1982 Victa Vortex Lawnmower Design
Exterior designed by Graeme MacDonald at Design Field
Toolmaking by M.F Dippert, Belmore, Sydney
Made by Victa in Sydney
Victa and CSIRO developed the 'Vortex action' blade disc, this principle uses swirling sucking action to lift the grass before cutting and transporting into the catcher. Because the blades are not required to fling the grass into the catcher, lower speeds are required and therefore less noise.
The project progressed from sketches to formal renderings and then to a wooden model painted in acrylic mounted on an existing mower base. Victa copied this shape into tooling almost entirely from the model. The only major variation being the addition of inlet cooling vents.
The mower was publicly launched in August 1983 by, then Prime Minister of Australia, Bob Hawke at Randwick Racecourse.
Victa Vortex 1983 TV commercial
Victa Mustang 1987 TV commercial
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History