Yes, we installed seatbelts in our soapbox.  They weren’t mandatory, but if you’re going to be building a soapbox cart and it’s feasible, install them.

Ours were pretty simple.  Just a carabiner attached to rope that was tied in a knot on the underside of the cart, with light foam padding around the rope (to prevent rope burn on the stomach).

Depending on your soapbox design, you could also consider a firewall.  Think about installing a proper roll bar, which we sacrificed in our design due to weight restriction considerations.

Oh, and even though helmets, gloves, and long-sleeve shirts & pants are mandatory according to Red Bull’s rules, make sure you actually wear them.  Seriously.

Follow these simple steps and you’ll walk away from a soapbox crash in pristine condition like Elizabeth & Jenny did!

If anyone from ICBC is reading this, we’re available for commercials.

Roosters are always on time – and you will be, too!

Red Bull Soapbox Vancouver 2008 is just a couple of clucks away!

When: Sunday, September 7, 2008
Where: West 4th Ave, from Vine to Burrard (in Kitsilano)

The races start at 1:00 pm, but the pit area will be open to the public at 11:00 am.

Be sure to visit our GIANT CHICKEN! Trust me, you won’t be able to miss it…

From our team’s experience, all you have to do is ask 10 people and you’ll get 10 different answers on how to do it. So really, there is no right way. (But there are definitely better ways – but we’re still not the team to be giving advice on that!)

You could try Googling, which is what we did, and that helped give us ideas. Try Googling for billy cart construction instructions (billy cart is an Australian term). These billy cart instructions were pretty good.

You could also try searching for what past Red Bull Soapbox teams have done. This team, who participated in a Red Bull Soapbox race in 2004 (somewhere in England?), took two bikes and welded them together.

However you plan your cart – make sure it has brakes and steering! Red Bull is a stickler for that…

We owe it all to some random guy who yelled at us during our Red Bull Flugtag Vancouver 2006 flight as Sushi Gone Wild. Listen carefully to the short clip below (and don’t get too distracted by all the booing and the calls for us to “jump!”).

So thanks, Random Guy!

I guess for this year at least, there will be a soapbox derby, Red Bull style. And that means a bias toward ‘outrageous-looking’ soapbox cars (like chicken) versus the traditional soapbox style that’s built for speed.

This handy YouTube video from specialkiwis shows highlights from the Kitsilano Soapbox Derby 2003. Notice how steep West 4th Avenue is!

Remember on The Simpsons when Bart entered a soapbox derby? And how his soapbox car wasn’t up to snuff in terms of build quality? Yeah, my memory is a little fuzzy, too. Well, thank goodness for the obsessive Simpsons archivists on the Internet!

The episode was from the show’s third season and was called “Saturdays of Thunder”. Let’s hope You’re not sushi – you’re chicken! turns out better than what Homer constructed for Bart…

Also, I don’t think Red Bull is going to allow us to use whips. Darn.

Keep returning to this blog as the summer progresses for updates on the construction of our cart, info on the team members, and what the origin of the team name is…

In the meantime, mark your calendars:

Sunday, September 7, 2008
Location: West 4th Ave., Vine to Burrard in Vancouver