Hermann Tilke
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hermann Tilke (born December 31, 1954 in Olpe) is a German architect, designer of Formula One motor racing circuits and auto racer.
Contents |
[edit] Racing
During the 1980s, Tilke competed in touring car racing, mainly on the old Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit. He also competed in VLN endurance racing and 24 Hours Nürburgring. He and Dirk Adorf won in 2003 and 2004 some VLN races with a V8Star.
[edit] Architecture
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.
One of his first, minor tasks was a short access road at the Nürburgring, earned due to contacts made by his racing efforts there. He later redesigned the first turn complex of the circuit in 2002.
His first major job was the dramatic change from the fast Österreichring to the much shorter A1-Ring in Austria, in the 1990s.
Having made numerous controversial changes to the established stable of F1 circuits, Tilke secured the contracts to design many high-profile new world circuits from scratch. These include:
- 1999 Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia
- 2004 Bahrain International Circuit, Bahrain
- 2004 Shanghai International Circuit, China
- 2005 Istanbul Racing Circuit, Turkey
- 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Singapore
- 2008 Valencia Street Circuit, Spain
- 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, UAE
- 2009 Cape Town Grand Prix, South Africa
- 2010 Korean International Circuit, South Korea
- 2010 Volokolamsk, Russia (Planned MotoGP Venue)
- International Circuit Simon Bolivar, Venezuela
- 2010 Indian Grand Prix, India (Planned F1 Venue)
Tilke was also involved in the radical overhauls of the Hockenheimring in Germany and most recently the Fuji Speedway in Japan. The alterations that were carried out to the Hockenheimring have generally not been well received by many fans of F1, who believe he has castrated a once great circuit. Tilke has also revealed plans for the reconstruction of Jacarepaguá in Rio, which will have staged the 2007 Pan American Games.
Tilke Engineering is also due to carry out work on Circuit de Catalunya, Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Nürburgring, Silverstone Circuit and La Ciudad del Motor de Aragon (Spain).
As of May 2007, Tilke is also currently working on the track for the Vodafone Bucharest Challenge 2007 The track will host the European FIA GT3 Championship, the GB Formula 3 and the Logan Cup race.
In February 2008, it was announced that Tilke would design the Russian circuit, Volokolamskring in time for a 2010 MotoGP race.
Tilke's trademark of circuit is a mixture long straight and tight hairpins, most at the beginning of his tracks, which is supposed to encourage overtaking.
