While this weekend's German MotoGP will be held on the shortest and slowest circuit on the calendar, the original Sachsenring was a fearsome 8.6-kilometre track laid out on public roads. It was venue for the then East German Grand Prix from 1961 to 1972, with the first 125cc race won by local hero Ernst Degner using MZ's advanced two-stroke technology (the secrets of which he would take to Suzuki after defecting to the west). When the World Championship eventually returned to the Sachsenring in 1998 it was on a very different permanent 3.5km racetrack (later extended to 3.671km) which retains the original finish line from the era of public roads. While MotoGP's safety evolution has...
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