I visited the world's cheapest race, where homemade carts take on famous London hill

Every June, hundreds of thousands of motoring fans flock to a small French town to see 24 Hours of Le Mans, one of the most luxurious motorsports in the world. It's a sport where world-renowned companies are happy to spend £5 million and months on end to create the ultimate in performance vehicles.

The following weekend, I found myself heading to Alexandra Palace in London in order to witness what appeared to be the polar opposite to Le Mans - the Red Bull Soapbox Race.

For those unfamiliar with the sport, soapbox racing involves teams of contenders building an engine-free vehicle, often in their spare time, which usually encompasses a theme, so they can roll it down a hill in the fastest possible time.

The concept may be incredibly simple, however Red Bull's involvement with soapbox racing has helped it to reach international levels of success, having held more than 100 events since their first in 2000.

I'd seen coverage of many of these events on TV, but my passion for the humble soapbox reached a completely new level when I arrived to the venue of the first race of it's kind in London since 2022.

The first thing that struck me when I arrived at Alexandra Palace was just how busy these events could be. Somewhere in the region of 17,000 people spectated, in addition to the various team members and staff.

That sounds like an awful lot of people to find spaces for along a 420-metre track, however, despite not quite getting a front-row spot, the raised bank beside that ran parallel and series of large screens meant visitors did not have to spend the day looking at the backs of heads.

Around the racing, there were also plenty of food and drink stands, plus a number of other attractions, such as a BMX stunt riding display and an area for young children to play.

As for the racing itself, occupants of the carts have to negotiate a number of tight corners, jumps and bumps before they cross the finish line.

Almost all of the carts entered into the event had some kind of theme, which varied from TV and film references to pastiches of certain jobs and foods.

Some teams also designed their carts to raise awareness of certain issues, such as Every Can Counts, who built a pint-sized bin truck to promote recycling, and The 12 Percent, who built a replica of Princess Peach's vehicle from the Mario Kart series to encourage more women to go into engineering.

Not all the racers were able to make it down the track so smoothly, however, with around half of those taking part having some kind of issue on their way down.

One of the most notable crashes during the event occured to Swify Air, a team who created a jet-like cart to commemorate singer Taylor Swift's time in the country.

After taking a jump featuring stagnant water, the soapbox rotated onto its side and crashed into one of the haybales surrounding the track. Whilst both occupants made contact with the track, neither were badly hurt.

After around four hours and 59 carts, the winner of the Red Bull Soapbox Race at Alexandra Palace was The Hurry Houdinis, who took on the track in a magician's box.

The London-based team managed to get down the course in a blistering 36 seconds without any serious accidents, and got high scores for creativity.

In all, the Red Bull Soapbox Race was considerably busier than I had imagined, but that is certainly for a good reason. It might not have the glamour of most other forms of motorsport, but somehow manages to retain the exact same thrill.