The first ever jet suit race has been held in Dubai. Racers each wrestled the thrust from seven 130-hp jet turbines (two on each arm and three in the backpack for a total of 1,050 hp, controlled by hand throttles) to levitate and negotiate a course in spectacular head-to-head duels – and the event delivered the sport's first jet suit crash.
They begin the race with five gallons of jet fuel in the backpack, and end it with very little – the total flight time possible is around nine minutes, so long races are not on the agenda for a while yet.
For safety reasons (that became apparent when one racer crashed out at the first event), races are held over a water course, so the sport can be staged in the center of any city with a suitable water course and now that the ice has been broken, we expect there will be more and bigger events staged.
The first ever race showed the sport has plenty of potential as a live-spectator sport, particularly if each leg of a world series were held in conjunction with one of the world’s famous waterside festivals, and while the number of competitors who could afford a US$400,000 jet suit was clearly still modest, it’s a sport that has an inevitability about it.
The corollary of the above is that for $480,000, you can get yourself something exciting to do on the weekend – compete in a Grand Prix in an exotic city. There weren’t a lot of starters and there’s plenty of opportunity in any sport that has just started.
Like all other highly desirable things that start out very costly to do, the sport will grow and evolve over time, and there’s little question that a Jet Suit Grand Prix would be a huge drawcard for any waterside festival, and the spectacle is large enough to entertain a crowd of hundreds of thousands on a river or lake bank.
The Dubai Jet Suit Race took place on February 28, and was one of the main attractions of the Dubai Boat Show.
The other advantage of staging these jet ski competitions is the relative absence of setting up, at least compared to staging a motor racing event. The five-meter-high pylons used as course markers are inflatable, and each suit weighs 26 kg, making it an easy add-on for any large-scale event wishing to bring in a crowd.
Gravity Industries, the maker of the jet suits, is funding the event and has high hopes for it.
We do too. Check out the video below – and go to around 15 minutes if you want to see what a jet suit crash looks like.
