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Honda's hot-rod Mean Mower now packs CBR1000RR Fireblade power

Its latest iteration proves that Honda has clearly gone insane -- in a great way.

Andrew Krok Reviews Editor / Cars
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.
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In 2014, Honda built a hopped-up lawnmower that achieved a world-record top speed run of 116.57 mph. Now, it appears Honda's marketing budget has loosened up, because it's back with something even more ludicrous.

The record-breaking iteration of the Mean Mower (yes, that's its name) used the 109-horsepower engine from a Honda VTR Super Hawk motorcycle. This new version ditches that engine and replaces it with the engine from Honda's CBR1000RR Fireblade sports bike, which puts out about 190 horsepower, or nearly twice as much as the Mean Mower had before. Criminy.

The video above doesn't offer much -- except for the promise of utter insanity, that is. Team Dynamics, Honda's touring-car partner that built the last Mean Mower, will be responsible for bolting this one together, too. Instead of putting a journalist behind the wheel for its top speed run, the team will rely on Jessica Hawkins, a "rising race star," as Honda puts it in the description for the video embedded above.

There's no doubt that Mean Mower 2.0 will trounce the first one's speed record, but it's unclear just how high the bar has been raised. For an idea of what it's like to blast around at triple-digit speeds on a freaking lawnmower, check out the world-record video from 2014 below.