Honda makes its ‘Mean Mower’ a bit meaner

Honda is on a performance charge with cars like the NSX and Civic Type R at the moment, but road cars and motorbikes aren't the only high-powered vehicles in its line-up.

Meet the Mean Mower 2, successor to the first Mean Mower.

Capable of over 134mph (216km/h), the Mean Mower 2 is powered by the same 1.0-litre engine as the CBR1000R superbike. That means it has 190hp (142kW) of power at 13,000rpm, good for a sub-3.0 second sprint to 100km/h.

The original produced a piddling 80kW and 96Nm of torque, so this is a serious improvement.

That 1.0-litre engine is mounted up front – apparently, mounting it down back would have made the Mean Mower wheelie all the time. Power is put to those sticky Hoosier tyres through a six-speed quick shifter, capable of flat upshifts and rev-matching on downshifts.

There are four-pot brakes up front and six-pots at the back, along with titanium-coated (and vented!) pistons. As for the chassis? It's been designed to flex slightly, because there's no suspension on the mower.  A rigid body is bad news at more than 200km/h if there's nothing to absorb impacts.

Unlike Mean Mower 1, the second iteration packs a proper race-inspired seating position. No aero drag from the driver this time around, just a feet-up, bathtub-style bucket. Sounds comfortable.

As for the actual lawn-cutting abilities of the Mean Mower 2, it'll be fitted with carbon-fibre blades and a grass catcher.

At the moment, the Mean Mower 2 isn't actually the fastest lawn mower in the world. That honour belongs to a V8-powered Viking mower, built by a team of intrepid Norwegians who, as you may already know, stole the record from Honda.

Stay tuned to hear how the Mean Mower 2 goes in its record chase.

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