Fabio Barone, the driver of the Ferrari, also made headlines last year after he set a new speed record from the deck of an Italian aircraft carrier.

Is the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet faster than a racecar? The answer is a resounding and obvious yes. An F-35 has a top speed of Mach 1.6, or roughly 1,200 miles per hour (1,930 km/h) at high altitude. Near the ground, it has a maximum low-altitude structural speed limit of 700 knots calibrated air speed (KCAS), or roughly 805 mph (1,296 km/h). That’s still considerably faster than the absolute fastest race cars on the ground, which can exceed 330 mph (531 km/h) in less than four seconds in a straight-line drag race.

To date, the F-35 hasn’t raced a Top Fuel dragster, but next month it could go all out with a Ferrari SF90, a competition that only our Italian allies could dream up. The race will occur on a Marina Militare (Italian Navy) runway at the Grottaglie base in Southern Italy.

An F-35B, the short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) variant, will take part in a head-to-head race with the mid-engine plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). The Ferrari SF90 sports car has a factory-claimed top speed of 211 mph (340 km/h), but can go from 0 to 62 mph (0 to 100 km/h) in just 2.5 seconds and 0 to 124 mph (0 to 200 km/h) in 6.7 seconds.

Ferrari vs. F-35: A Head-to-Head Comparison

Vehicle	Ferrari SF90 Race Car	F-35B Fighter Jet
Year Introduced	2020	2015
Number Built	Unknown; low thousands	1,300+ (all variants)
Cost Per Unit	~$524,000	~$120 million
Length	4.71 m (185.4 in)	15.6 m (51.2 ft)
Width	1.97 m (77.6 in)	10.7 m (35 ft)
Weight	~1,600 kg (3,527 lb)	~27,000 kg (60,000 lb)
Engine(s)	Hybrid propulsion; 4.0 L (3,990 cc) F154 FA twin-turbocharged V8 gas engine; 3 electric motors (1 transmission, 1 each front wheel)	One Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-400 afterburning turbofan (43,000 lbf) with Rolls-Royce LiftSystem for STOVL capability
Top Speed	340 km/h (211 mph) / Mach 0.285	1,930 km/h (1,200 mph) / Mach 1.6
Service Ceiling	Ground level (cannot fly)	15,240 m (50,000 ft)
Crew	1 (2 with passenger)	1

Wait a Minute, Could the Ferrari Actually Win?

Over a long haul, the F-35B clearly can’t be beat by any car. However, the Lightning II has to get airborne first, and given how quickly the Ferrari can accelerate, it could win the race even as the F-35 is just getting off the ground.

Italian race car driver Fabio Barone, who holds seven speed records in his signature red Ferraris, will be at the wheel. Just a year ago, Barone drove his car along the 803-foot (245-meter) flight deck of the Italian Navy’s landing ship/helicopter dock ITS Trieste (L 9890), where he set a new speed record—and still had time to brake before he reached the ski jump ramp.

During the stunt last September, Barone raced across the flight deck—with Harold Faltermeyer’s iconic theme from the 1986 film Top Gun blaring from speakers—setting a new Guinness world record for the fastest car driving on a boat, with a detected velocity of 101 mph (165 km/h).

Next month, Barone seeks to race the F-35 across 500 meters (1,640 feet) on an aluminum runway used by the Italian Navy’s F-35.

Given the speed of the standard Ferrari and the fact that his is outfitted with a special engine, Barone is expected to complete the course in 8 to 9 seconds, while facing 2.2 Gs—a bit less than the 7 Gs that F-35B aviators can often face.

After the first 500-meter race, the car and the fighter jet are scheduled to run a second race, according to Defense News. The second race will take place over 2.8 kilometers (1.74 miles); for the first 500 meters (0.3 miles), the F-35 will remain on the ground, before taking off and completing the remainder of the race in flight at an altitude of about 20 meters (65.6 ft).

The F-35B will take longer to get up to speed than the Ferrari, but can then accelerate quickly.

“We will be very close,” Barone told Defense News. “The challenge will be driving over the aluminum plates, which will create vibration.”

Why Race Against a Plane? “Schumacher Did It,” Barone Says

Asked why he wanted to do the race, Barone stressed the entertainment value of the contest, but also noted that former Ferrari Formula One racecar driver “Michael Schumacher did it.”

In 2003, Schumacher drove his title-winning Ferrari F2003-GA Formula One car, while test pilot Maurizio Cheli flew—but kept on the ground—an Italian Air Force Eurofighter Typhoon jet at the Baccarini military airport in Grosseto, Italy. 

Schumacher and Cheli competed in three drag-style races over distances of 600 meters, 900 meters, and 1,200 meters. To keep it a fair contest, the jet stayed low and did not take off. Schumacher was able to win the 600-meter sprint, but the jet’s superior acceleration enabled it to win the longer 900-meter and 1,200-meter races.

The event drew a crowd of more than 50,000 spectators.

Regardless of who wins this race, it will certainly be one of the most well-funded sporting events of the year, at least when the cost of equipment is factored in. The price tag of a Ferrari SF90 Stradale is $524,814, but Barone’s souped-up model is likely even costlier.

Of course, this is pocket change next to the F-35B, which has a flyaway cost of $121.4 million. Here’s hoping nothing goes wrong!

About the Author: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu has contributed to dozens of newspapers, magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.

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