The United States Grand Prix in Austin has now revealed a map of the circuit that it says will be built in time for a race in 2012. The track has been designed by Tilke GmbH & Co. KG, the German company, based in Aachen, which seems to have a near-monopoly on track design in F1 these days. The circuit draws inspiration from a number of other F1 tracks, including sections which are reminiscent of some famous F1 corners, notably Turns 3-6, which look a lot like the Silverstone Maggotts/Becketts complex; Turns 12-15 which look remarkably like a mirror image of the stadium section at Hockenheim and Turns 16-18, which are a copy of the multi-apex Turn 8 in Istanbul. The organisers says that they think that the uphill Turn 1 will become a celebrated corner in its own right. Time will tell. The track is 3.4 miles in length and will be run anticlockwise. There are 20 turns and elevation changes of 133 feet. The spectators will be able to see much of the track from natural grandstands that ring the planned circuit.
Here is a map…
Austin circuit
“The organisers says that they think that the uphill Turn 1 will become a celebrated corner in its own right.”
It seems like a mirror-image of the A1-ring’s first corner actually
I wonder why I see the word Tilke and I can’t stop YAWNING …
Races on his designed tracks are so insufferably boring that I’ve quit watching most F1 races on tv, no kidding…
Thanks a lot for the insight Joe
Not bad, I suppose, but like many others I’m not thrilled about the Identikit aspect of it. It’s almost as if Tilke, stung by the recent criticism, is reacting by just appropriating bits at random from other circuits. “You like Silverstone do you? *clang* Turn 8 at Istanbul is good, is it? Here you go! *clang*”
But the elevation changes are nice, and given that construction hasn’t begun there is presumably time to refine it. A different series of sweeping bends up to the back hairpin that doesn’t suggest Maggotts/Becketts quite so much, and removing the first loop of the “stadium” section so the back straight feeds right into the second loop, would make it pretty good. And long high-speed sweepers like 130R and Turn 8 are good any way you do them, so that should be OK. Might be an idea to make the first corner a little faster, too — right up the hill at top speed, and then turning and cresting at the same time in fifth or sixth gear — that would separate the men from the not-men.
Speaking of friend Hermann, incidentally, God knows what the reaction to the three consecutive straights and endless collection of weebly bits that is the Korean circuit will be. If they actually get the tarmac down.
Looks like another stupid ” Mickey Mouse ” circuit. That first corner is guaranteed to cause numerous shunts after the start.
Does Tilke get paid by the number of corners per mile?
Maybe four (4) passing points in the track : T1, T11, T12 and T20.
Looks great to me, the 3d version really shows the elevation changes. Thumbs up here!
I loved your comment ‘karaoke’ circuits!
It looks like it might make for good racing, but I’m a little disappointed; I was hoping for more sweepers and less 90 degree turns, less point and shoot, but hard to tell how slow some of these will be. At over 100 degrees, I think Turn 1 will be more like La Source than the Austrian Ring T1. I’ll reserve final judgement until I can see a 3D layout. While they were copying, it would have been nice if they would have copied the Suzuki Spoon curve in place of T11. Very surprised to see it run anti-clockwise; anything said about that?
I don’t see the similarity to the Hockenheim Motodrom, seems closer to the final corners of Fuji IMHO, but the general design seems quite attractive, especially if they manage to keep the Silverstone-esque section as fast and sweeping as the original.
I wish the elevation change wasn’t so concentrated in just one corner of the track, the rest of it being within 15m, but this is the most attractive Tilke track since Sepang to me, the first one in recent history I’m actually excited to see a race on.
Looks like a very short pitlane too — with the big hill right at the end of the start-finish straight, the pitlane will have to feed out right after the line, basically. But cars coming out of the pits might have trouble reaching top speed until after they crest the hill at the first turn, which will make the pit penalty greater…
I like how they’ve marked out a ‘vending area’ and ‘RV parking’ on the map. Clearly thinking about the American market…
)
OMG! This track actually may provide more than one legitimate passing opportunity: 1, 11, 12, 15, 19, and 20.
Looks fast and potentially hard on brakes. I see nods to spirit of old Hockenheim, various iterations of Silverstone, and Montreal. Seems like someone thought hard about what makes an F1 race interesting.
I likey.
I just hope that unlike many of Herr Tilke’s tracks, this one provides overtaking….
Herman Tilke you say.
So basically a fairly long circuit with a long straight and far too corners that all look the same.
Should I even bother checking the layout sketch…?
This is really ingenious – from copying famous parts of the legendary circuits Mr. Tilke has now made a full circle copying even bits of his own designs.
Magny-Cours was a series of copied corners as well. Hence the corner names. Check it out here.
Seems to be bereft of grand stands for an event that needs spectator support.
Doesn’t matter though, there is an RV park along the back straight!
I’d have skipped the obligatory (or mandatory) invitation for Tilke to design the circuit and would have just copied turn for turn the Brno Circuit in Czechoslovakia. That track begs for an F1 race.
USF1 released YouTube videos too.
Doesn’t mean jack…
It wouldn’t be an American track without RV parking.
Well I guess the drivers will probably enjoy T3 through to T10.
Backstraight also looks quite similar to Abu Dhabi.
I suppose this is the logical conculsion to the arguments around making a new circuit exciting for the fans, and a challenge for the drivers. All you need is to cut-and-paste great corners into a new track and hey-presto!
I’m still unsure what to think about this – part of me thinks it could be a great circuit, but most of me thinks it’s just lazy granstanding (if you’ll pardon the pun) – trading off the spectacular nature of others.
It’s like those modern pubs that attempt to feel olde worlde by installing shelves and adding clutter – you can manufacture an atmosphere, but you can’t make it authentic. It would have been much better if they could have added natural countours to the site and come up with something memorable themselves.
Although with Turkey seemingly doomed as a destination, maybe it’s good someone has pinched the best bit so it’ll remain on the calendar…
Hi Joe.
I think you need to treat yourself and have a look at teh 3-D map of this ciruit. The link is
http://formula1unitedstates.com/images/pressKit/F1%20USGP%20BasicTrack%20LayoutwElevation.pdf
If the back end of the circuit is as flat as it looks then I have to say that turn 11 reminds me of the old Imola “Tosa” corner when either “Villeneuve” was a kink or if there was no kink there at all.
Too me it seems that Tilke has copied the start/finish line straight from the old Osterreichring for the Turn 19 to 20 section. A shame that Tilke could not crest the rise just before Turn 20 to make the corner blind until they crest that ridge. There are far too many race fans who would have loved to call that corner”Hella Licht” instead of “Castrol Kurve”.
Of all the things to copy from Monaco, why on earth did Tilke copy the uphill climb? (In this case into Turn 1?)
Bob – 3D map of the proposed circuit here:
http://www.planet-f1.com/news/3213/6352447/Layout-for-Austin-circuit-revealed
That first turn does look like a cracker. Or more precisely, a virtual cracker. I’ll believe it when I see it.
Is Tilke not capable of designing a circuit with fewer than 20 corners? 20 corners in 3.4 miles is guaranteed to be a bore. Anti-clockwise for no good reason. What is the point to that.
As for all the elevation change we were promised? The only real elevation change is from the second last corner to the first. The rest of the track has little change in elevation anywhere.
It is time someone else was allowed to design a few circuits to see if we can get anything better. Spa has more good corners in any of its timing sectors that Tilke’s entire career.
There is bound to be a shunt into the first corner.
They have knocked off the Stadium section at Hockenheim but omitted the fast right hander into it and made it really slow. Same with Turn 8 at Turkey – fast entry but slow at Austin
Sorry, but why does the circuit width vary so much? If it was a constart , wide, track, then I could see some hope. As it is I’m reminded way to much of a Hungary run the wrong way around.
Get rid of corners 4, 12, 13, 14, 15.