Every year on Boxingday the locals of Cape
Tribulation get together for a rather insane activity; they
build billykarts, often on the day itself while they still have
a hangover from Xmas day, and then get pushed down the steep hill
of Camelot Close. There usually is at least one good crash to entertain
the drinking spectators.
Smiling spectators in the VIP area
at Rainforest Hideaway
Master of Disaster slightly injured when his
kart crashed and broke in two halves
A tragic end for the classic veteran Hillbilly
kart that has seen quite a few races
This is a video of the 2009 Boxingday Billykart Race, which saw
more competitors than ever!
The 2007 Boxingday Race
The Eco Grand Prix of the north, the infamous annual Cape
Tribulation Boxing Day billy kart race, has once again been
a great success, and also seen a good crash as usual.
Dazza, co-pilot of Mitch, delivering his aero dynamic machine
to the starting line
Three of the mean machines lined up, one more to arrive.
Rules of the race;
no brakes and no brains.
The Dalai Lama has arrived to give his blessings to the
karts
The machines head into the infamous Death Bend, Dumb Dazza
waving at the crowd and creating air-drag ruining some of
the unique aero dynamic properties of their sleek racer
As usual, maximum mayhem in the Death Bend, disaster strikes
with Jinxed-James' kart ploughing into Jason's dragon wagon
Lucky survivors cruise on while behind the
dust cloud Jason has been knocked off his kart and skids
through the gravel and the disaster kart careers in to the
spectators
The 2006 billy kart race
The 2006 race was run by four competitors / teams;
1. Jason in his dragon-wagon, the oldest surviving billykart to
have run every year since the inaugural run, rumour has it that
Lawrence Mason has offered $250,000 to purchase this historic racing
machine as the main drawcard for his planned Cape Trib museum.
2. Mitch and Dazza and their aero dynamic sleek jet-ski like machine.
3. Calamity-Clancy, who managed to crash in to a coconut tree just
before the finish line.
4. Jinxed James, the master of disaster responsible for the carnage
in the Death Bend.
Champions of the 2006 race are Mitch and Dazza, thanks to (1) the
secret weapon of having a co-pilot to add extra weight to exploit
gravity down the steep bit, and (2) staying out of Jinxed James'
way. Thanks to Calamity-Clancy crashing into a coconut tree on a
perfectly straight safe bit of road Jason had enough time to climb
back on his dragon wagon after the Death Bend crash and he still
came in second. Clancy came in third after getting back on the road
and James never arrived as his rooted racer was loaded on the back
of a ute at the crash site for removal.
Organizers of the annual Boxing Day race expect to
attain offical Eco-certification of the race by next year;
1. No animals were hurt in the running of the race
(only people)
2. No fuel was burnt during the race, only gravity and muscle power
was used
3. All alchohol consumed during the race was packaged in recyclable
glass and cans
4. All racing machines were built of dodgy old recycled materials
5. No ambulances were placed on standby which would have meant use
of fossil fuels to drive the 1.5 hour from the nearest hospital
6. This webpage was put together with a laptop on solar power.
7. The tree that Clancy slammed in to was a coconut tree, which
is not a native species of the Daintree, and therefore this crash
had the approval of Hugh Spencer.
The above pictures and video was shot from the entrance
to Rainforest
Hideaway, the best and safest place to watch the infamous crashes
in the Death Bend, order your tickets for the 2007 race for limited
places in this spot now for $100.- p.p. before you have to fork
out $500.- to a scalper on Ebay just before the race!
