Autodromo della Mellaha
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Tagiura , Italian Libya | ||
Route type: | semi-permanent | |
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Owner: | Automobile Club Tripoli | |
Architect: | Attilio Arcangeli, Luigi Maruffi | |
Start of building: | January 15, 1934 | |
Opening: | May 6, 1934 | |
Decommissioned: | 1940 | |
Track layout | ||
Route data | ||
Important events: |
Gran Premio di Tripoli | |
Route length: | 13.1 km (8.14 mi ) | |
Audience capacity: | 8000 grandstand | |
Records | ||
Course record: (fastest lap) |
3: 25.73 min. ( Hans Stuck , Auto Union , 1937) |
Coordinates: 32 ° 53 '24.8 " N , 13 ° 18' 9.4" E
The Autodromo della Mellaha was a motorsport race track in the Italian colony of Italian Libya in the 1930s .
history
After the Gran Premio di Tripoli in 1930 was overshadowed by the fatal accident of the popular Italian Gastone Brilli-Peri and also became a financial disaster for the organizers, it was not held in the following two years. The president of the Tripoli Automobile Club, Egidio Sforzini , had the almost 13-kilometer-long ring east of Tripoli built for the 7th Grand Prix in 1933. The race track was ready for the race on May 7th, but the Autodrom was not even under construction. Italo Balbo , governor of Italian Libya since November 1933, had the Autodrom built in a hundred days from January 1934 with the help of 2,750 workers. The new Autodromo di Mellaha was officially opened for the 8th Tripoli Grand Prix on May 6, 1934 as part of the Grand Prix races . The racetrack was used until the Tripoli Grand Prix on May 12, 1940, a month before the Italian entry into World War II . After the end of the war, the parts that had not been destroyed during the African campaign were torn down.
location
The route was east of Tripoli, on the Mellaha Salt Lake, in the Tagioura district . Nearby was the Italian air force base Mellaha, today's Mitiga International Airport .
route
The approximately 13 km long route was considered one of the fastest courses at the time and allowed average speeds of up to 220 km / h.
Winners list
German drivers like Rudolf Caracciola and Hermann Lang also won the car races in Tripoli.
space | driver | Manufacturer | time |
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1. | Achille Varzi | Bugatti | 2: 19: 51.4 |
2. | Tazio Nuvolari | Alfa Romeo | + 0.2 |
3. | Tim Birkin | Maserati | + 1: 31.8 (fatal accident) |
space | driver | Manufacturer | time |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Achille Varzi | Alfa Romeo | 2: 48: 53.8 |
2. | Guy minor | Alfa Romeo | + 0.2 |
3. | Louis Chiron | Alfa Romeo | + 22.2 |
space | driver | Manufacturer | time |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Rudolf Caracciola | Mercedes Benz | 2: 38, 47.6 |
2. | Achille Varzi | Auto Union | + 1.06.6 |
3. | Luigi Fagioli | Mercedes Benz | + 2.16.3 |
space | driver | Manufacturer | time |
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1. | Achille Varzi | Auto Union | 2: 31.25.4 |
2. | Hans Stuck | Auto Union | + 4.4 |
3. | Luigi Fagioli | Mercedes Benz | + 1 lap |
space | driver | Manufacturer | time |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Hermann Lang | Mercedes Benz | 2: 27,57.67 |
2. | Bernd Rosemeyer | Auto Union | + 9.65 |
3. | Ernst von Delius | Auto Union | + 1.14.18 |
space | driver | Manufacturer | time |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Hermann Lang | Mercedes Benz | 2: 33, 17.14 |
2. | Manfred von Brauchitsch | Mercedes Benz | + 4.38.50 |
3. | Rudolf Caracciola | Mercedes Benz | + 5.03.62 |
After the dominance of German manufacturers in the races of 1937 and 1938, the decision was made to only hold races in the Voiturette class in Mellaha from 1939 onwards . Despite the change, last year's winner Hermann Lang was able to triumph again in a Mercedes-Benz W 165 in the race for the European Grand Prix Championship in 1939 . It was not until the last race of the Tripoli Grand Prix at the Autodromo della Mellaha on May 12, 1940 that the later first Formula 1 world champion Nino Farina won in an Alfa Romeo 158 .
Web links
- Autodromo della Mellaha at THE GOLDEN ERA OF GRAND PRIX RACING (English)
- Il nuovo autodromo di Tripoli PDF (Italian)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Piste della memoria: Mellaha, l'autodromo nell'oasi. In: automotorfargio.wordpress.com. Retrieved April 30, 2020 (Italian).