Steam power, electric cars and moonwalks: do you know your great transport firsts?

Thomas Parker with his electric car - but in what year did it hit the road? Photograph: Courtesy of Gail Tudor, Family Archive

1. When was the first journey taken by a steam-powered vehicle?

   1. 1801

   2. 1831

   3. 1861

2. In what year did the first production electric car hit UK roads?

   1. 1884

   2. 1934

   3. 1984

3. When was the first modern design bicycle invented?

   1. 1845

   2. 1865

   3. 1885

4. When was the first petrol-fuelled production motor car unveiled?

   1. 1806

   2. 1866

   3. 1886

5. What year did the first Renault motor car appear?

   1. 1886

   2. 1892

   3. 1898

6. When was the first commercial passenger flight?

   1. 1894

   2. 1904

   3. 1914

7. In what year did the first woman complete a solo transatlantic flight?

   1. 1922

   2. 1932

   3. 1942

8. When did the first human walk on the moon?

   1. 1965

   2. 1969

   3. 1972

9. When did the first solar-powered boat circumnavigate the globe?

   1. 2012

   2. 2014

   3. 2016

10. What year was the first Formula E race held?

    1. 2014

    2. 2016

    3. 2018

Solutions

1:A - The first passenger-carrying steam-powered vehicle – the “puffing devil” – made its debut outside Redruth in Cornwall, the home county of its 30-year-old inventor Richard Trevithick., 2:A - British inventor Thomas Parker, who was also responsible for electrifying the London Underground, built the first production electric car using rechargeable batteries he designed., 3:C - John Kemp Starley’s Rover safety bicycle introduced the bicycle design we know today. Its low seat height made it safer and more practical than the penny farthing “high wheelers”., 4:C - Austrian inventor Karl Benz’s Benz Patent-Motorwagen had three wheels, was powered by a petrol engine, and hit the roads publicly for the first time in July 1886., 5:C - Louis Renault was just 21 when he unveiled his first car, the Voiturette, in Paris. He had designed and built the car himself – with four wheels and a front-mounted engine – in his family’s garden shed. Two months after it was first shown, Renault founded his car company, Renault Frères., 6:C - Abram C Pheil, former mayor of St Petersburg, Florida, was the first paying passenger – he flew 23 minutes on the St Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line., 7:B - US aviator Amelia Earhart travelled more than 2,000 miles from Newfoundland in Canada across the Atlantic to Ireland in just under 15 hours., 8:B - An estimated 650 million people watched Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon’s surface and declare that he had taken “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”., 9:A - The 31-metre (102 ft) long MS Tûranor PlanetSolar made history 19 months and 37,297 miles after setting sail from Monaco in September 2010. The crew included the Swiss expedition leader and founder of the PlanetSolar project, Raphaël Domjan., 10:A - The first race in Formula E (exclusively for electric cars) was held in Beijing at the start of the 2014-15 season. For the first four seasons, the Spark-Renault SRT_01E car was used. Formula E completed its fifth season in July 2019, with 11 teams and 22 drivers competing.

Scores

1. 8 and above.

   Brilliant. You're practically as smart as Thomas Parker, Amelia Earhart and Neil Armstrong. Reward yourself by booking a test drive in a New Renault ZOE and experiencing a transportation first for yourself.

2. 0 and above.

   Oh dear. You don't know your steam trains from your solar-powered ships. Why not cheer yourself up by booking a test drive in a New Renault ZOE and experiencing a transportation first for yourself?

3. 4 and above.

   Not bad. Like the Wright brothers' first flights, your performance was limited but full of potential. Reward yourself by booking a test drive in a New Renault ZOE and experiencing a transportation first for yourself.

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