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back to article E-car driven from Dover to Calais

Veteran racing driver John Surtees has become the first man to drive from Britain to France in an electric car. John_Surtees_at_midpoint John Surtees at the Channel Tunnel's halfway point Credit: David Barzilay Surtees – the only man to ever win world championships on both four and two wheels – yesterday drove a prototype …

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  1. The Indomitable Gall

    New campaign:

    It's high time one of the service tunnels was opened to cyclists. Then we can stop all this John O'Groats to Land's End nonsense and do John O'Groats to Gibraltar!!!!!

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  2. Neil 21

    Need more info

    Why is the limit 31 mph?

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  3. Andus McCoatover
    Joke

    Pity.

    Proof that 'leccy cars are down the tubes.

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  4. nicholas king
    Happy

    re neil 21

    because 31mph is roughly equal to 50kph

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  5. Steven Jones

    Not the halfway point...

    "The racing veteran also stopped at the tunnel’s halfway point, where French and British diggers first met in 1990 for a photo call as they signed the tunnel’s wall."

    The French and British tunnelers did not meet at the halfway point of the tunnel (well, not as commonly defined). The actual meeting point was 13.9 miles from the English Coast and 9.7 miles from the French. The reason being that the geographical conditions on the French side are less favourable to tunneling.

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  6. Andy Mc

    @Neil 21

    31mph == 50kph

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  7. Robin

    @The Indomitable Gall

    I'm in Gibraltar now, I'll start cycling up and by that the time I get there they should have opened up that tunnel!

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  8. theSensibleGeek

    Speed Limit

    The speed limit in the service passageways is actually 30.87 MPH, but they rounded up for print.

    The reason is that if they went any faster, the drag caused by the car passing through the air would generate too much heat, which when added to the friction of the trains going through the tunnel, would throw the tunnel's environmental systems out of equilibrium.

    Of course there's an alternative explanation that the service passageways are just REALLY narrow, but that's just crazy talk...

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  9. ElNumbre
    Go

    @Neil 21

    its probably 50 km/h, which converted into mph is 'about' 31mph. Although why Europe gets to dictate the speed limit is beyond me.

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  10. Martin 6 Silver badge

    31mph

    Eurotunnel safety manager Mr N Tuffnel explained that it was "1 faster" than 30mph

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  11. Martin Dunn

    Not the first electric car from UK to France

    First electric car from UK to France.. rubbish!

    Eurotunnel has a fleet of electric Peugeot 106s that are used in the service tunnels that lock onto a guidance rail in the floor so that they can pass easily in the narrow tunnel.

    They also have a buzzer that goes off on the dashboard that you have to press a button to de-activate after a number of crashes caused by dozing drivers!

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  12. Anonymous John

    @ Need more info

    The tunnel is 31 miles long. And if you ask why they wanted the trip to last one hour, I don't know.

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  13. Matt 13
    Joke

    French side less favorable to tunneling??

    nothing to do with too much cheap vino and bre slowing the workforce down!!!

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