For many reluctant gardeners, cutting the lawn is a time-consuming chore, but that surely wouldn’t be the case if you had this super-charged grass trimmer built by Honda.
Named the Mean Mower, the high-performance garden vehicle has set a new world record for fastest lawnmower, after being driven at an incredible 116mph (187kph).
Driven by Top Gear writer Piers Ward for the attempt, the 1000cc 109HP mower’s average speed broke the previous record by almost 30mph.
The successful attempt took place at the IDIADA Proving Ground, in Tarragona, Spain, last month.
As well as being required to cut grass and look like a lawnmower; in order to fully satisfy meet Guinness World Records rules, the mower had to record the same run, in both directions, within an hour – with the average speed taken of both runs. 
Mean Mower was designed and built in the UK by Honda (UK)’s British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) partner, Team Dynamics. The team re-engineered a Honda HF2620 Lawn Tractor from the ground-up, adding an all-new fabricated chassis, custom-made from 4130 chromoly, to provide a strong, safe but very light platform. A 1000cc engine from a Honda VTR Firestorm was used, along with a bespoke suspension and wheels from an ATV.
The cutter deck was custom-made in fibre-glass, to reduce weight, while, the grass bag provides a home for the fuel tank, a high capacity oil cooler and a secondary water cooling radiator.
The mower can cut grass at around 15mph, thanks to two electric motors on the cutter deck, spinning 3mm steel cutting cable at an incredible 4000rpm - more than double the flat-out speed of the original HF2620 from which it is derived.
Based on feedback from Honda Yuasa Racing drivers, three times BTCC champion Matt Neal and reigning champion Gordon Shedden, the mower features a custom-made paddle shift six-speed gear system. Additionally it has a custom-made Cobra sports seat, a Scorpion exhaust system and a steering rack taken from a Morris Minor.
The result of this remarkable feat of engineering is a lawn mower set-up and geared to achieve a top speed in excess of 130mph, weighing just 140kgm, producing 96Nm of torque, an incredible PTW ratio of 532bhp/tonne; and an estimated 0-60 of just four seconds.
Last month’s attempt beat a benchmark of 87.83 mph set by Don Wales while driving the Project Runningblade lawnmower, in Pendine, UK, in May 2010.
Speaking after the successful attempt, Honda spokesperson 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! We are all delighted to hold a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title and we’d like to thank everyone who was involved in what has been a challenging yet incredibly exciting project.”
