These are the best Red Bull Soapbox cars ever
The annual Red Bull Soapbox Race is easily up there with some of the most entertaining races of the year.
Amateurs from all over the world race in non-engined cars that they have built themselves.
Cars are judged on speed as well as aesthetics, meaning people go all out when it comes to building their own race cars.
Read more! ‘I’m temporarily blinded’: Supercar Blondie faces ‘terrifying’ Red Bull Soapbox race.
The only rules are that your car cannot have an engine and must have working steering and brakes.
Since most of the courses take place on slopes, these brakes are very essential.
The track is full of obstacles, in case racing up hills in a homemade car that isn’t roadworthy isn’t difficult enough.
These obstacles vary from city to city but can include ramps, swimming pools, tunnels and “car washes” that cover your car in soap suds.
These are a few of the most famous racers who made it to the finish line.
The Fresh Prince Team
Now, this is a story about how my life was turned upside down.
literally.
Team Fresh Prince paid tribute to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with their taxi box.
Bikers completed the look wearing massive Carlton Banks and Will Smith heads.
Carlton took the wheel while Will danced happily in the back.
But this large head may have been the cause of their fall, as the car leaned severely to one side and crashed.
The cab design has completely collapsed, leaving drivers to cross the finish line with just the body of the car.
Fryer
These racers in Italy decided to turn up the heat with their own La Padella design, which means “pan” in Italian.
They started the race in a cloud of smoke, rushing blindly down the starting hill.
The car reached the finish, and only lost an egg once it crossed the finish line.
Bathtub soap box
A team of engineers saw the word “soap” and ran with it.
Their bathtub hit the track in Johannesburg, South Africa and the team used handlebar steering to navigate the turns, ramps and potholes.
This car came complete with shampoo bottles, a loofah, and a shower head that squirted what looked like shaving cream as it hurtled down the track.
The notorious low rider
This creation took a group of colleagues 150 hours and £1,000.
Cardboard Box Company workers used cardboard, paper, and steel to make their cars.
It’s designed to look like the Lego Joker’s car, with the Joker himself behind the wheel.
The race was held in London, which is famous for its bad weather.
Fortunately it didn’t rain that day or else this car would have turned into paper mache.
Reverse caravan soap box
At first glance, this setup looked as if the builders had added a cute little caravan to the back of their pulpit box.
When the race started things got weird.
The driver completed the entire race in reverse.
The commentator was in utter disbelief, declaring that this was the first time someone had finished the race going backwards.
Suddenly the carriage opened and everything was revealed.
There was a man in the caravan, and he was driving the car the whole time.
Supercar Blondie
Of course, Supercar Blondie couldn’t hear about such a crazy, fun and dangerous race and couldn’t participate in it.
The team headed to London from Dubai to race, four months after setting up the show stand.
The entire chassis is custom-made, from the frame to the go-kart seats.
It was covered in foam board and chrome wraps and finished with two massive wings.
Did the entire foam board body fly off at one point during the race?
Yes.
But did the team finish in just 39 seconds and still look absolutely amazing while doing it?
Also, yes.
