Bentley’s Soapbox Racers to take on Britain’s Best at Cairngorm

Teams from across Britain will be converging on the Scottish Highlands later this month to race down a mountain at speeds close to 60mph home made vehicles powered by nothing more than gravity.

Now in its second year, Cairngorm Soapbox Extreme is fast building a reputation for being the most prestigious gravity race in the UK, and with a course that is two miles long it is attracting attention from far and wide. A capacity 32 teams have entered for this year’s “Cairngorm Soapbox Extreme”, which will be held on the Cairngorm Ski Road later this month. The running order reads like a “Who’s Who” of the British gravity racing scene and includes the winners of all the major UK soapbox races over the last 12 months. As well as these seasoned competitors, there are also two teams from Bentley taking part and several new privateers keen to make a name for themselves, so it promises to be a fiercely fought competition between the very best teams in the country.

“We had 17 teams that took up the challenge last year” says organiser and Scottish Cartie Association Chairman Stephen Hall, “and we’re delighted to have so many more this year. It’s the longest and fastest race in the UK so it’s a really exciting prospect for the drivers, some of whom are travelling over 500 miles to take part. As well as being a superb event in its own right, it’s also the final leg in the SCA Championship so placings at Cairngorm will decide who will be crowned as the winner of the Scottish Cartie Championship, so we’re expecting some intense competition”.

Originating in childhood memories of carts made from pram wheels and planks, Gravity Racing is a new sport that is developing out of the growth in recent years of community based races across the whole of the UK. “They have different names in different parts of the country” explains Stephen, “from ‘Dilly Cart’ down in Cornwall, ‘Soapbox’ and ‘Go Cart’ in England, and ‘Guider’, ‘Cartie’, ‘Bogie’, etc in Scotland. The modern gravity racer has moved on from those humble low tech’ origins and now often boasts sleek aerodynamic bodywork, racing tyres and disk brakes, but one thing has remained the same – an adult driver with an effective age of about 12 ¾.”

This year also sees a new development in the sport with the addition of the “gravity sidecar” class. “We wanted to try something a little different, so we came up with the ‘gravity sidecar’ class. It’s basically a bike with no pedals and a sidecar attached. The driver and passenger have to work as a team to get down the course quickly and safely, and with the passenger leaning out on the corners and then tucking in to the slipstream on the straights it’s really dynamic and exciting to watch”.

The event takes place on the Cairn Gorm Ski Road on Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th July. Individual practice and qualifying runs will be held on Friday evening, followed by head to head racing in group heats and finals on Saturday. Spectators are welcome to come along and watch, especially on the Saturday from about 6pm onwards when the head to head racing takes place. There are other opportunities to get involved however and the organisers would be particularly interested in hearing from groups or individuals interested in helping put with marshalling. If you would like to find out more, please contact Stephen Hall on 07814 195346 or email [email protected]. Full details, including a list of entry forms, competitors, rules, etc are at www.soapboxracing.co.uk.

More stuff that you might find interesting

• Skiers head to Scotland for bargain breaks
• Scotland this week
• Go skiing in Scotland this winter
• Extra special present at CairnGorm Mountain this Christmas!
• Scottish Amble
• Scotland’s first Geopark in the North West Highlands
• Scots on their bikes