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Toyota Hilux, a Super Mower Mover

Some of you may remember our report from last November, which referred to a new lawn mower land speed record attempt scheduled to take place this summer. The Project Runningblade team is determined to beat the record set by American Bob Cleveland, who reached a speed of 80.792 mph at Bonneville Salt Flats on July 4, 2006.

Well, it appears the team has been using a 3.0-litre D-4D Double Cab Toyota Hilux as their key support vehicle throughout the project, transporting the ‘super mower’ to the final event at Pendine Sands, scheduled to take place on May 22-23.

“We are enormously impressed with the Hilux's performance,” Stephen Vokins, Team Principal and leader of the project, said in a release. “The four-wheel drive capability and the load space have also been extremely useful to the team, and the Hilux regularly transports the mower to shows around the country in the build-up to the record attempt.”

The super mower is powered by a 26 bhp Kawasaki lawnmower engine but running on road tires, and modified by aerodynamics engineers to increase its chances of beating the world record.

At the projected 100 mph the team aims to achieve, the lawnmower, driven by Don Wales, will be covering the Pendine Sands at the rate of 147 ft/sec. It will reportedly go through a measured mile in less than 36 seconds, and would be able to cut the grass on a standard football pitch in 2.61 minutes.

Through this attempt, Runningblade organizers aim to raise funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital and Wessex Heartbeat.
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