You might not be surprised to learn that there is an internationally recognized speed record for a ride-on lawn mower. Our human impulse for speed is such that there’s a record for pretty much anything with an engine.
But you might very well be surprised to learn that the record, which was set earlier this year using this heavily modified Honda mower, now stands at 116 mph. Having recently driven it—or ridden it, or whatever—we’re flabbergasted.
More than Meets the Eye—but Not Really
Because this isn’t, as you might expect, a purpose-built record-setting vehicle that’s been made to look like a lawn mower. No, it’s a lawn mower rebuilt to stand some chance of holding together at speed, with the engine from a Honda VTR Super Hawk motorcycle—but it’s still fundamentally a piece of garden machinery. It drives enough like a lawn tractor to make 30 mph feel positively daring and 60 mph outrageously fast. The man who drove it to a speed of nearly two miles per minute, a British journalist named Piers Ward, clearly had either no fear or no imagination. Or more likely, none of either.
The mower was built in the U.K. by the team that runs Honda’s cars in the British Touring Car Championship, Team Dynamics. It’s based on a Honda HF2620 riding mower but has been given a new chassis made from high-strength steel, suspension and wheels from a Honda ATV, and four-wheel braking. The 109-hp, 996-cc V-twin engine was chosen for its combination of power and the ability to fit in the space left by the standard tractor’s 20-hp V-twin. The transmission is a bike-derived six-speed sequential gearbox with electric actuation, and it drives an ATV rear axle via a chain. There’s no reverse gear, but as the mower is said to weigh only 308 pounds without a rider, it doesn’t really need one.
One of the stipulations for the Guinness world record is that the mower still has to be capable of cutting grass. To that end, the Mean Mower has a bolt-on fiberglass cutting deck—it can be separately bolted on or off as required—complete with two electric motors operated from the 12-volt electrical system. (The mower normally runs without the deck.) The company claims the Mean Mower can cut grass at up to 15 mph—twice the top speed of the standard HF2620. The space normally occupied by the clippings bag contains the fuel tank, radiator, and an extra oil cooler.
About the Drive
We aren’t going to be setting any records today. The official run was carried out on the 1.2-mile-long straight at the IDIADA test track in northern Spain. Honda invited us to the considerably tighter environs of the Donington Park circuit in Leicestershire, England. We’re warned that the Mean Mower doesn’t like corners—it’s been designed exclusively for straight-line speed.
Simply getting onto it is the first challenge. The standard tractor’s groundskeeper-spec seat was binned in the transformation and a Cobra racing kart seat installed in its place. The idea, of course, is to hold its occupant securely in place, particularly if he or she is a lightweight 14-year-old F1 wannabe. But the squeeze of forcing yourself into the seat (if you’re not a 14-year-old F1 wannabe) is nothing compared with the challenge of getting your feet in proximity to the widely spaced throttle, brake, and clutch pedals—all of which require you to practically bend your legs in half. It’s like trying to find a comfortable driving position in a medieval torture device.
The next worrying thing is the steering. The wheel has been replaced with a suitably zoomy-looking motorsport item, but the rack still has typical lawn-tractor slop in it—you can turn the wheel a good inch in each direction before anything happens. More worrying, the column seems to flex as well. It’s only after driving the thing that we discover the standard tractor’s steering rack has been replaced with one from a 1960 Morris Minor. An improvement maybe, but not what we’d call a definitive one.
The engine starts using a standard key and with a deafening chatter. The Scorpion exhaust system has been custom-made for the tractor and is apparently capable of triggering noise meters at pretty much every race circuit in Europe. There are only two instruments: a water-temperature gauge and a tachometer that shows a redline of 9500 rpm. There’s a green light that illuminates when the gearbox is in neutral.
Moving off smoothly takes some practice and, sadly, more than we have time for. Confusingly, the button to change into a higher gear is the one on the left of the steering wheel (opposite from most modern cars’ paddles). With the clutch pedal pressed, first engages with a forceful thunk, but you then discover that the unmodified throttle pedal is almost impossibly sensitive, considering the engine’s lack of flywheel effect. The lightest pressure seems to add at least 5000 rpm. Somehow, we don’t stall.
Despite the steering wheel, the Mean Mower feels far closer to a superbike than a car. This is due in large part to the response and sound of the engine and the improbably massive amount of speed it can deliver in a very short period. But it’s also because you’re sitting directly in the slipstream and feeling the tractor pitch and roll as the g-force acts on it. You’re definitely riding it rather than driving it.
It’s properly, terrifyingly fast. The official estimate of a four-second 0-to-60-mph time feels pessimistic when you open the throttle fully for the first time. Like a bike, you can feel mass shifting backward under acceleration, leading you to instinctively pull yourself forward with the wobbling steering wheel. Fortunately, it doesn’t pull a wheelie, but the first corner—taken at what we presume to be a cautious speed—triggers an odd sensation as the chassis rolls on a pivot dictated by its narrow track. It feels as if it were about to tip over, and as if the center of gravity were as high as your chest.
We’ve been warned that carrying too much speed into a bend will tip the Mean Mower onto two wheels, or even worse. Imagine being known forever as the person who crashed the world’s fastest lawn mower.
So, So Stupidly Fast
In straight lines, it’s brilliant. The gearchange switches don’t always deliver the chosen ratio, but it doesn’t really matter, as the engine is tractable enough to stand second or even third gear at the 15 to 20 mph you take most corners, and then take it up to 60 or 70 mph on the next straight. We lack a straight long enough to go any quicker than this on the corner of the circuit to which we’ve been relegated. This is not, if we’re honest, a cause of great regret. Thankfully, the brakes are excellent once you manage to get your foot onto the stubby little pedal, slowing the mower in convincing fashion. We can honestly say we’ve never piloted anything that feels so quick at 70 mph.
Honda reckons that, given theoretically perfect conditions, the Mean Mower should be capable of 130 mph. The company has ambitions on other marks, including setting a record lap of the Nürburgring Nordschleife. We definitely won’t be driving it when that happens.
Specifications
Our man on the other side of the pond, Mike Duff lives in Britain but reports from across Europe, sometimes beyond. He has previously held staff roles on U.K. titles including CAR, Autocar, and evo, but his own automotive tastes tend toward the Germanic: he owns both a troublesome 987-generation Porsche Cayman S and a Mercedes 190E 2.5-16.
