Sport, where there is no commerce. Without subsidies, and cash prizes. Riders don the protective gear — helmet, gloves, knee pads, elbow pads, and sit astride a... lawn mower!
All cutting working parts removed. The machine is ready to start. An unusual sport where the spirit of mercantilism completely absent, and all proceeds go to charity. Now the race on lawnmowers have gained unprecedented glory. But where did they come from? How it all began?
In the eighties of the twentieth century occurred in Australia Amusing case. Among friends of the village called Hariettvil sat in a pub and talked loudly that they have the best lawn mower in the neighborhood. At the next table someone complained said, «Sure!». This meant disagreement. The pub is divided into two groups. The dispute about whose lawn easier and faster almost came to a fight, but the fight turned into a gambling more — in the competition to overcome the hills of Victoria. The pleasure of local residents going wild. On the sunny coast of Australia there was an unusual kind of sport, and in the cities of Brisbane and Nowra appeared largest associations on racing lawn mowers — Australian Rideon Lawnmower Racing Association.
Shortly before that, in 1973, on the opposite side of the globe, there was a historical moment of the birth of a new sport. In the English town of Visboro Green motorists really wanted to race, but absolutely did not have the means to do. Ironically, in the Cricketers Arms Pub Jim Gavin came up with the idea of discouraging. He decided to have a race on the machine. Unpretentious machines have almost every homeowner. Anyone with a decent yard lawn mower could boast good and was ready to take part in competitions. Delight friends genius inventor knew no bounds. Since then, in England each year from May to October are major competitions — Britanskiygran Prix and World Championship races on lawn mowers.
Soon after the United States took the initiative in their hands. The organizers decided to time the race on lawn mowers for the holiday April Fool's joke, hoping that the entertainment will attract more customers to the fair, where the exhibited products for farmers and homeowners neat. Popularity lawnmowers increased. Ambitious Americans created the most popular and most difficult race. Endurance race. Twelve hours of technology owners Rider must overcome hundreds of miles on a lawnmower.
Renowned British driver Sir Stirling Moss and lover of extreme driving actor Leaver Reid had repeatedly seen on the slopes of the competition. Even the British racing driver Derek Bell, the nine-time medalist of «24 Hours of Le Mans» and the pilot «Formula 1», sometimes pleases himself pokatushkami on lawn mowers.
Everybody can find its way into the sports world, even if it is unusual sport to others. But what is most interesting, is now mowers began to set records, and to appear on the pages of the Guinness Book of Records.
When the speed of lawnmower exceeded a hundred, it's time records. First established in 2010. Don Wales clocked on the mower Project Runningblade, equipped with Kawasaki engine to 87.83 miles / hour (141 km / h). In September of the same year at Bonneville salt lake Bobby Cleveland and Snapper lawn mower won a new record — 155 km / h. Relay continued...
Honda and its partners in the championship of British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) Team Dynamics company decided to defeat the previous rekorsmenami. Staff gathered in the UK. Engineers installed a mini-tractor Honda HF2620 engine from a sports bike Honda VTR1000F Firestorm (109 hp, 96 Nm), 6-speed sequential gearbox, and also to improve and facilitate the design of the chassis and suspension.
Mounted on the machine modified exhaust system, a new steering rack, upgraded brakes, radiator cooling and two more surround the fuel tank. To maintain the stability of selected wide wheels on the ATV. For convenience, the pilot put the Cobra sports seat and placed it below the normal. Steering borrowed the car Morris Minor. Lawn mower Honda 1000cc 109HP Mean Mower weight of 140 kg in the first test began to accelerate to hundreds in just 4 seconds. Almost supercar Ferrari F12! The final touch — the two electric motor with a speed of 4 thousand. Rpm, which rotates thin cables instead of metal blades. Thanks to recent improvements, despite all the power, the technique may well be used for cutting lawns. The main condition is that the rate did not exceed 24 km / h.
On the test site «IDIADA Proving Ground» in the Spanish province Terragona were marked two sections of equal length. To set the record requires two runs in both directions. The editor of the British magazine BBC Top Gear Pearce Ward at the wheel of an unusual race car. The first portion is passed at a speed of 117.54 miles / hour (189.1 km / h). Back — 115,603 miles / hour (186 km / h)! But it turned out to be no limit. Ida! 209 km / h. New speed record on lawn mower installed. This is clearly not the limit...
