Northampton soap box racing team
The Devil's Rejects get ready to race.
Eight men crowd around a mechanical structure in a cluttered Northampton garage, beer in one hand, axel grinder in the other. They have started work on their latest invention... the ultimate soap box racing machine.
These are the maverick underdogs of the racing world who have been known to toil until 2am, in the pursuit of perfecting their beloved vehicle made from nothing but salvaged parts, utter dedication and a bird box full of copper pennies.
Come September, the team of eight will emerge in a haze of bitter and cigarettes onto a cobbled back alley in Abington, before making the trek to Lincolnshire to take part in the Belchford Downhill Challenge.
"It is terrifying but exhilarating," said Bill 'Kaiser' Pollard, describing the sensation of speeding down a hill at 35mph in nothing but a man-made box with wheels.
"You have to sign your lives away in order to race," he added.
The team, which consists of three racers and five 'engineers' is made up of Northampton artists, photographers and web technicians, none of whom have professional mechanical experience.
The group - named The Devil's Rejects - meet once a week to build their soap box, which is a four wheeled vehicle without an engine, propelled by gravity alone.
These men are part of a re-emerging soap box racing trend which has been given a profile lift since Red Bull starting organising large scale racing events in the USA and UK during the past few years.
Adults revert back to their childhood days by making carts out of anything they can find before launching themselves down a hill.
Although they only officially formed a racing team in 2006 The Devil's Rejects history dates back almost 10 years after brothers George 'Reg' and Bill 'Kaiser' Pollard together with friend Toby 'Speed King Kay' Kay, decided to break their spell of bad luck.
Kaiser explained: "When I was 27 me, Reg and Toby decided to have a soap box race to dispel the curse of my odd numbered birthday. Someone had always ended up in hospital on my birthday."
The idea was to face danger head on instead of being caught out by it unawares.
"We decided the most dangerous thing to do was build contraptions and drive them down hill," said a flat-capped Kaiser.
The three were used to modifying push bikes as part of their Pimp My Bike venture, and decided to fine tune their skills to building soap boxes.
The trio started messing around with handmade vehicles on their own but after a few hairy moments decided to seek out an organised race.
With the dawn of the internet they began discovering events across the country and eventually signed up for the Belchford Downhill Challenge in 2007.
The team gained a reputation before the race by filming their soap-box-in-the-making and placing the video footage online.
Reg explained that their notoriety grew from their fun attitude as many of the other teams took the race extremely seriously, with brands like Honda, Bentley and Lotus spending tens of thousands of their soap box vehicles.
"There is a big scene out there. Every months there is a least one of two races in the UK but a lot of them are in Scotland," added Reg.
And this year The Devil's Rejects are upping their game and aiming to take a winning vehicle to the 2009 Belchford event, with racing number 13 - of course.
Kaiser explained: "We don't take it seriously at all. Although we are taking it a bit more seriously this time.The biggest expense is the wheels which cost 100 each. We imported the spokes from America. Some of it is out of a car from a scrapyard. The steering wheel is from the last soap box and the steering mechanism is from a motored go-kart. The last soap box was called Matilda but this one is Delilah or Tallulah.
"The last soap box looked cool but wasn't fast. This time we want a stunning car that works and wins.
"For the body we are hoping to go for fibreglass and have the classic cigar shape. But it is down to money, time and effort."
Reg added: "We don't have any money. We put our one and two pennies in a bird box each weeks as subs. We are hoping to get sponsorship and we can put advertising on the soap box and on our website and in our videos. Sponsorship doesn't have to be cash, it could be van hire, resin or track suits."
For a dry run the team is taking part in the Moulton Chariot Race in May where they will push the soap box carcass around the village.
And despite the engineering expertise of soap box contenders like Lotus, The Devil Reject's still feel there is a real sense of fun and experimentation in the sport.
"People make them out of barrels on shopping trolley wheels. It is just blokes in sheds doing stuff. It is very Last of the Summer Wine," laughed Kaiser.
To find out more about the team or offer sponsorship visit http://www.pimpmybike.net/tdr/about.htm
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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