In 1952, French motorcycle racing champion, Georges Monneret left the Place de la Concorde on his Vespa, heading for Calais. It was the beginning off a race from Paris, France to London, England,
All the competitors rode to Calais as fast as they could. After 4 hours and 55 minutes, Georges reached the port. Everyone else arrived later and went to the hotel for a drink while they waited for the next ferry. All except for Georges.
In preparing for the race, and with the intention of taking the record for the fastst time from Paris to London while he was at it, Georges had decided that the fastest way to England was via the channel, but to cross he would have to build a craft that allowed him to take his Vespa on, cross the water, and ride it back off. He set about designing such a craft, working out different techniques and learning watercraft engineering until eventually, it was built.
Back at the race, when Georges arrived in Calais he was met by a crew who fitted a pair of long, aluminium pontoons, a wooden platform for the Vespa, a steering system that used the front wheel of the Vespa to steer the rudder and two rollers beneath the rear wheel to power the three bladed propeller via a three speed gearbox.
The weather was not on his side. He strapped up the Vespa as tight as he could and set off out to the channel. Heavy waves damaged the craft’s drive shaft forcing him to turn back to Calais and make repairs.
At 8 am, Monneret set out again. He “rode” out of the harbour to find that the weather had calmed down slightly. He made it to Dover at 5pm where he was greeted by some rather surprised locals. Unstrapping the Vespa, Georges hurried to London as quickly as he could, winning the race and taking the record.