Hermann Tilke
Encyclopedia
Hermann Tilke is a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

 and auto racer, who has designed numerous Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 motor racing circuits.

Racing

During the 1980s, Tilke competed in touring car
Touring car
A touring car, or tourer, is an open car seating five or more. Touring cars may have two or four doors. Often, the belt line is lowered in the front doors to give the car a more sportive character. They were often fitted with a folding roof and side curtains. Engines on early models were either in...

 racing, mainly on the old Nürburgring
Nürburgring
The Nürburgring is a motorsport complex around the village of Nürburg, Germany. It features a modern Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a much longer old North loop track which was built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg in the Eifel mountains. It is located about...

 Nordschleife circuit. He also competed in VLN
VLN
The VLN, properly the Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring is an organisation of motorsport clubs of which each hosts one event of a ten-race series held on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the "VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring"...

 endurance racing and 24 Hours Nürburgring
24 Hours Nürburgring
The 24 Hours Nürburgring is a touring car and GT endurance racing event on the Nürburgring Nordschleife . With a lap length of over , it allows the participation of more than 200 cars, and over 700 drivers.-Overview:...

. He and Dirk Adorf
Dirk Adorf
Dirk Adorf, is a German race car driver.Starting with small cars, he won the Nürburgring VLN German Endurance Trophy in 1992, 1996 and 1997. This earned him drives in the German Super Tourenwagen Cup during 1995.He would return to the STW in 1999, this time with Opel...

 won some VLN
VLN
The VLN, properly the Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring is an organisation of motorsport clubs of which each hosts one event of a ten-race series held on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the "VLN Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring"...

 races with a V8Star Series
V8Star Series
The V8Star Series was a touring car racing series based in Germany. It ran from 2001 to 2003 and can be compared to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Series.-Cars:...

 in 2003 and 2004.

Architecture

After completing his Civil Engineering Degree Program with specialization in Transport and Traffic Management at FH Aachen, Tilke established Tilke Engineering in 1984, combining skills in architecture, civil engineering and electronic engineering to provide complete solutions for motor racing and waste disposal projects.

Formula One

Tilke is one of four designers recognised by the FIA but has predominantly been the only one to be commissioned to design Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 tracks. One of his first, minor tasks was to design and build a short access road at the Nürburgring
Nürburgring
The Nürburgring is a motorsport complex around the village of Nürburg, Germany. It features a modern Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a much longer old North loop track which was built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg in the Eifel mountains. It is located about...

, earned due to contacts made by his racing efforts there. His first major job was the transformation of the fast Österreichring
Österreichring
The Red Bull Ring is an Austrian race circuit in Spielberg, Styria.The race circuit was founded as Österreichring and hosted the Formula One Austrian Grand Prix for 18 consecutive years, from to . It was later shortened, rebuilt and renamed the A1-Ring, it hosted the Austrian Grand Prix again from...

 to the much shorter A1-Ring in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, in the 1990s.

Tilke was involved in the radical overhauls of European circuits, such as Hockenheimring
Hockenheimring
The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg is an automobile racing track situated near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other motor racing events, it biennially hosts the Formula One German Grand Prix...

, Circuit de Catalunya
Circuit de Catalunya
The Circuit de Catalunya is a racetrack in Montmeló, to the north of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. With long straights and a variety of corners, the Circuit de Catalunya is seen as an all-rounder circuit.-History:...

, Autodromo Nazionale Monza
Autodromo Nazionale Monza
The Autodromo Nazionale Monza is a race track located near the town of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. The circuit's biggest event is the Formula One Italian Grand Prix, which has been hosted there since the sport's inception....

, Nürburgring
Nürburgring
The Nürburgring is a motorsport complex around the village of Nürburg, Germany. It features a modern Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a much longer old North loop track which was built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg in the Eifel mountains. It is located about...

 and Silverstone Circuit
Silverstone Circuit
Silverstone Circuit is an English motor racing circuit next to the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. The circuit straddles the Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire border, with the current main circuit entry on the Buckinghamshire side...

, plus Fuji Speedway
Fuji Speedway
is a race track standing in the foothills of Mount Fuji, in Oyama, Suntō District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It was built in the early 1960s and hosted the first Formula One race in Japan in 1976. In the 1980s, Fuji Speedway was used for the FIA World Sportscar Championship and national racing...

 in Japan.

Tilke secured the contracts to design many high-profile new world circuits from scratch, mainly in Asia but also in eastern Europe. He designed Sepang International Circuit
Sepang International Circuit
The Sepang International Circuit is a racing circuit in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. It is located near Kuala Lumpur International Airport, approximately 60 km south of the capital city Kuala Lumpur. It is the venue used for the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix, A1 Grand Prix as well as the...

, Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain International Circuit
The Bahrain International Circuit is a motorsport venue opened in 2004 and used for drag racing, GP2 and the annual Bahrain Grand Prix. The 2004 Grand Prix was the first held in the Middle East. Since 2006, Australian V8 Supercar has been raced at the BIC and the V8 races are named as the Desert 400...

, Shanghai International Circuit
Shanghai International Circuit
The Shanghai International Circuit is a motor racing circuit, situated in the Jiading District of Shanghai, People's Republic of China. The circuit is best known as the venue for the annual Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, which was first hosted in 2004....

, Istanbul Park Racing Circuit
Istanbul Park
Istanbul Park , also known as the Istanbul Racing Circuit or initially Istanbul Otodrom, is a motor sports race track in Akfırat County east of Istanbul, Turkey. It was inaugurated on 21 August 2005...

, Valencia Street Circuit
Valencia Street Circuit
The Valencia Street Circuit is a semi-permanent street circuit in Valencia, Spain which will host the Formula One European Grand Prix for seven years. The first race meeting on the circuit was held over the 23/24 August 2008 weekend, with Felipe Massa winning the main event, the European Grand...

, Marina Bay Street Circuit, Yas Marina Circuit and the Buddh International Circuit in India. Tilke has also designed the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, where F1 was expected to make its return to the United States in 2012. However, the fate of the track and the race are now in question amidst a funding dispute between race promoters and F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone.

Tilke designs every track with several other engineers from Tilke Engineering, as well as F1's commerical rights holder Bernie Ecclestone
Bernie Ecclestone
Bernard Charles "Bernie" Ecclestone is an English business magnate, as president and CEO of Formula One Management and Formula One Administration and through his part-ownership of Alpha Prema, the parent company of the Formula One Group of companies. As such, he is generally considered the primary...

. After viewing the track site and "once factors such as topography, wind direction, infrastructure and soil quality are known" the design work can begin. Tilke focuses on "conceiving dramatic architecture that reflects the host country, like Sepang's lotus-leaf grandstands in Malaysia," while also aiming for spectator comfort and clear viewing. He "build[s] corners that promise a fast and interesting race but avoid pulling the field apart."

Tilke's track designs have been the subject of criticism. A 2009 profile in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

noted that Tilke "has been accused of penning boring tracks and, even worse, of butchering legendary ones like Hockenheim." Former driver and team owner Sir Jackie Stewart
Jackie Stewart
Sir John Young Stewart, OBE , better known as Jackie Stewart, and nicknamed The Flying Scotsman, is a Scottish former racing driver and team owner. He competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Championships. He also competed in Can-Am...

 was critical of Tilke in a 2011 piece in The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

, blaming his designs for the lack of overtaking and excitement at many Formula One races, calling them "are largely carbon copies of each other". Stewart, while praising the vast improvement the designs have brought to the sport's safety as well as "bringing fantastic amenities and luxuries to the sport", argued that the tracks have "gone too far the other way" in terms of safety. His primary complaint was that the large tarmac run-off areas fail to "penalise mistakes"; he cited the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
The 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 14 November 2010 at the Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island, an island on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. It was the 19th and last round of the 2010 Formula One season...

, where Mark Webber
Mark Webber
Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver.After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career...

 was unable to pass Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari....

, despite the latter running wide on four occasions, because the track's run-off areas did not impede him. Stewart suggested that the run-offs be made of a substance that slowed the cars down and thus punished drivers' mistakes. Webber echoed Stewart's views, stating that he was "spot on".

Others have defended him. Driver and commentator Anthony Davidson
Anthony Davidson
Anthony Denis Davidson is a British former Formula One racing driver from England, born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. He has raced for Minardi, Super Aguri and been a test and/or reserve driver for the British American Racing, Honda and Brawn GP teams...

 said that Tilke "understands the demands of the modern cars...he gives us run-off areas and it's all well thought out. They are enjoyable to race on because they suit modern F1 cars. At a track like Silverstone you do not get as much overtaking because it was designed for cars that were slower and did not depend on downforce for speed. But the circuits designed in recent years have a long straight and bigger braking zone." He particularly praised Turn Eight of Istanbul Park. Similar praise has come from Clive Bowen, the managing director of Apex Circuit Design, who called Istanbul "a technical and aesthetic tour de force". He also defended Tilke's safety-enforced changes to existing tracks, noting: "By cutting off that long blast down through the woods at Hockenheim he was just joining the dots - he did not have much room for manoeuvre."

List of circuits

Tilke has secured contracts to design many high-profile new world circuits from scratch. These include:
  • 1995 A1 Ring, Austria
    Austria
    Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

  • 1999 Sepang International Circuit
    Sepang International Circuit
    The Sepang International Circuit is a racing circuit in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. It is located near Kuala Lumpur International Airport, approximately 60 km south of the capital city Kuala Lumpur. It is the venue used for the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix, A1 Grand Prix as well as the...

    , Malaysia
  • 2004 Bahrain International Circuit
    Bahrain International Circuit
    The Bahrain International Circuit is a motorsport venue opened in 2004 and used for drag racing, GP2 and the annual Bahrain Grand Prix. The 2004 Grand Prix was the first held in the Middle East. Since 2006, Australian V8 Supercar has been raced at the BIC and the V8 races are named as the Desert 400...

    , Bahrain
    Bahrain
    ' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...

  • 2004 Shanghai International Circuit
    Shanghai International Circuit
    The Shanghai International Circuit is a motor racing circuit, situated in the Jiading District of Shanghai, People's Republic of China. The circuit is best known as the venue for the annual Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, which was first hosted in 2004....

    , China
    China
    Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

  • 2005 Istanbul Park Racing Circuit
    Istanbul Park
    Istanbul Park , also known as the Istanbul Racing Circuit or initially Istanbul Otodrom, is a motor sports race track in Akfırat County east of Istanbul, Turkey. It was inaugurated on 21 August 2005...

    , Turkey
    Turkey
    Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

  • 2006 Cancun
    Cancún
    Cancún is a city of international tourism development certified by the UNWTO . Located on the northeast coast of Quintana Roo in southern Mexico, more than 1,700 km from Mexico City, the Project began operations in 1974 as Integrally Planned Center, a pioneer of FONATUR Cancún is a city of...

    , Mexico
    Mexico
    The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

     (undeveloped)
  • 2006 Beijing International Streetcircuit
    Beijing International Streetcircuit
    Beijing International Streetcircuit is a street circuit in Yizhuang, a suburb 10 miles to the south-east of central Beijing. It was first used on the weekend of November 10-12 2006 for the third round of the A1GP...

    , China
    China
    Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

  • 2007 Bucharest Ring
    Bucharest Ring
    The Bucharest Ring is a street circuit in the Romanian capital city of Bucharest.Designed by famed track designer Hermann Tilke, the circuit is in the city centre, and has the Palace of the Parliament in its infield....

    , Romania
    Romania
    Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

  • 2008 Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore
    Singapore
    Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

  • 2008 Swedbank kartodroms
    Swedbank kartodroms
    Swedbank kartodroms is a karting circuit located in Kandava, about 100 km West of Riga, the capital of Latvia. The track was built in 1972 and completely redesigned and rebuilt in 2008 according to CIK-FIA standards...

    , Latvia
    Latvia
    Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

  • 2008 Valencia Street Circuit
    Valencia Street Circuit
    The Valencia Street Circuit is a semi-permanent street circuit in Valencia, Spain which will host the Formula One European Grand Prix for seven years. The first race meeting on the circuit was held over the 23/24 August 2008 weekend, with Felipe Massa winning the main event, the European Grand...

    , Spain
    Spain
    Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

  • 2008 Jakarta Street Circuit
    Jakarta Street Circuit
    The Lippo Village International Formula Circuit is a temporary street circuit in Lippo Village Tangerang, Indonesia. The track was confirmed to host a round of the 2008-09 A1 Grand Prix season, set for the weekend of February 8, 2009....

    , Indonesia
    Indonesia
    Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

  • 2009 Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi
    Abu Dhabi
    Abu Dhabi , literally Father of Gazelle, is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western...

    -United Arab Emirates
    United Arab Emirates
    The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

  • 2009 Motorland Aragón, Alcañiz
    Alcañiz
    Alcañiz is a town and municipality in the province of Teruel, in the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. The town is located on the banks of the river Guadalope. Alcañiz is the unofficial capital of the Lower Aragon historical region...

    , Spain
    Spain
    Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

     (MotoGP venue)
  • 2010 Dublin Street Circuit, Ireland
    Ireland
    Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

     (undeveloped)
  • 2010 Korean International Circuit
    Korean International Circuit
    The Korea International Circuit is a motorsport circuit located in Yeongam, South Jeolla, South Korea, 400 kilometres south of Seoul and near the port city of Mokpo...

    , South Korea
    South Korea
    The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

  • 2010 Moscow Raceway
    Moscow Raceway
    Moscow Raceway is designed as an FIA-approved motor racing venue, presently under construction in the Volokolamsky District of Moscow Oblast, near the villages of Sheludkovo and Fedyukovo, from Moscow, Russia...

    , Russia
    Russia
    Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

     (planned MotoGP Venue)
  • 2010 Kazakhstan Motor City, Republic of Kazakhstan
    Kazakhstan
    Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...

  • 2010 Atlanta Motorsports Park, United States of America
    United States
    The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

     (under construction)
  • 2011 Buddh International Circuit, Greater Noida
    Greater Noida
    Greater Noida is located in the Gautam Budh Nagar district of the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh . It is under the purview of the National Capital Region of India...

    , India
    India
    India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

  • 2012 Circuit of the Americas, United States of America
    United States
    The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

     (under construction)
  • 2013 Port Imperial Street Circuit
    Port Imperial Street Circuit
    The Port Imperial Street Circuit is a proposed motor racing circuit in Hudson County, New Jersey in the United States of America. It was officially announced in October 2011, and is planned to host the Grand Prix of America, a race of the FIA Formula One World Championship, in...

    , United States of America
    United States
    The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

  • 2014 Bistra - Zagreb, Croatia
    Croatia
    Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

    (under construction)

External links

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