Downpours and beautiful slides! If the first edition, last year, took place in oppressive heat, the second soapbox race on rue Guynemer, in Poitiers, suffered incessant downpours this Sunday, June 16, 2024.
“We are not supported locally”
Around twenty cars were registered for this joyous competition organized by the Foyer du Porteau: seventeen more or less homemade carts, as well as three drift-trikes (tricycles adapted to skidding and acrobatic tricks).
The red “Luigi Ferrari” finished second in the rue Guynemer soapbox race, Sunday June 16, 2024, in Poitiers.
© (Photo NR-CP, Laurent Favruille)
After two practice sessions in the morning, the afternoon allowed the competitors to compete on two timed descents, between the inflatable arch installed at the top of rue Guynemer and the finish located at the intersection with the road. from the Cassette.
Despite the intermittent downpours, the public came in numbers to see a scarlet “Luigi Ferrari”, a small train bearing the Mercedes star, a cow car and another in the shape of a pig, and even this reproduction of a Ford Red and white Torino piloted by two “lookalikes” of Starsky and Hutch.
Stéphane and Laurent, from Quinçay, won the Jury Prize in the soapbox race on rue Guynemer, in Poitiers, with their replica of Starsky and Hutch’s Ford Torino which had a hard time withstanding a collision with bales of straw.
© (Photo NR-CP, Laurent Favruille)
It was these two competitors from Quinçay who won the Jury Prize, while the Public Prize went to the soap box evoking the cartoon Toy Story. The fastest to complete the course are four brothers from Lavoux – Jonathan, Tommy, Doniphan and Gallien – who completed the descent in 56 seconds, on their cart called Erreur 404.
The four brothers from Lavoux, Jonathan, Tommy, Doniphan and Gallien, won the second edition of the soap box race on rue Guynemer, in Poitiers, Sunday June 16, 2024.
© (Photo NR-CP, Laurent Favruille)
Other Poitevin competitors stood out, like Noa and Mateo, two young people from Saint-Cyr and Moncontour who tinkered with their car “in two Sundays, welding included” : “A friend sent us the poster of the Cissé soap box race (scheduled for June 23), but it shows fullsays Noa. So we registered here. And, aside from the rain, it was really cool! »
Noa and Mateo, from Saint-Cyr and Moncontour, tinkered with their soap box “in two Sundays, welding included”.
© (Photo NR-CP, Laurent Favruille)
However, even before the end of the afternoon, the president of Foyer du Porteau already announced that this second edition would be the last: “We are going to drink the broth and leave two or three thousand euros in the organization, laments Françoise Lancereau. It is not so much the deficit on the refreshment stands, due to bad weather, which weighs us down, but the fact that we have not been supported locally: no association or sports club in Poitiers has had the courage or the little bit of madness necessary to register your soapbox. The town hall was happy to provide us with 150 barriers, although we had requested 200. Fortunately, the security team who blocked access to the street are really great and Ekidom provided us with an inflatable structure and the starting arch. But it’s still incredible that we aren’t more supported, even though it’s an ecological race, based on recovery! »
