Ferrari or fighter jet: Who dusted whom?

[911SC Pilot]

GROSSETO, Italy -- In a race between a Ferrari and a fighter jet, score one out of three for Michael Schumacher.

Formula One champion's Ferrari F2003-GA was a nose faster than pilot Maurizio Cheli's Eurofighter Typhoon in the first race of 600 meters. The plane then easily won at 1,200 and 900 meters in the drag race at a military airport.

"It was an interesting experience," Schumacher said, adding there was a lot less pressure than facing Formula One rival Juan Pablo Montoya.

Cheli did not gloat over winning the last two races.

"Everyone is a prince or king in their own environment," the pilot said.

Tuscany's Baccarini airport featured vintage cars and planes and a military band to entertain thousands of spectators. Six fighter jets flew in close formation and the event was shown live on Italian state TV.

Cheli's jet and the Ferrari lined up on parallel runways and went full throttle when the green signal came, mixing the deep sound of a jet turbine with a high-pitched Formula One engine. After covering the required distance, the jet went airborne and then landed following each race.

Schumacher won the first race in 9.4 seconds, with the jet 0.2 seconds behind. The jet won at 1,200 meters in 14.2 seconds, with the Ferrari 2.5 seconds back. In the final race of 900 meters, the jet finished in 13.0 seconds, with the Ferrari 0.2 seconds behind.

The Eurofighter's top speed when airborne is listed at 1,521 mph; the Ferrari's limit is 229 mph.

Thursday's event was organized by the Italian defense department and hailed as a demonstration of Italian industry.

[IROC]

Too bad we can't pull a 1/4 mile time out of this for the Ferrari. Assuming constant acceleration and linear interpolation, the Ferrari did the 1/4 in 6.3 seconds....

Mike

[vash]

i read somewhere that Michael Schumacher is the highest paid athlete in the world. like he made the other michael look like a regular dude.

[IROC]

Yeah he is paid something like $35 million/year before endorsements, etc. He still not as good as Prost was, though. :>)))

Mike

[Speedster94]

hallo
The way he won the championship this Year makes him in my eyes the best Driver in the F1 ever . And i can see that he makes 35 M a Year,by risking his live almost Daily ,while somebody hitting a little white Ball makes 25 M .
The Race was here in TV and the say that the Ferrari has 900 HP and the eurofighter 90.000 .
harald

[CHILI]

Originally posted by IROC
Yeah he is paid something like $35 million/year before endorsements, etc. He still not as good as Prost was, though. :>)))

Mike

Yep, that's correct. But, just to give you an idea of what that is, let's do some math...

35M yr / 12 = $2,916,666 a month
35M yr / 365 days = $95,890 a day

Now seriously ponder that for a moment.

[Jeff964]

If Ferrari also raced the Enzo with the F1 and the fighter jet, that would raise the competition to another level. But, by all accounts, it was a great race. Any video on the net, yet?

[onewhippedpuppy]

35 million a year to do something most of us would do for free. Hell, for that matter, how much do most of you PAY a year to go racing? Of course, you can take that statement and apply it to your favorite athlete, actor, porn star, etc.

[Doug E]

I thought I read somewhere that the endorsements are worth an additional $7m to $10m per year.

Assuming it is the lower end of the spectrum that would add almost an additional $20k to the daily calculation from above

[motion]

I heard 45mil per year with endorsements, and that was about 4 years ago. Schuey is not of the human race... his ability in an F1 car, and his ability to lead a team are a magical combination. Lets also not forget the fact that he's a world-class soccer player. It goes on... he's a devoted father and married to a rather plain looking woman. Despite his reputation as a cold, calculating German, he has shown emotion in front of the tv cameras (with 1 billion people watching) that no others have. The guy is simply amazing in my eyes.

Senna will always be remembered for being a deity, but Schuey will go down in history as the greatest driver of all time.

[Jeff964]

I believe Schu is paid USD50m a year.