Bacon butties ruled the waves

The brief golden era of British offshore racing when we went F1 racing in campervans

- By Dave Selby

British ingenuity has blessed and blighted the world with some of the greatest inventions on Earth, from railways to time itself and television. The railways came first, followed by standardised time, which led to the invention of queuing, moaning and humour – at which we are unchallenged world champions on account of the lateness of trains – and that in turn led to the invention of television so we could watch programmes about trains.

But it's in the field of sporting endeavour that we have perhaps made our greatest and most selfless contribution, by inventing most of the sports in the world so that lesser nations can beat us at them and feel better about themselves. These include soccer, tennis, golf and rugby, but also more eccentric pursuits including, the Lawn Mower Le Mans, held each year in West Sussex, caravan banger racing and cricket, which no one has yet been able to explain.

But there is one water-based sport more bonkers than any of these: the original Cowes-Torquay offshore power boat race, first held in 1961. Older readers with TV Licences, another British invention, may recall TV shows like It's a Knockout and the cartoon series