 | |
| Location | Bern, Switzerland |
|---|---|
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 |
| Coordinates | 46°57′00″N 7°24′39″E / 46.95000°N 7.41083°E |
| Opened | 1931 |
| Closed | 1955 |
| Major events | Formula One Swiss Grand Prix (1934–1939, 1947–1954) Grand Prix motorcycle racing Swiss motorcycle Grand Prix (1931–1937, 1947, 1949, 1951–1954) Sidecar World Championship (1949, 1951–1954) |
| Grand Prix Circuit (1931–1955) | |
| Length | 7.280 km (4.524 miles) |
| Turns | 13 |
| Race lap record | 2:34.500 ( Bernd Rosemeyer, Auto Union C, 1936, GP) |
The Circuit Bremgarten was a 7.280 km (4.524 mi) motorsport race track in Bern, Switzerland, which formerly hosted the Swiss Grand Prix from 1933 to 1954 (Formula One, 1947 to 1954) and the Swiss motorcycle Grand Prix in 1949 and from 1951 until 1954.
Bremgarten was built as a motorcycle racing track in 1931 in the Bremgartenwald (Bremgarten forest) in the north of Bern. The circuit itself had no true straight, instead being a collection of high-speed corners. It hosted its first automobile race in 1934, which claimed the life of driver Hugh Hamilton. In 1948 it claimed the life of Italian racer Achille Varzi. From the outset, Bremgarten's tree-lined roads, often poor light conditions and changes in road surface made for what was acknowledged to be a very dangerous circuit, especially in the wet.
Bremgarten has not hosted an official motorsport event since 1955, when spectator racing sports, with the exception of hillclimbing and rallying, were banned in Switzerland in reaction to the 1955 Le Mans disaster. Although there was a 1982 Swiss Grand Prix, it took place in Dijon, France. On June 6, 2007 an amendment to lift the ban was passed by the lower house of the Swiss parliament, 97 in favour and 77 opposed.[1] The legislation failed to pass the upper house, and was withdrawn in 2009 after being rejected twice.[2]