Belgrade Grand Prix
This race saw 5 drivers take part - two Mercedes-Benz in their Silver Arrows, two Auto Unions (modern Audi) and a Bugatti, which finished 19 laps down - and was won by Tazio Nuvolari.
The start was at the entrance into the Kalemegdan from the Knez Mihailova Street, at the kafana "Srpska Kruna" ("Serbian Crown"), which is today a location of the Belgrade City Library.
At the request from the organizers which wanted as much audience as possible, the railway reduced ticket prices to Belgrade from other parts of Yugoslavia (Niš, Sarajevo, Ljubljana, Split) by 66%.
On 26 August, the airplanes flew over larger cities in the entire kingdom (Belgrade, Novi Sad, Zagreb, Skopje, Niš, Sarajevo) throwing pamphlets with invitations for everyone to "use all the benefits and discounts and not to miss the greatest sports event".
As it was hastily built, to convince the public that it was properly and quality constructed, the organizers summoned 600 soldiers who tested the grandstand.
[2] Starting on 25 August, a members of the German teams travelled in their cars for 1,400 km (870 mi) from Germany to Belgrade, having their own tank trucks with them.
The drivers from United Kingdom didn't arrive because of the safety concerns while, due to the ban on leaving Italy, Alfa Romeo and Maserati were also absent.
After the news reached Belgrade, French and Hungarian drivers withdrew, while German teams continued as if nothing happened.
The guards and police officers removed people from the streets while special inspections were controlling the quality and the prices of the food and drink stands.
Alfred Neubauer, the manager of Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix team, came from the German embassy and told the drivers to relax and continue with the preparations for the race.
He jumped into his car and driving frantically across the city, he arrived at the airport in Bežanija where von Brauchitsch was already boarding in the Lufthansa's plane.
Neubauer talked von Brauchitsch to return to the race telling him, among other things: "If you wish war, you can wait for a few hours".
As it was the highest point of the track, running fast up the hill the cars would literally fly for almost 10 m (33 ft) over the spot and immediately continue going downhill.
At the final bend (French embassy) in the 16th lap, von Brauchitsch lost control on the polished cobblestone, the car positioned crosswise and shut down.
Due to the hot weather and the substrates of the streets which made the course, which was not suited for the races, almost all participants had tire problems.
[2] It is also significant for being the very last major win of the great Tazio Nuvolari's illustrious career (he won 1946 Albi Grand Prix).
The problems with the event included the general feel of the new system that car racing is the elitist fun opposed to the lives of the working class, a fact that all participants came from the Axis powers but mostly, as the young King Peter II was in the organization, because it would show the dethroned Serbian king in good historical light.
