Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" () and Bertha Benz Memorial Route. The town is widely known for its Hockenheimring, a motor racing course, which has hosted over 30 Formula One German Grand Prix races since 1970. Hockenheim is one of the six largest towns in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district; since 1999 the number of inhabitants exceeded the 20,000 threshold, thus the town received the status of a regional central town (Große Kreisstadt) in 2001. It is twinned with the French town of Commercy, the German town of Hohenstein-Ernstthal in Saxony and the American town of Mooresville, North Carolina. Geography Location and environment Hockenheim is located in the Upper Rhine valley on an old trade route from Frankfurt to Basel. The brook Kraichbach divides the town in an eastern and a smaller western area, and flows into the Rhine to the north near Ketsch. Hockenheim's total municipal area covers 3,484 ha, with ca. 28.8 percent used for settlement and transportation and ca. 45.9 percent for agriculture. The remaining area consists of ca. 22 percent forests and ca. 2.4 percent rivers and seas. The municipal area is divided into two large natural regions, the "Rheinaue" to the west and the slightly higher "Niederterrasse" to the east. The so-called "Hockenheimer Rheinbogen" is a meander area of the Rhine, which stretches over the municipalities of Ketsch, Hockenheim and Altlußheim. 30 parts of it with a total of 656 ha are under nature conservation. An additional area three times larger is designated as landscape conservation area, with less strict usage limitations. The "Rheinbogen" offers biologically diverse, secondary wetlands as habitat for endangered plants and animals, it is also an internationally important resting and feeding area for migrating birds in winter. Town structure The central urban area forms one unit and is only divided into five districts for statistical purposes. Together with the central town several small settlements belong to Hockenheim: the industrial areas "Bahnstation Talhaus" and "Wasserwerk", the farms and houses "Insultheimerhof", "Herrenteich, Ziegelei" and "Ketschau, Ziegelei" as well as the deserted settlement "Westeheim". History Stamped bricks of the Roman Legio XIV Gemina Martia Victrix were found 1984 in a brick kiln during an excavation in Hockenheim. The stationing of this legion near Mainz