The competition was fierce as the streets of Downtown Los Angeles were invaded Saturday September 26 by a slew of swashbucklers and their unique rides for the Red Bull Soap Box Race. 110,000 Angelenos came out to see a team of Pirates, the tin can man, and even a couple pianists take to the course in their outlandish soapboxes. Forty teams were on hand to compete on an urban course like one never seen before. With jumps, a 90 degree banked turn and some twisties the carnage was epic.
All Soap Boxes are built by the competitors based on guidelines provided by event coordinators – all must be human-powered and have a braking system, must weigh less than 176 lbs without drivers,
Team Babe Watch in honor of the Hoff
and cannot be taller than seven feet. Inspired from all corners of pop culture some soapboxes could be called ingenious, others just plain odd; but it was the so-called team uniforms that completed many teams mojo. Team Babe Watch pulled out all the stops in the name of the Hoff. Decked out in their authentic Bay Watch Apparel they charged the hill in their seven-foot tall, five-foot wide lifeguard tower and put on one hell of a show.
Speed, creativity, and showmanship would be what a panel of celebrity judges would base their scores on. With Judges Erik Estrada and Ronnie Renner joining in with the commentary it was soon enough apparent who their favorite was…
Team Ironheade’s rock-themed tour bus and most excellent performance atop the starting line left them on top of the podium at the end of the day. Ironheade was one of three teams that reached blistering speeds over 45mph, setting a new record.
the judges dishing out some lovely scores.
Hometown favorites, Ludicrous Speed took home second with their hilarious space balls-themed skit and their Winnebago.
Speed Racer snags 3rd place AND the People's Choice award
The Denver-based team Speed Racer took third and walked away with the peoples choice award for their impressive Mach 5.
This was the 3rd stop in the US for the world famous event. The first ever Red Bull Soap Box Race took place in Belgium in 2000 and bounced around throughout the world before debuting in the US in 2006 in St. Louis. This year two more US Stops were added including an Atlanta stop earlier in the summer as well as the Los Angeles Event. Being who we are, we (of course) left our mark all over the event, slappin up epicology stickers left and right, wherever we could. Check out some more shots below that we got of the event…
Believe it or not, this thing was getting some MAD speed
We leave our mark. Of course.
Team Babe Watch shreddin the course with their 7ft. tall mobile lifeguard tower
Even E.T. made it down to L.A. to compete with the best. Simple, yet a real crowd-pleaser.
From awesome to the bizarre, the unthinkable was, well...apparently thinkable.
Red Bull making sure to put on an excellent show.
Tags: los angeles event, party, red bull, soap box derby
