Tuesday, July 23, 2013

  Fastest shopping trolley: Matt McKeown breaks Guinness world record (VIDEO)

Elvington Air Field, UK -- Matt McKeown, 52, from Plymouth, has beaten his own Guinness world record by riding a jet-propelled shopping trolley at 45mph (72km/h) at Elvington Air Field in North Yorkshire, setting the new world record for the Fastest motorized shopping trolley, according to the World Record Academy: www.worldrecordacademy.com/ .

  Photo: Matt McKeown has beaten his own Guinness world record by riding a jet-propelled shopping trolley at 45mph (72km/h) at Elvington Air Field in North Yorkshire. Photo: Matt McKeown ( enlarge photo )

 The Guinness world record for the fastest motorized shopping trolley achieved a speed of 42.8746 mph and was created by Tesco Plc and The Big Kick, at the Tesco Extra store in Hatfield, UK.

  Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the largest motorised shopping trolley; it measures 8.23 m (27 ft) long, 4.57 m (15 ft) tall and 2.43 m (8 ft) wide and wasconstructed by Frederick Reifsteck (USA) and displayed at South Wales, New York, USA.

  Matt McKeown, 52, of Plymouth, built his record-breaking contraption after finding the trolley in a ditch and fitting it with a jet engine and go-kart wheels.

  Mr McKeown, owner of Plymouth Karting in Ernesettle, used a modified second-hand Chinook helicopter starter engine to power the shopping trolley, which has been stabilised with go-kart wheels.

  "We've also put an after-burner on, which in theory could have taken the speed up to about 80mph (129km/h), but it didn't work, so I'm disappointed."

  The record attempt had to be carried out twice in opposite directions and Guinness World Records will accept the average speed.

 "Our top speed was 50mph (80 km/h), but the average was 45.5mph (73km/h), so that's what they'll take," Mr McKeown said.