Copyright jalopnik
While his stunt to travel from Paris to London garnered plenty of attention on both sides of the Atlantic, Georges Monneret was already a prolific fixture in French racing. Active from the 1930s through 1970, Monneret won 499 racing events over the course of 32 seasons. This is especially remarkable considering that two-wheeled racing is notoriously dangerous even today. As recently as early 2025, the reigning MotoGP champion Jorge Martín fractured eight ribs and collapsed a lung in a race. However, Monneret didn't let the risks slow him down as he achieved 19 championships in France and set 183 world records. By some accounts Monneret wasn't as concerned about achieving world records as he was about getting people talking about motorcycles. With a love of anything on two wheels, his attention-grabbing behavior was at least partially meant to simply shine a spotlight on the sport of motorcycle racing. This proved to be a lifelong passion for Monneret, who continued setting records on motorcycles into his sixties. Monneret was also a fan of scooters, which he praised for being efficient. In 2022, his youngest son made a Paris to London trip utilizing an electric scooter to commemorate the anniversary of the original journey. However, instead of navigating the water on a Vespa powered boat, this time the feat was accomplished with the help of a ferry.
