From the outside, it looks like something you’d haggle over at a Saturday garage sale. Underneath those weathered panels sits a 988cc Suzuki GSX-R engine reportedly producing over 160 horsepower, with a 50-horsepower nitrous shot along for the ride. Elliott Loe and his Ziptied YouTube collaborators took that contradiction all the way to the ECTA Arkansas Mile, where their scratch-built mower reportedly turned a 152.8-mph single pass and a 147.3-mph two-way average — the latter still awaiting certification. The kicker: it cuts grass. Actually cuts it.
Built From Scratch, Not From a Catalog
A 45-pound chromoly chassis, a Sam’s Club body, and a Walmart cutting deck walk into a land-speed event.
The bare tube frame weighs 45 pounds. Fully loaded with powertrain, body, and deck, the complete machine sits at roughly 450 pounds. Those period-correct body panels came from a 1990s MTD Tradesman, reportedly once sold through Sam’s Club. The cutting deck? A Hart electric push mower system, available at Walmart. Meanwhile, the engine underneath those thrift-store aesthetics is pure superbike: a 2004 Suzuki GSX-R inline-four reportedly making north of 160 horsepower before the nitrous even enters the conversation.
Key specs at a glance:
- Chassis: chromoly tube, 45 lbs bare / 450 lbs complete
- Engine: 988cc Suzuki GSX-R inline-four, 160+ hp (reported), plus 50-hp nitrous
- Body: 1990s MTD Tradesman panels
- Cutting deck: Hart electric push mower system
- Top run: 152.8 mph; two-way average: 147.3 mph (certification pending)
Record Pending, Grass Definitely Cut
Certification separates a fast pass from an official record — and Loe’s run still needs the paperwork.
For the ECTA class in which this mower competed, an official record requires a two-way average rather than a single pass. That distinction explains the gap between the 152.8-mph headline number and the 147.3-mph average currently awaiting validation. The reported benchmark to beat sits around 143 mph, attributed to a Hayabusa-powered UK mower — though that figure should be treated as the standard cited by The Drive rather than a confirmed official record. Honda’s Mean Mower V2 reportedly reached 150.99 mph in its own separate project and certification context. Loe’s single run edges that number, but these are distinct builds with distinct processes and should not be directly conflated.
What is not in dispute is what Loe described about the course itself. The Arkansas Mile surface was extremely rough for a machine with zero suspension. According to Loe, the mower went airborne two or three times per run.
That detail is not a stunt brag — it is a reminder that a 450-pound, unsuspended machine leaving the ground at triple-digit speeds is a specialized land-speed vehicle, not a backyard modification. If the 147.3-mph two-way average gets certified, it potentially displaces that cited 143-mph benchmark. Either way, the Ziptied crew built something that goes absurdly fast and reportedly still cuts grass — which is either the most committed maker-culture achievement of the year or proof that some people simply refuse to accept laws of physics as reasonable project scope.
