Top gun Schumacher takes on fighter jet in speed duel

Ferrari's Michael Schumacher will take on a powerful new opponent here today: an Italian Air Force fighter jet. The six-times Formula One world champion will race his Ferrari F2003-GA against a Eurofighter Typhoon over three distances: 500, 1,000 and 1,500 metres.

Experts are predicting that the German will win the two shorter races, courtesy of Ferrari's excellent acceleration, and that the jet will show its brute force by taking the longest race.

The plane will have to avoid taking off and stay on the ground to win, which will take extra control since it normally requires only five seconds to take off.

The event at the Baccarini military airport is expected to draw as many as 70,000 spectators and will be shown live on Italian television. The jet - which, organisers were quick to stress, will not be carrying weapons - should weigh slightly under 21,000kg (4,629 pounds). The Ferrari weighs 600kg (1,322 pounds) and will have only minor alterations from race mode, including a slight change to its outer shell to adapt aerodynamically to the straight distance.

The Eurofighter's top speed when airborne is listed at 2,448kph (1,521 mph), with the Ferrari's limit at 369kph (229mph). Maurizio Cheli, a chief test pilot for one of the companies that built the jet, will be in the cockpit of the Eurofighter.

This will not be the first time that a race car has lined up against an airplane. In 1931, Tazio Nuvolari, the best motor racing driver of his day, drove his Alfa Romeo 8C-300 faster than a Caproni Ca100 airplane. And in 1981, Gilles Villeneuve's Ferrari 126 beat an F-104 plane over a distance of one kilometre (0.6 miles).

Before today's main event, Schumacher and Cheli will also go head-to-head in an Alfa Romeo 2300s and a biplane, in a replication of the 1931 duel. Organisers said the races, which are scheduled to begin at 09.45 GMT, can be followed live at www.aeronautica.difesa.it.