40 teams enter Soap Box Derby

CURIOUS contraptions were speeding around the streets of Hinckley for the Soap Box Derby 2017.

There were 40 teams revving on the startline, and hundreds of people flocked to cheer on the racers as they flew down Castle Street.

Groups from as far away as Corby in Northamptonshire took part, as well as numerous regulars from the Hinckley and Bosworth area.

Many speedsters managed to get airborne, daring to traverse a jump midway down the track.

It was mostly smooth landings, although one dinosaurthemed cart clearly didn’t have a head for heights, being decapitated on its first go up the ramp.

Otherwise there were not many crashes or vehicles stopping on the course, though some entrants had a wobbly start on the pebbles.

Others had to make last minute modifications to avoid buckling wheels and dodgy steering, and one team had made their cart using mostly duct tape to hold it together.

Some designs favoured novelty over aerodynamics, including a fire engine almost too wide to fit through the jump, a double-decker bus, and a cart with a shower cubicle mounted on the back.

Others were based on TV favourites, with a rendition of the Batmobile and a horizontal Tardis tearing up the track.

Fellow time travellers Marty McFly and the Doc from Back To The Future took the DeLorean for a spin.

Four friends became the A-team for the afternoon, playing the show’s theme as they went down the hill in the iconic black van.

Hinckley and Bosworth Mayor, Cllr Ozzy O’Shea, also did a run on the Hinckley and District Past and Present cart, a Hansom cab complete with a foam horse muzzled to the handlebars.

This was the eighth year the Soap Box Derby has taken place in the town.

Among the sponsors for the event were Steamin’ Billy, which entered a cart for the race and Sainsbury’s Hinckley, which donated 250 bottles of water.