8th May 1947
Jersey hosts UK’s first post-war Grand Prix
British driver Reg Parnell won the 1947 Jersey International Road Race, considered to be the first Grand Prix race held in the United Kingdom following the Second World War. Like the second-placed driver, Frenchman Louis Chiron, he was driving a Maserati. There had been much speculation in the weeks leading up to the event that it would prove to be the fastest road race in Europe, with cars reaching 150mph on the straights – in particular the A2 running along St Aubin’s Bay.
The race, which covered 160 miles and had a £1000 prize fund, saw only 13 of the original 25 entrants cross the finish line. Prince Birabongse Bhanudej, better known as Prince Bira of Siam, had also entered, again in a Maserati, but dropped out at the halfway point.
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Other events that occured in May
Newspaper plane crashes at Jersey Airport
- Two crew had a lucky escape when their Fokker F-27 crashed on its final approach to Jersey. The plane had been delayed by bad weather.
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Traffic returns to the “right” side of the road
- Throughout the occupation, the Channel Islands moved to German time and traffic switched from the left-hand side of the road to the right.
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Jersey prisoners’ liberation revealed by the Foreign Office
- Channel Islanders who had been sent to prisons in mainland Europe during the Occupation were liberated in April 1945.
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Jersey court fines man three months’ pay for swearing
- The Jersey court fined a man almost three months' pay for uttering a single swear word at his boss in 1891.
- Read more…
