Unterbrunner Gaudi on four wheels

Created: 06/25/2022, 07:02

You have to be able to do that: The Unterbrunner soap box race is great fun - for the participants and the spectators (archive photo from 2017).

Safety is the top priority: the crates are checked, training drives are mandatory.

© Andrea Jaksch

The Unterbrunn soap box race this Saturday from 2 p.m. will be great fun again.

Up to 800 visitors are expected, says co-organizer Hermann Geiger.

The fun starts again at the house of Alexandra and Andreas Heb (Am Rain).

From the ramp there, teams such as the "young wild ones" from the Unterbrunner children's fire brigade or the older "racing rolls" whiz down in their self-built vehicles into the first, challenging 90-degree bend.

Unterbrunn

- The girls and boys from the Unterbrunner children's fire brigade built a fire-red "anniversary racing box" with their supervisors Alexandra Heb and Rebecca Möcks.

Two years ago, Gaudi, launched by Andreas Heb and the collector Hermann Geiger from Unterbrunn, would have celebrated its tenth anniversary.

But because of Corona, the big fun had to be postponed.

The slope is a jagged descent, first into the 90-degree right-hand bend, then into the equally demanding left-hand bend, says Andreas Heb, explaining the route.

Already on Thursday afternoon, little "racers" were training on the test track.

With their anniversary vehicle, the girls and boys from the children's fire brigade also reckon they have "good chances" of winning the originality prize, says Andreas Heb.

The team also includes two children from the Ukraine who live in Unterbrunn.

Heb's son Alexander (12), for example, starts with a "naked" vehicle made of bicycle handlebars and wooden planks "without any frills".

Father and son have built the fast racer together over the past eight weeks.

Because Gaudi is also there for “parents to develop something handicraft together with their children,” says Heb.

He should know: the development engineer in the automotive industry has twice built imaginative soapboxes with his now 17-year-old daughter Johanna, which have been awarded the "Originality Prize".

So far, twelve children and ten adults - "our oldest is 72 years old" - have registered for the big fun race.

So there are still places available.

But safety comes first: That's why Heb carries out the technical inspection of the vehicle before the start.

Hubert Kaindl from the Unterbrunner Gasthaus Högner will take care of the catering.

On Thursday, bales of straw and hundreds of mattresses were piled up in Hermann Geiger's yard, with which the route, which is more than 300 meters long in total, is padded.

The journey doesn't take very long, but it has to be mastered first.

The soapbox race with bouncy castle is a “joint team effort” by the residents of Unterbrunnen, summarizes Andreas Heb.

Spectators are expressly desired.

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