Lawn Tractor: The Race for Speed

Animals pulled the first ride-on mowers. Although James Sumner of Lancashire, England, patented a steam-powered mower in 1893 it was not until 1902 that Ransomes of Britain produced the first commercially available mower powered by an internal combustion gasoline engine, challenge the world record for the fastest ride-on lawnmower

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Surprisingly, the United States was far from delivering an upper cut. Colonel Edwin George did not manufacture the first gasoline-powered mowers there until 1919. Rotary mowers followed in the 1920s and 1930s, while the ubiquitous ride-on lawn tractor is a child of the 1970s. Suburbia and rural lawn maintenance has never been the same since. Sooner or later, obsessed with speed, a man – for it is always a man, never a woman – will try for a world speed record. It took close to a half-century, however, before an attempt was successfully made on a ride-on lawnmower. On the appropriate date of 4 July 2006, the intrepid Bob Cleveland upheld the United States honour by achieving 80.792 mph at Bonneville Salt Flats. Now Britain’s Project Rollingblade is set to challenge the world record for the fastest ride-on lawnmower. If all goes well, this month will see an attempt to exceed 100 mph take place on Pendine Sands, Carmarthan Bay, on the south coast of Wales by a team from the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, Hampshire. The condition of the four-mile straight run on firm sands is said to be determined by the proceeding tides, sea state and wind direction. Consideration might also be given to the sands former use as a firing range in the Second World War. Some areas continue to be designated as dangerous owing to unexploded munitions. While the engines of such mowers may be modified, the machine must still be able to achieve its primary function – to cut grass on the same day as the speed attempt – but the blades are removed for safety at attempt time. Still, team leader Stephen Vokins labels the attempt as “mad, bad, and slightly dangerous.” For the record, the Dixie Chopper Xtreme is claimed with some justice to be the world’s fastest lawnmower in regular production. Powered by a 990cc 33 hp engine it is capable of reaching speeds of up to 15 mph and can mow a football field in under 10 minutes or 8.7 acres an hour. It tends to be used only by professional lawn care operators.

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