India's first Red Bull soapbox race
Mumbaikars got a shot of adrenaline on a lazy Sunday afternoon, when they witnessed vada pavs, pizza slices, snails, and pirate ships race down the road at Mount Mary Road, Bandra at India’s first Red Bull Soapbox Race. Nearly 10,000 people came out to Bandra’s iconic street to cheer the craziest ‘road race’ the nation has ever seen! The quirky race even caught the attention of Bollywood actor Imran Khan and director Vishal Bhardwaj who flagged off the race, riding a ‘Gulabo’ soapbox as homage to their upcoming film, Matru Ki Bijli Ka Mandola.
After a day full of song, dance, creativity and bumpy rides, Dabbawallas, Team Tritech and Feni Talks bagged the first, second and third places respectively. Dabbawallas from Mumbai blew away the judges with their colourful soapbox ferrying the quintessential food dabbas. Team Tritech and Feni Talks left the crowds roaring, riding in their radio controlled car-inspired soapbox and tricycle shaped feni bottle respectively. The teams were awarded the much coveted prizes by Honorable M.P. Priya Dutt and local MLA Baba Siddiqui.
The four member winning team gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience the World of Red Bull at Salzburg, Austria coupled with a jaw dropping visit to Hangar 7 and the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) Racing Circuit. The first runner-up wins a fully paid experience for Sunburn Goa 2012 and the second runner-up will get free entry to the most happening New Year party in town along with their friends. If this wasn’t enough, the fastest driver of the day now owns a 36V Electric Trikke.
Judged by Actor and Model Lisa Hayden, Actor and Youth icon Rannvijay Singh, Theater and TV personality Kunal Vijaykar, Indian rugby spearhead Nasser Hussain and 1983 Cricket World Cup winner Balwinder Singh Sandhu, 53 soapboxes raced their way down the ‘Mount Mary Circuit’ to battle it out for the title. Rannvijay Singh was enthralled by the spectacle and said, “We saw an amazing proportion of creativity coupled with lots of energy at the Red Bull Soapbox Race today. Each soapbox which zipped on the slope screamed the personality of the respective teams. The race literally spiced up the traffic on the Bandra road and gave a fun breather to Mumbaikars who are always on the go.”
Being born and brought up in a family that has been a part of the Automotive industry for over seven decades, Rachit has cars in his blood. Four wheelers are his childhood love, and he has grown up playing with bolts and spanners. To add more value to this passion, he studied automobile engineering and even karted at National level competitions.
Soon after that, he got into motoring journalism- where began the process of testing and evaluating cars. He has driven a wide range of cars beginning from Tata Nano to the Aston Martins, most of the cars that are currently sold in the Indian car market. Apart from this, he has also done many long road trips, and shall continue to do so. Rachit was one of the first journalists to take a Nano across the Golden Quadrilateral.
