Petrol Lawnmower, Ride On Lawn Mower Beats Land Speed Record

A British Petrol Lawnmower raced into the record books beating the previously held land speed record twice in the same weekend at Pendine Sands in Carmarthenshire, South Wales. The mower used was a modified Countax mower which, despite the amazing speeds it can achieve will still cut grass! The driver of this amazing machine, Don Wales (who comes from a family very famous for setting speed records - see below) set a new world record on Saturday 22^nd May 2010 of 86.069 mph and then beat his own record on the following day by achieving an incredible 87.833 mph (141.353 km/h).  Perhaps you would not like to have a mower that goes this fast for cutting your own lawn at home, but the videos are amazing and it is somehow so very 'British' to be driving a lawnmower at breakneck speeds!

Mr Wales is nephew of the great Donald Campbell who died in an attempt to beat the water speed record in the famous Bluebird on Coniston Water on 4th January 1967.  Mr Wales is also Grandson of the legendary Sir Malcolm Campbell who beat the land speed record eight times between 1924 and 1935. 

There is a very nice symmetry to this story in that Sir Malcolm Campbell broke his first land speed record (in a car) at the same venue as his nephew’s triumph, on Pendine Sands.  He also broke the record for the last time in his career in 1935 at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah which was where the previous lawnmower speed record was set in 2006 by American Bobby Cleveland who was present to witness his record being broken by Mr Wales.

The amazing racing petrol lawnmower was built in Oxfordshire by Mr Wales’ team who have been working with Countax Ltd, who are based at Great Haseley, near Thame and who are makers of Countax Mowers.  The high specification racing lawnmower was built from parts taken from three different Countax Mowers. The competition rules state that the modified machine must be made primarily from actual lawnmower parts.

The Guinness World Record Rules for the Lawnmower Land Speed Record, state that the modified mower should still be able to cut grass and before his record attempt, Mr Wales could be seen cutting grass outside the Museum of Speed on his ‘souped up’ Countax Mower.

The actual record attempt has to take place over a measured mile in one direction and the return has to take place within one hour.

The project to build a machine that could beat the record was called Project Runningblade and has raised funds for two charities, Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and Wessex Heatbeat which supports the Wessex Cardiac Centre at Southampton General Hospital.  Project Runningblade was led by the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, in Hampshire.  Other sponsors of the project include British Supermarket, Waitrose whose Lymington branch manager, Jon Willets, helped to launch the event as project manager.  Jon’s interest in the project came about after he volunteered at the National Motor Museum.  Waitrose’s magazine quotes him as saying ‘I’ve been interested in the land speed record for many years, but never dreamt that I might one day be involved with one!’

The team behind project Runningblade said that whilst they were delighted to have set a new record, they were disappointed not to have attained 100mph but they just ran out of time.  They are reported to have set their sights on another attempt to reach the magical ‘ton’.

 You may not get a model that can mow your lawn at speeds in excess of 80 mph, but if you have half an acre to mow, you could get a ride on lawnmower or even a lawn tractor and enjoy the luxury of sitting down to mow!  If you have a smaller garden, you could still have a petrol lawnmower and let it take the strain out of keeping your lawn neat.