A member of the Chakri dynasty, Bira studied at Eton College before he began competing in Grand Prix motor racing in 1935, later advancing to Formula One for its inaugural 1950 season.

Bira also competed in sailing events at four Summer Olympic Games and was an amateur pilot, flying from London to Bangkok in his own twin-engine Miles Gemini aircraft in 1952.

[1] Bira was sent to Europe in 1927 to complete his education in England at Eton College, where he joined one of his nephews, a grandchild of his father through his first marriage.

On leaving Eton at age 18, in early 1933, Bira moved in with Prince Chula in London, while he decided on his future.

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.

They purchased chassis R5B (which Bira named Remus) to use in British events and retained Romulus for international races.

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.

R12C came to be known as Hanuman, and Bira attached a large, embossed, silver badge depicting the Hindu deity after whom he had named the car.

While Bira maintained a respectable results tally in British events, the more costly international races were largely a disaster.

[4][5] In the 1960 Games he competed against another former Formula One driver, Roberto Mieres, who finished seventeenth, ahead of the prince at nineteenth.

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 the Metropolitan Police and was sent for analysis at the University of London, where it was shown as being written in Thai and addressed to Bira.

Initially the cars were painted solely in blue, but gradually Bira added in some yellow to offset the base colour.