The Forgotten Grand Prix

With World War II in its first days, the one-off Belgrade GP started with a reduced grid - albeit still manned with exceptional talent. As Ian Bancroft tells, this was a knife-edge moment in history amid a show of German prowess

- Ian Bancroft

It was September 3, 1939, an inauspicious date for Europe and the world; the day on which Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany after the invasion of Poland some 48 hours earlier. Yet on the streets of Belgrade – today the capital of Serbia, then of Yugoslavia – five drivers took to the grid to compete in the only grand prix during the Second World War. It is often referred to as The Forgotten Grand Prix, a curious footnote of motor sport history, but one that reminds us about the powers and interests that govern the sporting world.

Dr Marko Miljkovic, a research assistant at the Institute of Economic Sciences in Belgrade and author of The Automobile is Freedom: The History of Automotive Culture in Serbia, 1903-2023, tells how, “the race was the biggest sporting event, proportionally at least, in the history of Belgrade – an estimated 80,000-100,000 of the city’s 400,000 population attended”. Were the Belgrade Grand Prix to be held again today, he has no doubt that a similar crowd would gather.

The temporary street circuit ran through Belgrade’s Kalemegdan fortress, overlooking the juncture where the Sava river flows into the Danube, to continue its course towards the Black Sea. For those unable to afford tickets, the Kalemegdan ramparts offered ample viewing opportunities, though one was required to improvise some shade in the baking sun.

Miljkovic, stroking his bushy beard with pride, compares it to a scene from Federico Fellini’s film Amarcord, also set in the 1930s, where a gaggle of boys take to the castle towers to welcome competitors of the famous Mille Miglia endurance race. Each imagined themselves behind the wheel, attracting affectionate glances from the girls.