From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
SOME SCUTTERIN' YOKE! During the 1930s a young Siamese prince began to race on Europe's circuits. It soon became apparent that he was a very talented racing driver and, with his cousin's organisational skills and team management, success was not long in coming.
Birabongse Bhanudeej Bhanubandh - or, as he was more simply known on the racing circuits, B Bira and his cousin Prince Chula were regular visitors to Ireland. They enjoyed racing here with their memorably named racing team, The White Mouse Equipe. During that golden period when Irish drivers blossomed in the mid-1930s, they made the annual Phoenix Park Races very much their own.
That's not to say, however, that everything always went smoothly for them there. In 1938, they entered their Maserati in the Wakefield Trophy Race at the Park. While the paddock marshals were preparing the cars to go out onto the grid for the junior race before the Wakefield Trophy, Bira took the opportunity to warm up his car by driving up and down the large paddock area, blipping the throttle but hardly interfering with anybody.
The Chief Marshal of the organising club on the day had a reputation for being very much his own man. He dealt fairly but firmly with officials under his control and was renowned for being at times blunt but invariably, shall we say, colourful.
He decided that Bira's motoring up and down was perhaps interfering with the work of the busy paddock marshal. In a flash, he strode forward and stopped Bira who remained seated in the Maserati looking up smilingly.
No doubt His Highness was surprised to be rapped smartly on the top of his head and told in no uncertain terms to "get that scutterin' yoke to hell out of here." It's doubtful if a Maserati has ever been so described - that was bad enough.
But to rap a royal prince on the head like a small boy probably unique in Bira's experience!
However, being the gentleman that he was, he made no comment and drove his car quietly back to its allotted position in the paddock.
Bira and the Maserati went on to break the Phoenix Park lap record during the race, raising it to just under 107 miles per hour. Some scutterin' yoke!
THE IRISH WHEELMAN: James C Percy, a Belfast-born but Dublin-based businessman was founder and editor of the Irish Wheelman in 1892. At first the magazine covered only the cycle boom then in progress all over Ireland. However, as motorcycles began to appear on Irish roads, followed just before the turn of the century by quads and automobiles, these also were included.
In 1903, after a chance encounter on a Cork-bound train with his great rival, Richard J Mecredy, editor and publisher of the Irish Cyclist and Motor News, Percy joined forces to form Mecredy, Percy & Company. Publication of the Irish Wheelman ended in June 1903 to allow a concentration on Mecredy's two titles, while Percy went on to become a successful businessman, eventually being awarded a knighthood.
The main interest in the Irish Wheelman today is in the first-hand accounts it contains of such early key events as the founding of the Motor Cycle Union of Ireland and the journey of the "God-send", the wonderfully named Horseless Carriage Company car which in 1898 undertook the first long-distance trip by a car in Ireland when it travelled from Dublin to Belfast in two days.