Inside the Indy 500 of Lawnmower Races
December 11, 2019 8:33 AM Subscribe
Sure, you can use a riding lawnmower to cut grass. But you can also slap on a helmet, put together a pit crew and race. Yes, lawnmower racing is a thing, and it is extraordinary. Think NASCAR or Formula 1—just a bit slower. In England, the British Lawn Mower Racing Association oversees the sport. Great Big Story followed the members of the Who’s Racing team as they compete in a grueling 12-hour endurance race in Five Oaks, England. Get ready to witness the Greatest Show on Turf. via kottke.org
No jet engines? That'll mow a football field in 11 seconds.
posted by MtDewd at 11:21 AM on December 11, 2019
posted by MtDewd at 11:21 AM on December 11, 2019
This is great, for many reasons - thanks for posting! It’s a well-produced video, and it does a good job of communicating what that kind of environment is like in the short runtime.
Endurance racing is a world of its own - it’s more about strategy and preparation and consistency and sheer bloody-minded desire to win (or at least finish) than anything else I’ve done. There’s a very particular mindset that’s required, when you have to think about seconds here and there gained and lost over the course of an entire day, and meld that with split-second reactions out on the track. Preparation, pit stops, and rider order are an art, as is racing at night. It’s an introspective sort of racing - you’re out there for hours, lap after lap, trying to stay focused, trying to keep your time consistent, listening to every little burble and bobble in the machine and wondering if you need to look at that at the next pit stop, if it’s worth the time, if it’ll hold together, if the weather is turning, where the rain tires are, whether you should push now while the track is good and risk the machine or hold back and risk the race. The mental effort is equal to or greater than the physical.
The smallness of the machines make this motorsport at it’s purest; it’s mentioned in the video, but this is what racing is without any kind of reward or resources, just competition for the sake of doing it. I officiate a regional minibike endurance series - grown-ass people riding motorcycles under 150cc for six or more hours at a stretch - and it feels very much like this. There’s no money in it for racers, and the gods know there’s less than none for me, nobody outside of the people racing really know what’s going on, or why we’d do such a thing, but it’s intensely fun and pure competition for those of us who do it.
posted by hackwolf at 11:50 AM on December 11, 2019 [7 favorites]
Endurance racing is a world of its own - it’s more about strategy and preparation and consistency and sheer bloody-minded desire to win (or at least finish) than anything else I’ve done. There’s a very particular mindset that’s required, when you have to think about seconds here and there gained and lost over the course of an entire day, and meld that with split-second reactions out on the track. Preparation, pit stops, and rider order are an art, as is racing at night. It’s an introspective sort of racing - you’re out there for hours, lap after lap, trying to stay focused, trying to keep your time consistent, listening to every little burble and bobble in the machine and wondering if you need to look at that at the next pit stop, if it’s worth the time, if it’ll hold together, if the weather is turning, where the rain tires are, whether you should push now while the track is good and risk the machine or hold back and risk the race. The mental effort is equal to or greater than the physical.
The smallness of the machines make this motorsport at it’s purest; it’s mentioned in the video, but this is what racing is without any kind of reward or resources, just competition for the sake of doing it. I officiate a regional minibike endurance series - grown-ass people riding motorcycles under 150cc for six or more hours at a stretch - and it feels very much like this. There’s no money in it for racers, and the gods know there’s less than none for me, nobody outside of the people racing really know what’s going on, or why we’d do such a thing, but it’s intensely fun and pure competition for those of us who do it.
posted by hackwolf at 11:50 AM on December 11, 2019 [7 favorites]
The drama and story-telling is why the video does so well in its short run time. Professional editing is good: oh that most youtube creators knew this …
posted by scruss at 2:25 PM on December 12, 2019
posted by scruss at 2:25 PM on December 12, 2019
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posted by chavenet at 9:01 AM on December 11, 2019 [1 favorite]