Lawn tractor land speed record

Finally got an email from guinness today...Looks like the rules are pretty open.

FASTEST LAWNMOWER
DEFINITION OF RECORD
This record is for the highest speed reached by a motor vehicle that is able to mow/cut grass.
This is to be attempted by an individual/team
This record is measured in kilometres per hour (km/h) with the equivalent imperial measurement in miles
per hour (mph).
GUIDELINES FOR FASTEST LAWNMOWER
1. The vehicle should move under its own power, and may not be towed.
2. The vehicle must intrinsically look like a ride-on lawnmower, at the discretion of
GWR.
3. Even if items are not made by commercial/professional enterprises, reasonable
standards of workmanship are required.
4. Accurate speed measurements should be taken by qualified individuals at a
suitable facility such as a vehicle testing ground or racing track.
5. The course used must be accurately measured by an independent, professional
surveyor. This person should also verify that the gradient is no greater than
1:1000.
GENERAL GUIDELINES

The name of the organisation, company or person(s) making the attempt must be
given, along with the date and place.

The speed should be an average of two runs, one in each direction on the same
course, the second run commencing within one hour of the first finishing. Both
runs must be made within an hour of each other.

Timing must be done using a chronograph activated by photo-electric timing
cells positioned at either end of the track. The timing area must be at least 100 m
in length.
ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE
 The person(s) operating the timing equipment must submit a written statement
on letterhead paper confirming their professional status and the results of the
timing.
 The person(s) who conducted the survey of the course must submit a written
statement on letterhead paper confirming their professional status and that
these requirements have been met.
 Statements from the timekeepers must also be submitted.
 Failure to include the required documentation will ultimately delay the outcome
of your claim or lead to its rejection.

In November 2015, a "tractor" with a V8 engine made a record of 134 mph on a runway at Sandefjord Airport, Norway. Apparently it's an official Guinness Record, it can still cut grass and all that. Of course, once again, it's far from a lawn tractor. Maybe the hood is stock. It's supposed to be a Viking/Stihl T6. It's even farther away from a tractor in appearance than Honda's 116 mph machine because this one is bigger and it has a roll cage/bar. I'm just going to come up with my own set of rules and form my own sanctioning body to handle the worlds fastest lawn tractor record. Mainly you need to start with a factory available tractor engine block and transmission case.

Here's the video of the current world's fastest lawn mower. Not saying it's not cool or that someone didn't do a lot of work building it, but where are they going to draw the line on what's a lawn tractor? Apparently they're not. At least it sounds good at speed.


EDIT: Current EXACT record --- 133.57 mph Direct from the Guinness website

That is pretty wild, but I agree with you about it not really being much of a lawn tractor. It'd be cooler to see it done with lawn tractor engine, chassis and drivetrain components in my opinion. That'd make it harder to go that fast obviously, but the fun is in the challenge haha.

I'm thinking I should try to build something. Even if it can't go 134 at least get up around 100.

Man it would feel crazy fast being that low and out in the open. It would be pretty freaking cool though!

AllisKidD21 wrote:

That is pretty wild, but I agree with you about it not really being much of a lawn tractor. It'd be cooler to see it done with lawn tractor engine, chassis and drivetrain components in my opinion. That'd make it harder to go that fast obviously, but the fun is in the challenge haha.

I agree, it should be all factory parts minus maybe pulley swapping and maybe some jack-shafts to help with speed.

Edit: and maybe some minor steering upgrades for safety.

I've gone 100 mph on motorcycles and once on a snowmobile. When I did it with the snowmobile it didn't feel all that fast because I was out on a frozen lake and with the trees and things being far away, you can't tell how fast your going.

The thing with low powered stuff is that it takes a lot more distance to build up speed. These guys with the green thing going 133 mph, they could probably gear it to go much faster if they were on a dry lake or something. The reason they can get to 133 on a short (ish) runway is because they've got power to spare, so I would imagine they have a lot more there if they needed it. I'll bet if they had a few miles of run up area they could go at least in the 170's with that thing. Just a wild guess.

There aren't that many places to run a lawn tractor legally up to 100 mph and over, at least not using lawn mower parts.

I felt like I broke a record when my foot throttle stuck wide open on my rig when I was out in the woods one afternoon...lol

That had to suck.

Lol, yeah that's not good. I have seen some videos of people getting out of control on dirtbikes with stuck throttles and I wonder why they don't just pull the clutch in. Guess maybe they panic or are not experienced riders. But anyway, it's scary thinking your about to hit something really hard.

Yea and it was after the pulley swap, so the clutch wasn't fully working. It unstuck after maybe 100 ft but I tell you what, an 18hp Briggs with a Molkt carb has some guts....... tunnel vision lol

Does anyone think it would be possible to get a rear engine toro with about an 8hp engine to do 50mph?
any suggestion on how to do it