► Aston Vantage GTE go-kart
► Took part in Red Bull Soapbox race
► Came second overall at Ally Pally
Is this the fastest soapbox car ever? Well, almost. This is the Aston Martin V8 Vantage GTE soapbox car, which took on the ’24 Seconds of Le Ally Pally’ race within the Red Bull Soapbox Race series.
Aston created this one-off go-kart to compete at the soapbox event at Alexandra Palace on Sunday 9th July. It does without the power of a V8 or V12 and runs purely on gravity power alone.
Designed to look like Aston’s latest successful racer, the Vantage soapbox car didn’t quite echo its combustion-engined sibling’s success at Le Mans, but put in a solid performance and took 2nd place.
David King, boss of Aston Martin Racing, decided against putting the team’s pro drivers in the cockpit, though: ‘we need them to be in one piece for their next World Endurance Championship race the following week!’
Check out the Vantage soapbox run below:
Aston says it has had 104 years of hill-based racing experience, although all of its other racers were designed to climb hills rather than blast down them using nothing but the forces of nature.
Want more Aston action? Read our reviews here