Gran Premio di Tripoli 1933

Race winner Achille Varzi

The Gran Premio di Tripoli 1933 took place on May 7th on the new Mellaha circuit.

run

After the race was overshadowed in 1930 by the fatal accident of the popular Italian Gastone Brilli-Peri and had also become a financial disaster for the organizers, it was not held for the next two years. This year, however, the president of the local car club in Tripoli, Egidio Sforzini , chose the event. The nearly 13-kilometer-long ring near Tagiura east of Tripoli was built especially for this race .

The starting line-up was drawn, as was customary at the time, and the starting numbers were assigned based on the sequence. The start was cleared by Governor Pietro Badoglio , and Carlo Cazzaniga took the lead. After the first round, however, he had to let Tim Birkin pass and a little later also Tazio Nuvolari , Giuseppe Campari and Goffredo Zehender, who also passed Birkin. Shortly before halfway through the race, Campari had to park his Maserati in the pits with engine failure. Birkin got back third place, but also had to go into the pits to refuel his Maserati. Birkin sustained a severe burn injury to his arm when he accidentally touched the hot exhaust pipe. Despite the injury, Birkin continued the race with no apparent problems. At the front, Nuvolari and Varzi fought a tough duel, which Varzi won by 0.2 seconds.

The serious burn injury to Birkins turned out to be extremely critical in retrospect, but the Briton did not allow her to be treated adequately. On June 22nd, almost six weeks after the race, Birkin died of the consequences of this injury.

Results

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Luigi Premoli	02	Luigi Premoli	BMP Maserati 8C	Maserati 2.8L I8 supercharger
Scuderia Ferrari	04th	Tazio Nuvolari	Alfa Romeo Monza	Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8 compressor	E.
	32	Baconin Borzacchini
	56	Mario Tadini	Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 Spider
Giuseppe Bianchi	06th	Giuseppe Bianchi	Maserati 26	Maserati 1.5L I8
Mario Cussini	08th	Mario Cussini	Maserati 26	Maserati 1.5L I8
Bernard Rubin & Henry Birkin	10	Tim Birkin	Maserati 8C-3000	Maserati 3.0L I8 compressor	D.
Carlo Gazzabini	12	Carlo Gazzabini	Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 Spider	Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8 compressor
Officine Alfieri Maserati	14th	Luigi Fagioli	Maserati 8C-3000	Maserati 3.0L I8 compressor	P
	38	Giuseppe Campari
Charly Jellen	16	Charly Jellen	Alfa Romeo Monza	Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8 compressor
Achille Varzi	18th	Achille Varzi	Bugatti T51	Bugatti 2.3L I8 compressor
Gianni Battaglia	20th	Gianni Battaglia	Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 Spider	Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8 compressor
Renato Balestrero	22nd	Renato Balestrero	Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 Spider	Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8 compressor
Angelo Giusti	24	Angelo Giusti	Bugatti T35C	Bugatti 2.0L I8 compressor
Raymond Summers	26th	Raymond Summers	Maserati 8CM	Maserati 3.0L I8 compressor
	44	Goffredo Zehender
Albino Pratesi	28	Albino Pratesi	Talbot-Darracq 700	Talbot 1.5L I8
Carlo Cazzaniga	30th	Carlo Cazzaniga	Bugatti T35B	Bugatti 2.3L I8 compressor
Francesco Matrullo	34	Francesco Matrullo	Maserati 4CM	Maserati 1.1L I4
Attilio Battilana	36	Attilio Battilana	Maserati 26	Maserati 1.5L I8
Luigi Castelbarco	40	Luigi Castelbarco	Maserati 4CM	Maserati 1.5L I4	P
Nando Barbieri	42	Nando Barbieri	Maserati 4CM	Maserati 1.1L I8	P
Guglielmo Gramonelli	46	Guglielmo Gramonelli	Alfa Romeo Monza	Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8 compressor
László Hartmann	48	László Hartmann	Bugatti T51	Bugatti 2.3L I8 compressor
Secondo Corsi	50	Secondo Corsi	Maserati 26C	Maserati 1.5L I8
Mario Moradei	52	Mario Moradei	Talbot-Darracq 700	Talbot 1.5L I8
Clemente Biondetti	54	Clemente Biondetti	MB Maserati Speciale	Bugatti 2.5L I8 compressor
Gerolamo Ferrari	58	Gerolamo Ferrari	Bugatti T51	Bugatti 2.3L I8 compressor
Letterio Cucinotta Piccolo	60	Letterio Cucinotta Piccolo	Talbot-Darracq 700	Talbot 1.5L I8
Lelio Pellegrini	62	Lelio Pellegrini	Alfa Romeo Monza	Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8 compressor
Piero Taruffi	64	Piero Taruffi	Alfa Romeo 8C-2300 Spider	Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8 compressor	P
Pietro Ghersi	66	Pietro Ghersi	Alfa Romeo 8C-2300	Alfa Romeo 2.3L I8 compressor	P

Race result

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Achille Varzi	Bugatti	30th		2: 19: 51.4 h	7th	4: 26.8 min
02	Tazio Nuvolari	Alfa Romeo	30th		+ 0.2 s	2
03	Tim Birkin	Maserati	30th		+1: 31.8 min	4th
04th	Attilio Battilana	Maserati	27		+ 3 rounds	15th
05	Piero Taruffi	Alfa Romeo	27		+ 3 rounds	28
06th	Renato Balestrero	Alfa Romeo	27		+ 3 rounds	9
07th	Pietro Ghersi	Alfa Romeo	27		+ 3 rounds	29
08th	Gianni Battaglia	Alfa Romeo	26th		+ 4 rounds	8th
09	László Hartmann	Bugatti	26th		+ 4 rounds	20th
10	Luigi Castelbarco	Maserati	26th		+ 4 rounds	17th
11	Francesco Matrullo	Maserati	25th		+ 5 rounds	14th
12	Letterio Cucinotta	Talbot	25th		+ 5 rounds	26th
13	Nando Barbieri	Maserati	24		+ 6 rounds	18th
14th	Mario Cussini	Maserati	19th		+ 11 rounds	3
-	Goffredo Zehender	Maserati	29		DNF	19th		failure
-	Gerolamo Ferrari	Bugatti	28		DNF	25th		failure
-	Mario Tadini	Alfa Romeo	20th		DNF	24		failure
-	Giuseppe Campari	Maserati	20th		DNF	16		failure
-	Carlo Gazzabini	Alfa Romeo	17th		DNF	5		failure
-	Luigi Fagioli	Maserati	17th		DNF	6th		failure
-	Carlo Cazzaniga	Bugatti	11		DNF	13		failure
-	Luigi Premoli	BMP Maserati	7th		DNF	1		failure
-	Mario Moradei	Talbot	7th		DNF	22nd		failure
-	Lelio Pellegrini	Alfa Romeo	6th		DNF	27		failure
-	Albino Pratesi	Talbot	4th		DNF	11		failure
-	Angelo Giusti	Bugatti	3		DNF	10		failure
-	Clemente Biondetti	MB Maserati	2		DNF	23		failure
-	Baconin Borzacchini	Alfa Romeo	2		DNF	12		failure
-	Secondo Corsi	Maserati	2		DNF	21st		failure

Web links

• Score on The Golden Era