In February of 2024, a group of local motorbike enthusiasts were informed of a local event designed to bring together teams of people to compete in a soapbox race all in the name of fun! This was instantly agreed upon that they would enter and not just with a single kart, but with two! The troops were assembled and a solid team of 8 people came forward offering their time, support and some skills to the cause!
Team Midlands Motorbikers got to work sketching the first idea which was led by the Chief Engineer Glenn Warren. This was going to be a kart designed to be fun and instantly recognisable for people of all ages (especially the Fools and Horses amongst us!) The kart took several changes in direction, with many many challenges to overcome especially as this was the first ever attempt of making anything like this! Over several weeks and many trips back and forth to the dedicated chosen workshop "The Machine Shop" the first kart started to take shape, and the excitement started to build for us all! Once the first kart was ready for testing we were able to use the measurements of the proposed track on a similar private road to do some testing!! The kart was run multiple times changing various variables such as weight, tyre pressures, positioning of weight to try and work out the perfect combination for the kart. Of course there were some mishaps and the occasional tyre to change but when all was completed, the kart was ready for painting and completion.
With a couple of weeks in between it was time to get to work on the second kart and a slightly more serious direction was going to be had! This time the second kart was going to be built for speed, cornering and all the elements that make a true gravity racer! Taking inspiration from some 1990's motorsport it was time to bring out the big guns and really get to work in making a potential winning kart! Many days welding, cutting, tacking, bending and building took place back at The Machine Shop, with some additional guidance and support from local legends to truly make this a community project... The Midlands Motorbikers Soapbox Racer 2.0 was born! Testing was definitely stepped up for this one as the expectations were alot higher! (We may have even used a VW Beetle to tow the kart in testing to really put it through its paces!)
We are looking forward to seeing you all on the day and cant wait to see your reactions when you see the karts we bring for you.....
Team 22 & 30
Team Captain - James Ricardo, Head of Kart Build "Del Boy" - Glenn Warren, Chief Engineer - Stuart Cornet & Captain "Im Helping" - Pawel Murawski
Assisted by:
Charlene Warren, Tara Fulford, Zuzia Wynimko
Warwick Asbury, Pete Lord-Murray, Paul Alcock & Irina Pirciog
Graphics and Print by Buzzdog Signs and Designs
A huge thank you to Bob and the team at The Machine Shop in Hinckley (pay as you go DIY engineering workshop) for the amazing support and use of the workshop for these kart builds!
