Lexus, the luxury automobile brand of Japanese-based Toyota, has engineered a reminiscent model of life imitating art, namely the hoverboard that Marty McFly glides on in the second installment of “Back to the Future.”

However, the coordination required to ride it is no fantasy but a hard reality. Bystanders were given the chance to ride it in an exclusive test park, or “hoverpark,” in Barcelona Spain.

The board is able to levitate on 200 meters of magnetic track that was laid underground in the park much like a modern high-speed rail or subterranean train, but users discovered their journies were less than finite.

The board’s interior is composed of superconductors with an impressive magnetic field designed with liquid nitrogen, which keeps the material at -197 degrees Fahrenheit allowing the board and the buried track to repel one another producing the levitation.

Despite all the grandstanding, Lexus doesn’t plan on selling them because the board is only a prototype at this stage. A professional skater, Ross McGouran, was asked to test-drive the board and was humbled by the experience. “I’ve spent 20 years skateboarding, but without friction it feels like I’ve had to learn a whole new skill, particularly in the stance and balance in order to ride the hoverboard. It’s a whole new experience,” he said.

Source: Daily Times Gazette