A highlight at the 2022 Maitland Show will no doubt be the lawn mower racing demonstrations, with modified mowers tearing up the track and reaching speeds of 80 km/h.
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Damien Brown, president at the Mid Coast Mower Racing Club, is making the trip down to Maitland for the show and said they will have about 12 mowers on display to entertain the crowds.
Mr Brown said the mowers will be racing a course and, if we're lucky, some fast laps around the track.
"They're hoping to give us a section of the field where we will set up witches hats and have some courses, and there has been some interest expressed in us doing some faster laps around the outside track which we might do with some of the quicker mowers," Mr Brown said.
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Lawn mower racing drivers can be anyone from someone with no driving experience, through to ex motocross, speedway and go-kart racers.
"It's funny, people say 'oh you race lawn mowers, what at eight km/h?', but mine will do 150 km/h if you put it in a straight line," Mr Brown said.
"In a race situation they reach between about 60-80 km/h, so they're not your normal garden variety lawn mower."
The mowers are modified with either a motorbike engine, a modified mower engine, or are run with their standard motor.
The mower blades are removed, so they are no longer functional for cutting grass - just for a lot of fun.
Mr Brown said if lawn mower racing sparks your interest, come along and have a look.
"We've found people come along and are pretty impressed, and then they jump on one and have a go and that's it - they want one," he said.
"A lot of people have an old mower that doesn't work and an old motorbike or motor, you can build something on the cheap or you can spend a lot of money."
Mr Brown said anyone can get amongst lawn mower racing, from ages 8 to 80, and said the sport is growing in popularity, despite a lot of people having never heard of it before
"We've got three generations of my family involved," he said.
"It's awesome and we get to travel all over the place."
Watch the lawn mower racing display at 5pm and 6.30pm in the centre ring on Saturday, and at 12.30pm on Sunday.
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Chloe Coleman
Chloe Coleman is a journalist covering news in the Lower Hunter. Contact her on chloe.coleman@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
Chloe Coleman is a journalist covering news in the Lower Hunter. Contact her on chloe.coleman@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
