98th, Belgrade's Last Roar: Nuvolari's Stunning Victory as War Unfolds on the Eve of the Grand Prix

1939 Belgrade GP
September 3, Kalemegdan Park

Word spread after the first day of practice that German troops were massed on the Polish border. Indeed, Friday’s practice session would be held on a war footing. And by Sunday, Britain and France had entered the conflict. Yet the racers were ordered to keep on racing. New developments were tried, and team-mates locked horns as they bid to set the fastest time around this short, bumpy and cobbled in places street circuit.

Tazio Nuvolari arrived on Saturday morning after a tortuous train journey. Meanwhile, according to Mercedes-Benz’ corpulent team manager Alfred Neubauer, Manfred von Brauchitsch, whose uncle Walter was Germany’s Commander-in-Chief, had to be hauled from an aeroplane bound for Switzerland.

The day of the race was understandably tense. Von Brauchitsch, never the smoothest, drove like a man possessed and threw up a stone that shattered team-mate Hermann Lang’s goggles and cut an eye. Though signalled to slow, he then spun away his lead directly opposite the French embassy.

Auto Union’s Hermann Müller hit the front, only to suffer a tyre failure, whereupon team-mate Nuvolari took on a lead he would hold until the end.

Contested by just five cars and lasting not much longer than an hour, this pallid race brought a Homeric era to an uninspiring conclusion. It was apt that its greatest driver should win it – but that meant little given the context.

The Mercedes-Benz team snuck home on dusty back roads and upon its return to Stuttgart its trucks were commandeered. Now the racers were at war. PF

1st Tazio Nuvolari (Auto Union)
2nd Manfred von Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz)
3rd Hermann Müller (Auto Union)
Winner’s time & speed 1hr 04min 03.8sec, 81.3mph
Pole position Manfred von Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz), 1min 14.2sec, 84.2mph