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
Superman is born in Jersey
- Actor Henry Cavill, who went on to play Superman in various film adaptations, was born in Jersey on 5 May 1983.
- Read more…
Snow Hill railway station opens
- Snow Hill station was the terminus of the Jersey Eastern Railway, whose services should have extended as far as St Catherine.
- Read more…
The Occupation Tapestry is completed
- The Occupation Tapestry celebrates the 50th anniversary of Jersey’s liberation at the end of the Second World War.
- Read more…
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.
- Read more…
