Johannesburg - It’s time to get off your butt, get building and get your butt in a box! Red Bull is challenging you to build the fastest, most outrageous gravity-powered box cart in the history of downhill racing, and enter it in the first Red Bull Box Cart Race to be run in South Africa in eight years.
Since the first Red Bull Box Cart Race in Belgium in 2000, there have been more than 100 races run on steep streets all round the world. There will be five in 2018 - in Rome, Sofia, Cincinnati, Lisbon and Johannesburg - but the organisers have pointed out that the South African race on Sandton Drive on Sunday 16 September will be by far the steepest, fastest and most challenging of the year.
Entry is free, and entries are open now at
until the end of May - but that’s just the beginning. Then you have until the second week in September to check out the
, design, build and tune your entry - the more outrageous, ostentatious, preposterous and, of course, faster the better.
You'll need a team of five fearless fellows - or fillies - all of whom must be at least 16, and the driver must be at least 18 years old; Red Bull doesn't mind younger drivers, but lawyers do.
Your cart may not weigh more than 80 kilograms (without the driver, of course!) it must be be less than 3660mm long, no wider than 1830mm, no higher than 2130mm, and it needs proper steering, brakes and at least 180mm of ground clearance. After that, the only limit is your imagination - join the conversation on #RedBullBoxCartRace.
Teams will be judged on creativity and showmanship, as well as on sheer speed - and it’s not a straight downhill run either; there will be obstacles to be negotiated, running against the clock, so your soapbox dream machine will need red-hot handling as well. It must be hand-made, and no engines, batteries, electricity, pedals or catapults are allowed.
Get your entry in, and get building - here's some encouragement from the August 2017 Red Bull Box Cart Race in Los Angeles: