How We Won the Red Bull Soapbox Derby

This is the Red Bull Soapbox Derby race. — Let's go! — People come from all over the world for a chance at glory in these gravity-powered death carts. — We got A NEW RECORD! RECORD! — TODAY, we're going to show you how we spent the last year building one of the most over-engineered Soapbox Derby carts of all time. — Oh, THIS IS BAD. — YEAH! — All for the goal of making it to the bottom of the hill faster than anyone else and not ending up like THOSE GUYS. — OH! — [screaming] — OH, NO! — IT'S BEEN ONE HELL OF A JOURNEY AND IT ALL started with a plan. We're going to be living our life a quarter mile at a time in the lap of Vin Diesel. — It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning's winning. — Step one to building our Red Bull Soapbox Derby cart, we're going to need a chassis complete with brakes — and steering. Step two, we need to create a giant Vin Diesel and then finally, step three, we need to win the Derby and not break a leg. Needs to be engine-free. Most importantly, we need to make sure that all of this weighs less than 175 lb. This is a huge engineering challenge and we're probably going to need a hand. Soupy. Great to see you, man. — Hey, man. How are you? — I'm doing good. We've come to see our friend and my future Soapbox co-pilot, Soupy. He is a world-famous master fabricator who has made incredible builds in the past like this insane Halo Warthog and also Killer Mike's Grand National. Your shop is sick, man. This is such a cool space. — Yeah, thanks. We kind of do it all, right? We do all the CAD work, design work. We mainly use our plasma table. — Okay, cool. You can like cut everything to your exact specification. — Yes. If we're going to build this thing, we want to build this thing. — Yeah. I'm getting married next month, so I need to not crash in this thing. — Oh, you got plenty of time to recover. Limbs grow back within a month. — Like lizards. — I'm from Australia. I'm basically a lizard. This is our computer station and this is our guy, Alex Grim. What's up, Alex? — Pleasure. — Good to meet you. — Glad to have you here. — Yeah. Alex is our CAD guy. — I know all the program. I can do what we need to do. So, we can design our little chassis, get our suspension going and get the show on the road. — Sweet. Okay, well, I have a reference photo. — [screaming] — From a performance standpoint, I'm seeing a couple problems. — This is not very aerodynamic. — Not very practical. — I mean, there's something to be said about driving a car in between a man's legs. — Yeah. — When I say we're making one of the most over-engineered soapbox cars ever, I'm not exaggerating. We're using CAD to design everything and measure it down to the degree. We designed our own suspension arms, brake rotors, and cart chassis. We sourced Fox mountain bike suspension, front junior dragster wheels, and even repurposed a steering system from a side-by-side. Now, we just need to make sure that our lofty ambitions don't make us crash into that 175 lb weight limit or any hay bales. — The computer tells us exactly how much this thing's going to weigh. This is 60 lbs. — The computer's never wrong. — The computer is never wrong. — I mean, you have to realize everything's lightweight. Yeah. A lot of this is aluminum and all this tubing is very, very small diameter. — You have it in the computer and then you just tell the machine — Yep, we can program our plasma table and just cut everything out. — Then it's just like kind of like one of those model kits that you pick up at the hobby store. — Exactly. — and you just snap out the piece of wood and then you just glue it together. — Yes. — So, just hit that whenever you're ready. — That's cool. Oh, hell yeah. I mean, you could never get the detail or the accuracy by making something like that by hand. — Yeah. Whoa. — That easy. — Oh, that is super cool. — So, now we'll clean it up with a flat disc on a grinder and then it'll be ready to weld onto the cart. — All right, I'm going to tack it in first. I'll do right here and right here. Welding mask down, boys. — There you go. The way I designed it, everything's straight, everything's pretty much 90°. We didn't add like any bends or anything, just keep it nice and simple. — Hey! — Jimmy. Hey, let me do a little ta — Dude, that ain't going nowhere. — It's time for me to get test fitted in here. — Yeah, where do you want it? Right here? — Let's see. — That far out? — Yeah. — Oh my god, this thing's going to be like a limo for the passenger. — Dude, this is great. — This is good. — Yeah, it's long, but that's pretty good, man. — Yeah. — So, now we can cut the floor plate. — Ooh. I love me a good floor plate. — Okay. — Hit WASD like a video game. — Wait, wait, wait. — It's that easy. — I could get used to this. Woo! — And now we sit here and wait. — Nice. —

— Damn. — Oh, man. — Dude, good job. Yo, the power of CAD is so impressive. — It's a little buzz buzz. These are going to be [snorts] our bend lines. — Okay. — Eight bends. — We got to do eight bends. — Okay. — These bends are going to give your feet more room. — Okay. — So, you sit in a more natural position. Look at this. — All right, it is starting to look like a circle of some sorts. — That looks all wrong. That's not right. — That does not look right. — This is right. — Why did you make it like that? — How else would you make it? — Dad and Dad are fighting again. — Oh, no. — What I say? What did I say? — Yeah, let's take that off. — This guy's an idiot. — Have you guys thought about counseling? — No, we've been told. — Sometimes things get thrown. — This is quite a thing. — This is not easy to move around. — Oh. What? — Great job. — It's all starting to come together, one piece at a time. — Now we just got to get the wheels on, brakes on, and steering on. — And the diesel on. — Should we get started then? — Let's go. — Is this the King of the Hill and WD-40 collector can? — Yep. — Where'd you get it? — Home Depot. — Yep. — You can get them now while supplies last, of course. — Like, exclusively at the Home Depot? — Exclusively. — Yep. — Dang it, Jimmy. — Yep. — That boy ain't right. — Hang on, limited edition King of the Hill and WD-40 collector's can available now exclusively at the Home Depot while supplies last. — We're going to be cutting out a lot of tubing today. — Sweet. — On the cold saw. Advantage of a cold saw over like a miter saw is basically that it's easier to handle and it has coolant. So, we activate — No way. Oh, wow. — So, that's keeping the metal cool and the blade cool as you're cutting. Very important that we get these cuts just right. — Let her rip. Pull down. Come on, Jimmy. — Look, I'm a little I could use a few gym days, okay? I got — Show us what you got. — weak little — You sure you want to show this to your fiance? — LET'S GO, JIMMY. — THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. — THAT'S ONE. HOW MANY do we need? — Oh, we need like at least 10 or 12 more of these. — I just had to figure out the hair trigger situation. — Okay. — How much better is it with a new blade? — You're a devious man. — I'm doing him a favor getting him that. — How much easier is it with a blade? I think Jimmy's going to fight you, dude. — What? — All right, so I've cut the pipes. Now, Jimmy, do you have health insurance? — Um yeah, sure. — This is called the wrist breaker. — Nice. So, I can see why you call it that. — This is our tube notcher. We notch them so that the tubes fit into the other tubes. — Yes. Such a pro, Jimmy. — This goes on there like that. Oh, this is looking good. — looking really good. — The Red Bull F1 team would be They'd be impressed. — They'd be super impressed right now. — Yeah. — Jimmy, you're ready? This is a fun part. — Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That is the coolest part of this build is that shock. Okay, Jimmy, this is critical. You absolutely You have to be a stone. Oh. Oh. Oh. Woah, woah, woah. Don't move. A You just moved. —

— Okay, you're moving a lot. Should we get that like stick thing? That would make way too much sense. — This is so cool. So overdone. Let's get that wheel on. Wow. That is way too much for a soap box car. This is just right. — sick. — It's cool that you can just like measure things, put a little math into it, and make something. — You said measure things, put a little math, a little bit of welding. — I mean, that's what it is. — Leaving here, I'm way more inspired to pick up fabrication for myself. These are like some of the best teachers I've ever had. — NEXT STEP, DOING SOME STEERING. WE'RE going to go ahead and cut the plate out for it. Don't screw this up. Weld the plate on, and then install the steering rack. — Steering is what we talked about a bunch. The problem with go-kart steering is one-to-one. So, it's super twitchy. — Right. — You sneeze the wrong way, and you're sideways. So, so with the steering rack it kind of helps us to kind of makes it more like a regular road car. — Yeah. — We'll be steering like crazy. This looks really obscene. — Feels pretty natural like there, I would say. We have now finished all the fabrication. — That's right, Jimmy. — Now it's just putting it all together. It's like one big uh LEGO Technic kit. — It looks like everything's going to slot in perfectly. We've already got all the hardware. — Yeah, you guys have good editors, right? — Yes. — It's going to go perfect. — Tie rods going in. Brake pedal going in. Easy, three bolts. Why is this looking a little cattywampus? — Cattywampus. I like that vocabulary. Cattywampus. — It's all cattywampus. — Wampus. — Seats going in. — Good. Yo. — Let me hop in. — Oh, that's so good. — Dude, it's way better than I thought. — I I'm at a loss for words. — Ah. Oh god, HEY BALE. — [screaming] — PUSH. — ALL RIGHT, WE GOT BACK UP. — We need to take some spring out. This is how this thing works, right? Like there's no spring, so we're using air pressure as the spring. — So, you just pump a little air in there. — We Yeah, and this we're going from 150 PSI to 200 PSI, and that's where we're going to start. — Drop it. Drop it to see if it the shocks work. — Oh god. — All right, LET'S DO IT. READY? WOAH! WHAT? WHAT? — THAT'S SO GOOD. — NO WAY! — HOW SMOOTH WAS THAT? — THAT WAS insanely smooth. — Do it again. — I'm not feeling a thing. Our cart is now complete, and it's looking incredible. But now it's time for us to move on to part two, make ourselves a Vin Diesel. So, how exactly are we going to make this thing? Well, the obvious answer to keep weight down would be to do a whole paper mache thing. That would work, but we want to go the extra mile. We don't want it to sort of look like Dom Toretto. We want it to look exactly like Dom Toretto. So, for that, only 3D printing would do. We bought a 3D model, which looks pretty sweet, but you can't just hit the print button and hope it all works out. We had to customize the model, adding mounting points and other tweaks so Vin will work with our custom chassis. Also, most 3D printers are tiny and would require us to print Vin in a hundred tiny pieces. Not only would this look kind of terrible, but it would also make it way more fragile. It was clear that we didn't just need a 3D printer, we needed an industrial Hollywood film prop printer. So, Soupy worked with someone who asked to remain anonymous, who has access to one of these printers, which he used in secrecy after hours. And seeing this thing for the first time was an experience I'll never forget. All right, guys, come on in. Let's see it. Dude, that's way too big. — Are you kidding me? That is insane. — Isn't that cool? — Yeah, it's cool. — I mean — But it's huge. — He's bigger than me. — This was like 35, 40 hours of print time. — I'm like blown away. Oh. He's headless now. Headless Diesel. — You need to just go home with that. — With all this, what is our next step? — Well, we got to glue it together cuz — Okay. — This is a 3D print in three pieces

right? So, the head's one piece, the body's two halves. — We're going to use some automotive glue, except the flash point is 50 seconds. So, if we put the glue on and it's crooked, it's staying crooked. — We paid a lot for this 3D print right here, and we only have one shot. Do not [snorts] miss your to blow. This opportunity really only comes in a lifetime. once God damn it. Oh, he's putting it down. Jimmy, you got 50 seconds. — Okay. — Go. All right, I'm going to just holding it still. You aim. That's it. — Just right. — That's it. — Smoosh. — Smoosh. Give him a hug. — Oh, you got it just right, Jimmy. — Can someone put the head on? I need to look at him. — There you go, Jimmy. There you go. — There he is. — I need to just gaze into his eyes. — This is probably the weirdest thing I've ever seen. — Now with the head of Vin Diesel — We got to do this with the quickness. — Okay. — So, you're going to have to hold the head up. — Holding the head. — Are you ready? — Dude, I'm nervous. — It's high noon, brother. — All right, I'm going. Our freaking glue is It already dried. Dude, that dries fast. — We got one nozzle left. One Vin Diesel. — This is nerve-wracking. — What can go wrong, bud? — This is really nerve-wracking. — me one of these. Oh. Go. Go. Yes. — Perfect. Make sure it's lined up. — Yep. — Jesus. — I'm holding him. — It was drying like as I was squirting. — Dude. I think we did it. — Did it ooze out? Okay. — Vin Diesel is together. — He is [cheering] He has risen. — Okay, so if the head flies off, it's my fault. Okay, for the record. It's my fault. — All right, this way. — All right. — Bring him this way. Bring him forward. — Dude. — there. RIGHT THERE. — OH. NO. — GO FORWARD A LITTLE BIT. — Yeah, we can make this work. — This is going to work. — Hell yeah. — I can already feel Vin Diesel's spirit. — We did all right. — Yeah, it came out pretty good. — I love you guys. — That was that bad one. — No. Come on, one more time. See, Jimmy and I will do it. — ONE MORE TIME. OH! — [screaming] — THAT WAS A GOOD ONE. REALLY GOOD ONE. — OKAY. All right, time to hand it off to the art department. — Danny. — I'm sorry, I have some bad news. — Uh-oh. — What's the news? — Just got an email from Red Bull that the event has been postponed until 2026. — What? — They're not going to have dates until November. — Holy moly. — Oh, sh- Well, that that's kind of disappointing. — Yeah. — All right, well, I'll see y'all next year. So, for whatever reason, Red Bull had to cancel the event and pushed it back nearly a year. A lot happened that time. I got married, donut crossed the country multiple times, and our VIN kart saw [snorts] it all sitting, waiting for his day in the sun. Now, with just 2 weeks until race day, we're going to take Mini D out for a little practice run. Plan for today is to test this thing on two hills. We got this mild hill right here. We're just going to put this thing down there, get our bearings, see if everything works, and if everything's good, then we're going to put it down this kind of aggressive hill right here, which should mimic downtown LA, which is where the Red Bull Soap Box Derby will be held. It's time to suit up. Or should I say, soup up. — Let's suit up. — All right, here we go. Test number one. Very slowly. — Very slowly so far. — Here we go. — All — taking over soon. All right, there we go. We're going. We're moving now. — See, this is very chill, Jimmy. — This is pretty chill. We can steer? — Yep. Look at that. — Ooh, steering works. — This thing gets fast, dude. — Left. Left. — Sorry. — Dude, that was good. — Yeah, this is good. Oh, the steering's amazing. Hello, sir. — It was really stable. — It's really stable. Dude, it takes corners way better than I thought it was going to be. — Yeah, I love it. — I'm surprised it handles this well. Dude, we need to find a bigger hill. — We need to go down the aggressive hill. — Let's go. Let's push it back all the way up. — Hi.

Yep, that's been Diesel. — Oh my god. — Yeah, it's a soapbox. — He's my boyfriend. — Aw. — Ready? — Yes. — One, two, sick. Here we go. — Release the hounds. — Okay, we're going quick. Oh my god. This is fast. Oh, THIS IS FAST. YEAH. — OH, DAMN. OKAY, WE'RE GOING TO BE COMING in hot, dude. — Go a little wide, Jimmy. Go a little wide. — Going wide. Tap the brakes. Yes. — Yes. It's so good. See how far we can get. — Go. Go. No brakes. — No braking. Dude. Yeah. — Now, today was great. But, we have a problem, Soupy. Uh we're a little overweight. — It feels so light. — Currently, it weighs 214 lb, but we need to be at 175 to enter the competition. — Ooh, we may have over-engineered it. — Yes, the computer is never wrong. — So, but look, we can take weight out. That's not a problem. There's titanium. Guys, come on. — Maybe we'll gut Vin Diesel a little bit. — So, it turns out when you build something as meticulously as we did, you can't just hack stuff off willy-nilly. We had to be intentional. We literally had to cut the car in half, shave off what used to be in the middle, and put it back together. We drilled holes in the floor and support beams. We designed brand new rotors made of a lighter weight material. We got rid of the rear brakes. So much for not dying. And I even had to get up into Vin Diesel's guts — and pull out his insides. I never expected to say that sentence in my entire life, but here we are. — And after all that hard work, we finally got it down to a legal weight of 167 pounds. — Thank Vin Diesel. — Race day was quickly approaching, but we still had one major step to complete. — Hi, I'm Allison, and I'm here to paint Vin Diesel today. I've been doing art department stuff in LA for almost 15 years, and yeah, this is just one of those moments where I'm like, I can't believe this is my job. My game plan for today is that I'm going to do a base skin tone. Got to get these guns. I'm going to do his classic black tank top, and then I'm going to come back in and mix some more detailed colors to give him some more depth and shadow and stuff in his flesh. — That's wild. He's got skin. — It's Herobrine — from Minecraft. — It's a — It's Vin Diesel. — Herobrine. — We're going to try to make him as realistic looking as possible. Eyeballs and teeth and fingernails. — It's so cursed. — Yeah, he's going to haunt your dreams. We have very little weight to work with for the rest of this project. So, I'm going to try to make the legs just 2D out of some seamless paper and then use minimal bits of cardboard to keep the shape so that we can give this guy some legs. — Dodging out is crazy. — As Allison finishes Vin's disgusting legs, my nerves are honestly going to In just a few days, Soupy and I are going to send this thing down a hill in front of thousands of people. We only get one chance and if I screw it all up, all of this work will have been for nothing. — Oh my god, this looks horrific. — Hi, buddy. — [clears throat] — I can't wait for the paramedics to cut this all off of me. — Join us. — That's borderline a — It looks better on you. — I don't know what this is. — You could have any beer you want as long as it's a Corona. — That's good. — I don't have friends. I got family. — It don't matter if you win by an inch or a mile. — Winning is winning. — Family. It doesn't matter what's under a hood. The only thing that matters is family. You don't turn your back on family. Salute mi familia. — Good morning, camera. Making some final suspension adjustments. Came by, did tech already. Uh super simple. We just had to put a little bit of gaff tape on the holes right there and on these bolts and we were good to go. Just have to get over them jitters, the nerves. — We'll be fine, Jimmy.

— We'll be fine. It's all about family. — I'm a little nervous. — Soupy. — Nice to meet you. — Nice meeting you. — Hi. All right, we're here with the Vin Diesels. I want to talk to you guys. This is a great craft. I love the theme. — This is our cart, runaway diesel. This is Vin Diesel giving us a nice hug so we can safely get down this hill. — Is this 3D printed? — 3D printed, yeah. Built this over a year ago now, and it's — Very large. — Yeah, and it's very scary. Wherever you stand, he looks at you. — One, two, three. — Family. — Break your wrist, walk away. Bow to your sensei. — Oh my god. — Yeah, dude. — Wow. Sexy back. — god. — I'm protecting my king from gravity. We are medieval cannibal. — Hey, do you got that long travel? — Yes, sir. — Yo, more Doms. Hey Dom, nice to meet you. — It's like a family reunion. — Is this my brother? — Family? — Family? — Hold up. — If you win, we all win. If we — SO, LET'S BREAK DOWN TODAY'S Hollywood themed track. After our initial push up here at the start, we're going to go down this straight and hit the Walk of Fame, which is a bunch of slalom bumps that we're going to have to decide if we want to navigate or hit head-on. Next, the road goes into this bend, and then we got this jump right here, this big old jump. That's going to put our suspension to the test, and then we're faced with the decision. Probably the worst freeways in Los Angeles. Hopefully, Vin Diesel — is up to the task. — I feel pretty confident in the downhill sections that are pretty normal. It's just the turns that I'm like, I got to get those right. — Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and racing fans of all shapes and sizes, you're in for a treat because for the fourth time we're here in LA, Los Angeles, the city of angels, where dreams become a reality, or maybe not, but at least you tried, right? — Each competing team's overall score is based on three different criteria: creativity, showmanship, and speed. Our first team is here and ready to go. We have thousands of you lining the course. Let's go! And they're off to a great start. Red Bull Soapbox LA 2026. THAT WAS INCREDIBLE. YOU guys are in for a show. — Oh, there you go. — Oh, no! — Our judges — Judges, what do you think of that one? Oh, [screaming] wow! — LET'S MAKE SOME NOISE FOR THE best crash OF THE DAY! — OH MY GOD, TOO GOOD, too good. — Am I nervous? Yes. Uh, this is something new I've never tried. I haven't done a practice run. We're just going down it. But overall, I'm excited. I'm stoked. This is a childhood dream come true to be here at the Red Bull Soapbox Derby. So, uh let's do this thing. — Let's bring up Oh my goodness, am I seeing — is this? — 3 4 5 6 Vin Diesels? — I'm flabbergasted by the artwork. Like, you guys are good looking, but look at the artwork. — We have a lot of commitment here. I'm feeling slightly intimidated Question remains, will Vin Diesel make it to the end? — I sure hope so. I want to take them home. — Time to beat is just over 33 seconds. — Is the crowd here in LA ready? Vin Diesel coming at you! — GO, JIMMY! — [screaming] — That was a good push. I LIKE IT. — I'LL GO STRAIGHT OVER IT, JIMMY. WE GOT THIS, MAN. — YEAH, JIMMY. — [screaming] — JIMMY, GO! — FLYING DOWN THE WALK OF FAME. — YEAH, NO BRAKES. YEAH, — [screaming] — JIMMY! — HE IS MOVING. — HERE WE GO. BIG JUMP, BIG JUMP. — THEY'RE COMING IN STRONG. OH! JIMMY! [screaming] — OH, YEAH, BUT UH — [cheering] — THE DIESEL! HE'S LOST — HIS HEAD. HE has lost HIS HEAD. — WE LOST the diesel head. Jimmy, BUT WE GOT JIMMY. WATCH THAT. YEAH! — [screaming] — YES! — [screaming] — 32. 37. We got A NEW RECORD. RECORD. — WOW! — FAMILY! — THAT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN MORE FUN. — We did it, buddy. — The fastest time of the day. Judges, hold them up. — Let's see here. I mean, — [cheering] — WE HAVE IT. — [screaming] — PERFECT 10S ACROSS the board. Perfect

10s from our judges. — We did it. We did it for family. OH MY GOSH. — IT'S MY HONOR, FOR THE FOURTH TIME, to present the winner here at the Red BULL SOAPBOX 2026. THEY WALKED AWAY WITH THE FASTEST TIME. They were incredibly, incredibly fast and exciting. TEAM NUMBER 26 WINS. DON'T I MEAN IT. — [screaming] — Absolutely love to see it. The commitment from the very beginning. What did it take for you guys to win the 2026 Red Bull Soapbox Race LA? — Just determination. — And family. — Family. Familia Totoroe, LET'S GO. — CONGRATULATIONS. — This is how you watch Hi-Lo on Tubi. — Thanks. — 2026 Red Bull Soapbox, we saw chaos, we saw speed, determination, and all of the things that make the city of angels, Los Angeles, so incredibly special. We'll see you next time. —