Motor racing first came to Tripoli in 1925, when events were held on a temporary circuit outside the city. The early races were financially troubled despite the enthusiasm of the colony's governor, General Emilio de Bono. A fatal accident during the 1930 event, which killed Italian driver Gastone Brilli-Peri, effectively ended racing on the original layout and made a 1931 running impossible.
The revival came through Egidio Sforzini, president of Tripoli's automobile club. He secured funding tied to a colonial trade fair sponsored by the Italian government and used it to build a permanent, European-standard circuit. The new Mellaha Lake track opened for the 1933 Tripoli Grand Prix. Its most recognisable landmark was a brilliant white concrete tower positioned opposite a large grandstand capable of holding up to 10,000 spectators. The circuit was equipped with starting lights and matched the facilities of the best European venues of its time.
With Marshal Italo Balbo appointed Governor-General of Italian Libya, the race grew in spectacle and prestige. Drivers stayed at the luxury Hotel Uaddan, were entertained at Balbo's palace, and competed for one of the largest total prize funds on the calendar. British driver Dick Seaman described Mellaha Lake as the "Ascot of motor racing circuits."
The Tripoli Grand Prix was held in conjunction with the Libyan state lottery. From October 1932 to April 1933, lottery tickets were sold at 12 lire each. Thirty tickets were drawn at random eight days before the race and assigned to race entries; the holder of the winning car's ticket would receive three million lire, second place two million, and third one million.
A claim first published in Alfred Neubauer's 1958 memoir alleged that Tazio Nuvolari, Achille Varzi and Baconin Borzacchini conspired with their respective ticket holders to fix the race result in order to share seven and a half million lire among themselves. Later research has suggested that the story is most likely a popular myth invented by Neubauer, who was not present at the event.
From 1933 to 1938 the Tripoli Grand Prix ran under Formula Libre rules, with no restrictions on engine size or vehicle weight, which allowed the circuit's high-speed character to be exploited to the maximum. From 1935 onward the German Silver Arrows teams — Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union — dominated proceedings. By the 1937 season cars were producing well over 500 horsepower, and Hermann Lang won driving a Mercedes-Benz W125. Concerns over escalating performance led the governing body to limit engine displacement to 3,000cc for 1938. The new V12 Mercedes-Benz W154 was still powerful enough to win, with Lang taking the victory again.
In 1939, frustrated by continued German dominance in the large-displacement class, Italian organisers restructured the Tripoli Grand Prix as a Voiturette event for cars with engines up to 1,500cc supercharged capacity. Anticipating that these regulations might be adopted for the wider Grand Prix formula, Mercedes-Benz developed the purpose-built V8-powered W165 specifically for Tripoli. With only two cars entered, Lang won again — his third consecutive Tripoli victory in three different cars built to three different sets of rules.
The final Tripoli Grand Prix was held on 12 May 1940, with Italy still officially neutral as the Second World War had not yet fully drawn in the Mediterranean theatre. The small field was composed entirely of Italian machinery — factory Alfa Romeo 158 cars and Maserati 4CLs plus private Maserati 6CMs. Giuseppe Farina, who had been fastest in practice, took the victory in what would be his only major pre-war win. It proved to be the last Tripoli Grand Prix. Italy entered the war days later and fighting in the North African theatre ended all further racing. The Mellaha Air Base, which had been built inside the circuit perimeter, later became Mitiga International Airport.
The Mellaha circuit represents the high point of motor racing in Italian colonial Libya and one of the most lavishly staged Grand Prix venues of the pre-war period. Its long straights and Formula Libre format produced some of the fastest racing of the 1930s, attracting the leading drivers and manufacturers of the era. The lottery format tied to race results was a commercially novel but ethically contentious mechanism that coloured the circuit's reputation well after racing ended. The site today is associated with Mitiga International Airport north-east of Tripoli.