A British boy and his lawnmowing toy

A British engineer has broken the world speed record for lawnmowers, and done it in style.

Tony Edwards … said: “I know that a guy from the UK had the record at one point, at 96mph. Then I think Honda had it at 116mph, and then a team from Norway did it at 132mph, and I thought I’d give it a try.

“I’ve always messed about with motorbikes and things since I was about 15. I built the whole thing from scratch.

“I got someone else in to do the welding on the chassis because I didn’t trust my own welding. The front suspension is from a kit car and the rear suspension is from a trike conversion kit.”

The engine is a mere 1300cc unit from a Suzuki motorbike that only puts down around 300bhp to the rear wheels.

And it cuts grass.

“It has to be able to cut grass. I had to send videos to Guinness to prove that it was a lawnmower,” Tony added.

So, with almost two years to the day of hard graft, on a cloudy day in August, Tony took to the start line atop his creation. From a standing start, Tony was clocked at 143.193 miles per hour. For context, a Mitsubishi 3000GT or a Nissan 350Z would do around that speed.

. . .

It wasn’t until a later conversation with a photographer that Tony discovered that the steering trouble was not caused my a mechanical gremlin, but rather an issue with his aerodynamic package.

“He asked me if I had trouble steering, and I said yes, and he showed me the picture of the front wheels off the tarmac. No wonder I had trouble steering.”

There’s more at the link.

Here’s a video clip of the record-breaking run.

As one commenter on the story said, “At that speed, I could cut my lawn in about 7 seconds – but the U-turns at either end of the garden might be a bit tricky!”

Peter