Waiohiki's Rossco Scammell with his Suzuki 750-powered ride-on mower which is more equipped for a drag strip than a back lawn. Photo / Glenn Taylor
Waiohiki's Rossco Scammell with his Suzuki 750-powered ride-on mower which is more equipped for a drag strip than a back lawn. Photo / Glenn Taylor
There are lawnmowers and there are motor mowers and there are ride-on mowers - and then there is the Rossco Scammell mower.
It is different with a capital D and powerful with a capital P.
"There are a few people out there who think I'm crazy," the Waiohiki creator ofthe fastest mower in the country said.
Cutting to the chase, the average ride-on mower will happily motor along at 10 or 15km/h, but then they are not propelled by a Suzuki GSX750R motorcycle engine which pumps out about 120 horsepower.
"It'll probably do about 120km/h - possibly more," Mr Scammell said, adding that on a closed road he'd had it up to about 70km/h and it was just starting to pick up.
"I bought the wreck of a mower from Hastings Mowers. It had no engine and no back wheels ... it was ready for the scrapyard but I knew what I wanted to do."
He stripped the wreck down and then set about looking for an engine.
That came from a crashed Suzuki 750 which fit the bill.
"I needed the whole bike because I needed the complete wiring loom and the electrics."
Plus of course the motor.
The final starting flag to the project came from a mate who called around and casually said he didn't think he would ever get it done.
"That's all I needed to hear to get me onto it."
He pulled everything apart and then "the hard work started".
He designed, created and constructed everything, but said he was not an engineer or technician.
