War seemed imminent

The 1938 Donington Grand Prix was a race held on 22 October 1938 over 80 laps of the Donington Park circuit. The race was won by Tazio Nuvolari driving an Auto Union (picture above).

Hermann Lang (Mercedes-Benz) started from pole position, but Nuvolari soon took the lead and dominated the race. Second was Lang, while local favourite Dick Seaman (Mercedes-Benz) captured third place in the later stages of the race.

The race was originally scheduled for the 1st of October 1938, with the German Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union teams arriving a few weeks early to prepare, but due to the German invasion of Czechoslovakia, war seemed imminent, so the decision was made to cancel the race. With the diplomatic crisis resolved by the Munich Agreement, the race was hastily rescheduled for the 22nd of October.

Picture below: Tazio Nuvolari, on his way to victory, in his spectacular Auto-Union.