He puts the gas to still damn talk about him thanks to his exploits in the skies! In the coming months, Franky Zapata, the Provençal du Rove, on the outskirts of Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), has every intention of wowing the planet again with his new invention so much hoped for, a flying car called the Jet Racer, guaranteed to ignite social networks.
The machine is "finished". The chassis already flies autonomously. It only remains for the biped to ... try it and get on board. A formality, if we are to believe the young forty-something. "100% of the tests can be done from the ground, nothing will be discovered by taking a seat on board", he says positively, praising his new technologies, "all the control electronics", the 6 GPS, the 18 accelerometers ...
Latest security tests
These tests above the cow floor are scheduled around October for an official presentation with great fanfare of the beast "by the end of the year". To impress us, videos must be made in flight in the United States, where the legislation is much less restrictive than in France for this type of UFO.
Initially, this “car” of the future had to be ready at the end of 2019, as announced by its designer, back on dry land after his conquest of the Channel. "Complexity is security, we especially do not want to take risks," he explains. Containment also caused delayed ignition.
While some parts of the prototype have already been unveiled, there is no public photo where it appears fully assembled. The former jet-ski champion wants to make the suspense last. It still distills some clues here and there that allowed us to imagine and draw the turboprop.
It is of “single-seater type” with a “bucket seat” fitted with a harness “as in a racing car”, which rests “on a structure with four arms”. It is a marriage between "a Formula 1 and a drone".
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Takeoff and landing are carried out vertically. This hybrid takes height thanks to ten turbojets fixed on the arms. "It flies today with kerosene because it is the only authorization we have, but we are working on an experimental program with biofuels," he says. The machine has two levers, one for a "beginner mode" allowing you to navigate "up and down and front to back", the other an "expert mode" offering "all axes of rotation ”.
Coming soon. # Jetracer pic.twitter.com/2Ww2FYGN8S
- zapatacompany (@zapatacompany) August 6, 2020Currently, it has about "twenty minutes of autonomy" and speeds "over 200 km / h". "But we are aiming for more than 300 km / h", ambitions the self-taught entrepreneur. To increase speed, Flyman and his team will, in particular, refine the aerodynamics of the car at the start of September by “tilting certain engines forward”.
Toy, taxi or humanitarian vehicle?
A team of ten Géo Trouvetou works tirelessly on this jewel of technology weighing 55 kg. But what will it be used for? “At first, it's for leisure. Travel and flying taxis is the second step, ”he explains. It is not in France that the Jet Racer will make its first recreational flights, still due to overly restrictive regulations for the time being, but in the United States.
The first customers should thus be able to afford an adrenaline cure on a circuit with inflatable cones on the same principle as Air Race plane races. "This will be done during the year 2021", assures the globetrotter. The machine could also be of great use in repatriating the wounded when access by helicopter is not possible. Until then, Franky Zapata still has his work cut out for him. He has just left for a week in the Alps to take a break, changing the air by offering himself a mountain bike cure. “Afterwards, I get back to work quickly,” he breathes.
VIDEO. Flyboard: Zapata's feat seen from a helicopter