Hockenheimring, August 8th
THE great concrete stadium that forms the major part of the Hockenheimring is not the most pleasant place even when the sun is shining so when the skies are grey, and threatening rain, it is truly forbidding. The only spark of imagination in the place as far as the drivers were concerned was the very fast Ost – Kurve at the far end of the circuit, which was virtually a full-bore hairpin joining the two fast legs of the circuit. I say “was" because the challenge of the Ost – Kurve is now gone as a chicane has been built before the corner, that brings most cars down to second gear and some even to first gear. Everyone seemed a bit vague as to who had dreamed up this chicane or why, though much of the blame was being put on Jody Scheckter, but how or why he was involved was rather obscure. If and when the new Nürburgring is built in the Eifel Mountains and the German Grand Prix returns there, it won't be too soon. I find Hockenheimring a rather sad joke that has gone on long enough and the only thing you can say is that holding the German Grand Prix within its precincts is better than no German Grand Prix at all.
Before things got under way for the 1982 Grand Prix the rains came to Germany and filled the air with gloom, and even though it was dry on Friday morning when practice began no-one really believed it was going to stay dry. Surprisingly, after the British and French Grand Prix races on consecutive weekends, everyone seemed to be in pretty good order, though there were some driver changes and some new cars, but nothing of any great importance. Nigel Mansell was back to take up his position as number two in the Lotus team, Jan Lammers had been moved out of the Theodore Team and Tommy Byrne had been brought out of the Formula 3 school to replace him, though the reason was a bit obscure, and even more so was the appearance of Rupert Keegan in the March pit, waiting to take over from Jochen Mass. "Herman the German" was still suffering a bit from his lucky escape at the French Grand Prix and he soon found that he was not fit enough to drive the leading March 821, so Keegan took over.
