Early editions of the race struggled financially. The colony's auto club saw motor racing as a vehicle for raising capital and promoting tourism, but initial events failed to generate sufficient interest, and the death of driver Gastone Brilli-Peri at the 1930 race further undermined the race's prospects. The turning point came when Egidio Sforzini, president of the Tripoli auto club, secured funding linked to the Italian government's colonial exhibition programme and commissioned a new, purpose-built circuit at Mellaha Lake, a 13.140 km salt-basin track situated between Tripoli, Suk el Giuma and Tajura.
The Mellaha circuit, which opened for the 1933 Grand Prix, was equipped with electronic starting lights — an innovation at the time — and a large grandstand capable of holding ten thousand spectators. A distinctive white concrete tower faced the start-finish straight. Competitors stayed at the luxury Hotel Uaddan and were entertained at the residence of Governor-General Italo Balbo. British driver Dick Seaman described Mellaha as the "Ascot of motor racing circuits," and the race's substantial prize fund confirmed its status as one of the most coveted victories in European racing.
The 1933 Mellaha inauguration was closely linked to a Libyan state lottery. Thirty tickets drawn at random eight days before the event were assigned to the race entries; the holder of the winning car's ticket received three million lire. An allegation, first publicised in Mercedes team manager Alfred Neubauer's 1958 memoir, claimed that Tazio Nuvolari, Achille Varzi and Baconin Borzacchini conspired to fix the result in order to share the lottery money between themselves and their ticket holders. Subsequent research suggests the story is a myth and that Neubauer was not even present at the race.
From 1933 through 1938 the race was run under Formula Libre regulations, with no restrictions on weight or engine capacity, making Mellaha one of the fastest circuits in the world. From 1935 onwards the German Silver Arrows — Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union — dominated, as they did across the Grand Prix calendar. The 1937 race saw Hermann Lang win in a Mercedes-Benz W125 producing well over 500 horsepower. Engine size limits of 3,000 cc introduced for 1938 prompted Mercedes to develop the new V12 W154, still producing over 450 hp, and Lang won again in the revised car.
For 1939 the Italian organisers, frustrated by unbroken German dominance, restructured the event as a race for 1,500 cc supercharged Voiturette cars, typified by the Alfa Romeo 158 Alfetta and Maserati 4CL. Believing these regulations might be adopted for full Grand Prix racing, Mercedes developed an entirely new car — the V8-powered W165 — specifically for the event. With only two cars entered, Lang won for a third consecutive year, this time in his third different car under three different rule sets.
The final edition on 12 May 1940 was an all-Italian affair of factory Alfa Romeo 158s and Maserati 4CLs, with 23 starters including Tazio Nuvolari and Alberto Ascari. Giuseppe Farina, fastest in qualifying, took his only major pre-war victory. It proved a pyrrhic Italian triumph: within weeks Italy had entered the Second World War, and the Tripoli Grand Prix was never held again as the Mediterranean and North African theatres engulfed the region.
The Tripoli Grand Prix occupies a unique place in motorsport history as one of the few major pre-war Grands Prix held outside Europe proper, combining colonial pageantry, state lottery spectacle, and the highest level of racing technology of the era. Its abrupt end in 1940 left it without a post-war successor, making it one of the most significant closed chapters in the sport's pre-Formula One history.