A PROPER LAWNMOWER —
WITH A NEED FOR SPEED
The Countax Runningblade mower sets land speed record at 87.833 mph and it really cuts grass
BY KYLE KOPPLIN
Like many riding lawnmowers, Countax’s Runningblade is designed to be a more comfortable and efficient alternative to the standard push mower. And at first glance, it
looks pretty much like any of the 10,000-
plus mowers the company manufactures annually in its Oxfordshire, U.K.,
factory. And like all of the company’s
riding mowers, its mower deck provides
a clean, effective cut.
Yet there is one glaring difference
between the Runningblade mower
and the standard run-of-the-mill riding
mower — the Runningblade can travel 87.833 mph and has a Guinness
World Record certificate to prove it.
Project Runningblade was born
much like many of us were, in a hospital, as company founder Stephen
Vokins was recovering from lifesaving heart surgery. A self-professed life-long “petrohead” (the
U.K. equivalent to a gearhead in the
U.S.), Vokins worked at the National
Motor Museum in Beaulieu, U.K., for
over 25 years.
“I decided,” Vokins said, “that having
successfully gotten through this life-
saving surgery, I should do something
spectacular with the new lease of life
I’d been given. Climbing Everest was
too much like hard work, but taking
Bob Cleveland’s (land speed) record
for Britain was mad, bad and slightly
dangerous — in other words, perfect.”
Vokins assembled a team of con-
tributors experienced in the design,
manufacture and operation of lawn-
mowers and others familiar with the
pursuit of land speed records. This
included engineers from Countax, as
well as Don Wales — holder of eight
U.K. land speed records — who was
chosen to drive the mower. Vokins
also selected two charities — the
Wessex Heartbeat and the Great
Ormond Street Hospital for Children
— as benefactors of any additional
funds that were raised through the
successful record attempt at Pendine
Sands in Wales, the U.K. equivalent
of the Bonneville Salt Flats.
The Runningblade (shown
here) set the Guinness World
Record for land speed on a
lawnmower at 87.833 mph.
The mower is made of nearly
90% standard Countax components, which can all be
found at its Oxfordshire,
U.K., factory.
