On this day in 2006: Rossi tests a Ferrari

Only one man in history has won world championships on two wheels and four: John Surtees was a four-time motorcycle champion before switching to cars and taking the F1 title in 1964.

Today in 2006 one man who some thought could have repeated the feat got behind the wheel of a Ferrari F1 challenger to see if he had the pace to switch codes and take on the fastest cars and drivers in the world.

On day one of the pre-season test at Valencia, Italian MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi had spun the car on a wet run and ended up in the gravel trap. But on day two he proved his speed when he completed 51 laps - and outpaced six regular F1 drivers including David Coulthard, Mark Webber and Jarno Trulli.

Then 26-years-old and already with five titles under his belt, Rossi posted the ninth-fastest time, just a second slower than Michael Schumacher who was driving a newer car.

That of course makes direct comparisons impossible, but a Ferrari spokesman said the team was impressed. "It was a very good performance, we cannot deny it. People who said that yesterday was a flop, today changed their mind."

Wearing a blank red helmet, Rossi takes to the track (Pic credit: Getty Images)

Wearing a blank red helmet, Rossi takes to the track (Pic credit: Getty Images)

Schumacher said the switch from riding to driving didn't faze Rossi “I didn’t give him any advice, he doesn’t need it,” he said.

Though no one knew it then, Schumacher himself was entering his final season as a Ferrari driver - and Rossi's father later revealed that his son had been "very, very close" to swapping machinery and joining the team for 2007.

It would have been a sensational move for the sport - an Italian racing hero quitting bikes to join Ferrari would have been pure box-office for F1.

Could he have become the first Italian to win the title in a Ferrari since since Alberto Ascari way back in 1953?

We'll never know - and we can only imagine how the fiercely competitive Rossi would have fared in the 2007 car that Kimi Raikkonen drove to the drivers' crown...