Motor racing was enormously popular in Fascist Italy, and the colonial administration of Tripolitania sought to use a Grand Prix as a vehicle for promoting settlement and tourism. The colony's governor, General Emilio de Bono, was an enthusiastic backer, but early editions in the late 1920s struggled financially. The 1930 race was marred by the death of Gastone Brilli-Peri, and a 1931 running proved impossible.
The event's salvation came through the resilience of Egidio Sforzini, president of Tripoli's automobile club. He secured Italian government funding to construct a permanent, European-standard circuit. The resulting Mellaha Lake track, inaugurated in 1933, stretched 13.140 kilometres through a salt basin between Tripoli, Suq al Jum'ah, and Tajura, wrapping around the Mellaha Air Base. Its most distinctive landmark was a gleaming white concrete tower overlooking a main grandstand capable of seating ten thousand spectators. The facility included starting lights — an innovation at the time — and amenities that rivalled the finest circuits on the continent.
The revived race was held in conjunction with the Libyan state lottery. In a scheme unique to Tripoli, thirty attendance tickets were drawn at random eight days before the event and assigned to race entries; the holder of the ticket corresponding to the race winner would collect three million lire, with smaller prizes for second and third. This arrangement inspired accusations of result-fixing at the 1933 race, the most famous being the allegation — first published in Mercedes racing manager Alfred Neubauer's 1958 memoir — that Tazio Nuvolari, Achille Varzi, and Baconin Borzacchini conspired to predetermine the finishing order and split the lottery proceeds. Later research has characterised the story as a popular myth, noting that Neubauer was not even present at the event.
From 1933 to 1938 the Tripoli Grand Prix ran to Formula Libre regulations, imposing no weight or engine restrictions, which suited it to the very fastest cars of the period. From 1935 onwards the German Silver Arrows — the supercharged Grand Prix machinery of Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union — overwhelmed the opposition. Hermann Lang won for Mercedes-Benz in both 1937 and 1938, the 1937 victory coming in the 500-plus horsepower W125. The concern over runaway engine sizes that this car helped provoke led to a 3,000 cc limit for 1938, to which Mercedes responded with the V12 W154, still producing over 450 hp.
Under the governorship of Marshal of the Air Force Italo Balbo, the event became a showcase of colonial spectacle. Drivers were accommodated at the Hotel Uaddan, with its casino and dinner theatre, and entertained at Balbo's palace. British driver Dick Seaman described Mellaha Lake as the "Ascot of motor racing circuits," and its substantial prize fund made it one of the most sought-after victories on the calendar.
By 1939, Italian racing authorities had grown weary of German dominance and restructured the event as a Voiturette race for 1,500 cc supercharged cars. The factory Alfa Romeo 158 Alfetta, the Maserati 4CL, and even a streamlined Maserati were entered. Mercedes, alert to the possibility that such regulations might be adopted for Grand Prix racing broadly, developed the compact V8-powered W165 specifically for the occasion. With only two W165s entered, Lang won again — his third consecutive Tripoli victory in three different cars built to three different rule sets.
The final edition was held on 12 May 1940, with Italy still formally neutral as the Battle of France had just begun. Only the factory Alfa Romeo and Maserati teams competed, a field of twenty-three cars in an entirely Italian contest. Giuseppe Farina, fastest in practice, took his only major pre-war victory. It was a pyrrhic triumph: with the outbreak of fighting in the Mediterranean theatre, the Tripoli Grand Prix was never held again.
The Tripoli Grand Prix occupies a significant place in pre-war motorsport history for several reasons: its exotic North African setting on a purpose-built high-speed circuit; the lottery system that tied spectator gambling directly to race outcomes; the extraordinary performances of the German Silver Arrows at full Formula Libre pace; and the enduring controversy surrounding the 1933 result. The race also served as an unlikely catalyst for one of the most specialised cars ever built for a single event, the Mercedes-Benz W165, demonstrating how a single race could reshape the technical trajectory of the sport.