Mischo Erban has set a Guinness world record downhill skateboarding speed of 80.74 mph (129.94 km/h) (Photo: Alexia Marcus)
Traveling at 80.74 mph (129.94 km/h) on four wheels won’t usually grab you a Guinness world record, but when that feat is achieved on a vehicle that relies on only leg power and gravity, it’s another story. That’s just what 28-year old Mischo Erban has done in a record-breaking downhill skateboard run at Les Éboulements in Quebec, Canada, this week.
Erban broke the previous fastest skateboard speed from a standing start of 70.21 mph (113 km/h) set by Douglas da Silva in Brazil on October 20, 2007. On his run, Erban wore a prototype in-helmet Heads-up Display (HUD) from Recon Instruments that allowed him to monitor his speed, distance, time, navigation and more in real time.
While you might think exposing your eyeballs to all that info while hurtling down the asphalt at 80 mph might be distracting, Erban says the info helped let him know if he could push himself to go faster.
“With this amazing HUD I can see all my vital stats in real time, on screen, and combine this info with what I’m feeling on my board. From here I know instantly whether I can push to go faster,” he said.
The prototype HUD is similar to Recon’s HUD for alpine goggles, in that it is modular with a clip that slots around the foam supports on the interior of either of Erban’s aero helmets. The HUD’s gooseneck design gave Erban the flexibility to set the display where it would be visible but unobtrusive – just above or below his eye line.
POV video of Erban’s record-breaking run can be downloaded here – but be warned, the 170 MB file may be a little slow in coming.
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