COQUELLES, FRANCE (AFP) - Motor sport great John Surtees had to keep the speed down for his latest challenge as he became the first person to drive a sports car through the Channel Tunnel on Tuesday.

Surtees, the only man to win world championships on two and four wheels, swept through the service tunnel in a Ginetta G50 EV electronic sports car prototype 15 years after the British-French rail link opened.

Despite having claimed multiple 500cc motorcycle world championships before winning the Formula One crown with Ferrari in 1964, the 75-year-old Englishman - whose 18-year-old son Henry was killed in July in a Formula Two race - had to keep to the tunnel's 50 kph (31mph) speed limit.

"Speed was the last thing involved. It was a casual drive, shall we say," Surtees said when he emerged the other side at Coquelles in France.

Asked how it felt to drive through a 31-mile tunnel, the Englishman added: "You certainly wouldn't want to be subject to any claustrophobic feelings down there.

"The tunnel is very small in parts but it's amazing what a tremendous engineering feat it is. It's quite staggering."

Surtees, who performed the stunt as part of a charity drive, said he did not know how long it took to make the crossing as he kept stopping to look at the tunnel along the way - even at one point signing his name on the wall.