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.