The international St Moritz automobile week is underway as I write and I am somewhat disappointed in not being allowed to travel from Australia to take part, especially as I am an international ambassador for one of the integral events, the Bernina Gran Turismo.
It was not until the mid-1920s that motor vehicles were allowed on the roads of the Engadine. The potential benefit of the motor car for tourism though was immediately obvious and so the first International St. Moritz Automobile Week was launched in 1929. It was financed by appropriate donations from the local tourist industry of the time, which benefitted from the fact that the automobile could be used to attract completely new target groups.
The automobile week consisted of a rally, the kilometer race, a skill race, a beauty competition and finally the Bernina race. The new edition of this hillclimb race, the Bernina Gran Turismo, has, since 2015, earned a position among the world’s best motoring events and is now rightly considered one of the most beautiful in the historic racing calendar.
The International St. Moritz Automobile Weeks of 1929 and 1930 were each opened by the so-called Kilometer Race on the Shell Road. The dead-straight section of road between Samedan and Punt Muragl was the first asphalted road in the Engadine and the venue for this spectacular race, in which the only thing that mattered was the maximum speed that could be achieved. The new edition of the “International St. Moritz Automobile Week” will also be heralded with a sprint race, the “Kilomètre Lancé – Alpine 1000”, but on the runway of Engadin Airport, which has been specially closed for this purpose.
The Automotive Film Festival St. Moritz is offering cinematic delicacies from past decades that fit the theme, for the first time this year with films from the car and motorcycle genres.
The historic “beauty contest” would be a Concours d’Elegance today – but the new “Motorsport Rendezvous” is rather a relaxed car garden party with the park in front of the Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains providing a worthy setting. Embedded between the Motorsport Rendezvous and the Bernina Gran Turismo, an auction by RM Sotheby’s will also take place on the grounds of the Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains.
The new International St. Moritz Automobile Week will be crowned by the Bernina Race, the Bernina Gran Turismo. The technical vehicle scrutineering will take place in front of the Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains, offering the opportunity to observe the racing vehicles up close before the Automobile Week literally reaches its climax on the magnificent race track, the Bernina Pass road between La Rösa and the top of the pass. Check out its 50+ curves in this link from last year https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fHfF_os9Zs&t=87s and look out for more from me from this year’s event soon…
