In the eyes of the law and for all legal purposes, Tilke did design the track. Neither Tavo or Schwantz would legally be able to take responsibility for the design of the track as they are not licensed engineers. They are Tilke's client and while they can put forth proposals for Tilke, Tilke must shape those proposals into legal parameters in references to the FIA's regulations.
In the US you don't have to be a licensed engineer to design a race track. Engineers need to sign off on structures, infrastructure, etc but the actual racing circuit requires no such accreditation. Any grading may fall under the auspices of a civil engineer. That would be true of any project that required grading, depending on the locale. With the exception of a PE or FE, many if not most engineers in the US aren't licensed at all. Any licensing that happens is at the state level and not nationally.
On edit: I just looked at the Texas Dept of Licensing and Regulation and Texas Board of Engineers and neither Hermann Tilke nor Tilke Engineering have a Texas contracting license or are licensed PEs in the state. That's not such a big deal as the general contractor on projects of that scale can either sign off on the work or have it reviewed by another sub contracted PE or firm for any evaluation that may require a PE sign off. I'd bet Austin General has taken care of this sort of thing.
Edited by loki, 10 November 2012 - 04:23.
Look for the AtlasF1 flag.
