For exactly four decades, the book Rennsport Schweiz has been published regularly at the end of the year. On December 14, 2023, volume 40 was presented at the "RacingFuel Academy" in Horgen with many celebrities in attendance.
Unfortunately, the long-established Swiss championship has been dormant for some time now. Fortunately, there are still a few old hands who don't miss the opportunity to take part in the Swiss hill climb, slalom or rally championships.
In the 1960s, the Swiss championship with its circuit and hill climb races was considered a fiercely contested championship, but unfortunately there is not much left of it.
The Swiss franc prefers to flow into football, even though the Swiss national team has never managed to win at least one European Championship. Even as a purely landlocked country, we have dominated the America's Cup with Alinghi for years and Marco Odermatt and Roger Federer are regarded as the Verstappen of skiing and tennis.
Internationally successful
The Swiss motorsport scene is also much more successful internationally, and it is still possible to fill around 300 pages of a book every year with a review of another exciting season with many Swiss successes.
The first 28 pages are dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans classic from a Swiss perspective. Whether it was Siffert or Fässler, Müller or Buemi, Sauber or Jani, Brun or Scherer, they all stood on one of the classic's podiums at least once. In 2023, the young Fabio Scherer was also allowed to climb to the top in the LMP2 class.
Historic racing
10 pages look back at the history of motorsport, at least as far as the cars are concerned. Claudio Enz and Christina Seeberger secured victory in the "Histo-Monte" against around 300 competitors in the Lancia Fulvia Coupé Rallye 1.3 S from 1970 and Luciano Arnold was the first driver from Switzerland to win the "Historic Formula 2 International Series" with a very well-known car, namely the ex-Silvio Moser-Brabham.
Fabio Scherer drove the Porsche 911 Carrera RSR in Arosa for the very first time, not only in a manual car, but also on a hill. Urs Erbacher: "I was a bit scared because Fabio had never driven an H-shift and on a hill before. Afterwards I was surprised how well he did. He is simply a professional," said the car owner and builder, breathing a sigh of relief.
For collectors and fans
Over 700 color pictures and a lot of background information were compiled for the book. Together with its predecessors, it provides a complete history of motor racing. It goes without saying that not every picture can be a photographic masterpiece due to the abundance. More important to the authors is the reference work character.
The story began 40 years ago
Stefan Lüscher launched this book series on his own initiative in 1983. Unfortunately, a serious illness took him home far too soon. His wife Philomena also passed away in September of this year.
Peter Wyss, who had been involved in journalism and organization almost from the very beginning, took over the reins years ago, when Stefan's symptoms of illness were increasingly affecting his work. Wyss was able to continue the project successfully. But now the time has come for change again, as Peter has announced that the 40th volume will also be his last. The search is now on for a successor, which will probably not be easy.
Bibliographical details
- Title: Racing Switzerland 2023
- Publisher: Aktiv Verlag, 6370 Stans
- Author: Peter Wyss
- Language: German
- Edition: 1st edition of the 40th year
- Format: Hardcover, 21 x 26 cm
- Size: 324 pages, 700 color pictures
- ISBN: 978-3-909191-84-3
- Price: CHF 65.00 (plus postage/packaging)
- Buy/Order: Online on the publisher's website or in specialist shops
