Prince Bira

Prince Bira

Nation:	Thailand
Automobile world championship
First start:	Great Britain Grand Prix 1950
Last start:	1954 Spanish Grand Prix
Constructors
1950  Enrico Platé 1951  Bira 1952  Gordini 1953  Connaught Engineering 1954  Maserati , Bira
statistics
World Cup balance:	World Cup eighth ( 1950 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 19th - - -
World Cup points :	8th
Podiums :	-
Leadership laps :	-

Prince Bira , actually Prince Birabongse Bhanutej Bhanubhandhu (born July 15, 1914 in Bangkok , †  December 23, 1985 in London ), was a Thai automobile racing driver and sailing enthusiast .

Life

The Maserati A6GCM from Prince Bira.

Prince Bira was the son of Prince Bhanurangsri Sawangvongse, a son of King Mongkut and younger brother of King Chulalongkorn , and of Mom Lek Bhanubhandhu na Ayudhya. Its official title in Thai was พระ วร วงศ์ เธอ พระองค์เจ้า พีร พงศ์ ภาณุ เดช (pronounced: [ pʰrá wora-woŋ-tʰə pʰrá ʡong-ʤâo pʰina-pʰoŋ pʰaː-nú-dèt ]), the short form was พระองค์ พี ระ - "Phra- ong Phira ", so" Prince Bira ". He was raised in Thailand until he was 13 years old. In 1927 he came to Great Britain for further training, where he first studied at Eton College and later at Cambridge University .

In 1935 he started racing in the team of his cousin Prince Chula Chakrabongse. With ERA cars, he contested numerous races in the Voiturette class, the predecessor series of Formula 2 . Among other things, he won the Voiturette Grand Prix of Monaco in 1936. After the Second World War , he competed in several Grand Prix races with cars from OSCA , Simca-Gordini and Connaught . He achieved his greatest success in a private Maserati , which was painted in a striking blue and yellow. His best results in Formula 1 races, which were part of the world championship, were fourth places at the Swiss Grand Prix in 1950 and the French Grand Prix in 1954 . In 1955, Prince Bira resigned from racing.

He found a new sporting field of activity in sailing. He represented his home country four times at the Olympic Games. In 1956 he was twelfth, four years later nineteenth in the Star class . In 1964 his wife Arunee also belonged to the crew of the dragon , who finished 22nd and penultimate. In 1972, Prince Bira finally sailed in the Star again. The final result was 21st place.

He died after a heart attack .

statistics

Statistics in the automobile world championship

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Race laps	Points	WM-Pos.
1950	Enrico Platé	Maserati 4CLT / 48 Maserati 4CLT / 50	Maserati 1.5 L4s	4th	-	-	-	-	-	5	8th.
1951	Ecurie Siam	Maserati 4CLT / 48	OSCA 4.5 V12	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
1952	Equipe Gordini	Gordini T15	Gordini 1.5 L4	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
		Gordini T16	Gordini 2.0 L6	2	-	-	-	-	-
1953	Connaught Engineering	Connaught Type A	Lea-Francis 2.0 L4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	NC
	Scuderia Milano	Maserati A6GCM	Maserati 2.0 L6	1	-	-	-	-	-
1954	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati A6GCM	Maserati 2.0 L6	1	-	-	-	-	-	3	17th
	Bira	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	5	-	-	-	-	-
total				19th	-	-	-	-	-	8th

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9
1950
	DNF	5		4th			DNF
1951
				DNA		DNA		DNF
1952
	DNF		10	DNF	11
1953
					DNF	7th	DNF		11
1954
	7th		6th	4th	DNF	DNF			9
1955
				DNA

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1939	Raymond Summers	Alfa Romeo 6C 2500SS	Raymond Summers	failure	Engine failure
1954	David Brown	Aston Martin DB3S Coupe	Peter Collins	failure	accident

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th
1954	Aston Martin	Aston Martin DB3	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	CAP
						DNF

Web links

Commons : Prinz Bira  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Detailed résumé of Prince Bira at soravij.com (English)
• Leif Snellman: "B. Bira" (Prince Birabongse Bhanutej Bhanubandh) (T). www.kolumbus.fi, February 25, 2020, accessed on March 28, 2020 (English). 
• Banutej Bhanuband Birabongse. www.24h-en-piste.com, accessed on March 28, 2020 (French). 
• Prince Bira in the Internet Movie Database (English)