Circuit Bremgarten
Grand Prix Circuit (1931–1955) | |
| Location | Bern, Switzerland |
|---|---|
| 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 mi) |
| 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 (Grand Prix/Formula One/Formula Two) and the Swiss motorcycle Grand Prix in 1949 and from 1951 until 1954. Additional Bern Grands Prix were run for Voiturette, Formula Two and sportscars.
Bremgarten was built as a motorcycle racing track in 1931 in the Bremgartenwald (Bremgarten forest) in the north of Bern, well outside of the separate municipality Bremgarten bei Bern. The circuit itself had no true main 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.