Is a Bugatti Chiron quicker than a Dassault Rafale Marine jet fighter? At launch, yes. A speed exposition by the French maker of last-word exotics picked a semi-serious fight with the top jet of the French navy, and that may seem an awful lot like hubris even if the fighter’s the one with the wings. On the other hand, the Chiron is a Les Legends du Ciel edition, and features the company’s ‘Skyview’ glass roof panels.

Like Icarus, the Chiron fared well at the start, leaving the Rafale behind in the first leg of the race before the fiery jet blistered past and shot skyward. The Chiron reached 217 miles per hour before calling it a day, making the single mile traveled a very short trip.

The exhibition brought a bit of additional press to both Bugatti and Dassault, a French aerospace company which recently unveiled a new benchmark for top business jet, the Falcon 10X. But the burnishing of Bugatti’s brand was perhaps the more effective, as the display indicates that there simply are no other production cars currently that can give the Chiron a run for its money; alas, it’s had to turn to jets for suitable competition.

A Bugatti has been matched against a jet before, mind. In 2007, a Veyron took on a Eurofighter Typhoon. But the linking of Dassault with Bugatti has roots in the past for both companies: the jet’s brakes are the work of Messier-Bugatti, a French firm that crossed ownership paths with the automaker, and which is now known as Safran.