How motor racing's six-decade Swiss exile ended

The return of competitive motor racing to Switzerland has been a long time coming. Although the process of setting up this weekend's Zurich Formula E race was relatively quick, there were still plenty of hurdles to overcome.

Alex Kalinauckas Jun 6, 2018, 10:27 AM

Upd: Jun 6, 2018, 11:04 AM

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After a 64-year gap, motor racing is returning to Switzerland. This weekend's Zurich E-Prix will be the first closed-circuit motorsport event to take place in the country since the Swiss government banned racing following the 1955 Le Mans disaster, in which more than 80 spectators died.

The most recent world championship circuit event (hillclimbs have been allowed in the intervening years) remains the 1954 Swiss Grand Prix at Bremgarten. But that's about to change.

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.