YouTube is an invaluable source for classic car fans the world over, since it provides access to millions of hours of video dedicated to a variety of rare vehicles, much of which is pulled from TV archives that might never have seen the light of day.

This week Jalopnik rooted out a clip from a 1995 edition of UK motoring show, Top Gear, during which a Ferrari F50 was pitted against a Formula 1 car in a drag race.

While the Ferrari F50 was clearly going to end up the loser, because no road car can match a dedicated racing machine, the clip reveals that it performed admirably and managed to stay close to its competitor right up to the 160mph mark.

Only 350 examples of the Ferrari F50 were built during its original production run and in the years since it has taken a back seat to the preceding F40, if only because it lacks the same good looks and raw nostalgia.

However, its rarity is undeniable and clearly it has impressive performance, given that it arrived in the heyday of the mid 1990s. If you have a few hundred thousand dollars lying around, it might make a good investment.