The roots of motor racing in Pau stretch back to 1900, when the Automobile-club du Béarn organised a long-distance road race called the Circuit du Sud-Ouest covering some 300 kilometres through the Pyrénées-Béarn region. The French Grand Prix itself was held at Pau in 1930, lending the city further prestige and paving the way for the annual Grand Prix de Pau to be inaugurated three years later.
The race took place on a street circuit winding through the centre of Pau, a layout that would persist in modified form for decades. In 1935, the route was adjusted to bypass Beaumont Park, and the pit facilities were relocated — the configuration that remained in use thereafter. The circuit demanded precision and nerve from its competitors, the undulating tarmac of public roads presenting a very different challenge from purpose-built venues.
The first Grand Prix de Pau was held in February 1933 under difficult conditions, with snow still on the ground in parts of the region. Despite the wintry setting, the race attracted a serious field, and Marcel Lehoux took victory at the wheel of a Bugatti. No race was held in 1934, but the event returned in 1935 and quickly established itself as a fixture on the European calendar.
Throughout the mid-1930s, the Grand Prix de Pau operated under the prevailing Grand Prix regulations of the time. In 1937, the rules were revised so that Grand Prix machinery was restricted to engines of 4500 cc unsupercharged or 3000 cc supercharged capacity, bringing new technical contenders to the fore.
The 1938 edition produced one of the most celebrated results in prewar motor racing and one of rare symbolic importance. The French driver René Dreyfus, piloting a Delahaye 145, faced the formidable German Silver Arrows in the form of Rudolf Caracciola and Hermann Lang sharing a Mercedes-Benz W154. The German pair made a pit stop mid-race, while Dreyfus elected to run non-stop. When the flag fell, Dreyfus had defeated both German drivers — a result that carried enormous national and political resonance at a time when German dominance of Grand Prix racing was near-total. The Mercedes W154 was among the most powerful Grand Prix cars of its era, and the Delahaye's victory was greeted with patriotic fervour in France.
The 1939 Pau Grand Prix saw a different narrative unfold: an internal contest between two Mercedes teammates, Hermann Lang and Manfred von Brauchitsch. Lang emerged victorious, underscoring the continued supremacy of the German factory teams in the final prewar season of European Grand Prix racing. The outbreak of the Second World War brought the series to a halt, and no race was held again until 1947.
The prewar Grand Prix de Pau occupies a distinctive place in motorsport history. Its street circuit character, its role as a venue for both national pride and fierce technical competition, and the symbolic weight of the 1938 Dreyfus victory all contributed to its reputation. When racing resumed after the war, the event retained its prestige and attracted another generation of greats — Juan Manuel Fangio won in 1949, extending a line of champions that had begun with the best drivers of the 1930s. The prewar editions established the Grand Prix de Pau as one of Europe's enduring and beloved motorsport events.