{"id":51033,"date":"2018-05-11T10:23:20","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T09:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.influx.co.uk\/?p=51033"},"modified":"2022-06-22T16:53:19","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T15:53:19","slug":"hermann-tilke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/people\/hermann-tilke\/","title":{"rendered":"Hermann Tilke: Grand Prix draw-er"},"content":{"rendered":"

The stunning Baku F1 circuit in Azerbaijan, like Monaco, seems like a period classic.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a street circuit that is as eye-catching as the cars that race on it \u2013 and what racing it inspires. It\u2019s unforgiving, too: if you\u2019re not on your game, Baku bites.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not an historic F1 track, though. It first ran in 2016. And who designed it? Hermann Tilke \u2013 the man responsible for penning nearly all the new F1 courses introduced since his first one, the Red Bull Ring in Austria, back in 1995.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n

Some don\u2019t care for Tilke circuits, largely because of his work on modifying some existing circuits \u2013 the Hockenheimring in Germany, for example. But could anyone have done better, say his supporters, given the many constraints? The fact we even know the name of F1\u2019s preferred circuit designer (one of the most influential people in F1, reckons B2B title Paddock Magazine) shows Tilke\u2019s profile is no fluke.<\/p>\n

Drivers themselves like his work \u2013 because, F1 commentator Anthony Davidson explained, \u201che understands the demands of the modern cars\u201d. Classic F1 circuits were fast and tenacious, challenging the drivers of cars that didn\u2019t have much downforce. The pilotes<\/em> had endless ways to demonstrate their brilliance.<\/p>\n

\"Tilke<\/a><\/figure>\n

But modern cars are all about downforce \u2013 so new circuits reflect this. They are designed to maximise the opportunities for drivers to race hard in the areas they still can \u2013 because you can\u2019t hammer modern F1 cars nose-to-tail and wheel-to-wheel like you could with old ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe circuits designed in recent years have a long straight and bigger braking zone,\u201d explained Davidson. \u201cThey are enjoyable to race on because they suit modern F1 cars.\u201d A classic F1 circuit doesn\u2019t look like a Tilke circuit, because classic F1 cars are far removed from modern ones.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no accident Tilke\u2019s circuits are fun to drive. That\u2019s the racer in him: he\u2019s a seasoned driver, regularly running the N\u00fcrburgring 24 Hours (he drove a Ford GT as recently as 2009), and even claiming a DTM start in the 1980s, and a Bathurst 24 Hours podium in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n

\"Tilke\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

A trained architect, it was competing in VLN events at the N\u00fcrburgring that led to his big break in F1: he won the contract to rebuild some access roads around the track. Then, in 1995, came the former A1 Ring job. Mr. Racetrack was underway. At the time of writing, he has 39 racetracks to his name, including modern classics like Circuit of the Americas and Istanbul Park.<\/p>\n

63-year-old Tilke, through his company Tilke Associates (his son, Dr Carsten Tilke, is also involved), doesn\u2019t just scribble lines on a napkin and send out the diggers. He has a multitude of constraints, not least the need to comply with FIA Grade 1 homologation \u2013 a set of standard stringent enough to not only dictate the size of the run-off areas (lots, wide), but even the placement of the advertising boards (lots, clearly visible to all).<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n

Then there\u2019s the plot of land he\u2019s given by the developers, which usually isn\u2019t ideal: flat and featureless rather than contoured and inspiring. Tilke also insists his circuits are good for spectators. Hence the big, iconic grandstands and peerless viewing areas. Tilke considers everything and thinks of everyone.<\/p>\n

Turn 8 at Istanbul Park is perhaps his crowning glory, a sequence of corners that have been compared to Eau Rouge and 130R. Only a racer could design something like that from scratch. No wonder he\u2019s F1\u2019s go-to man: more often than not, he delivers.<\/p>\n

And we all get to enjoy better racing as a result.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The stunning Baku F1 circuit in Azerbaijan, like Monaco, seems like a period classic. It\u2019s a street circuit that is as eye-catching as the cars that race on it \u2013 and what racing it inspires. It\u2019s unforgiving, too: if you\u2019re not on your game, Baku bites. It\u2019s not an historic F1 track, though. It first<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":51040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1780],"tags":[236,183],"class_list":["post-51033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-f1","tag-motorsport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHermann Tilke: Grand Prix draw-er - Influx<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The stunning Baku F1 circuit in Azerbaijan, like Monaco, seems like a period classic. 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