Lawnmower Racers Battle It Out At Fieldays: 'Cheapest Motorsport You Can Do'
There are several rural sporting competitions at agricultural events: shearing, wood chopping and the tractor pull.
And for the first time this year, lawnmower racing is coming to Fieldays in the form of the Red Bull Cut It competition.
Barry Dawe from the New Zealand Lawnmower Racing Association told First Up the sport has been gaining popularity around the country because of its accessibility.
The machines are modified ride-on mowers with the cutting blades removed. Dawe said the engines range from 400cc to 1000cc.
"They're pretty big engines and and people tend to think oh it's only a lawnmower engine, but you think of a 500cc motorbike, that's the sort of torque these things have got," Dawe said.
"So there's some angry mowers here."
Racers sit either on, in, or around the mower and they are not strapped in, Dawe said.
Race day is Saturday and the mowers are on display through the week.
"So we've got a slightly smaller track than we normally race on, but we've made it so we can do lots of drifting, lots of noise. We've got a jump," Dawe told First Up.
"We've got some CO2 cannons that are going to go off. So it's going to be a great old day. We've got over 30 mowers here and we're going to rip up the ground."
He said the track is lined with hay bales, and they have tried to make it as wide as they can to allow for passing and drifting.
"You don't have to go over the jump, but obviously, if you do, you'll probably get some bonus points and maybe win a trophy."
And there's enough straight to get up a bit of speed. About 50 or 60km/h, Dawe said.
"We have people from Hawke's Bay, a couple from Taranaki, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty. There's a big contingent down there in Christchurch as well, but obviously it was a bit far for them to travel up.
"It's the cheapest motorsport you can do in New Zealand. You don't have to spend a million bucks. You can if you want, but there's no point because the competitiveness is limited [because] you're racing on grass.
"It evens everybody out, so even the big motors on certain tracks will be no faster than the small motors. It's all about how you drive and the fun of tinkering."
As part of the event, hairdressing and barbering students from Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology will be there with their blades offering haircuts.
"And we've got a wheel of fortune that you can spin through," Dawe said.
"So once you spin the wheel, you get different haircuts ... We've got skullet, mullet, fade, buzz, undercut and a 'joker', which is the hairdresser's choice.
"You walk up here, spin the wheel and you never know what you're going to get. But everyone's a winner."
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