These are the best, most iconic Red Bull Soapbox cars of all time

Published on Sep 15, 2023 at 4:43 PM (UTC+4)
by Andie Reeves

Last updated on Sep 18, 2023 at 3:16 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Kate Bain

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 motorless cars that they’ve made themselves.

The cars are judged on speed as well as aesthetics, and this means people go all out when it comes to building their racers.

READ MORE! ‘I was temporarily blinded’: Supercar Blondie takes on ‘terrifying’ Red Bull Soapbox Race

The only rules are that your car can’t have an engine and that it has working steering and brakes.

Seeing as most courses take place on a slope, those brakes are pretty essential.

The course is filled with obstacles, in case racing down a hill in a definitely-not-road-worthy homemade car wasn’t difficult enough.

These obstacles vary from city to city but can include ramps, pools, tunnels and a ‘car wash’ that covers your car in soapy suds.

These are a few of the most iconic racers to make it over the finish line.

Team Fresh Prince

Now, this is a story all about how my life got flip-turned upside down.

Literally.

Team Fresh Prince paid homage to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air with their taxi cab soapbox.

The drivers completed the look, wearing massive Carlton Banks and Will Smith heads.

Carlton took the wheel while Will happily danced in the back.

But that big head might have been their downfall, as the car leaned heavily to one side and crashed.

The cab design completely fell apart, leaving the drivers to cross the finish line with just the skeleton of the car.

La Padella

These racers in Italy decided to turn up the heat with their La Padella design, which means ‘the frying pan’ in Italian.

They started the race in a cloud of smoke, hurtling blindly down the starting hill.

The vehicle made it to the end, only losing an egg once they’d crossed the finish line.

The bathtub soapbox

A team of engineers saw the word ‘soap’ and ran with it.

Their bathtub took to the track in Johannesburg, South Africa and the team used handlebar steering to navigate turns, ramps, and potholes.

This vehicle came complete with shampoo bottles, a loofa, and a shower head that squirted out what looked like shaving cream as they hurtled down the track.

The Notorious Low Rider

This creation took a group of colleagues 150 hours and £1,000 to make.

Workers from the Cardboard Box Company used cardboard, paper and steel to make their car.

It was designed to look like the Lego Joker car, complete with the Joker himself behind the wheel.

The race took place in London, a town famed for its bad weather.

Luckily it didn’t rain on the day otherwise this particular car would have turned into paper mâché.

The reversing caravan soapbox

At first glance, this set-up looked like the builders added a cute little caravan to the back of their soapbox.

It was when the race began that things got weird.

The driver completed the entire race in reverse.

The commentator was in absolute disbelief, announcing it as the first time someone had finished the race going backwards.

Suddenly, the camper van burst open and all was revealed.

There was a man in the caravan, and he had been driving all along.

Supercar Blondie

Of course, Supercar Blondie couldn’t hear about such a crazy, fun and dangerous race and not take part.

The team headed to London from Dubai to race, after four months creating the soapbox.

The build was completely custom-made, from the chassis down to the go-kart seats.

It was covered with foam board and a chrome wrap and finished off with two massive wings.

Did the foam board body completely fly off at one point during the race?

Yes.

But did the team finish in just 39 seconds and still look extremely cool while doing so?

Also, yes.

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Andie is a content writer from South Africa with a background in broadcasting and journalism. Starting her career in the glossy pages of Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire, Andie has a broad portfolio, covering everything from sustainability solutions to celebrity car collections. When not at her laptop Andie can be found sewing, recording her podcast, taking board games too seriously or road-tripping in her bright green Kia.