IT was double podium finish for Lancashire in what could be the wackiest race of the year.
Haslingden-based office suppliers Dennons UK’s The S-Team came third in the Red Bull SoapBox Race, and The Lancashire Witch was just behind a celebrity team from London.
The event on Sunday saw amateur drivers cling on to home-made karts travelling down a 430m course at Alexandra Palace, relying on a big push and gravity to reach speeds of up to 50kmh.
MORE TOP STORIES:
But the fastest does not necessarily win. Entrants to the London event are judged on the outrageousness and creativity behind their vehicle’s bodywork and a pre-race show at the start line.
The Breakfast Club, headed by Absolute Radio presenter Christian O’Connell, hurtled to victory in a shape-shifting, crowd-pleasing kart. It set off as “The A-Team van”, shed its outer layer to transform into “The Dukes of Hazzard’s car”, before discharging its bodywork again to reveal a gleaming silver “DeLorean” underneath.
The Lancashire Witch, made by a group of friends based in Leigh, paid homage to one of the first locomotives of the Industrial Revolution, created in 1828 by Robert Stevenson but a predecessor of his famous Rocket. It was placed second.
The act included a slapstick comedy routine from the era of silent movies, complete with top hats, twirly moustaches, and dramatic music when a fiendish villain tied a buxom damsel to the track.
The S-Team’s driver Nigel Barker, 48, sales director at Dennons, was more than happy to finish third.
He said: “The whole team was absolutely brilliant. We got the fastest time down the track and there was an open-top bus with four people in it who judged the pre-race performance and we were the only team to get four tens. We got to 36.5mph going down.”
The kart was created by 80-year-old Trevor Cryer. It was designed to look like the Stanley Steamer that established a new land-speed record of 127mph in 1906 — but was fitted with unusual extras such as a toffee thrower.
You Gotham Be Kidding Me, designed by packaging designer Kristian Howson of Accrington-based The Cardboard Box Company, came sixth for creativity but suffered a technical issue during the race.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here