Jet suit racing set to take flight in 2019

IPSWICH, ENGLAND: Forget cars, bikes, and boats. Next year "Iron Man"-style jet suits will be the new vehicle to race in.

The British creator of the jet engine-powered suit that allows you to take flight said he would launch a new racing series over water next year featuring men and women from different sporting backgrounds.

"The idea of ... a race around a kind of air race circuit, in three dimensions with 1,000 horse-power jet suits, it's going to be astounding and phenomenal," inventor Richard Browning told Reuters.

The suit, which has a record speed of 32 miles per hour (51 kph), is made up of five miniature jet engines mounted on the pilot´s arms and back and is reminiscent of the one worn by Robert Downey Jr in the Marvel superhero "Iron Man" film trilogy.

Browning, a former commodities trader who first developed the suit in his garage with friends around three years ago, put the jet suit on sale in a London department store in July with a 340,000 pounds ($443,360) price tag.