By Jade Patterson, Curriculum Manager for Engineering on 21 May 2025
Bleary-eyed and not quite sure what to expect, the crew of Level 1 Engineering students and staff set off from Northampton College at 6.45am on Sunday to travel to Ashby de la Zouche where we were competing in the annual Soapbox Derby.
This is the culmination of a Unit 3 Project - Working with Others, that has been a feature of the course since February. The race is the conclusion of that work - would we soar to a famous victory or would the wheels come off our lofty ambitions?
A cold start to the day meant a lot of shivering whilst we made all the final checks before gathering for the safety briefing at 9am.
As the track parade started we soon warmed up as we had to push the racer up the hill to the start line, waving to the hordes of adoring fans on the way up.
Then, finally, the moment we had been waiting for. The action began.
A wild array of different designs and themes were on display in the juniors category. We had gone for a simple bullet-nosed design with the face of a Chinese dragon for the wow factor, but there were some incredibly inventive creations, including Thunderbird1 with a complete set of matching character outfits, clowns and even a nostalgic blast from the past for the 90s kids among us - Ali G. Booyakasha!
We were allowed three runs down the hill (pushing back to the top each time!) to try to get the best time on the course. It was mostly straight downhill at a gradient of 1:15, a small chicane and two little jumps, called 'kickers'.
All racers needed to have brakes to stop at the bottom and these were checked before we were allowed to race. There was a ramp to start and we were allowed two 'pushers' who could give the cart a good heave to get it going at a fair lick.
Our students rose to the challenge and thoroughly enjoyed participating in the event as drivers, pushers and spectators.
We finished a respectable seventh overall out of 11 junior entrants and watched the worthy winners be awarded their trophies by the mayor of Ashby. Not bad for our first event experience, we will be making improvements and improving our competitive edge next year. Watch this space!
