Richard Browning – Iron Man’s real-life manifestation – set a Guinness World Record for the fastest ever speed recorded in a body-controlled jet engine-powered suit.

Quite a tongue twister, isn’t it?

The British inventor hit a speed of 51.53km/h yesterday before his smooth decent into the Lagoona Park lake in Reading. More about the suit from the Independent:

The flight suit features six kerosene-fuelled micro gas turbines, each of which has 22 kg of thrust.

It’s controlled through body movements alone, and Mr Browning had to work on his core strength exercises ahead of the record attempt, to ensure he was able to balance and hold his position in the air during flight.

Pretty epic.

Pravin Patel served as Guinness World Records’ adjudicator on the day, making sure that Browning’s speed was “measured accurately over a minimum distance of 100 metres”. Check it out:

The daredevil who founded Gravity Industries, a technology startup dedicated to defying it, has high hopes with an “entirely new aviation category”:

“This is real-world aeronautical innovation. We are serious about building a world-changing technology business.”

“We stand at the very beginning of what human propulsion systems will do. It’s at the same point as the mobile phone was in the early to mid 80s or the internet of the early 90s.”

The future is now, people. Hold on.

[source:independant&youtube]