Krazy Races Daredevils ready to race down park in madcap contraptions

THE 40 makeshift go-karts that will soon be taking part in Bristol's first ever huge Krazy Races soap box event have gone through their first check-ins at Ashton Gate Stadium, as organisers met the entrants for the first time.

- Tristan CORK

The event is expected to attract thousands of spectators to Victoria Park in a couple of weeks, to watch the elaborately decorated contraptions navigate their way down a course through the middle of the park.

Krazy Races have been running soap box derby events around the country for years, with thousands filling town and city centres in the north and the Midlands every month, but this is the first time any event of its kind will be put on in Bristol.

Local businesses, groups of friends and madcap engineers have been busy creating carts to tackle the Victoria Park course, and on Wednesday afternoon they checked in for the first time. Almost all of the carts weren’t finished just yet, but the basic machines were weighed and safety was checked, with teams having just over a fortnight left to add the colourful decorations.

The event will take place on Sunday, September 7 all day in Victoria Park, with live music, loads of stalls and street food, as well as the racing. All 40 entries will be judged on their pre-race show, as well as the designs of their machines, and of course the speed with which they navigate the course. None of them can be pedal-powered, all have to rely - like all homemade go-karts should - on gravity and a bit of a push at the start.

Danny Scoffin, from Krazy Races, said the Bristol day would be a huge event for the city. “Today is a really exciting day because it is the first time we're meeting our amazing teams,” he said. “They've entered since way back in September last year and today’s the first day we're actually seeing them,’ he explained.