A Ferrari F430 versus a Toyota Corolla in a straight drag race. You would think the winner is predictable, but what if the race was in reverse gear only.

A Japanese motoring TV show has taken up the challenge and found that going backwards, the Ferrari could reach 82 km/h, but the Corolla could actually top 100 km/h.

The reason, it seems, for this remarkable result is that the Corolla used had a Super CVT-i transmission. This is a continuously variable transmission with no dedicated reverse gear and within a certain range the actual gear ratios are variable regardless of whether the car is driven forwards or backwards.