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 Bira in 1944 | |||||
| Born | Mom Chao Birabongse Bhanudej Bhanubandh (1914-07-15)15 July 1914 Grand Palace,Bangkok,Siam | ||||
| Died | 23 December 1985(1985-12-23) (aged 71) London, England | ||||
| Spouse |
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| Issue |
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| House | Bhanubandh (Chakri dynasty) | ||||
| Father | Prince Bhanubandhubongse Voradej | ||||
| Mother | Mom Lek Bhanubandh na Ayudhya (née Yongchaiyudh) | ||||
| Formula One World Championship career | |||||
| Nationality |  Thai | ||||
| Active years | 1950–1954 | ||||
| Teams | Platé,privateerMaserati,Gordini,Connaught,Milano,Maserati | ||||
| Entries | 19 | ||||
| Championships | 0 | ||||
| Wins | 0 | ||||
| Podiums | 0 | ||||
| Careerpoints | 8 | ||||
| Pole positions | 0 | ||||
| Fastest laps | 0 | ||||
| First entry | 1950 British Grand Prix | ||||
| Last entry | 1954 Spanish Grand Prix | ||||
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |||||
| Years | 1939,1954 | ||||
| Teams | Alfa Romeo,Aston Martin | ||||
| Best finish | DNF (1939,1954) | ||||
| Class wins | 0 | ||||
Prince Birabongse Bhanudej Bhanubandh[a] (Thai:พีรพงศ์ภาณุเดช;RTGS: Phiraphong Phanudet; 15 July 1914 – 23 December 1985), commonly known asPrince Bira of Siam or simplyPrince Bira,[b] was a member of theThai royal family. Bira was also aracing driver,sailor andpilot, who competed inFormula One from1950 to1954 and at four editions of theSummer Olympics between1956 and1972.
A member of theChakri dynasty, Bira studied atEton College before he began competing inGrand Prix motor racing in1935, later advancing to Formula One for its inaugural1950 season. He competed for several teams includingPlaté,Gordini,Connaught,Milano andMaserati, amongst otherprivateer entries in Maserati machinery. Across five seasons and 19 Grands Prix, Bira scored several points finishes, including fourth-placed finishes at the1950 Swiss Grand Prix and the1954 French Grand Prix, amongst twonon-championship race victories. He remained the onlySoutheast Asian to compete in Formula One until Malaysian driverAlex Yoong in2001, and theonly Thai driver untilAlexander Albon in2019. Outside of Formula One, Bira won theNew Zealand Grand Prix in1955, driving theMaserati 250F.
Bira also competed insailing events at fourSummer Olympic Games and was an amateur pilot, undertaking several long-distance flights in light aircraft and gliders; in 1952 he flew fromLondon toBangkok in his own twin-engineMiles Gemini. During theSecond World War, when motor racing was suspended, he applied his aviation skills to the training ofRoyal Air Force (RAF)fighter pilots, later serving as chief instructor at theSt Merryn Royal Naval Air Station with a specialisation in glider-pilot instruction.
Bira is credited with establishing theracing colours of Thailand: pale blue and yellow. Upon his death in December 1985, theBira Circuit was built in his honour, becoming the firstmotor racing circuit in Thailand to meetFIA standards.
Bira's parents were PrinceBhanurangsi Savangwongse and his second wife. Bira's paternal grandfather wasKing Mongkut, loosely portrayed in the Hollywood moviesThe King and I andAnna and the King. His mother died when Bira was only four years old.[1] Bira was sent to Europe in 1927 to complete his education in England atEton College, where he joined one of his nephews, a grandchild of his father through his first marriage.[1] While he was at Eton Bira's father died, leaving him an orphan. He was placed under the care of his cousin,Prince Chula Chakrabongse, who ultimately became Bira's legal guardian. On leaving Eton at age 18, in early 1933, Bira moved in with Prince Chula in London, while he decided on his future.
Bira had been registered to attendTrinity College, Cambridge, but had not passed theCambridge University entrance examination.[1] Initially, Prince Chula hired a tutor for Bira, to better prepare him for the exam, but Bira changed his mind and expressed a desire to learn sculpture rather than attend university.[1] Prince Chula approached leading sculptorCharles Wheeler, and Wheeler took Bira on as a pupil within his studio. Although Bira showed some talent as a sculptor, in Wheeler's opinion he needed to learn to draw, and so in the autumn of 1934 Bira enrolled at theByam Shaw School of Art. Bira did not attend the Byam Shaw School for very long, but while there he became friendly with a fellow student, Ceril Heycock, and he began courting her in earnest only a few weeks later. However, both Prince Chula and her parents placed severe limitations on their relationship, and it was not until 1938 that they were able to marry.[1]
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Bira first raced with his cousin Prince Chula's team,White Mouse Racing, driving aRiley Imp atBrooklands in 1935. In this car Bira established thenational motor racing colours of Siam: pale blue with yellow. He raced under the name 'B Bira'. He later lived near Geneva, Switzerland, and in the south of France.
Later in 1935, Prince Chula gave him one of the newERAvoiturette racing cars—R2B, which was nicknamedRomulus. Bira finished second in his first ever race in Romulus, despite needing to stop for repairs. The remaining races of the season saw Bira consistently placing among the more powerful Grand Prix vehicles, with another second place, and fifth at theDonington Grand Prix.
For 1936 the princes decided that the previous season's results merited a second ERA. They purchased chassis R5B (which Bira namedRemus) to use in British events and retainedRomulus for international races. Chula also purchased aMaserati 8CM to complete the White Mouse roster. Bira's expertise behind the wheel earned him the Coupe dePrince Rainier atMonte Carlo. Bira won a further four races in the ERAs that season, and took the Grand Prix Maserati to 5th at Donington and 3rd at Brooklands. This was the high point for Bira and the White Mouse team.
FollowingDick Seaman's move toMercedes for 1937, the Thais purchased his Grand PrixDelage and all of its spare parts, along with a second Delage. Despite several upgrades, and hiring experiencedrace engineer and future Jaguar team managerLofty England, the cars underperformed, and on many occasions Bira raced in the older and by now substantially inferior ERAs. In addition, the money spent on the Delage upgrades had sapped the resources of the team and corners were being cut in the ERA's race preparations. Later in the year White Mouse did invest in a newer C-Type ERA, chassis R12C. R12C came to be known asHanuman, and Bira attached a large, embossed, silver badge depicting theHindu deity after whom he had named the car. Following a major accident in 1939Hanuman was rebuilt back to B-Type specifications, and in light of this major overhaul Bira renamed the carHanuman II.
While Bira maintained a respectable results tally in British events, the more costly international races were largely a disaster.
Afterthe war, Bira returned to racing with several teams. He took part in the inauguralWorld Drivers' Championship in 1950 racing a superchargedMaserati 4CLT/48, starting four Championship races includingthe first, at Silverstone, where he was obliged to retire from the race with a fuel feed problem, but finished fifth atMonaco and fourth atBremgarten the same season, giving him five points and finishing eighth in the Championship. 1950 was his best season; Bira took part in each Championship season until 1954, starting a total of 19 races, but only scored points in one more race - a fourth place atReims in 1954 provided three points and seventeenth place in the Championship.[2][3] In 1951 he raced in an old Maserati 4CLT fitted with a newer V12Osca engine. No results were obtained this year as a result of the poor performance of the car combined with a severe accident. By 1954, with a newer car, aMaserati 250F, he won theGrand Prix des Frontières on theChimay road circuit and then finished fourth in the1954 French Grand Prix with his ownMaserati. In January1955, he won theNew Zealand Grand Prix at Ardmore; he retired at the end of that season.
Bira returned to racing for the one-offMacau Grand PrixRace of Giants in 1978, finishing 13th.
F1 drivers are sometimes referred to as "pilots," a description that also applied to Bira, who had a strong interest in aviation, he undertook several long-distance journeys in light aircraft and gliders, and in 1952 flew from London to Bangkok in his own twin-engineMiles Gemini. DuringWorld War II, when motor racing was suspended, Bira applied his skills to trainingfighter pilots for Britain'sRoyal Air Force. He eventually became chief instructor at theSt Merryn Royal Naval Air Station, specialising in glider-pilot instruction.[4]
Bira competed in sailing events at the1956 Melbourne Olympics in theStar,1960 Rome Olympics in theStar,1964 Tokyo Olympics in theDragon and the1972 Munich Olympics in theTempest.[5][6] In the 1960 Games he competed against another former Formula One driver,Roberto Mieres, who finished seventeenth, ahead of the prince at nineteenth.
Bira died atBarons Court tube station in London on 23 December 1985. He collapsed and died having suffered a major heart attack, but as he carried no identification with him, his body could not initially be identified. A handwritten note was found in his pocket by theMetropolitan Police and was sent for analysis at theUniversity of London, where it was shown as being written in Thai and addressed to Bira. The Thai Embassy was notified, and realised his significance. A Thai funeral service was held at theWat Buddhapadipa inWimbledon, and he was later cremated according to Thai andBuddhist tradition and customs.
Bira Circuit, based just outside Pattaya, Thailand, is named after Bira.
In 2016, in an academic paper that reported a mathematical modeling study that assessed the relative influence of driver and machine, Bira was ranked the forty-third best Formula One driver of all time.[7]
Bira was instrumental in developing and setting the national racing colours of Thailand. The base colour for the scheme, a mid to pale powder blue, was adopted by Bira in 1934, and was derived from the evening dress of a young woman that Bira met during his early years in London. Initially the cars were painted solely in blue, but gradually Bira added in some yellow to offset the base colour. He started painting the cars' chassis rails yellow in 1939.[8]
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(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | EDC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1938 | Squadra Sabauda | Maserati 8CM | Maserati 3.0L8 | FRA | GER | SUI 141 | ITA | —[d] | |
Source:[9] | |||||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | Enrico Platé | Maserati4CL | Maserati 4CL 1.5L4s | SUI 8 | ||||
| Ecurie Souris Blanche | ERAB | ERA 1.5L6s | BEL DNS | |||||
| Scuderia Milano | Maserati4CL | Maserati 4CL 1.5L4s | ITA Ret | FRA | ||||
| 1948 | Equipe Gordini | Simca GordiniT15 | Simca-Gordini 15C 1.5L4s | MON Ret | ||||
| Enrico Platé | Maserati4CL | Maserati 4CL 1.5L4s | SUI Ret | |||||
| Prince Chula | ERAB | ERA 1.5L6s | FRA DNS | |||||
| Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari125 | Ferrari 125 F1 1.5V12s | ITA Ret | |||||
| 1949 | Prince Chula | Maserati4CLT/48 | Maserati 4CLT 1.5L4s | GBR Ret | BEL | |||
| Enrico Platé | SUI 5 | FRA 2 | ITA 3 | |||||
Source:[10] | ||||||||
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | WDC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Enrico Platé | Maserati4CLT/48 | Maserati 4CLT 1.5L4s | GBR Ret | MON 5 | 500 | SUI 4 | BEL | FRA | ITA Ret | 8th | 5 | ||
| 1951 | Ecurie Siam | Maserati4CLT/48 | Maserati 4CLT 1.5L4s | SUI | 500 | BEL | FRA DNA | GBR | GER DNA | ITA | NC | 0 | ||
| OSCA 4500 4.5V12 | ESP Ret | |||||||||||||
| 1952 | Equipe Gordini | GordiniT15 | Gordini 1500 1.5L4 | SUI Ret | 500 | BEL 10 | NC | 0 | ||||||
| GordiniT16 | Gordini 20 2.0L6 | FRA Ret | GBR 11 | GER | NED | ITA | ||||||||
| 1953 | Connaught Engineering | ConnaughtType A | Lea-Francis 2.0L4 | ARG | 500 | NED | BEL | FRA Ret | GBR 7 | GER Ret | SUI | NC | 0 | |
| Scuderia Milano | MaseratiA6GCM | Maserati A6 2.0L6 | ITA 11 | |||||||||||
| 1954 | Officine Alfieri Maserati | MaseratiA6GCM | Maserati A6 2.0L6 | ARG 7 | 500 | 17th | 3 | |||||||
| Prince Bira | Maserati250F | Maserati 250F1 2.5L6 | BEL 6 | FRA 4 | GBR Ret | GER Ret | SUI | ITA | ESP 9 | |||||
| 1955 | Prince Bira | Maserati250F | Maserati 250F1 2.5L6 | ARG | MON | 500 | BEL DNA | NED | GBR | ITA | NC | 0 |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1939 |  Raymond Sommer | Raymond Sommer | Alfa Romeo 6C 2500SS | 3.0 | 173 | DNF | DNF |
| 1954 |  Aston Martin Lagonda | Peter Collins | Aston Martin DB3S Coupé | S 3.0 | 138 | DNF | DNF |
Source:[13] | |||||||
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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The generations are numbered from the establishment of theChakri dynasty from 1782 | ||||||||||
| Rama I |
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| Rama II |
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| Rama III |
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| Rama IV |
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| Rama VI |
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| Rama VIII |
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| Rama IX |
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| Rama X |
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(  )*Became king**Appointed Viceroy ***Appointed Deputy Viceroy (  )^Appointed Crown PrinceX was degraded from royalty | ||||||||||
