Honda is chasing its former Guiness world record for the fastest lawnmower with its Mean Mower packing the engine from a Fireblade motorcycle.
FOUR YEARS AGO, Honda teamed up with TopGear who drove a modified lawnmower into the Guiness world record books. Called the Mean Mower it recorded a trap speed of 116mph (or 185km/h). Then, a year later, a Norwegian tuning house came out and blitzed that time with a Viking lawn mower (videos below), recording a trap speed of 134mph (or 214km/h).
Now Honda is back with its second Mean Mower and it’s clearly aiming to go faster than 214km/h. And Honda is pulling out all the stops this time. It’s asked Team Dynamics (a Honda BTCC team) to use computers and proper engineering to, more or less, build a four-wheeled motorbike and dress it to look like a lawnmower.
The engine being dropped into the mower is from an SP1 Fireblade with predictions that the thing will be good for 90mph in first-gear. Yep, Mean Mower will have gears but no suspension and that means the chassis need to flex – so chromoly is being used. It also need to look like a mower and so there’ll be a proper grass catcher behind the thing. There’ll be traction control and engine mapping adjustments available on the fly too. But the mower also needs to be functional. Yep, that means it has to actually be able to cut grass, so it has carbon-fibre blades fitted and an electric motor to drive the blades.
Unlike before where TopGear let The Stig loose on Mean Mower for the record attempt, this time it’ll be driven by stunt driver Jess Hawkins.
Honda hasn’t said when the record attempt will take place but given the original was run in March…maybe we can expect to see something very soon.
Honda. Please send photos of the neatness of the grass cut … after it’s been cut at 160 kmh. But it’s a good PR stunt and keep them up.
Honda. Let me suggest this more practical idea. PLEASE build something like the Aerial Atom. An open wheeler style very light car with a grunty engine. Maybe a bike engine. Something for fun runs along the Putty or Great Ocean Roads or a few laps around Calder or Eastern Creek. And DON’T worry about making it hybrid!!
Dear Honda no use to make racing lawn movers,why not making a mover with edging capability,kind of side attachment.So we do not have to hold them in our hands and suffer from pins and needles from vibration.Put rubber buffers on your lawn movers also to dampen vibration.Stop these silly games do something for our benefit.
Honda.
The KTM Crossbow retails for $180k. Rather than make go-faster lawn mowers you probably can’t sell from dealerships, how about a KTM Crossbow competitor for around $30k?