Hermann Tilke

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Hermann Tilke (2009)

Hermann Tilke (born December 31, 1954 in Heggen ) is a German civil engineer , developer of test and Formula 1 race tracks and racing driver .

Professional career

Hermann Tilke graduated from the Aachen University of Applied Sciences in 1982 with a degree in civil engineering with a specialization in transport . He also drove in racing and so came to the construction of racetracks. He received his first small order from Nürburgring GmbH: the construction of a short access road for 600 DM.

The office Tilke Engineers & Architects in 1983 in Aachen founded and is regarded as a leading service provider in the planning and construction of racing and test tracks.

The scope of services includes the construction of technically and architecturally ultra-modern race tracks with adjacent grandstands, pit buildings, team buildings and other infrastructural systems, taking into account individual customer requests and the constantly changing track layouts and safety measures.

In addition to developments related to racing, Tilke is also involved in the planning and construction of hotels, administrative buildings, residential buildings, shopping centers and sports and leisure facilities.

The company employs more than 350 engineers and architects worldwide with offices in Germany, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. The range of services includes the areas of architecture, engineering, building services, electrical engineering and urban planning, starting with conception, through planning, to construction management and project management.

By developing numerous changes in the safety area, Hermann Tilke was able to secure a large number of projects in Formula 1 in particular . Some of his projects are:

With this, seven of the 19 Formula 1 tracks used in 2010 were realized by him. Hermann Tilke was also involved in the renovations of the Österreichring in Austria, the Hockenheimring in Germany and the Fuji International Speedway in Japan. What he describes as his specialty is that he offers everything from a single source, from planning to implementation, in addition to the route itself, as well as grandstands and ancillary buildings.

Hermann Tilke has also been planning the Nürburgring for years . In addition to the pit building and the Bilstein grandstand as well as the new route (Mercedes Arena), Tilke is also responsible for the Nürburgring 2009 project . When asked about his work as a route designer, Tilke said he saw himself more as an engineer than an artist.

Racing career

Hermann Tilke decreased the 1980s touring cars to VLN - long distance races and the 24-hour race on the Nordschleife part. Together with Dirk Adorf, he won several VLN races in 2003 and 2004 with a V8 Star class car. In the 2008 season he started together with Dirk Adorf in a Lamborghini Gallardo built by Raeder Motorsport in the VLN. In 1984 he took part in the European Touring Car Championship .

criticism

Tilke's track designs have been the subject of harsh criticism for years. The British newspaper The Guardian remarked in 2009, Tilke "was accused of creating boring stretches and to have worse defaced legendary race tracks like Hockenheim." In 2011, the triple world champion threw Jackie Stewart Tilke in his column in the Daily Telegraph before the needs of Ignoring spectators and making overtaking maneuvers unnecessarily difficult. “I'm afraid he didn't do much for the audience. (...) To put it simply: Most of these tracks are copies of each other and they tend not to punish mistakes that way anymore. ” Mark Webber and Williams Technical Director Sam Michael agreed with Stewart. In an interview in 2010, ex-world champion Alan Jones described Tilkes Designs as "boring" and added: "Just one curve with a constant radius after the other."

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Volkher Pullmann: Formula 1 also drives according to plans from Olpe. January 3, 2019, accessed on January 4, 2019 (German).
  2. ↑ a b Arnd Gottschalk: The Lord of the Rings. In: Dimensions 2010/02, p. 14 f.
  3. ↑ Project descriptions on the Tilke GmbH homepage ( Memento from July 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ^ Ten-year deal for Formula 1 races in New York , Welt.de of October 26, 2011, accessed on October 27, 2011.
  5. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from August 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/mar/21/hermann-tilka-formula-one-designer
  8. ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formulaone/8349573/Sir-Jackie-Stewart-want-more-overtaking-in-F1-Make-circuits-punish-drivers-for-their-mistakes .html
  9. ↑ http://www.motorsport-magazin.com/formel1/news-115691-stewart-webber-kritisiert-tilke-strecken/
  10. ^ F1: Mark Webber backs Jackie Stewart's criticism of Hermann Tilke
  11. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from February 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Tilke, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German civil engineer and developer
DATE OF BIRTH December 31, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Olpe