The shot here of the grid—complete with Fangio, Ascari, Hawthorne, and Lang(!)—pulling away just look incredibly close. This was no special press area either, it looks like the cameraman is just sitting in the front row. Madness.
Beautiful, beautiful madness.
0 replies on “Swiss GP. Bremgarten. 1953”
Absolutely fabulous to see this kind of material. Thanks.
So beautiful. There is a race with this kind of proximity to the cars in modern times…It is the Pike’s peak hill climb. Every time I go, I am amazed that it is still legal. Super torque twisting the chassis as the cars four wheel drift inches from you if you so desire. Vintage bodied cars are racing again at Pike’s peak and a truly vintage prepared Falcon beat many moderns the last time I went. Vintage motorcycles with side cars too. A true joy. If you care to go one day, drop me a line through Email.
Wonderful but so so dangerous. How cavalier they were back then… Thanks for putting this up!
There is one place in the USA you can still see such a spectacle–the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix, held in July in Schenley Park! Curbs, stone walls, phone poles, drain grates, haybales all around the course! True, the spectators are behind snow fencing, but still just as perilous as the drivers; the pre-war class usually has a number of pure grand prix cars. The cars are slowed at the fastest point on the circuit by–you guessed it–a chicane. MJ
They may not have engines, but if you go to the bobsled track at Lake Placid, NY, you can stand right on the edge of the track. Believe me, 80MPH in a bobsled looks a whole lot faster when it’s whipping a foot past your nose than it does on TV.
The best part of the last time I was there was this ratty old Dodge pickup, belching fumes and unburnt gas, that was used to convey sleds from the finish line back up the hill to the start.