Monday 10th July 2017

RedBull Soapbox gives Aston Martin wings

What would a PH soapbox racer look like?

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Having secured a famous GTE Pro class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, Aston Martin Racing narrowly missed out on a second historic victory of the summer by finishing second at the Red Bull Soapbox race in London. Oh well, you can't win them all...

Campaigning a miniaturised V8 Vantage GTE, Aston Martin's factory squad finished second to overall winners Brooklands Special. The event, held at Alexandra Palace, saw 27 crews compete in gravity racers of various shapes and designs, from Hair Force One's Donald Trump in a bathtub to You Gotham Be Kidding Me's Batman-themed machine.

The competitors were judged on speed, creativity and showmanship. Aston Martin Racing's mini Vantage was driven by Alex Summers, who works as a prototype operations engineer at Aston Martin by day and, in his spare time, competes in the British Hillclimb Championship.

Having won the series in 2015, Summers knows more than most about racing on narrow hill courses. Although he's usually pointing up the hill while piloting a 3.5-litre V8-powered Gould single-seater...

Speaking before the event David King, President of Aston Martin Racing, said, 'When taking on a challenge as big as this it is important to rally your troops and throw everything you've got at it. Aston Martin has enjoyed great on-track success with the V8 Vantage GTE so it was the obvious choice for the design of our soapbox entry. I don't think we'll be putting our race drivers in it though as we need them to be in one piece for their next World Endurance Championship race the following week!'

This isn't the first time Aston Martin and Red Bull have joined forces. The British sports car maker's iconic wing logo features on the bodywork of Red Bull Racing's Formula 1 cars, while the ultra-exclusive Valkyrie hypercar is a collaboration between the two brands. Alex Summers who piloted the mini Aston down the track said, "As the driver, the best thing about not being in the performance at the start was that I was able to see everything happen around me. It was a truly chaotic pit stop but the crowd really seemed to enjoy it!"

Well done to everybody at Aston Martin for having the sense of humour to take on the brilliant Red Bull Soapbox race. Here's hoping the team can go one better in 2018.

[Skylinecrazy]

Alex never owned the 3.5 Gould, it belonged to 6 times champion Scott Moran. Alex shared it with Scott when he won the title.

He Campaigns a 2.5 litre Opel V6 DJ Firestorm in the BHC now.

[trialsta]

I just hope this isn't the thin end of a wedge of well resourced teams, whose members are essentially professionals, obliterating all the amatuer teams made up of students, crack-pots and bodgers

[Vocal Minority]

Skylinecrazy said:

Alex never owned the 3.5 Gould, it belonged to 6 times champion Scott Moran. Alex shared it with Scott when he won the title.

He Campaigns a 2.5 litre Opel V6 DJ Firestorm in the BHC now.

There was always going to be someone nit-picking - and it was always going to be you

[lestiq]

trialsta said:

I just hope this isn't the thin end of a wedge of well resourced teams, whose members are essentially professionals, obliterating all the amatuer teams made up of students, crack-pots and bodgers

Being 2017 and the way things are nowadays, I fear your fear is a relevant one. I'd love to be proven wrong however.

[SteveSteveson]

trialsta said:

I just hope this isn't the thin end of a wedge of well resourced teams, whose members are essentially professionals, obliterating all the amatuer teams made up of students, crack-pots and bodgers

Ye, I was thinking the same, but it does not seem to happen in other countries. I think we should take the positive from it. The UK is the world leader in motorsports and cutting edge engineering, so we have these people. It's not so good for the small guys though who have enthusiasm inversely proportionate to the amount of good sense and self preservation (like the guy who sat on the stair lift)

[Vocal Minority]

In fairness to Red Bull - I think they know the value of the soap box brand and where it lies - and that is with the, as you put it very well, crack pots and badgers.

The Aston thing is a direct marketing link up with Red Bull - and it was a bit of fun - but I think the organisers know exactly what their appeal is.

[powerstans]

Didn't there used to be a soap box challenge at Goodwood festival of speed until it got banned for being to quick! If I remember correctly didn't the factory teams get carried away showing of their engineering prowess with money no object levels of precision?

[Welshbeef]

powerstans said:

Didn't there used to be a soap box challenge at Goodwood festival of speed until it got banned for being to quick! If I remember correctly didn't the factory teams get carried away showing of their engineering prowess with money no object levels of precision?

There was a big accident on the corner at he bottom of the hill 2013 I think looked very nasty.

Yes far too quick.

For those interested another soap box derby is being held in Theale this weekend I think.

[trialsta]

Vocal Minority said:

In fairness to Red Bull - I think they know the value of the soap box brand and where it lies - and that is with the, as you put it very well, crack pots and badgers.

but I don't remember seeing a badger

[M1C]

Watched some of the programme on Sunday afternoon, was really good. Usually an hour long but i think this one was 2-3hours?

The Aston as shown was the neatest looking thing but far from the quickest, IIRC. Or the most daft.

Really i tend to watch these things for the crashes/carnage.

[ecsrobin]

Why not mention the winners? Team brooklands in a classic racing car, the Napier Railton (in miniature form). https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/red-bull-soapbox-rac...

Edited by ecsrobin on Tuesday 11th July 15:04

[HardtopManual]

I went a couple of years ago and saw some horrific-looking crashes at the kicker. Every car seemed to land on its nose and flip its occupants head first into the tarmac. The kicker was turned around, to many boos from the audience, and the race continued. Christian Horner went down the hill in a mini Red Bull F1 car.

Bit of a victim of its own success now as it's almost impossible to get tickets.

[carl_w]

Is that "Aston" as far off the ground as it looks?