boys being boys we made soap boxes, first find a discarded pram, take the wheels off and attach them to the back of a piece of wood, do the same at the front but put a nut and bolt through the wood and a piece of string attached to the front wheels to steer the soap box, at the top of the bridge a push down the slope and the winner takes the glory, there was no attempt to install a breaking system, I mean the object was to go fast why would you want to break? if horror of horrors you had to stop apply feet to ground, great fun, but in Stockholm, Sweden, soapbox racing has been taken to new levels in the Red Bull Soapbox race, but if you look at the link these are in the same tradition as ours of yesteryear - no brakes! I wonder how long it will be before Health and Safety step in and ban soapbox racing?
Monday 4 July 2011
Where I Used To Live In The 1950's,
at the end of the street there was a bridge that used to go over the railway tracks,
boys being boys we made soap boxes, first find a discarded pram, take the wheels off and attach them to the back of a piece of wood, do the same at the front but put a nut and bolt through the wood and a piece of string attached to the front wheels to steer the soap box, at the top of the bridge a push down the slope and the winner takes the glory, there was no attempt to install a breaking system, I mean the object was to go fast why would you want to break? if horror of horrors you had to stop apply feet to ground, great fun, but in Stockholm, Sweden, soapbox racing has been taken to new levels in the Red Bull Soapbox race, but if you look at the link these are in the same tradition as ours of yesteryear - no brakes! I wonder how long it will be before Health and Safety step in and ban soapbox racing?
boys being boys we made soap boxes, first find a discarded pram, take the wheels off and attach them to the back of a piece of wood, do the same at the front but put a nut and bolt through the wood and a piece of string attached to the front wheels to steer the soap box, at the top of the bridge a push down the slope and the winner takes the glory, there was no attempt to install a breaking system, I mean the object was to go fast why would you want to break? if horror of horrors you had to stop apply feet to ground, great fun, but in Stockholm, Sweden, soapbox racing has been taken to new levels in the Red Bull Soapbox race, but if you look at the link these are in the same tradition as ours of yesteryear - no brakes! I wonder how long it will be before Health and Safety step in and ban soapbox racing?
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2 comments:
Oh yes, Stan - I remember me & my mates making exactly the same type of go-cart. Your taking me back to those innocent days!
As you say, steering on a piece of wood loosely bolted to the wooden frame (plank!) and with rope to guide it.
Amazing we are still around to tell the tale! Wouldn't fancy going down Shooters Hill on one of these contraptions now!
Dear Mocha Joe, yes those were the days! the good news was that there were not so many cars, also the hill we used was in a cul-de-sac, so even fewer moving ones, emergency stop, jump off! the scraps and bumps of the everyday life of a 1950’s kid as we came home nursing our wounds! Best regards, Stan and Diana.
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