Yes. You heard that right. There’s a race for the faster lawn mower. OK. Maybe not, but it is true that Honda UK seems to have a thing for the need for speed… on the lawn. You probably don’t need to make 0-60 in 4 seconds when trimming the lawn, but if you do feel like it, the 2018 Honda Mean Mower V2 will be the mower of choice. Honda Mean Mower V2 is Honda UK’s bet in regaining its title as the fastest lawn mower and while it clearly is a ride-on grass trimmer, its design appears to be more track-focus. Yes. Lawn mower. Track focus.
It may not have a full bucket seat, but it has something of sort – in half height. It also has impressive deep-dish wheels wrapped in fat slicks from Goldspeed, and a touring race car-style, suede-wrapped racing steering wheel with paddle shifter – complete with I-have-absolutely-no-idea-what-they-are-for buttons. Man, is this even a lawn mower anymore? I guess it is, but with the benefit of going very fast. Once again, Honda UK has teamed up with the brand’s British Touring Car Championship partner Team Dynamics to create this monster among lawn mowers.
The original Mean Mower already had a brutal motor, a 1,000cc VTR Firestorm, but this time, the two partners have up the ante with a 999cc Fireblade SP inline-four pulled from the CBR1000RR SP which is rated at, wait for it… 190 horsepower (and 85.6 lb-ft of torque, if you are interested in this bit of info). That’s a good 81 HP over its predecessor. On paper, this engine is good for making 0-60 in under 3 seconds. In addition, the CBR’s clutch, ECU and 6-speeder are also ported over.
Honda UK isn’t putting this together for your front or backyard; it is counting on this super mower to smash Norwegian Per-Kristian Laundefaret who ousted Honda UK from its fastest lawn mower’s throne. Laundefaret set the record of 133.57 mph on a modified Viking T6 mower, beating the first-gen Mean Mower by 17 miles an hour. Honda UK is hopeful that the V2 will make 150 mph.
Other interesting details include a T45 steel chassis, 3D-printed bespoke airbox, race car-style push button engine start, 10-inch ATV wheels, disc brake all-round (4-pot front, 6-pot rear), and finally, to qualify as the fastest mower, it is outfitted with a cutter deck from a Honda HF2622 lawn tractor, finished with a cowling fashioned after the HF2622. Obviously and rather unfortunately, this super lawn mower is destined as a record setter and not to be sold to consumer.
Images: Honda UK.
Source: Motorcycle.com.
