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Energy
At 2:00 pm on 30th October the noise levels
in India will dramatically increase. That is
when the first ever Formula 1 Grand Prix in
the country’s history will take place. Racing
cars with a combined power output of nearly
17,000 bhp will then be fighting it out on the
Buddh International Circuit. Alongside the
race track, MTU genset engines with even
more horsepower will be making sure that
everything runs smoothly. The new circuit
was designed and built by German track designer
Hermann Tilke. He is a former racing
driver himself and is now right at the heart
of the Formula 1 organization.
Sometimes it’s a good thing that you can’t plan
everything in life. Otherwise, Hermann Tilke
would not have become what he is today – an
architect and developer of complete Formula 1
racing circuits and facilities. And not just any
track designer, one of the world’s most famous.
He has already made 50 of them, including the
48 I MTU Report 02/11
Portrait of Formula 1 circuit designer Hermann Tilke
On 30th October 2011, India’s first ever Formula 1 Grand Prix will take place. The circuit was designed and built by German track designer Hermann Tilke.
Making tracks
Formula 1 tracks in Malaysia, Bahrain, Shanghai,
Istanbul, South Korea and Abu Dhabi. And when
the first ever Indian Grand Prix takes place on
30th October 2011, the cars will once again be
lapping a circuit designed by Hermann Tilke.
Suddenly an expert
“It was pure chance that it got to this point,” he
says today. Hermann Tilke was a racing driver
himself. He never competed in Formula 1 but
raced in touring car and endurance events. On
the side, he studied engineering. He got his first
permanent job in his mid-twenties. Hermann
Tilke wanted to be both – racing driver and engineer.
But the two things were difficult to combine
because the racing was too time-consuming.
So he resigned from his job stating “too little
time off” as the reason and decided to go freelance.
“It was the only solution, because from
then on I was my own boss and could allow myself
time off when I had to travel to races.” His
aim was to plan racing circuits – because he
knew his way around them. And it wasn’t long before
the first commission arrived. He redesigned
a small escape lane on the Nürburgring for a fee
of 600 Deutsche Mark. It turned out quite well,
and so more work followed. “All of a sudden people
were saying I was an expert,” he recounts, as
if he still couldn’t quite believe it today. The first
big circuits he designed were the A1 Ring in Austria
and the Sachsenring in Germany. They were
followed by the Sepang International Circuit in
Malaysia. “That’s a great circuit – it was the first
one where we set standards,” he relates. And not
only the circuit was his creation, he also planned
and built the whole surrounding infrastructure –
the pit lane, the stands, the hotels and the access
roads. He doesn’t do the job on his own any
more – his engineering consultancy now employs
over 300 people and has offices in Aachen, Berlin,
Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.