Soapbox Race includes more than 70 competitors, with winners head to Abu Dhabi
It was all downhill for this year’s competitors at the 2024 Red Bull Soapbox Race in Almaty on Aug. 31.
Thousands of people gathered along the track that included a foam machine, a banked curve and a series of bumps known as the wave, each designed to test the mettle of the costumed drivers and construction of these handmade, gravity-powered vehicles.
“It took a month to build the race car,” said Evgeniy Kovalev, of the Sweet Forsage team in a news release. “Four cans of silver paint and two cans of acrylic paint for the hand were used for painting.”
Seventy vehicles raced at Atakent KCDS during the warm afternoon, each offering a music filled performance at the top of a large ramp before mounting their vehicles and heading down the course. Many of the teams included costumed drivers to look like everything from spacemen and aliens to Elvis and the Adams’ Family.
“This is our second race,” said Kovalev. “In 2022, we were ‘Sweet Fast and Furious’, we decided to keep the name, but we made a new racing car. The idea of ‘The Addams Family’ was suggested by my wife.”
Indeed, the car was a flat four-wheeled platform with a large stitched gray hand known as Thing in the series sitting over the driver’s seat. A ‘50s pink Cadillac, a giant ball, and a big fish were also the inspiration for vehicles that competed in the race.
Captain of the Adventure Time team, Galina Tsurkan, said their team’s goal is not only to win, but also to give the audience unforgettable emotions.
“The first idea was ambitious – to be among the winners, but then we thought that the main thing is to have fun ourselves and create a good mood for the audience,” he said.
Some finished the course, others needed a push or two from their trailing crew members dressed as dinosaurs, Elon Musk, or cavemen chased behind the vehicles. Other vehicles never quite made it to the finish line, breaking an axle on jumps or just steering into bales of hay that lined the route.
The crowd didn’t seem to mind as they cheered on competitors along the way.
More than 200 entrants applied to participate in the race that included six celebrity judges from Kazakhstan. Creativity and originality played just as important of a role as completing the course.
Judges declared “Fish of my dreams” from Taraz the winner with its aerodynamic fueled performance on the track. Elvis & Dostar’s pink Cadillac took second and Turbo Team’s animated Indy race car took the bronze.
The winners will have earned a trip to Abu Dhabi, UAE, in December to see the Formula 1 race.