. This new track is garbage.

 

I agree, the only original part of it left is the twisty stadium section, and that used to complement the straights really well. Now the whole track is too technical...

 

yeah..i miss the long straights, thru the forests, etc. i never liked the new hokenheim anymore

 

I have raced the "old" HHR with all kind of cars and some race cars.
It was always boring on the straight - thats no challenge for a racer to drive +200 mph`s ( even 350 km/h).
The "new" HHR IS a challenge!!!!!!!
The new straight "Parabolika" is a challenge! Its a looooooong left corner (you realy need some balls to drive it full throttle!) and at the end you are close to 300 km/h!!!! After this parabolika you have to break down the car to 60 km/h cause its a 180° righ corner.
The new Mercedes arena - thats the place to see if you have done your job (set up of the car) right or wrong.
I have already driven a few hundred laps on the new circuit (with the Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Dallara F3, RALT RT 30) and I realy love the track - much more than the old one.

Wolfgang

 

Thanks Wolfgang for the contrarian voice and your interesting comments. I can see your points.

Maybe I'm simply nostalgic, but Hockenheim to me was all about slipstreaming (drafting) and the fight to the chicane where somebody would ultimately have to give way or take the escape route. Fist fights with Piquet, terrible accidents like Depailler's, Pironi's or Mika's (luckily escaped).

About the only good story I remember about the new layout is the wheel to wheel position swap between Kimi and JPM and the occasional punting off at the 180. Not exactly the stuff legends are made of.

 

Hello Andreas
in the past and earlier years there were no "chicanes" (?) on both straights in the forest. This chicanes came later when the cars drove already beyond 300km/h.
Today, its not a big deal to drive 400 km/h and more with a F1 car - it all up to the right set up, gear ratio, wings and so on.
Its no challenge its just dangerous - thats also why they changed the original Le Mans straight.
Today, the challenge is an ULTRA LATE BREAK POINT & an amazing (unbelievable) speed in the curves.

I spoke to many F1 & F3 drivers about the new HHR.
Everybody is highly delighted and loves to race the track.

Andreas,
whenever you are over in Germany during March - October I would love to invite you to drive the new HHR yourself or be my passenger.
Its just 10 minutes from my house away and I`m 2-3 times a week in HHR to drive my cars.

Viele Grüße aus dem kalten und verschneiten Deutschland - winter s_cks

 

Oh, thanks much! I'll bring my avatar, err helmet. Chances are that with a stopover in Frankfurt I might just be able to arrange this.

 

Exactly . I have seen the layout printed in magazines but it looked boring , nothing particular caught my eyes.. They killed it?

 

My honour & pleasure Andreas.
Frankfurt nt. Airport ist just 30 minutes drive away from me - no big deal I`ll pick you up an drive you direct to the HHR.
(racing suit, helmet, handschuhe und feuerfeste Wäsche bekommst du von mir!)

 

I have very fond memories of Hockenheim: I was stationed about an hour's drive north, near Darmstadt, from 1986-1989. I used to go down and watch the club races, which were free to get into, and also played hooky to see friday practice for the 1988 F1 race. It was 10 marks (say $5) to get in and watch from the Sudkurve with the other dozen fans that bothered to turn up. It was damp, and few of the front runners bothered to go out, with the exception of Senna, who pounded around the whole time, lap after lap. Sure enough, it rained on Sunday and Senna was gone into the distance. I never liked the guy, but I came to respect him that weekend. The other abiding memory was how AWFUL the Ferraris sounded. Exiting the Sudkurve they were misfiring horribly halfway down the pit straight before the engine cleared out and ran properly. Regardless, tey were well-sorted enough to finish 3-4 to the mcLarens on Sunday.....

Even better though, was the Sunday I went down with a bud to watch the club races only to find that there were none: it was an open day! Get this: for 8 marks (4 bucks) you got 15 minutes of track time,in sessions split 15 minutes for cars, then 15 minutes for bikes. It was the club circuit, not the full GP circuit, but who cares! Only problem: we had driven down in my bud's POS old Alfa. "No problem, you drive, Vol!" So we set off. I'm in a car I've never driven, on a circuit I've never driven, with the car owner in the right seat, so obviously I'm not pushing, but on the first trip through the Sachskurve said buddy pipes up: "Hey, man, just stop off in the pits and drop me off. I'll just have a beer while you drive..." Now think about that: he's too afraid to ride with me, but he is willing to let me thrash his car around Hockenheim! So I did. Wherever you are, Dale, you rock, dude!

 

As far as I know, the track pays Bernie for the right to hold the race. Then Bernie still gets to keep the revenue from the ads that hang around the track and across it, etc.

So it seems Bernie can raise the price to where the track has a tremendously hard time making money. Bernie puts on the show, and if the show is declining in interest, its gotta be hard to make it profitable.

Personally I think Bernie knows this full well and he doesnt care at all about any specific track. I think he sees only dollar (or euro) signs and just wants to bring F1 to as many new markets to get as much money as possible. He thinks the old fans will watch regardless of location and he wants to get into the new markets for more selling opportunities to make more and more money.

I feel bad for many of the old tracks. Bernie has let Silverstone descend deeper and deeper in debt and I think he wants many of these tracks to disappear so he can go to Russia and the middle east and south America and other places that dont have as much F1.

Personally I think that kinda sucks. I am all for expansion of F1 but not at the expense of selling out it's heart. Its not proven that the new markets are or will be long-term F1 markets so favoring them over the fans that got F1 where it is, is short sighted IMO.

 

Bernie wants to reduce the Euro presence mainly to avoid the tobacco ban.

Hockenheim got itself into trouble when they changed the track to the new form, which cost a lot of money. Part of that was however Bernie pressuring to get up to F1 standard.

I'm not sure on this, but the reason why the cut the long straights might have been political (to give back the forest to the community) and/or to raise money by selling that land. Probably somebody like Wolfgang could better comment on this.

Bernie hasn't been helpful to Silverstone, true, but they got themselves into trouble because the GPDRC with Jackie at the top is simply too stubborn and stingy to modernize. It took forever to get the highway connection and the rest of the infrastructure is pretty much 2nd class. Keep Silverstone but upgrade its infra.

 

Exactly!

 

Exactly Andreas, you hit the nail - nothing more to ad.