The Circuit de Meyrin was a temporary motor racing circuit in

Meyrin Meyrin () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality of the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. The main site of CERN, the European particle physics research organisation, is in Meyrin. Meyrin was originally a small agricultural village until the ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. It had a triangular layout of 9.3 km (5.78 mi) starting from Route de Meyrin, turning right on Avenue de Vaudagne, then right again on Route de Prevessin (now Rue Robert-Adrien-Stierlin), before rejoining Route de Meyrin at Bouchet to complete the lap, with grandstands for spectators built on Route de Meyrin. The location of the circuit was chosen due to its proximity to the city. The track was first used in 1923 hosting the Swiss motorcycle Grand Prix as well as grand prix for

sidecars A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. The combination of a motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''rig'', ''outfit'', or ''hack''. Hist ...

and for

cyclecars A cyclecar was a type of small, lightweight and inexpensive motorized car manufactured in Europe and the United States between 1910 and the early 1920s. The purpose of cyclecars was to fill a gap in the market between the motorcycle and the ca ...

which was the first car race in Switzerland. The success of the first event propelled the track to prominence, making it the premier motorsport event in

attracting international talent for the 1924 event, including racing for

motorcycles A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

(250cc, 350cc and 500cc), sidecars (600cc and 1000cc), voiturettes and cyclecars (750cc, 1100cc and 1500cc). Racing at the circuit continued throughout the 1920s until the final event held at the track was the

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

Geneva Grand Prix. The event was won by

Marcel Lehoux Marcel Lehoux (3 April 1888 – 19 July 1936) was a French racing driver and businessman. Lehoux was born in Blois in France. His racing career was built on the back of his successful trading company that operated in French Algeria. He placed sec ...

, however a crash involving the car of

Stanisław Czaykowski Count Stanisław Michel Frederic Marie Czaykowski, also known as Stanislas Czaykowski and Stanislaus Czaykowski (10 June 1899 – 10 September 1933) was a Polish Grand Prix motor racing driver. In 1930 Grand Prix season, 1930 and 1933 Grand Prix ...

resulted in the death of a bystander in a house adjacent to the circuit. As a result of the crash, races at the circuit were discontinued because it was determined that racing on public roads in towns and near houses was too unsafe. Today, most of the public roads that made up the circuit are still in use, however a section road was removed to make way for the expansion of

Geneva Airport Geneva Airport – formerly and still unofficially known as Cointrin Airport – is an international airport of Geneva, the second most populous city in Switzerland. It is located northwest of the city centre. It surpassed the 15-million-pas ...

Results

Swiss motorcycle Grand Prix Winners by year

Source:

Geneva Grand Prix Winners by year

References

Motor racing Pre-World Championship Grand Prix circuits Swiss Grand Prix Grand Prix motorcycle circuits Motorsport venues in Switzerland {{Switzerland-sports-venue-stub