Sure you can try and acquire a real DeLorean and turn it into a replica of the iconic time travel vehicle from the Back to the Future movies. That’s a dream of geeks everywhere. Unfortunately for most of us, that costs way too much coin, and the finished product won’t take you back to hang out with dinosaurs if you so wished it. It wouldn’t even hover off the ground a few feet.

In order to achieve the flying part, you can always do the remote controlled thing. But someone named Matthew Riese had an even better idea, a DeLorean hovercraft, and he showed off his idea in grand fashion.

Check out a couple videos of the craft in action below.

McCovey Cove outside of the San Francisco Giants’ AT&T Park is one of the most recognizable spots associated with a Major League Baseball ballpark. This is because many home run balls end up in the water—most notably off the bat of Barry Bonds on his way to breaking the all-time HR record—where people in boats and kayaks and other floatation devices rush to get their hands on the souvenir.

Riese took his hovercraft DeLorean to the cove to test it out, which ended up on TV during the broadcast of a game between the Giants and Colorado Rockies. And, as you’ll see, it’s a shame he didn’t have this bad boy built sooner. He could have easily beaten almost everyone to any ball hit in the drink, and would have quite the collection to show off now.

As it turns out, the project started on Kickstarter back in 2010 when Riese sought $5,600 to make his dream craft a reality. Here’s the info he offered on the DeLorean from Kickstarter:

When it is done, the craft will be able to hover on anything flat (asphalt, sand, water, etc), but it will be mostly driven on the San Francisco Bay. The hovercraft is registered with the DMV in California as a boat (it is not street legal). The top speed should be around 45 mph, which is pretty impressive for a vehicle with no breakes (it’s not touching the ground, remember!). If you have never seen a hovercraft, the basic concept is that a fan pushes air underneath the middle of the craft and a “skirt” (basically a flexible inner-tube around the perimeter of the craft) traps that high-pressure air under the craft, which lifts it off the ground.

It’s not the first Back to the Future reference we’ve seen during a Giants game, either. Back when those extremely limited Nike MAGs were auctioned off, Giants closer Brian Wilson was sure to grab a pair, and even was spotted wearing them (also during a game against the Rockies, strangely enough) in the dugout.

You can also check out videos of Riese building the hovercraft over at his YouTube channel.

What do you think of the DeLorean hovercraft?

Videos

[Source: Yahoo! Sports]