Aug30

Tilke track for African F1 bid

Map of the Hermann Tilke-designed Cape Town circuit

Areturn to South Africa could be on the cards for F1 if plans for a new Hermann Tilke-designed circuit in Cape Town bear fruit.

A South African business consortium believes it is on the verge of concluding a deal in the next few months with Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management company.

The deal would see a new circuit constructed close to the airport in time for a 2009 race, although the South African F1 Bid Company says that it could even be ready in time for 2007.

Plans released by Tilke show a roughly triangular circuit featuring several sweeping curves allied to tight hairpin corners. It is not known if the track will feature any significant elevation changes.

Ecclestone has said previously that he expects F1 to return to the African continent. "We are going to South Africa - it's not a question of if, it's only when," he said last November. "There will be a South African Grand Prix hosted by Cape Town within five years."


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