Plans for the design of the new US circuit in Austin Texas are underway, the track layout has been approved and Hermann Tilke has once again got the nod from Bernie Ecclestone to design the 5.4km circuit.

The track seems to resemble sections from circuits around the world, including Turkey’s infamous turn eight and the Hockenheim hairpin, both previous Tilke tracks. As you can see from the image the circuit also undergoes various elevation changes with the overall elevation change being around 40 metres.

Cars should top out at around 320kph at the fastest part of the circuit before a heavy breaking zone, a famous Tilke overtaking device. The Austin GP is set to make its debut in 2012.