0-62mph in 0.5sec using water: Time For Tea?

Only water coming out the back, and not a hydrogen fuel cell in sight

Francoise Gissy is a man you really need to know about. He enjoys strapping himself to home-made contraptions, and setting world records at eye-watering - pun intended - speeds. Having hit 207mph in 4.8 seconds(!) on a rocket-powered bicycle(!!) in 2014, he has now attempted to one up himself with something potentially even more extreme.

What could be more extreme than that? A homemade, water-powered, trike capable of hitting 162mph, of course. Using the simple physics most people learn playing with bottle rockets as children, he pressurised rainwater collected in a carbon fibre hold tank to 6,000psi, attached some wheels and connected it to a motorcycle front fork. Then unleashed the sheer power down the start/finish straight at Paul Ricard circuit. Vive la France!

To the numbers then. Gissy pulled 5.1G, doing 0-62mph in 0.5 seconds, and the first 60ft were taken care of in just 852 milliseconds as he rode to a top speed of 162mph in 1/8th of a mile. All powered by water. For some perspective, those figures aren't too dissimilar to the ones achieved during aerobatic displays and Olympic luge runs.

Watch the video here