The first race on the layout was held on 26 May 1927. The circuit used ordinary public roads connecting Hohenstein-Ernstthal with the surrounding countryside, making it typical of the open-road racing venues that dominated European motorsport in the interwar period. The name "Sachsenring" — Saxon Ring — was officially adopted in 1937, cementing the circuit's identity as Saxony's premier racing venue.
The road course measured 8.618 km and featured the characteristic mix of village streets, tree-lined sweeps, and elevation changes produced by the rolling Erzgebirge terrain. Spectators could watch from the roadside along much of the route, and the circuit's proximity to industrial Chemnitz (then Karl-Marx-Stadt) gave it a large working-class fan base that became one of the most passionate in German motorsport.
The Sachsenring became the home of the East German motorcycle Grand Prix from 1961 to 1972, when the event was part of the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championship. The old road layout suited the powerful machinery of the era, and the event drew enormous crowds from across East Germany and neighbouring socialist states.
Local machinery played a significant role in the circuit's identity during this period. The two-stroke MZ motorcycles built at the nearby Zschopau factory were competitive in the smaller classes, and their home race at the Sachsenring carried particular national significance. The fastest lap on the old circuit was set by fifteen-time World Champion Giacomo Agostini on an MV Agusta, reaching an average speed of 180 km/h around the demanding public-road layout.
The political tensions of the era intruded directly on the circuit's history in 1971. West German rider Dieter Braun won the East German Grand Prix, and the attending East German crowd spontaneously sang the West German national anthem in celebration — a politically charged act in a divided country. Authorities responded by restricting the following year's event to East European entrants only, effectively excluding Western factory teams and limiting the competitive field.
The East German motorcycle Grand Prix was discontinued at the Sachsenring after 1972, removing the circuit's primary international showcase event.
Through the 1970s and 1980s, the old road layout continued to be used for domestic and bloc-level events, but the inherent dangers of racing through a working village on public roads became increasingly difficult to manage. The proximity of houses, trees, and other obstacles offered little margin for error at the speeds attained by modern machinery.
In 1990, following German reunification, the situation became untenable. Faster Western machinery, now freely available and entering competition in eastern Germany for the first time, made the 8.618 km road course dangerously unsuitable. Fatal incidents confirmed what had been building for years — the original circuit, like the Isle of Man TT, was a public-road layout where the balance between spectacle and safety had tipped irreversibly. Racing through the village came to an end.
The closure of the old road layout did not end motorsport at Hohenstein-Ernstthal. As part of the broader effort to accelerate economic redevelopment in eastern Germany following reunification, a modern permanent circuit of 3.517 km was constructed in the 1990s using the existing infrastructure around the old berg corner section. This new track retained the Sachsenring name and the circuit's regional identity while meeting contemporary safety standards.
The new Sachsenring opened for international competition from 1996, hosting IDM motorcycle racing and touring cars before the German motorcycle Grand Prix relocated there from the Nürburgring in 1998. The old road layout — the Sachsenring that ran through the village, the site of Agostini's record laps and Braun's politically charged victory — exists today only in historical records and the memories of those who watched and raced on it.