Here's one for seniors living life in the fast lane. Through around six months of tinkering, a pair of English mechanics has turned a humble old mobility scooter into a high-octane, rubber-burning speed machine. The souped-up four-wheeler was put to the test at a racetrack in the Isle of Man and claimed the Guinness World Record for the fastest mobility scooter ever built with a speed of 107.6 mph (173.16 km/h).
David Anderson and Mathew Hine were inspired to build their high-powered vehicle after catching wind of inventor Colin Furze's 72 mph (116 (km/h) scooter from a few years back. But the actual speed they would need to beat for their ride to be recognized as the world's fastest was 133 km/h (83 mph), set by Denmark's Klaus Nissen Petersen in 2012.
According to Guinness World Record rules, to qualify the vehicle has to be based on a commercially available mobility aid and, from the outside, must look like a traditional motorscooter. So Anderson took a racing go-kart chassis, and re-designed it to fit the dimensions of a Days Strider mobility scooter. He then equipped it with the engine from a Suzuki 600 cc Bandit and replaced the 8-mph (13-km/h)-rated tires with racing wheels and tires from the go-kart.
Then over a quarter of a mile (400 m) at the Jurby Motodrome in Isle of Man, Anderson steered the scooter into the record books averaging a blistering 107.6 mph (173.16 km/h). But don't go trading in grandpa's ride just yet. In its current state the scooter is not street legal due to the absence of any front brakes.
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