5 replies to this topic

[Graham Clayton]

Is motor racing still banned in Switzerland?
After the horrific crash at the 1955 Le Mans 24 hour race
in France, the government banned the sport outright.
If the ban was lifted, when was it lifted?

[Gary Grant]

The ban is still in place to this day. Initially four countries (Spain, France, Mexico and Switzerland) banned motorsport in the wake of Le Mans 55. All bans were eventually lifted, with the exception of the Swiss one.

The old Grand Prix track at Bremgarten which held F1 races in the early 50s (I think Moss made his F1 debut here), in the western suburbs of Berne, has now disappeared. The only major motorsport events are a hillclimb at St. Ursanne-les-Rangiers, which is a round of the European Hillclimb Championship and the Rallye du Valais, which takes place in the valley around the town of Sion in the shadow of Mont Blanc.

This was taken from the F1 encyclopedia website:
"Other popular hillclimb venues enjoyed moment of fame in the 1960s, notably the Ollon-Villars and Sierra Montana-Crans hillclimb courses which hosted events which were called the Swiss Mountain Grand Prix. Top names including Jim Clark competed in these events.

There was one attempt to build a permanent racing circuit on private land, on a mountain plateau in the Jura, near Berne, close to the village of Lignieres. This tiny circuit, which is less than a mile in length, was built in the 1960s in the hope that the government would change its attitude to racing but events can only be held there if there are traffic cones placed on the circuit."

Its quite amazing then that Peter Sauber should be passionate enough about racing to found his own F1 team, despite being just 12 when his own country banned the sport.
Mind you, Switzerland only gave women the vote about 20 years ago, so they can hardly be called a 'progressive' nation.

[David McKinney]

Maybe I should wait for people with more knowledge about this than me to respond, but I was told by a Swiss friend a few years ago that circuit racing has in fact returned, though only at club level.

[Rob29]

Your friend may have been confused;Swiss club racing has taken place since the 60s,but not in Switzerland! They(AC du Suisse) have raced at Hockenheim,Dijon,Monza & several other places.No permanent circuit has ever existed in Switzerland.At the time of the LeMans 55 disaster,only Berne was in use,and was cancelled for 55 & 56 due to lack of safety.The Swiss government banned all motor RACING in 1956. This includes motor cycles,also go-karts & rallycross which had not been invented in 56.
Racing one at a time against the clock is OK.
A better example of a stupid law would be dificult to find.
I have a personal economic boycott of all things Swiss.

[MrAerodynamicist]

I remember watching a TopGear once and they were in Switzerland for a one-off hillclimb event. Anyone know anymore?

[Allen Brown]

The Swiss Championship has been running since 1964, formalising a set of races that had been going on even longer. It includes circuit racing at Hockenheim, Monza (and Dijon I think) plus slaloms at obscure tracks and the big feature hillclimbs at Ollon and St Ursanne. These two international hillclimbs were major events from the 1950's through the 1970's but hill climbs do not attract quite the same attention nowadays.

There used to be a multitude of classes, including 3-litre single-seaters, but the overall winner was always declared from the sports car classes.

The late-60's saw regular F1 involvement in the championship, with Silvio Moser often the fastest competitor, while its sports car contingent probably peaked in the early or mid 1970's.

They still race to this day, but are now in 'national' class sports cars, similar to the Italian formula.

Allen