Designer Wahl picks best seat in the Austin F1 house

Track designer Peter Wahl, a managing partner of Tilke GmbH, was asked Thursday where he would sit if he were a fan attending the U.S. Grand Prix, planned to begin in 2012. It turned out to be a pretty easy choice for Wahl — he is attempting to re-create one of his favorite spots in a section of the planned Austin track.

Jay Janner/American-Statesman

“This is Hockenheim," Wahl said, pointing toward a loop on the backstretch. “Like in Hockenheim we want to have atmosphere."

Hockenheim has a section, called the arena, that is almost surrounded by grandstands and where 60,000 fans cheer the action through the tight curves.

On layouts of the planned Austin circuit, you can see two objects that look like small white boomerangs face to face. Those are the stands for his Hockenheim section. Fans in the outer stands could see cars screaming down a straightaway and then braking through a series of curves, just as if they were at Germany’s famous track.

Wahl recalled, “I always remember when Michael Schumacher had his best years and was driving his Ferrari into the Hockenheim arena. It was perfect."

Don’t expect to sit next to Wahl, however, in Austin’s arena. He says that if he’s at a race he goes to a motor home and watches it on TV. That way he can look at the televised data.

Wahl said, “I can see whose engine is working well, what he’s doing now and whose tires are going bad. You hear the sound behind you, and that’s OK." The Statesman