German motorcycle Grand Prix

The German motorcycle Grand Prix, first held in 1925, is since 1952 part of the Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Championship.

The first two Großer Preis von Deutschland races were held at Berlin's AVUS before moving to the new the purpose-built Nürburgring which was used in its full 28 km configuration. No GP was held in 1932, in 1933 the AVUS was given another try, and since 1934, public roads near and through Hohenstein-Ernstthal in Saxony were in use, initially without the name Sachsenring which had been used elsewhere. It was adopted in 1937.

After the war, in 1949, two German states were founded, and the introduced a motorcycle World Championship in which neither Germans nor German race tracks could participate due to still being banned. In the (Western) Federal Republic of Germany, a strong motorcycle industry (NSU, DKW etc.) emerged in the early 1950s, as cars were not yet affordable. With the Sachsenring being now in the (Eastern) German Democratic Republic (GDR), a new venue had to be selected. The Nürburgring was damaged and due to its length not very suitable. The Solitudering near Stuttgart had a challenging layout and due to proximity of a major city, the crowds were large, but the narrow roads had to be widened. In 1953, the Schottenring near Fulda was chosen, but due to lack of safety, it was partially boycotted, and only the small classes races had WC status. Attendance at the Nürburgring, which was by now used in its 22.8 km Nordschleife configuration, was disappointing. Former DKW and NSU factory rider and world record setter Wilhelm Herz promoted the Hockenheimring successfully. Thus, with Hockenheim (in odd-numbered years) and Solitude, two tracks in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg shared the German GP until the mid-1960s, when the Solitude was abandoned and replaced by the Nürburgring. There, the lesser known 7.7 km Südschleife was used twice, as in the Eifelrennen races which often attracted international entrants, but that part of the track was not rebuilt in 1970/71; thus in the even years from 1970 to 1980, the famous Nordschleife was used.

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