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Gravity drags them down
Twenty seven Soapbox Gravity Racers have taken to the hill, proving once
again that this is one of the most hotly contested classes of the weekend. Right
in the thick of the action has been sponsor Unisys' entry, designed by Keith
Clements. "It's the first time we've entered the Gravity challenge," he
said, "and I must say, we've learned an awful lot about what we should and
shouldn't do to make our Soapbox go faster. "The Unisys team have spent three
months building their engine-less racer, which will reach speeds of up to 47mph,
from a combination of wood, tubular steel, fibre-glass and aluminium. "It's been
very much an amateur entry," continued Jeremy this afternoon. "Five of us built
this in a barn on a farm near Milton Keynes - it's a far cry from some of the
'professional' cars here. Jeremy secured a time of 1min 24secs on the slippery
course, timed, naturally, by Unisys, the official scoring and timing sponsor at
the Festival. The teams are allowed a maximum of £1000 to build their soapbox
(excluding their own labour time). Many of today's runners have clearly learnt
from the modern aerodynamics employed by top F1 teams, their Gravity Racers
sporting slippery, all-enveloping bodywork to minimise drag. The cars set off
down the hill two-abreast this afternoon, with the Bugatti Prescott Flyer of
James Diffey descending in the quickest time, just 1min 16secs. The ultimate
shootout, though, comes on Sunday afternoon.
Team Unisys thinks out of its box
at Goodwood
The recent Goodwood Festival of Speed, held annually at the famous Sussex
racetrack, is a mecca for motorsports enthusiasts from all over the country that
come to enjoy the thrills and spills of high-octane automotive antics. It is the
annual premier event, giving the public the chance to rub shoulders with racing
legends of past and present, as well as see some of the cars they drive in
action.
In what counts as the second year of Unisys sponsoring the high-profile
occasion, five Unisys UK employees made their mark on the proceedings by going
back to basics, abandoning the need for propulsion in favour of gravity and
competing in what could possibly the world's oldest quest for speed: soapbox
downhill racing! 
Many Unisys employees took the opportunity to attend the three-day festival,
to soak in the atmosphere as spectators due to the special offer made available
to employees. However, this small band of intrepid volunteers witnessed the
action from the side of the pit lane usually reserved for the drivers and
mechanics, by taking part in the Goodwood Gravity Racing Club Soapbox Challenge.
Having featured the story of their preparations to go up against 15 other teams
including the likes of McLaren, Ford, Bentley and Prodrive in June's Unisys
News, we caught up with the `Team Unisys Racing: Gravity International Division'
to find out how they got on.
Fox Milne based, Unisys University education consultant, Jeremy `For Mayor'
Rawlings a.k.a. Conductor of Velocity fills us in on how the team, who came from
all areas of Unisys, geographically as well as professionally, ended up flying
the company flag for ingenuity, innovation, teamwork and old-fashioned
sportsmanship. He explains: `In January I noticed an announcement on the
intranet asking people to submit designs for entering the Soapbox Challenge race
at this year's Goodwood Festival to corporate events manager, Deborah Chambers,
who organises the Unisys sponsorship.
`It said that the best design would be awarded a budget of £1,000 to
construct a soapbox with sponsored entry and contained a link to the event's
rules on the Goodwood website. When I had a quick look at the requirements, I
realised entering would not be a small thing because the rules were quite
serious and stringent.' 
Uxbridge-based Systems and Technology Technical Consulting Services (TCS)
consultant, Keith `Ten Degree' Clements became Team Unisys Purveyor of all
Angles, having already had an established and active interest in motor racing
and has travelled all around Europe, taking part in rallies and race meetings.
He says: `I used the Unisys ticket offer to go to the Festival last year and
enjoyed watching the soapbox race, which is a relatively new event - this year
was its second. So when I found out about the Unisys challenge I thought, why
not? 
`My interest was particularly in the design and building aspects of the
project because of my prior understanding of the importance of working within
the regulations. I enjoyed the challenge of working within budget, in spite of
the restrictions it put on us, like using a barn on a friend's farm as the build
workshop! All the other teams had more backing and proper facilities, but we
were lucky that I could use some of my welding and cutting tools.' The team
would also like to thank John Croxford and Adrian Crouch for the use of their
facilities and tools.
Home-based iPSL business development manager, Graham `Ferrari' Faulkner
a.k.a. Master of the Team Whip is a self-confessed `petrolhead' and, having seen
the same employee broadcast, started to do his own research on related websites
from the US - the home of the soapbox. He continues: `I thought that I'd love to
get involved in something like this. I also mentioned the idea to Richard
because I knew his mathematician's brain department would be invaluable in the
aerodynamics department of any bid to get the project up and running. By this
point, I think Deborah found the fact that we all had showed an interest in
entering the race whilst being from diverse areas of the business, let alone in
terms of our locations, interesting and put us in touch.'
Fellow, home-based TCS consultant and Apprentice of Saddlery, Richard `Prof'
Walker joined the team with Graham and adds: `I have an engineering background
so I was enticed into the team with the prospect of building something and
started sketching designs based around basic principles almost immediately. It
soon became clear that a `roadster' style of vehicle would be most suitable for
us, where the entry choice was between that and the streamliner classes.'
Bournemouth-based UISL support service engineer, Mel `Wings' Klopper - also
known as the Sculptor of Bodyform - joined last and explains his path into the
team by saying: `I was in Milton Keynes when I heard, through Jeremy, that some
guys had formed a team. I was in quite a fortunate position, as I lived near
him, which was where the build was based. The rules said the team should ideally
consist of five people, so I quickly fitted in. I was perhaps less interested in
the motorsports side of participating in the event than others in the team and
more intrigued by the engineering challenge of maximising speed using nothing
but gravity.'
Keith continues: `We decided Jeremy was best suited to drive the soapbox at
the first meeting and set about getting the design finalised as soon as
possible. With my hobby, I am used to spending weekends building and re-building
cars, but we spent a good couple of thousand man-hours on this project, using
computer animated design (CAD), as well as on the actual build itself. We all
ended doing a few long-hour days in order to make it to the event.' Graham adds:
`The project progressed by means of lots of conference calls, emails traded at
midnight and a few meetings - so much so that our wives were christened soapbox
widows! It didn't help in my own situation that I'd only just moved house too.'
With the team in place, the challenge of actually designing and constructing
a competitive soapbox that would adhere to the race's stringent rules and
requirements in time and to budget became the team's objective. This was by no
means a minor feat in referencing the Goodwood Soapbox rule book (as issued by
Judge of Fact, Julius Thurgood), where every aspect of the team and their
competing vehicles, from the total weight including the driver to the vehicle
dimensions, would have to stand up to strict scrutiny prior to the event.
One look at the rulebook conveys perfectly the detail organisers expected
entrants to go to, whilst emphasising the tongue-in-cheek, fun aspect of the
event. For example, all entries had to pass a `wiggle-woggle test' requiring a
demonstration of the soapboxes' manoeuvrability around cones at downhill speed.
`The Grand Soap Wazir's Ten Commandments' issued to teams warns of this
requirement, saying: 'Thou shalt remember the desirousness to take thy soapbox
around bends. Thou shalt compromise betwixt optimum rolling speed and cornering
aplomb.'
To their credit Team Unisys did a full analysis of every aspect of the build,
visiting the track in March before finalising their design. And, for all of the
reputations of the multi-million pound motoring companies and die-hard
soapboxers' expertise who had also entered put together, it was ironic then that
Team Unisys was alone in meeting standards at the first attempt at the test and
scrutineering day at the end of April.
Mel says: `We were particularly pleased with our result from the first test
day, as our entire soapbox was made out of basic materials in comparison to some
of the other entrants. One exception was the specially designed fibre-glass
wings that I worked on.' Jeremy adds: `It was obvious that some of the other
teams had not heeded changes to the regulations and had dug out last year's
vehicle, and blown off the dust.'
Graham says: `Some the teams obviously hadn't thought of aerodynamics and
weight distribution. We soon discovered that we had met and exceeded levels of
readiness and capability in comparison to the efforts of some other entries,
when one entry crashed during the wiggle-woggle test, breaking the driver's
collarbone as he veered off the course at nearly 60mph! Others still seemed to
be rushing to finish the build process at trackside.
`Luckily, starting from scratch allowed us to design our soapbox from scratch
and, even though ours wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing design in the
field, we spent a lot of time thinking up quite innovative solutions for
components such as the wheels, suspension and steering. A very good thing was
that the scrutineers commented how differently designed all the entries were. It
was also a good opportunity for us to test the strength of our brakes!'
When the weekend of the festival arrived, heavy rain on the first day
prompted the team to make some last minute adjustments to the Unisys soapbox,
cutting holes in the seat to make sure any last minute downpours could drain
away, rather than having to sit in a puddle! Despite their hard work, and having
arrived at the venue on the Thursday preceding the festival with time to get
used to their surroundings, the team was very nervous. However, they cite the
support of fellow Unisys attendees who sought them out to offer support
alongside that of other teams in helping to calm and reassure them.
Keith comments: `Throughout the festival most of the teams demonstrated
tremendous camaraderie, while others were slightly more guarded in their
willingness to swap tips and experiences. Having to help the McLaren driver, who
normally tested the Formula One cars, out of his soapbox when he got a bit stuck
was very funny. Even he commented that the experience was more hair-raising than
testing F1 cars.'
Friday and Saturday's timed test runs put Team Unisys equal with Goodwood's
own entry, so they felt they had a good chance of placing. Not to disappoint,
they managed to maintain their form and produce a final race time on Sunday that
fell 0.2 seconds behind the Goodwood team, seeing them finish a respectable
ninth in their class. Keith says: `It was congratulations all around, as Jeremy
and most of the other drivers had really smooth runs. Only McLaren received a
five-second penalty because their driver didn't turn up to scrutineering on
Friday. It was also satisfying that the contest was not an entirely
professionally dominated one - even The Times' entry withdrew and B&W didn't run
on Sunday, having careered off the course the previous day.'
Graham also observes that `it was quite nice meeting the public, as they were
very interested in how the soapbox race is run.' Echoing the other Team Unisys
members, he concludes: `I really enjoyed the whole experience. I strongly
recommend more people attend or get involved next year: there's a second-hand
soapbox on offer, with a full service history, only ten miles on the clock and
one careful driver.' And all without the aid of a wind tunnel! Unisys News
congratulates Jeremy, Mel, Keith, Graham and Richard on their pioneering
efforts.
Now view the impressive poster in pdf
it cost many hundreds of pounds for design!
View the
other pictures on
the Jowett website.
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