Top Gear challenges don't have to be high-minded international affairs to be fun. This particular challenge has everything we've come to expect: risk, reward, danger, competition, entertainment, and just a sliver of educational value.

Matt Leblanc and Chris Harris are on one end of an airport runway, armed with two top-tier sports cars: a Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo and a Ferrari GTC4Lusso. At the other end of the runway is the ocean. The goal? To accelerate as fast as possible before hitting the brakes. The loser is either the car that's slower – or the one that ends up at the bottom of a watery grave.

Matt Leblanc, in the Ferrari, has the performance advantage, at least on paper. Of course, the intestinal fortitude of the driver is also a major factor – who is braver, and who will brake later?

The Ferrari makes it to 177 miles per hour before Leblanc hits the brakes, coming to a nice, neat stop with a couple dozen feet of pavement in front of the bumper. It's a tidy run with an impressive result.

Next up is Chris Harris in the Panamera Sport Turismo. He makes use of the Panamera's overboost feature, which will give the engine an additional boost in power for up to 20 seconds at a time. That's more than enough time, in this case.

It's not quite enough to overpower the Ferrari, though. The Porsche hits 165 miles per hour before Harris shuts it down. It's not for lack of effort, though – when the Porsche finally comes to a rest, it's at the very edge of the runway, mere feet away from the water.

While both Harris and Leblanc agree that Harris hit the brakes later than Leblanc, the Ferrari was still faster, and still won the day.

Source: Top Gear on YouTube