New-look Soapbox Derby proposed for Penleigh Park

A new event inspired by Westbury’s Soapbox Derby is being explored for Penleigh Park. 

Westbury Town Council is looking at replacing its annual Soapbox Derby with a similar event, called the Mane Super Speedway, after this year’s event was postponed because of public safety concerns. 

The Westbury White Horse Soapbox Derby was organised by the town council and began in 2022. Events manager Ryan Child explained the new proposal to councillors at a Full Council meeting on Monday 7th September. 

He cited legal issues, an inability to get insurance, resource burdens, accessibility issues, safety risks and transport issues as problems with continuing to hold the event at the White Horse.  

Due to the lack of a hill at Penleigh Park, competitors would instead build a ‘sit-down bike’ which they would pedal along the course, racing against the clock. 

The plan would be to get local schools involved with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) building challenges, similar to those organised for the soapbox format. 

Ryan said the Penleigh Park location would “tick a lot of the boxes” to address these issues. 

He said, “We’ve got a fenced in arena, so there’s security, it’s near the train station, so it would be far more accessible, it’s more affordable for us, and if we’re talking about blue badges, then people will be able to walk to the event, it’s completely accessible.” 

Ryan also said the location could help bring more people into the town centre. 

He said, “We have stats for the soapbox when it’s up on the horse and it’s something like 22 per cent increase in footfall in the High Street, so you can imagine the kind of stats you’d be looking at when we’re actually doing the event in the town. We’re trying to engage a bit more with local businesses and get them a bit more involved with the event.” 

The proposal has not yet been approved. The Policy and Resources Committee will vote to formally sign off on the proposal when it is put forward as a recommendation in October.