Blas y Tir in the Redbull Soapbox Race 2017!

It’s the biggest Soapbox Race on the planet, and this year Puffin took on the Redbull Soapbox Race with Blas y Tir’s ‘Leek Lightning’!

The brain-child of Puffin chief engineer Alan, ‘Leek Lightning’ began on site here at Puffin, with Alan and the team working to create the ultimate soapbox from scratch, in preparation for the challenge of a lifetime. With the Redbull Soapbox Race in sight, the Puffin Soapbox was in the initial stages of creation even before the application was put in!

Chosen from thousands of entries, we were delighted when ‘Leek Lightning’ made the final 72 – a feat to be celebrated, although the hard work was just about to begin.

Sunday 9th July 2017, Alexandra Palace London and the ‘Leek Lightning’ team were raring to go. After months of preparations, and decidedly less time spend on dance moves for the ‘big reveal’, the waiting began as the first soapbox took to the Redbull slope. Leek Lightning was about half way through the running order, so a great chance to see how the teams before were negotiating the slopes. The moment came, and the team took to the slopes, with Boris driving and Alan, Steve and Megan providing entertainment and the big push!

After positive scores for entertainment value and creativity, and competitive run would see ‘Leek Lightning’ in with a chance of scoring well overall. With the last soapbox down the course the results were in, with ‘Leek Lightning’ managing a respectable 29th place out of 69 runners on the day.

A crowd-pleasing day and a great challenge to get colleagues involved in – the support from Puffin colleagues who made the trip to London was also much appreciated!

Thanks Redbull Soapbox 2017 – we’ll see you again soon… hopefully!