Alexandra Palace: Red Bull Soapbox race attracts thousands of people

Harry Potter, The Simpsons and Taylor Swift helped inspire wacky homemade soap box makers who raced to London’s Alexandra Palace.

Red Bull’s Soapbox Race returned to the UK for the first time in two years and challenged teams to prototype and create the wackiest contraptions, which relied solely on gravity to navigate a course descent.

Thousands of spectators watched 59 teams race down the 420m course on Saturday.

Hurry Houdinis, from London, were crowned this year’s winners and said “a lifetime of preparation” had gone into the race and it was “electric” to win.

This year’s soap box designs included designs inspired by the Harry Potter Knight Bus and the Simpsons sofa, as well as the Mario Kart racing video game series and the Peaky Blinders television series.

Participants were judged on their creativity, speed and showmanship.

Some teams failed to cross the finish line – with soapboxes, including Taylor Swift-inspired Swifty Air, tumbling into hay bales.

The Every Can Counts team, who designed a ‘recycling truck’ soap box called ‘Chitty Chitty Can Can’, said they were “delighted” to finish third, after placing 27th last time.

Tom Giddings, 35, Chris Latham-Warde, 33, Paul Bacon, 51, Lee Cox, 58, and Phoebe Kelly, 25, were hoping to raise awareness about recycling with their vehicle.

They joked that their soapbox ended up reaching speeds of “just under 1,000 miles per hour,” creating a “sonic boom” on the course.

Red Bull has held more than 100 soap box races around the world since the original event in Brussels in 2000.

When the UK last hosted the event in 2022, 20,000 spectators saw creations inspired by Colin the Caterpillar, James Bond and Top Gun.