Muscat: No Flying Yoke, an all Britons team, edged out 36 others to win the first ever Red Bull Soapbox Race held at the Baushar sand dunes on Thursday.
Everything from Unicorns and Flying Carpets to Coffee Machines hurtled on a specially created downhill track at the Baushar sand dunes as hundreds of spectators braced Thursday afternoon’s heat to enjoy the spectacle.
The winning team — ‘No Flying Yoke’ — won an all-expense paid trip to the Formula One Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi along with an exclusive paddock walk to experience the F1 garage and the chance to meet the Red Bull Racing Team. Gary Witherspoon, Joe Heather, Tim Cooper and Mark Awbery were the members of the winning team.
“It was a really good day and full of fun. We had no expectations, we just wanted to make it a fun day out for the kids and the family — winning was just a bonus,” Witherspoon said in a statement released on Saturday by the organisers.
Clearly Deranged, who describe themselves as a well-oiled machine of unstable lunatics with a world-crushing flying racing machine, donned some elaborate costumes and took second place for a trip to Sky Dive Dubai. In the third place was Pharma/Zynova who left the crowds roaring riding their capsule inspired soapbox.
Team scores were based on three criteria — speed, showmanship and creativity. The panel of judges included Oman’s acclaimed race car driver Ahmad Al Harthy as well as Murtadha Al Lawati, Ibtihal Al Zadjali and Sulaiman Al Rawahi.
Fuelled by creativity and competitive fun, the Red Bull Soapbox Race is a unique non-motorised racing event that challenges both experienced racers as well as amateurs.
The task for the teams is to design and build imaginative, human-powered soapbox machines and compete against the clock on a downhill course featuring jumps, bumps and curves. The Red Bull Soapbox Race had taken place across 40 countries before making its Oman debut.
