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Honda's 200km/h+ mower sets speed record

Honda Mean Mower
LONDON, England - Honda’s 1000cc, 75kW Mean Mower has broken a Guinness world record for the fastest lawnmower!

Honda (UK)’s Mean Mower  averaged 187km/h to break the record by almost 50km/h.

IMAGE GALLERY: Honda's Mean Mower
VIDEO: Honda's Mean Mower in action

It happened on the two-kilometre straight at the Idiada Proving Ground in Tarragona, Spain where motoring writer Piers Ward had already set a record speed on a Mean Mower  of 141km/h in May 2010.

MOTORSPORT HERITAGE

Public relations manager for Honda (UK), Ellie Ostinelli, said: “The original brief for Mean Mower was to create the world’s fastest lawnmower – and now it officially is, by some distance!"

Mean Mower, Honda said, was developed from a Honda HF2620 Lawn Tractor to demonstrate the automaker's innovation, motorsport heritage and to remind the public that it does more than just make cars.

The mower has a custom-made chassic comprised of 4130 chromoly (high carbon steel) to provide a strong platform. A 1000cc engine from a Honda VTR Firestorm motorcycle was used, along with suspension and wheels from an ATV.

The engine is mated to a custom six-speed, paddle-shift transmission. Its weight of 140kg aids the lawn mower in rocketing from 0-100km/h in four seconds on to a top speed of 209km/h.

STILL ABLE TO MOW THE LAWN

Every effort was made to retain the look of the original mower. The cutter deck was custom-made in glass fibre to reduce weight and the grass bag was used to store the fuel tank, an oil cooler and a water radiator. 

It has a sport seat, a Scorpion exhaust and a steering rack taken from a Morris Minor.

Despite being fast the mower can still cut grass. The ability to cut grass came from two electric motors on the cutter deck that spin 3mm steel cutting cable at 4000rpm. The mower can cut grass at 24km/h, more than double the speed of the original HF2620.

Every effort was made to use Honda parts, where possible, including brakes and several motorcycle components. Almost everything else was custom-made.

Read more about Honda's Mean Mower in the May edition of TopGear South Africa Magazine.
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