Ninety six kilometres an hour in less than three seconds.
That's a reasonably competitive acceleration figure for a supercar and a truly exceptional number if it were to come from a hot hatch. But, today it comes from neither of those things, because that's the number that Honda's new Mean Mower V2 has claimed.
Honda's fascination with lawnmowers goes back a long way. And it's ongoing, with the Japanese manufacturer's UK engineering team showing off a 215km/h creation just last year. Now, they've gunned for a world acceleration record — and won.
Honda claimed a top-speed record with their first 'Mean Mower' back in 2014, initially hitting 188.08km/h before improving the speed benchmark over following years. But, top speed wasn't enough.
And so last month, Honda visited the Lausitzring with an updated version of the Mean Mower and with the Guinness World Record team and karting ace/mower pilot Jess Hawkins in tow. The task; to pair that top-speed record with an acceleration record.
The not-so-secret weapon of Honda's mower is its engine. It comes fitted with the 999cc four-cylinder engine from the CBR1000RR Fireblade SR. In stock form, it makes 150kW of power at 13,000rpm. combined with the Mower's dry weight of just 69.1kg, and you get a little rocketship with a power-to-weight ratio that's better than the Bugatti Chiron.
“The original Mean Mower was an incredible machine; but this time we’ve taken it to a whole new level, with version two”, says Dave Hodgetts, Honda UK's managing director.
“After taking the top speed record in 2014, we wanted to do something a little different by setting an all-new record for acceleration, and the result is fantastic. Team Dynamics have gone above and beyond in developing and building this real feat of engineering, and hats off to Jess for being brave enough to get behind the wheel.”
You can watch Honda's acceleration runs in their video above. But, for those wanting spoilers, the Mean Mower V2 ended up performing the 0–100mp/h (160km/h) sprint in just 6.29 seconds. Inevitably, the top speed record got a tweak too. Honda ended up squeezing 242.99km/h out of the little mower.
And the best thing of all? It's still a functional mower (with blades made from carbon fibre, no less).
Brilliant.
