The track was built on marshlands in 1968 and became an extremely popular venue in the 1970s, just as Swede Ronnie Peterson was at the height of his career. It has a long straight (called Flight Straight, which is also used as an aircraft runway), as well as several banked corners, making car setup an engineering compromise. Unusually, the pit lane is located halfway round the lap.
The raceway hosted six Formula OneSwedish Grand Prix events in the 1970s. When Peterson and Gunnar Nilsson died during the 1978 Formula One season, public support for the event dried up and the Swedish Grand Prix came to an end. The circuit is also noteworthy because it was the site of the first and only win of two unconventional F1 cars: the six-wheeled Tyrrell P34 car in 1976 and the infamous Brabham 'fan car' in 1978.
In 1993, the circuit along with FIM organized a 24-hour motorcycle race. Just one week ahead of the race, an appeal was lodged against the permit for the competition, due to noise concerns. Although the organizers obtained permission to race on the morning of the event, "media had trumpeted that the competition was canceled. At the ferry berths in Skåne, passport staff turned away visitors from Denmark and the continent". During the race itself a heavy thunderstorm occurred, with torrential rain drowning the circuit. Although racing continued, no local or international audience showed up, and the circuit was forced to declare bankruptcy after the event.[1]
The circuit has been modified at least 4 times in its history. The chicane in Norra corner has been added sometime in 1975 before the 1975 Swedish Grand Prix.[3][4][5] The chicane has been re-aligned and tightened in time for the 1976 Swedish Grand Prix.[6] It had been modified again before the final Formula One Grand Prix run on the circuit (1978 Swedish Grand Prix), with modifications to the penultimate Norra corner[N 2] and slight re-orientation of the following straight,[7] which resulted in the length increase from 4.018 km (2.497 mi) [8][9] to 4.031 km (2.505 mi).[10] It remained in that configuration through the 1980s[11] until sometime between 1997 and 1998 it was modified again and slightly shortened to its present-day length of 4.025 km (2.501 mi).[7][12]
In order to get more financiers the long straight was adopted as a 1,000 m (3,300 ft) runway for small aircraft (ICAO: ESMP). It is as of 2022[update] open for aircraft operations.[42] There is also a helipad, planned for ambulance helicopters at racing accidents.
Notes
^[N 2] Contrary to common depiction of the 1978 modification as having a chicane introduced to the Norra corner, there was no chicane ever used: the corner was made slower by decreasing its radius and making it a sharper bend instead of a sweeping curve it was before.[43][44][45][46]
^Anderstorp Raceway's Grade 2 license expired 28 May 2021.
^The chicane is absent in Lantmäteriet Historic Orthophoto 1975 (from lantmateriet.se), but is reported in the contemporary race report in the Motorsport magazine: "The Swedish Grand Prix". Motorsport: 717–720. July 1975. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
^Video on YouTube – full coverage of the 1978 Grand Prix
^Ventura, Xavier (1978-06-15). "G.P. Suecia: ¿Andretti o Peterson?". El Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). p. 21. Retrieved 2017-06-04. El difícil circuito de Anderstorp conoce este año una serie de cambios que pueden hacerlo más seguro pero también más difícil. La tradicional curva de la recta de salida ha sido modificada para convertirla en un ángulo recto de 90°... que puede tener importancia decisiva para la resolución de la carrera. Así mismo, nuevas barreras han mejorado las condiciones de seguridad del G.P. de Suecia de tal manera que ha recibido ya este circuito su homologación hasta 1981 por parte de la Federación Internacional.
