One Last Hockenheim Thread - The One That'll Make you Cry

[DNQ]

I was thinking of tacking this onto one of the three other Hockenheim threads - but decided this deserves it own thread.

I am speaking off, the remains of the former track. As you will have read, the track has been torn up. Only pictures can reveal the true loss of history.


That is the once great Jim Clark chicane. Or what is left of it. Senna, Prost, Stewert, Rindt, Mansell, Schumacher, Hill, Lauda, Fittipaldi, Jones, Villeneuve, Rosberg, Pironi, Alboreto, Berger, Reutemann and more - they've all driven through the chicane that is depicted above.


That is the run down to the chicane. How many great passes did we see there? Remember 2000, Frentzen, the Jags, and Barrichello carving up the field, making most of their moves at that corner??


The tributes to two F2 racers who died at the track, Bert Hawthrone, and the incomparable Jim Clark, remains intact. But I fear the deathsite of Jim Clark and the memorial will soon be little more than piece of stone in the middle of a forrest.


A close up of Jim Clark's memorial. Does anyone know where this is going to go? Are they just gonna leave it there?

Please use this thread to discuss the memories of Hockenheim. This isn't a 'why did they smash it' thread or an 'anti-bernie' thread, it's a place to remember the good times. Because there were plenty.

Who can forget Rubens Barrichello's first win of course two years ago - that race is easily the best GP I have EVER witnessed in the whole of my life. The bloke on the track, the tears, the crashes, Murray in the box, Rubens winning, Schu out early, the rain, the safety cars, the strategy - it was insane.

Anyway, what is your best Hockenheim race?

Also - one more thing - tomorrow, or when I get some free time, I am going to post a video onboard around the REAL Hockenheim - with Didier Pironi in 1978 with Murray Walker taking us through the lap. It's about 5mb, some of you may have seen it, but I am sure someone will find it useful

DNQ

[RWC]

Thanks for the great pics and memories DNQ!!!!!!!!
My favorite hockenhiem races were ANY from the last few years.Before that i suspect i just didn't get good enough TV signal to 'feel' anything i was seeing.My favorite aspect of the track was the full throttle thing(13secs?)with a 800HP car!!Through the forest at speed,braking JUST the right amount to j-u-s-t make it through the chicane must have been awsome for the drivers.This may surprise people but seeing the track like that doesent realy make me sad.It's being looked after VERY well (kept as a forest i believe)sooo......we can allways build another track there in future......Never say never.

[Speed]

"It's about 5mb, some of you may have seen it, but I am sure someone will find it useful"

I'm waiting...

[alesi95]

("sniff, sob") NOOOOO!, GOD WHYYYYYYYYYY!

[RWC]

Forgot to mention why the full throttle thing apeals to me so much.One of the enduro's i raced years ago had a straight about 2.5KM long.Took just under a minute to get to the braking zone(yes it was a kinda small,a 125cc husky,toped out at about 140-50).One minute at full throttle tends to get the adreneline flowing in a weird way-you kind of relax at the same time.Also ,flying through the 'tunnels' of trees at hockenhiem tends to freak the brain as well.Try going at speed between the trees at an orange orchard,you'll get the idea.Put both of these effects together and you can imagine the special feeling you would get at hockenhiem.OK,i've driveled enough-hope someone understood though.

[Miss Hardt]

I agree with DNQ that the best race was the one in 2000. That was so great!!!! Schumacher was out in the first curve, there was that weird guy on the track, there was that chaous, a couple of thrilling passings and scary crashes and it was so nice to see emotional crying Rubens on the top of the podium.

You can download the 6 minute race clip on http://www.seasonf1.com It takes about 4 hours on 33.6 modem like mine, but it's great!

I also have a gallery of the Hockenheimring pics on Rhapsody in Green. Here are some of them:

http://www.bik.co.yu/iva/ring/images/ovo je to!.jpg
That one is a beautiful view of the track and the forst with one car...and it was too big to be put here.



A view of the Motodrom with Hardtwald trees in the background...awww


Oh, yes, we remember you!!!!


Would they like to help us with martial arts????


Is theree somebody about to fall down from the podium???


Awww...feelings in F1! Someone stil has them....

I might post more in this thread, I was planning to write a poem, but later...I want to see what the others have to post...just remember, if you need pictures and facts to post, go to http://www.bik.co.yu/iva/ring There are some of your own quotes from the previous threads too...if you want, I can even mention your names!

And where are those pics coming from? I-simply-have-to-get-there-and-pick-up-everything-for-my-personal-archive!

DNQ, I am also waiting for that video!!!!!! And tell me if you have a panoramic view of the old track....I desperately need it!

RWC, they have already destroyed it... But I like your optimism.


But I say that we should send this thread and all the others to FIA and the track director. Maybe we can still save it.

[alesi95]

Remember Alesi in qualifying for the 94 race.

He had just secured provisional pole when his engine cover flew off.

Don't think we'll see that at the new circuit.

[f1manoz]

Watching the turbos go around Hockenheim used to be great fun, because you just knew that one of them, and half the time it used to be the BMW, would blow up in a cloud of smoke and flames, and that always made for some spectcular pictures.

Who can forget the 1982 race. Tambay winning an emotional first race for Ferrari, the first for no. 27 since the death of Gilles. But also the boxing match between Piquet and Salazar was something to behold, and funnier still was that they were friends!

2000 will always remain in my mind as one of the best, wackiest but also one of the sweetest of all grand prix. I don't think there would have been a dry eye in the pitlane after seeing Rubens win. Pure emotion.

No other race stands out at the moment, but Hockenheim always presented superb action. The long straights, coupled with slow chicanes, was a real test of man and machine. It's a shame it is now all gone....

[Bononi]

Too bad. I don't get it.

It is just like the Egypt government would decide to improve the pyramids !!!!

[Jay]

It is sad. It's like another nail in the coffin containing F1.

[M Coupe]

DNQ,

Great pics. While I will miss Hockenheimring, (can we rename it Hockring) and had hoped to visit it at some time, to go to the Clark Chicane, I am shocked to see the state of the track already.

My biggest concern is what is going to happen to the Jim Clark memorial. It would be disgusting to move it from the position the great man died, but I fear it will be lost forever if it isn't moved????????????? I don't know what is the best!

I always hated the circuit as the place that killed clark, but over the years the fact it became one of the great circuits (mostly due to others diminishing) I mourn one of the last great circuits (only Spa survives).

[Speedworx]

I remember ITV mentioning that they will move it nearer the new track.

These pics really do make you cry. Sundays race was sooooooo dull, the old track produced great racing and had passing places on it.

[Speedworx]

Cool, my dream post is on the site. You are welcome to put my name next to it.

[Jordi]

The echo of the engines at full song going down to the Ostkurve was just awesome.
Before, from the air, it seemed like if the drivers were really going into the forest... as if they neede a Jeep or something....

[R]

Thank you for this thread and all the memorable pictures. I've never seen Jim Clark's memorial up close before. It really is an emotional sight.

Seeing the pictures up close of where the track used to run, makes me realize what I think hadn't really sunk in until now - not even after watching Sunday's race on that crappy ******* track - namely what a terrible crime which has been committed. This is like spitting on Jim Clark's grave, this is like... OK, I'll stop, because I know this is a thread for the memories. What I wrote above are just the emotions I feel when I look at those pictures.

Anyway, the memories... Last year's race had a disappointing result, with Montoya being robbed of a richly deserved win through no fault of his own - pit stop problems in the Williams pit (sound familiar?) and later a blown engine.

2000 was a helluva race, like others have said above... Mika would probably have won, if it hadn't been for that intervenor on the track. In the end, it was a great race, producing Rubens' first, highly emotional win (from 18th on the grid!). Indeed, how does he feel, now that the track where he scored his maiden win amidst such emotion has been destroyed...

In 1999, we saw Eddie Irvine win (no, I'm not going to go through all the years), just ahead of his stand-in team mate Mika Salo. The race proved that Salo was well worthy of a top drive, and he could probably have won the race if it weren't for Ferrari team orders.

1998 saw Hakkinen win ahead of team mate Coulthard, with TGF's Ferrari down in 5th place (it never really worked very well there, did it?). In 1997, Gerhard Berger won. I remember being particularly happy with this win, since I think it was a fitting result after the 96 race had seen him retire from the lead just a couple of laps from the end with a blown engine.

My best memory from Hockenheim must be seeing Jos Verstappen, and everone else involved, escaping unscathed from that horrendous pitlane fire in 94 (that was also the year where an amazing 10 cars were taken out in a startline incident).

So many of the great drivers have won here. Rindt won here. Lauda, Andretti, Alboreto and Damon Hill won here, to name a few. Prost, Piquet, Mansell and Berger won twice. Ayrton Senna will however remain the driver with the most number of F1 wins on the real Hockenheim circuit - the Brazilian scored three consecutive wins from 1988-90. And of course Schumacher won in 95 (what I remember most from that race is the German fans cheering when Hill went off in the first corner of the second lap while in the lead). Schumacher never won at the real Hockenheim in a Ferrari.

So we're left with the memories, which aren't few. They have taken away the track. But they can't do away with the history. And they can never, ever, crush the spirit.

RIP Hockenheim.

[Valve Bounce]

I never liked Hockenheim as somehow I always felt it was responsible for Jim Clarks fatal accident. Stupid as it may seem when I think back about it.

Valve

[R]

That's not an unusual feeling, Valve.

Motor Racing is a two headed creature. One of the heads is unbelievably ugly, while the other is beautiful beyond description.

When I think of Imola, I can think of it as the track where Senna lost his life. But I can also think of it as the track where he won three races.

When I think of the corkscrew turn at Laguna Seca, I can think of it as the ****ing turn which in 1999 robbed us of Gonzalo Rodriguez - a great driver with huge potential - or I can think of it as the turn where Alex Zanardi made that sensational pass on Bryan Herta on the last lap to take the win in 1996.

So I definitely understand your point.

[DNQ]

Glad I've inspired some great memories
For the record, those pictures were sourced from pitpass.com
...I will post the Pironi onboard lap tomorrow afternoon.

Alesi95 - yeah I remember Alesi's engine cover blowing up...spectacular! And the classic piquet/salazar punchup in 1982! What a classic moment

[DNQ]

Didier Pironi, Hockenheim 1978, Onboard - 5mb
Murray Walker Commentary, Complete Lap excluding Stadium

http://cfm.globalf1.net/downloads/video/hockenheim.mpeg

Enjoy it, cheers DNQ

[Miss Hardt]

DNQ? My downloading program says that "The file does not exist, download aborted."

Hakkiman, thanks for your feedback and I'll put your name next to what you said. Everyone else is also welcome to recognize his/her comments.

I am promising to make some kind of a small banner that says "I remember" or "Never forget" and everyone who wants can put it on his/her website. The link will lead to the list of the people who loved the original Hockenheimring. I think it's a good idea.

I also think that hating the tracks for deaths is not OK...except if we're talking about Lauzitz, which is another clone of the modern designers. All the "older" tracks have soul.

4 years ago when I said I like the H'heimring more than the other tracks in F1, my dad promised me to take me to the Grand Prix one day when the situation here gets better and when we find some money (nevermind the story about German visa...). Now I can go, but I won't. I mean, I'd like to go and walk through that mud that meant a lot of me, but not to see a GP....

DNQ and R's posts really made me cry....which means that the thread had success.

[DNQ]

http://cfm.globalf1.net/downloads/vi...ockenheim.mpeg

Left the 's' out of videos....
Sorry about that, didn't double check it last night...

But it's all good now

[Legend]

2000 was the best!
The tears and the rest is mentioned, but there is one more thing!
At the closing stages of the race Mika started to catch up with Rubens. Who was going to win?
Mika went in for rain tyres as some of the track was wet but Rubens stayed out there on his dry’s. When Mika was at the wet part of the track he decreased the gap to Rubens, but when on dry part of the track he lost time as Rubens was faster there. Lap after lap this was the pattern. It was just like a yoyo. That was fun. It was exiting!
I guess now when the track is reduced by 2 kilometres, a scenario like this will never take place again.

[ringo]

Don't worry guys...

As soon as i finish school i'm going to go make a **** load of cash, buy the circut and rebuild her...

[DNQ]

lol, I had a similar idea in MY mind
Actually yeah, I say we built a track exactly the same, but here in Australia

[Miss Hardt]

I had that idea too...but much before. In January! I said I am going to finish uni, become a miliioner (don't ask how can language student be a millioner...) and rebuild everything. If it took 62 000 Euros to destroy it, then the same money would be enough to get it back.

I downloaded the video...it's great! Only I didn't
like the comment...there was challenge and I don't know why they were always bashing the long straights...