Return the Soap Box Rallythe race of the oldest wooden car in the world, organized by Proloco Bergamo with the sporting collaboration of Asd Box Rally and the direction of Roberto Gualdi. The soap boxes, built according to a historic regulation dated 1955, will come down from Città Alta towards Porta Sant’Agostino on Sunday 12 May with the race starting at 3pm. The event enjoys the patronage and collaboration of the Municipality and Province of Bergamo, the patronage of the Lombardy Region and the Community of the Upper Town Shops.
The Soap Box Rally was presented this morning, 8 May, at Palazzo Frizzoni with a well-attended press conference, in the presence of all the protagonists: Roberto Gualdi, President of the Soap Box Rally, Loredana Poli, Councilor for sport and youth of the Municipality of Bergamo, Giorgia Gandossi, Councilor delegated for sport and youth of the Province of Bergamo, Mauro Ferrari, President of Asd Box Rally, Marcello Roncalli, teacher of ABF from Curno with many students in tow, Michele Taddei, Vice President and coordinator of the volunteer group of the National Carabinieri Association Bergamo section.
Soap Boxes born in the USA
The «Soap Boxes», literally soap boxes, they are bizarre machines that were born in 1933 in the USA from the idea of a soap merchant who knew how to combine the American dream of the time, the automobile, with his own business. The entrepreneur had the happy intuition of drawing the silhouettes of imaginary cars on the soap boxes, which were made of wood. Once cut out and assembled, with the addition of mechanical parts, anyone could build their own personalized “car”. It was a huge success. Thousands of mini-racers began speeding across the States wherever there was a slope. The first craziest race in America took place in Daytona in 1934 with the title “All American Soap Boxes Derby”. From 1934 to today the passion for Soap Boxes has traveled around the world.
He arrived in Bergamo in 1955
After phases of mixed success, since 2000 the Soap Box Rally has been proposed in the city by Proloco Bergamo with the intention of enhancing and consolidating an exciting tradition rooted in the territory. «The key words that characterize the event are tourist attractiveness, fun, healthy competition, historicity and tradition and, finally, educational attention that involves children in a project that does not last a single day» explains the Councilor of the Municipality of Bergamo, Loredana Poli. 51 soap boxes will participate in the competition. «It hasn’t happened in a long time to have so many registrations» comments Mauro Ferrari.
Japanese TV
There will also be 15 drift trikes and two vehicles from Speed Down Italia. The crews come from the Bergamo area, but not only that: also from Brescia, Mantua, Como, Milan, Cremona, and from Trentino, Veneto, Piedmont and Umbria. This year, at the 48th edition of the Soap Box Rally, one will also participate television crew from Japan with two soap boxes competing. It is a television and its main Frontman, Daisuke Miyagawa: actor, comedian and showman, much loved and appreciated in his homeland with almost two million followers. Appreciated for his humor and sarcasm, he became increasingly famous by starring in over twenty films, TV series, advertisements, cooking programs, in particular the travel program «Sekai no hate made ItteQ». In this program Miyagawa travels around the world facing increasingly improbable and imaginative challenges. ItteQ is the most popular travel program in Japan and is broadcast in prime time every Sunday evening on Nippon TV, one of the most followed private television channels broadcast from Tokyo, reaching an average of over 20 million viewers, with a share of around 20 million. %.
Wooden trophies
The historic wooden trophies handed down since 1955, passed from one winner to another (each winner keeps it for a year and then returns it for the following year’s competition), will be awarded, as well as other awards. Originality Trophy: will take into consideration the votes of three juries: the public, the «Creativity Jury» and the «Technical Jury»; Speed Trophy: will be obtained from the sum of the times of the individual heats, except for any penalties; Creativity Trophy: it is the result of the score assigned by the «Creativity Jury» and will be awarded on Saturday 11 May. Grand Combined Trophy: awarded to the crew that obtains the lowest score in the sum of the ranking positions of the individual downhill heats (pair heats and obstacle heats), plus the ranking position of the «Originality Trophy» multiplied by a coefficient . This coefficient varies depending on the number of participants in the race. Pinocchio Trophy: new trophy! Schools, oratories, youth centers, and young people at their first experience will be able to participate in this award. Seven teams will compete, coming from the following schools/clusters: IPIA Pesenti, ABS Trescore (with two teams), Abf Curno, Istituto Riva di Sarnico, Cag di Treviolo, la Ragnatela di Chiuduno. «It is an important occasion for the ABF students, – explains the prof. Marcello Roncalli – the event represents a project that encouraged children who had difficulty integrating into school. In this way fun is combined with learning, to also include them in the world of work.”
The security
To guarantee safety, the collaboration of everyone is important, especially of the volunteers present: the Local Police of the Municipality of Bergamo and Commander Antonio Bettoni, the White Cross of Bergamo, the Radio Emergency Operations Unit, the volunteer nucleus of the Ass. Nat. Carabinieri – Bergamo section and Grumello del Monte section, and the civil protection of Albino. THEOn the occasion of the race, Viale delle Mura (from Porta Sant’Agostino to Colle Aperto) will be closed from 1pm to 8pm as per the order of the local police of Bergamo.
The program
Saturday 11 May at the Serramenti Pedretti showroom, in via Dalmine,10 in Curno:
11: display and stamping of the soap boxes and drift trikes
2.30pm: soap box parade
4.30pm: “Creativity” trophy awards ceremony
The public will be able to vote for their favorite soap box by accessing this link: https://forms.gle/1Let5DdUaRGoNcyW6
Sunday 12 May in Viale delle Mura:
2pm: meeting at Colle Aperto
2.30pm: briefing
3pm: 1st round of soap box pairs
16: 2nd single heat with obstacles
