BMW.Williams plans unique speed comparison.

There is another challenge facing the BMW.WilliamsF1 team in Melbourne this weekend, apart from its regular line-up taking on the might of McLaren and Ferrari at the opening world championship race of the 2001 season.

Staged on the same street circuit at Albert Park as the grand prix, the Grove-based team will stage a now customary demonstration of F1 potential, with a performance comparison taking place between a four-cylinder road car, an eight-cylinder touring car and the BMW V10-powered F1 car.

Marc Gene, the Williams' Spanish test driver will pilot last year's FW22 against an antipodean challenge led by Australian motor racing icons Allan Moffat and Larry Perkins, who will drive a BMW 318i road car and a Castrol Holden race-tuned Commodore V8 touring car respectively.

To keep the contenders' hopes high, the road car will start with anything up to a possible one minute advantage before the F1 machine, with the V8 Supercar having approximately half that advantage as the handicappers attempt to highlight the raw power of Formula One by bringing all three cars to the finish line at the same time.

Similar experiments have been conducted by other teams, notably Ferrari, in recent years, but BMW's involvement has become a part of the Australian GP weekend since its return last year.

The F1 Speed Comparison will be held at Albert Park on Thursday 1 March at 1400 and 1640 local time, on Friday and Saturday at 1540, and Sunday 4 March at 1240. Marc Gene will also be available for autographs in Melbourne City Square tomorrow [Wednesday].