Birabongse
Bhanudej

Prince Birabongse Bhanudej Bhanubandh, known as Prince Bira, was born on 15 July 1914 at the Grand Palace in Thailand and belonged to the Thai royal family. He was educated at Eton College in England. In 1935 he began racing at Brooklands, driving a Riley Imp for White Mouse Racing, the team run by his cousin Prince Chula. The Thai racing colours of pale blue and yellow trace back to him.

Later that year he was given an ERA and finished second in his first race with it. In 1936 he won the Coupe de Prince Rainier at Monte Carlo and added four more victories in ERA cars. Motor racing was suspended during the Second World War, and Bira trained fighter pilots for the Royal Air Force, eventually becoming chief instructor at the Royal Naval Air Station St Merryn, where he specialised in glider instruction.

He made his Formula One World Championship debut in 1950 in a Maserati. In the opening race at Silverstone he retired with a fuel feed problem. He then finished fifth at Monaco and fourth in Switzerland. His five points left him eighth in the standings, which remained his best championship position. He started one race in 1951 with Maserati, four in 1952 for Gordini and four in 1953 with Connaught and Maserati. In 1954 he started six races with Maserati and, in his own Maserati, finished fourth in the French Grand Prix at Reims, worth three points and 17th place in the championship. In total he started 19 World Championship races. Outside the championship he won two Formula One races. He won the Grand Prix des Frontières on the road circuit at Chimay. In January 1955 he won the New Zealand Grand Prix at Ardmore in a Maserati 250F, and he retired from racing at the end of that season. In 1978 he returned for a one-off appearance at the Macau Grand Prix Race of Giants and finished 13th.

Bira sailed at the Olympic Games of 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1972. In 1952 he flew his own aircraft from London to Bangkok. He remained the only Thai driver in Formula One until Alexander Albon arrived in 2019. He died in London on 23 December 1985. The Bira Circuit near Pattaya is named after him.

Source: Wikipedia, “Birabongse Bhanudej”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.