The study measured the heart rates of 100 people across 40 iconic car chase movies, to find out the scientifically most exciting, based on the impact to audiences' BPM.

The key findings of the study were:

• 
  • Tom Hardy's Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) is cinema's greatest car chase, causing an uplift of 33% in BPM among audiences
  • The Fast & Furious franchise is the most exciting franchise, appearing 5 times in the top 20.
  • Fast & Furious 6 is the most 'fast and furious' of the Fast & Furious movies
  • Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is the most 'fast and furious actor of all time', with movies featuring him being 9% more exciting, 9.4% better rated and 309% higher grossing than those without.

The most exciting movie car chases, according to science

According to the money.co.uk study, the most heart racing car movie of all time is Mad Max Fury Road (2015), which caused an uplift in BPM of 33%, raising average heart rates from 64 to 85 BPM.

Starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, Fury Road is the fourth installment in the Mad Max franchise (Mad Max 2 also features in the top 20), and was a critical and box office success, grossing $375 million and winning six Academy Awards.

Other highlights from the top 20 include:

Most destructive: The Matrix Reloaded --- 300 cars destroyed

Longest chase scene: Gone in 60 Seconds (1974) --- 40 minutes

Highest Grossing: Furious 7 - £1.15bn

Oldest entry in top 20: Gone in 60 Seconds --- 1974

Which Fast & Furious is the most "fast & furious"

Making up 25% of the top 20, the Furious franchise...