The world famous lawn mower race is in Sussex tonight: Britain’s Got Talent and Love Island stars attend the 14-hour, 500-lap event

It is the British Lawn Mower Racing Association's 50th Anniversary so the club has decided to stage a special celebratory event called the BLMRA 500 in place of the usual 12-hour race.

Some 50 teams of three, including racers from the US and Europe, will head to Five Oaks near Billingshurst (field opens 3pm, race begins 7pm) for the 500 lap race, which should take a punishing 14 hours.

Tickets cost £6 for adults with under 16s being able to watch for free. Parking is also free. People can find out more and buy tickets at www.blmra.co.uk/blmra500.

A BLMRA spokesperson said: “The Club calculates that based on past performances the winning mower will have covered an astonishing 400 miles by the finish, almost equivalent to travelling from London to Manchester and back.

“Appearing at the event, sampling lawn mower racing and officially starting the race will be brothers AJ and Curtis Pritchard. AJ first came to the public’s attention in 2013’s Britain’s Got Talent and later went on to become one of the Strictly Come Dancing professionals over four seasons. Fellow dancer and choreographer Curtis appeared in the fifth series of Love Island and both brothers are mad car enthusiasts as reflected in their YouTube channel output.”

The club said teams in this year’s event will still be chasing the 12-hour trophy. Proceeds from the event will this year be going to Prostate Cancer UK. There will also be full race commentary from Radio Le Mow on 87.7 FM.