Thousands descend on Alexandra Palace to witness return of Red Bull Soapbox Race

Thousands of spectators descended on Alexandra Palace in London to witness the return of Red Bull’s Soapbox Race.

The race – which happened on Saturday – challenges teams to prototype and create the wackiest homemade soapboxes, which rely solely on gravity to navigate a downhill course.

From Belly of the Whale’s Harry Potter-inspired “Knight Bus” to Fast and Furniture’s sideways Simpson’s sofa, spectators were thoroughly entertained as 59 teams hurtled down the 420-metre course.

The Hurry Houdinis, from London, were crowned this year’s winners and said “a lifetime of preparation” had gone into the race, adding they “will be back to defend the title”.

They said: “We can’t believe we have actually won.

“When we arrived and saw all the other carts, we thought we would have been lucky to get in the top one or two.

“It has been a mental couple of days. The wheel hubs arrived on Friday, so it was really down to the wire if we could go or not.

“It felt electric to win.”

The Every Can Counts team, who designed a “recycling truck” soapbox called “Chitty Chitty Can Can”, said they were “ecstatic” with a third-placed finish, having placed 27th last time.

Tom Giddings, Chris Latham-Warde, Paul Bacon, Lee Cox, and Phoebe Kelly hoped to raise awareness of recycling with their vehicle while showcasing a “special move” – a “wheelie”.

They joked that their soapbox ended up reaching speeds of “just under 1,000 miles an hour”, creating a “sonic boom” on the course – and they described their result as “awesome”.

Mr Latham-Warde, the driver, said after the race: “The drive was surprisingly smooth.

“I was very nervous going into it because I didn’t know what was going to happen, but once we cleared that first jump, we knew we would make it