Prince Bira

Prince Birabongse Bhanudej Bhanubandh, commonly known as Prince Bira, Prince Bira of Siam or B. Bira (beer-RAH, born 15 July 1914 in Bangkok, Siam (now Thailand) – 23 December 1985 in Barons Court, London, England, United Kingdom) was a Thai racing driver who competed in Formula One in its inception.

During his early motor racing career he enjoyed success with his privately entered ERA under his White Mouse Racing Team and the pale blue and yellow colour scheme he used would become the national racing colours of Siam.

After his motor racing career Birabongse competed as a sailor in various disciplines at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, 1960 Rome Olympics, 1964 Tokoyo Olympics and the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Birabongse was the only driver from South East Asia to compete in a Grand Prix until 2001 when Alex Yoong drove Minardi.

Before Formula One World Championship

Bira, educated at Eton and Cambridge, first raced alongside his cousin Prince Chula Chakgrabongse in a Riley at the Brooklands Speedway in England. The car was painted in the White Mouse Racing colours of pale blue and yellow which from then onwards would become the national motor racing colours of Siam.

In 1935, Bira was given a new ERA R2B by his cousin which ofcourse was also painted pale blue and yellow and Bira named this car Romulus. Bira and Romulus came second in their very first race and Bira consistently raced well against more powerful Grand Prix cars of this era. In 1935 Bira achieved another second place and a 5th at Donington Park.

In 1936 Bira purchased a second ERA which he called Remus. He raced Romulus in International races and Remus in UK races. He also raced his cousins Maserati which he used to finish another 5th at Donington and 3rd at Brooklands.

In 1937, British driver Dick Seaman was signed to Mercedes to his parents disapproval and the cousins purchased his Delage off him which he had enjoyed much success in and hired future Jaguar manager Lofty England as crew chief but the cars underperformed and often Bira would race his now out of date ERA's instead.

<The cousins were spending a lot of money on upgrades to the Delage which sapped their racing fund and this made them more uncompetitive.

Formula One Career

1950

In 1950 Prince Bira drove for the Swiss Enrico Plate Maserati team alongside Toulo de Graffenried.

In a mixed season Bira retired in Silverstone after being the marques highest qualifying driver, ahead of his teamate and the factory team but scored points as he finished 5th at Monaco, successfully negotiating his way around the first lap chaos when the field arrived at Tabac to find the track flooded.

Bira then went one better at Bremgarten finishing 4th ahead of works Marserati driver Felice Bonetto but, with an increased grid for the final race of the season, could not make it three point scores in a row in his next World Championship outing, retiring on lap 2 at Monza with engine trouble.

Bira had a good season, finishing 8th in the Championship, ahead of all other Maserati entries including the factory team.

1951

Formula One Statistical Overview

Formula One Record

Year	Entrant	Team	WDC Points	WDC Pos.	Report

Career Statistics

Template:Statbox

Race Wins

Win Number	Grand Prix

Career Results

Complete Formula One Results
Year	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Pts	Pos Template:1950 Results/9 Template:1951 Results/9 Template:1952 Results/9 Template:1953 Results/9 Template:1954 Results/9 Template:1955 Results/9

Key
Symbol	Meaning	Symbol	Meaning
1st	Winner	Ret	Retired
2nd	Podium finish	DSQ	Disqualified
3rd	Podium finish	DNQ	Did not qualify
5th	Points finish	DNPQ	Did not pre-qualify
14th	Non-points finish	TD	Test driver
Italics	Scored point(s) for Fastest Lap	DNS	Did not start
18th^†	Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance)	NC	Non-classified finish (<90% race distance)
4th^P	Qualified for pole position	[+] More Symbols

Notes

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