Spyker, Albers take on F-16.

The Spyker F1 team took on the Dutch air force on Friday when Christijan Albers went head-to-head with an F-16 fighter jet at Volkel, in the south of Holland.

The publicity event, named 'Full Throtte', saw Albers race his Formula 1 challenger side by side against Captain Ralph Aarts' state of the art combat plane down the base's main runway.

Albers looked to have the advantage over the first 300 metres as he accelerated away from the line, but over the final 700 metres the RNLAF F16 just pulled ahead to win the tight race by two car lengths. Reaching a speed of 450kph by the end of the straight, the F16 completed the course in just 15.5secs. Following his victory, Ralph performed a spectacular flying display over the air base.

"It was a tight race, for the first 300m all I could see was the plane in my mirrors, but then he just accelerated past me and off into the distance - it was incredible! I'd never been close to an F16, or even sat in one, so it was really interesting to compare the performance of the two," said Albers. "Aside from the displays though, Ralph and his team do some brave work out there, I have a lot of respect for them."

Aarts is one of the RNLAF's most experienced F16 pilots, with 1,100 flying hours under his belt, including in operational missions in Afghanistan. The 28-year-old started with the airforce in 1997 and received his wings in 2000. He then went on to join the 313 Squadron in 2001 and relocated to Volkel, the Netherlands' largest base, in 2005.

Despite Ralph's extensive experience in his own machine, this was the first time the Dutchman had been up close and personal with a Formula 1 car.

"It was pretty close, but in the end I was very pleased to out run a Formula 1 car! It's great to see these two high-tech worlds of aviation and Formula 1 coming together for the first time in the Netherlands. I really hope it will inspire more young people to join the forces," he added.

On the ground the machines are evenly-matched; Albers' F8-VII has more than 700bhp and can reach 350kph in a straight line, the same speed the F16 will reach before taking off. In the air, however, the plane can go to more than twice the speed of sound, a massive 2,020kph. With 25,000lbs of thrust, or the equivalent of 10,000 bhp, the combat plane is also leagues ahead of the Formula 1 car. In g-force too: while the car will pull more than 5g through a corner, the F16 will pull 9g.

"Both machines are incredible to see," summed up Michiel Mol, Spyker F1's director of Formula 1, "I'm so proud we have made such a fantastic show with this project."