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Watch Honda lay waste to world's fastest lawnmower record

Honda has been working on its high-performance Mean Mower for a while now. In a recent attempt to take the top speed title, it didn't make its 130-miles-per-hour top speed target, but it still managed to set a new Guinness World Record has the world's fastest lawnmower at 116.57 mph. While the video certifying the run was uploaded to YouTube on April 1, this is no prank. The Guinness run was made on March 8 at the Idiafa Proving Ground in Tarragona, Spain.
To claim the record, the lawnmower had to run through a 100-meter speed trap, and it had to make two passes in opposite directions within an hour with the average taken between them. Guinness also specifies that to take the title the vehicle must still be able to cut grass and look like a lawnmower. The speed was still plenty to beat the previous record of 96.529-mph set by Bobby Cleveland on a Snapper race mower at the Bonneville Salt Flats in September 2010.
The Mean Mower is based on a Honda HF2620 Lawn Tractor that's been modified by British Touring Car Championship squad Team Dynamics. It has a newly fabricated chassis from 4130 chromoly steel and packs a 1.0-liter engine from a Honda VTR Firestorm motorcycle with a six-speed sequential gearbox. The engine produces 109 horsepower and 71 pound-feet of torque - enough power to reach 60 mph in around four seconds. The suspension and wheels come from an ATV, and the cutter deck has been remade in fiberglass. The grass bag holds the fuel tank, oil cooler and secondary radiator. The engine no longer actually cuts grass. Instead, the blade is driven by two electric motors.

Autoblog Podcast #317

Mitsubishi Mirage, Toyota thinks of beefing up US production, Marchionne on Alfa, Dart and minivans, Ford Atlas concept, Honda Gear concept
Episode #317 of the Autoblog Podcast is here, and this week, Dan Roth, Jeff Ross and Michael Harley bookend the other podcast topics with a pair from the Montreal Auto Show, the Mitsubishi Mirage and Honda Gear concept, and in between we talk about Toyota building all its US-market cars stateside, Hyundai building a Nurburgring test facility, Sergio Marchionne's latest words about Alfa Romeo, Dodge Dart powertrains and the future of Chrysler vans. Some chatter about the Ford Atlas concept finishes up the meat of the 'cast and then we wrap with your questions. For those of you who hung with us live on our UStream channel, thanks for taking the time. Keep reading for our Q&A module for you to scroll through and follow along, too. Thanks for listening!
Autoblog Podcast #317:

Watch this perfect parody of Ken Block's Gymkhana videos

Every one of Ken Block's Gymkhana videos is bigger and more ridiculous than the last. The goal at this point seems to top the previous production, be it with a custom AWD Mustang ripping through the streets of Los Angeles or a rally-prepped Ford Fiesta drifting around Dubai. Well, the YouTube channel Car Bros decided that the format was ripe for parody and have produced their own short video. It's called "Gympkhana: A #Viral Car #Action Video" and it captures everything that is overwrought and fun about the Gymkhana series. While the scale of Block's videos has increased and the productions are still entertaining, every new Gymkhana seems to rehash the same sights and sounds without really trying anything new. Rev the engine here, drift around there, spin 10 times inside this box, and then circle around that object. Rinse and repeat and repeat and repeat. Car Bros have produced a number of parody videos and the group seems to really get the finer details of the subjects they're spoofing. Everything you would expect from a Block video is here. Gympkhana features shaky title cards, gratuitous slow-motion camera work, and multiple drone shots with helicopter sounds dubbed in. It's obvious that the group took their time to plan out and capture the perfect low-budget Gymkhana. These guys prove that you don't need big, expensive productions with exotic vehicles in exotic locations to have some fun with a few cameras and a car.Related video: Auto News Humor Honda Wagon gymkhana