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Lignières, Switzerland


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#1 Roger Clark

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Posted 14 October 2013 - 12:31

Everybody knows that circuit racing was banned in Switzerland following the 1955 Le Mans accident.

 

Well, in Motor Racing magazine, August 1965 there is a short article about the Lignières circuit on the county of Neuchatel.  It was built in 1960 for the "improvement of the technique of safe driving and for psycho-dynamic studies".  It was initially 850 metres long but extended in 1964 to 1.4 kilometres.  In due course, club races were held, including one in which John Aley competed.  The track width was only 8 metres so only 10 cars were allowed to compete at a time, but Jo Siffert was known to practice there.

 

the circuit still exists:  http://www.tcs.ch/fr...de-conduite.php



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#2 Alan Cox

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Posted 14 October 2013 - 13:25

A couple of films of the first Lignières Historique held in July this year

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=m-j6ksE27WA

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=l1XvcINOgsg



#3 Rob Semmeling

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Posted 15 October 2013 - 17:54

From my website:

The only permanent circuit Switzerland ever had was built by Frenchman Robert Souaille near Lignières in 1961. It opened as a 850-metre long test and training course in July of that year, but it was soon also used for small club meetings. The circuit was expanded to approximately 1.4 km in 1964, and Swiss Brabham-driver Charles Vögele broke the lap record on the new layout when he absolved a training course that year, in 0.56,7 = 88.9 km/h. The first national motorsport meeting at Lignières took place in September 1970, and over the next years the facility was permitted to run a limited number of closed-course races every year. Motorcycles are known to have raced here circa 1971-1979. However, the course was far too small to host any meetings of note, which may be why it struggled to survive, even with permission for the occasional race. At some point the Lignières circuit was abandoned, until after several years the Touring Club Sweiz (TCS) turned it into a modern drivers' training centre in 2004.