Now we need a track

[Ingersoll444]

Nice to see this section up here. I always thought the lawn mower racing was kinda cool. Looks like a lot of fun, for a small outlay of cash. Just wish there were more places to race. Always on the lookout for something cheep to take apart, and mod for a little more speed. Maybe I should just make a track in my back yard.:D

Looking foward to reading the tips, and tricks all you guys have.

[professor]

Good thinking guys, giving this section a shot- let's see how it goes over time.

Mike

[Greg]

Paul,

This is right in you "back yard", isn't it? Maybe you could check them out and let us know.

http://www.hvlmra.org/

Greg

[Greg]

Hey, SJ.....

Is this close to you? http://www.thunderingvalleyraceway.com/index.htm

Greg

[dirtybernie]

racing at the county fairs is getting popular in ri and ct. also as greg says alot of sites mentoin tracks in different areas. a few years back we built a track in my buddies back yard. one evning with the beer flowing good we were all out playing and a cop shows up. he asked what we were doing so the owner of the property says we are mowing the lawn. well just about then a guy comes out from behind the garage with a murray at around 15mph doing a wheelie! so the cop staring in disbelief asks us nicely to shut down for the night. ROF

[Greg]

Paul,

Another one...http://www.accordspeedway.com/pr/022005.htm

Greg

[dirtybernie]

anyone looking for a rider to start racing with should check out freecycle.org ive gotten several from there and 90% of them were almost running. in fact 2 of the craftsmans from there i ended up trading for my 1971 wheel horse 800. gotta love free stuff! :fing32:

[Lou]

Hey great to see this forum started just for hot rod mowers. This was one of the main reasons I jioned this site, but I can see there is a wealth of other infomation here for me also.

As far as mower racing goes I live in south jersey. It's basically farmland area, but there really are no sanctioned tracks for racing. A few of the local gunning clubs built tracks on thier properties, just for a way to spend a Saturday afternoon having some fun.
Well after racing a buddies about a month ago (he broke his wrist & couldnt drive) and actually winning the first race I was in (20 lapper)....LOL I am hooked and looking to build my own machine.

If anyone in my area has a used mower for sale drop me a PM. Preferably looking for something mid 90"s. Craftsman ect. Something on the lighter side.
Also looking for a rebuildable Briggs 18 hp or larger

Thanks

[Ingersoll444]

Thanks DB for the link. Seems like a good idea.

[Ingersoll444]

Greg,

Those two tracks are not realy near me at all. And the last update on the HV club is over a year old. Maybe I will drop them a line to see if they are still around.

[Michael]

Saw this article in the Seatttle times website and I did a cut and copy over here.





June 18, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM




These lawn mowers really clip along

By NANCY ARMOUR

The Associated Press



OREGON, Ill. — That riding lawn mower may not look like much sitting in the back of the garage, crammed between bikes and shovels and rakes. But strip off the cutting blades and it can reach speeds of up to 90 mph. "People think it's just a lawn mower," said Greg Honchell, whose mower of choice is a 1958 Springfield. "But it's a true racing machine."

What started as a whim 13 years ago has grown so popular there are more than 100 races a year all over the United States. The U.S. Lawn Mower Racing Association will have 14 points races this year, and local chapters run dozens more, including divisions for children 8-15.

The national championships are televised, and a video game is in the works. There's no prize money, but some drivers have sponsors.

And that's just in the United States. In England, where the sport began, they've been going for more than 30 years.

"When I say I race lawn mowers, they look at you like, 'You race lawn mowers? They only go 3 or 4 miles per hour,' " said Ken Jones, the association's race commissioner.

"When you start telling them about them, it's like, 'I've got to come watch that,' " Jones said.

And they can go fast. Really fast.

"I've run 91 on a lawn mower," said George Herrin, the association's driver of the year last year. "[Another race] I averaged 70 miles per hour. That put me running about 89 on the straight-aways."

All mowers have to be originally designed to cut residential lawns and sold first through a dealer.

"I cut grass with that mower before I raced it. Six acres," Herrin said. "It was a really good grass cutter. But I needed the chassis."




That's the kind of practicality that got this sport mowing in the first place.

In 1973, some racing fans were sitting in a British pub, complaining about the high cost of motor sports.

According to the British Lawn Mower Racing Association's Web site, somebody in the group said, "Everybody has a lawn mower. Let's race those."

In 1992, Gold Eagle of Chicago was looking for a new way to market one of its products, STA-BIL Fuel Stabilizer, and heard about the English lawn-mower racers. Thinking it might be a fun promotion, it announced the formation of the USLMRA on April Fool's Day.

"It started off as a promotional gimmick," said Jones, the USLMRA's race commissioner, "and each year it's kept growing."

Racing fans trade tools, parts and tips, and help each other with their mowers. They swap grass and mowing puns, and come up with nicknames such as Sodzilla, Mr. Mowjangles and The Prograsstinator.

While some enthusiasts will spend $5,000 to $10,000 a year on their mowers, others get by with as little as $500. Getting it ready for the stock division can be as simple as removing the cutting blades and having an automatic turnoff switch.

The other requirement is safety gear: helmet; goggles or a face mask; long-sleeve shirt or jacket; long pants; gloves, and leather footwear that covers the ankle.

Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company

[mowdak1]

Check the G-Sources page at G-Team Racing (http://www.g-team.us/) we've got over 70 links to Lawn Mower Racing sites across North America, you should be able to find something in your neck of the woods Ingersoll.

Likewise you might inquire at the MowBetter (http://www.heymow.com/) Forum. That one is specifically for Lawn Mower Racers and someone there should know where you'll find a local chapter or association.

[Ingersoll444]

Thanks mowdak, I will check them out.

[mowdak1]

You might try the Turfburners (http://www.turfburners.com/) site Ingersoll, chapter president there would be David Lewis. I believe there's a link for him on the site, but if you don't find one let me know and I'll PM his e-mail address. Likewise, they have a Yahoo Group linked on the homepage of their site, where you can probably find lots of folks in there in your neck of the woods. And, David has revisions to site going on at MowerRacer.com (http://www.mowerracer.com/). Not sure what all he has there to date, but you may be able to find something of interest there as well. Don't have him linked on that one on G-Team yet.

There's also a link bottom of the list under Resources on the G-Sources page (http://www.g-team.us/g-sources.htm#Resources) for all of the Yahoo Lawn Mower Racing Groups, you may find something closer to home in there as well.

[bontai Joe]

We have a couple of go-cart tracks near where I live. That kind of facility might be interested in having lawn mower races as a way to increase use (revenue) of the track. Something you folks might want to check out. First place to look would be the yellow pages in the phone book under "go-carts" "race" and "tracks".

[bontai Joe]

Hey, SJ.....

Is this close to you? http://www.thunderingvalleyraceway.com/index.htm

Greg

The 2007 schedule is up on this link.

[john_deere_kid]

Now this is my kind of thread. Here is a link to my current project.

http://www.weekendfreedommachines.org/discus/messages/17/103686.html?1173042554

I have a friend who is in charge of the motorsports arena here at the Warren County Fair, he was trying to get the USLMRA to come in and do a race, but they wont answer him. I wish we could get a group to come in here and do it.

[bontai Joe]

Now this is my kind of thread. Here is a link to my current project.

http://www.weekendfreedommachines.org/discus/messages/17/103686.html?1173042554

I have a friend who is in charge of the motorsports arena here at the Warren County Fair, he was trying to get the USLMRA to come in and do a race, but they wont answer him. I wish we could get a group to come in here and do it.

Warren County Fair in NJ or PA?

[john_deere_kid]

Its in PA. North eastern part of PA.

[Kbeitz]

So let have a list of the best dream machine for racing...
If you could have any tractor to turn into a racing tractor whats the best ???
Whats in demand ??? What parts are in demand??? What engines makes the best machines ??? What trannys are the best ???
I live around a few lawnmower junkyards and I can get parts cheap...

[john_deere_kid]

I would say a JD 70 or 60 lawn tractor for the body. I like the look of the tractors with rounder fenders, but I kind of feel the 110 112 JD RF are a little to big.

Peerless 1200 series tranny is geared the best and built the strongest for that area of interest.

twin cylinder motor, i would go kohler, but briggs has some pretty insane parts for there stuff. but you have all those people who build kohlers for pulling tractors, so they have aluminum internals that you could use.

Tires, all depends if you want to go straight, mudd bogging, turf racing or pavement racing.

No matter what you do, you will have to change pulley sizes.

A friend of mine built one a couple years ago with a twin briggs 18. He went all out, changed pullies, changed gear ratios in the tranny, locked the tranny, wide tires, and he made it so when you put it the clutch, the belt stopped moving completely so that you arent destroying gears. Cause at that fast, grinding a gear will completely destroy them quick. He put dual exhaust from a motor cycle on it that comes out right in front of the rear tires. It is insanely loud.

Did I mention it has been clocked at 43 mph.

[john_deere_kid]

For the frame, I would build a custom one, it would be easier for doing motor mounts and body mounts.


Then there is always the possibility of using a four wheeler motor. My project I posted a link to, might be getting a 660 Raptor motor instead of the 200x Honda three wheeler motor I have right now.

[jed12674]

i raced lawnmowers about 2 years ago. I used a sears LTV10 painted it yellow and black. Looked like a big bumble bee :sidelaugh I took the vari-drive off and used a 3 speed foote transaxle. 4 inch pulley on the transaxle, 6 inch pulley on the engine. welded up the planetary gears in the transaxle. Used a briggs 11hp syncrobalance engine. Did a little work to the exhaust lobe on the camshaft(did you know that the exhaust valve on those starts opening on the power stroke when the piston on gets about an inch down the cylinder? what a waste of all that power) engine only had about 85 to 90 psi compression stoke, now has 140 psi compression. used a brake lever from a bicycle with a cable mounted to the steering wheel for a throttle. Don't forget to use a teather kill switch! throttle cable gets connected directly to the govenor rod. that engine revs like a small block chevy and spins 6000 rpms without exploding. ran it all summer like that. replaced the transaxle about 6 times. peerless 600 series transaxles seem to work better(we called them bullet trannys). won the novice class that season. tractor has been dismantled(last year. engine is still good ran it one more time before putting it away in my shed waiting to be reawakened another day. oh yeah, little note add spacers under valve springs to add a little more tension otherwise the valves tend to float around 5000 rpms, when they do all that raw fuel goes right through the hot exhaust and causes a smoke screen behind you. other racers may not appreciate that expecially if your in the lead :biglaugh: .and scatter shields just in case your engine decides it wants to act like a grenade. extend your axles for a wider track outside of tire to out side of tire 42 inches, just extend the right side it easier and makes the tractor more stable at speeds upward of 30+ mph. not to fun rolling a 300 to 400 lbs tractor over the top of you. it hurts is what i've been told. beef everything up but keep it simple and keep it mostly lawnmower, steering knuckles from a car work good and are stonger than most of the cheap stamp frame lawnmower steering. pillow block bearings on your extended axles in the rear extended frame for that extended axle. these are some ideas and some of the stuff we did. have fun with it and stay safe! we had 1 guy get mercy flighted to the hospital with a broken femur bone, his throttle stuck and he hit some bumps over the burm and was thrown over in front of his tractor which push him into a bunch of trees. his teather cord was to long and didn't pull off to kill the engine. good luck, it is alot of fun. lawnmowers racing around the oval like dirt track cars, sideways in the corners. :greendr: 1 more thing, please wear helmets and protective riding gear. just like motocross.