1 If his tracks are so damned boring, why do so many people hire him to design them? And why doesn't F1 choose other tracks which are more fun? (Whatsisname, "Helcke" or something?)

2 More like, what DOES constitute a fun F1 track?

We've gathered that the drivers like lots of elevation changes. We don't like lots of little twisty technical spots and no straightaways worth mentioning. But when we DO get straightaways worth mentioning, the brakes get so hot braking at the end, they explode. What's the happy medium?

3 Hermann Tilke gets hired for two reasons... guess which one is more important than the other:

1) There just aren't that many track designers out there, and he's the one with the longest resume.
2) He's in good with Birdie Ecclestone.

Most of the fun F1 tracks are older.  Suzuka.  Monza.  Monaco.  Silverstone.  Spa.  Australia.  Even Brazil, despite the fact that I loathe it.  Other than Monaco, they all have one thing in common.

None of them have a real "technical" section.  Things are spaced so that a driver does a little bit of everything all the time.  The turns are (for the most part) quick and sweeping.  Even the S-Curves at Suzuka are fast and require the driver to get in a rhythm to negotiate them correctly.  Only rarely on these circuits does a driver have to go slowly for any substantial length of time (of course, "slow" is a relative term).

On a Tilke circuit, however, you have fast sections and slow sections, and never the twain shall meet.  Look at China, for example.  There are definite zones there: slow at Turns 1-4 and 11-13, fast on the two long straights.  Otherwise, just as you're getting up to speed you're suddenly interrupted by another turn.  At Spa, though, everything flows.  You might end up going slow at some point, but it's a steady progression as you get there, not just "Bam, you're slow.  Bam you're fast!"

Canada, you'll note, is not on the "fun track" list, because it really doesn't flow at all; it's like the Ur-Tilke circuit.  That it consistently turns out good races seems to be because of the Safety Cars that usually wind up being called out, more than the track itself.

Turkey flows.  Valencia does not.  That's about the only difference between Tilke's best and worst circuits, and I think Turkey turned out good despite his best efforts to cock it up with the nasty end-of-lap complex.

4 I'm confused about something. I just took a look at Valencia with Google Maps, and there isn't any bridge where the route course shows one between turns 9 and 10. Did they erect a temporary bridge for the race? Or, since Google's pictures are from 2007, was a bridge built since then?

5 The track was built up over the course of the 9 months leading up to the first running of the race in August 2008, so it doesn't surprise me that it doesn't show up on the Googlemap.  It's a permanent swing bridge, by the way, and it isn't welded shut any more, like it used to be.  In theory, some idiot could accidentally open it during the race and wouldn't that be an interesting occurrence? 

6 Google updates very slowly outside of few spots. I track the area of the Corn Ranch spaceport as a hobby, and a couple of months ago Google uploaded an imagery that shows the facilities built in 2007... And they used obsolete images which are at most taken in 2009 (I have a few newer pictures so I can compare). I suppose Earth is just too big even for Google.

7 If Corn Ranch is too obscure, the Mobile Service Structure at the Launch Complex 40 of Cape Canaveral AFS was demolished in April 2008, more than 2 years ago. Google still shows it standing.

Maybe I should check the World Trade Center now.