Snowboarding With Jet Engines: It's a Real Thing and It's Awesome

Mount four jet engines on a stick, hold the throttle to the max, and see how fast you can go. Who would be crazy enough to test this out?

The guy who set the British snowboarding speed record and the World Indoor Speed Record is probably the right person for the job.

Jamie Barrow tests the Dream Science propulsion thruster on a frozen lake (Image source: Vimeo).

Jamie Barrow is a professional speed freak and snowboarding champion and he was tapped by Dream Science, the company that created the quad propulsion system.

"It went really well, on the two runs he did he used about 20 percent power, so he's really just touching the tip of the iceberg," Dreamscience's founder and director Adam Contoret, said.

An up-close view of the pack shows the vents look pretty similar to a plane's jet engine (Image source: Vimeo).

The jet-pack creator said the experience is a lot like watching a jet getting ready to take off.

"He wants to hit the top speed," Contoret said, "It's like a jet on a runway, it seems low at first and it gets faster and faster and before you know it you're just going like a rocket."

Contoret and the Dream Science team see the jet propulsion system as more than just a quirky experiment; he wants extreme athletes to be able to use the kit as a way to improve almost any speed sport. They've also tested it out with water sports.

Dream Science also tested the jet pack on the water (Image source: Vimeo).

This is cool, but all I can think about is how this technology definitely moves us closer to a hoverboard. Science, you have one more year. In the mean time, check out the awesome video of the snowboarding jet back experiment:

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(H/T: Business Insider)

Follow Elizabeth Kreft (@elizabethakreft) on Twitter.