Track Plans

Tripoli

Tripolitania, an Italian colony since 1911, held its first Grand Prix in 1925, using long circuits of the desert roads around its capital city of Tripoli. In spite of the support of the colony's enthusiastic governor, General de Bono, and some initial success, the annual events failed financially. Only personal intervention by de Bono kept the 1929 event from being cancelled, and the 1930 race had a spartan field, little public interest, and was marred by the death of Gastone Brilli-Peri in an accident.

The 1930 event was cancelled, but the president of Tripoli's auto club decided to organize another Grand Prix, this time on a purpose built European style racing circuit. This new track was an 8.2 mile circuit running around the Mellaha salt lake and Air Base. The track's most distinctive landmark was a brilliant white concrete tower situated across from a large grandstand that could hold up to ten thousand people, and the facilities rivalled the best that continental European circuits had to offer.

Tripoli Grand Prix programme covers

From 1933 to 1940 the Mellaha Lake circuit hosted the Tripoli Grand Prix, and funded by the national lottery, the event became a great success. The track was was one of the fastest in the world, and Mercedes Benz and Auto Union sent their finest drivers and machinery to take part, joining the strong Italian presence of Maserati and Alfa Romeo. The participants were treated like royalty, staying in luxury at the Hotel Uaddan with its casino and dinner theater, and being entertained by Marshal Balbo at his palace. All this led Dick Seaman to describe Mellaha Lake as the "Ascot of motor racing circuits", and coupled with its substantial prize money, it's easy to see why the Tripoli Grand Prix became such a popular date on the calendar.

The national lottery which funded the race became an integral part of the controversy which surrounded the 1933 event. The government lottery sold 12 lire tickets, offering the chance to win up to 3 million lire. But rumours spread that the 1933 race was fixed, and the money shared between the conspiring drivers and the ticket holders. Nothing was ever proven, but the rules of the lottery were changed.

Mercedes Benz

Mercedes Benz dominated the race in the latter half of the decade, even in 1939, when the Italians changed the rules from Formula Libre, to 1½ litre voiturette regulations in an attempt to thwart the Germans. With the outbreak of the second World War, only the Italian teams took part in the 1940 race, with Alfa Romeo winning a pyrrhic, and sadly final victory for the Italians. The Tripoli Grand Prix was never raced again.