Gravity racer
motorless racing vehicle capable of holding a driver
A gravity racer or soapbox car is a motorless vehicle which is raced on a downhill road either against the clock or against another competitor. The vehicles are powered entirely by gravity; therefore, they are constructed to be as aerodynamic as possible in order to reduce air drag and optimize mass and weight distribution for maximum speed.
Soapbox cars
Originally, gravity racers were built from wooden soap (or apple) crates and rollerskate wheels, but have grown more sophisticated over time, with materials like aluminium, fiberglass and even CFRP being used.
In the United Kingdom a gravity racer car has been called a buggy, trolley, cart. It is currently popularly called a soapbox. In Scotland and northern England it has also been called a bogie, cartie/cairtie, guider or piler. In Wales it is often referred to as a gambo. In Australia they are called billy carts, and in Brazil it is known as rolimã.
In addition to being built by children, there are organised competitions and races ("soapbox or billycart derby") that often engage the enthusiasm of adults. However, these are usually entered into in a spirit of fun rather than serious competition.
The public source identifies “Gravity racer” as motorless racing vehicle capable of holding a driver. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Gravity, racer and motorless.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gravity racer” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.