RedBull Mini Cooper

I flew back at 7am from Hyderabad last Sunday just so I could witness (and judge!) the first-of-it’s-kind RedBull Soap Box Race in Mumbai. I kid you not, when I pulled up to Mount Mary Church (still half asleep) in my rickshaw I totally did not expect to see the throngs of people that showed up to create a carnival like I’ve never seen before! It was absolutely fantastic. And OMG, once again my people have made me proud. Where will you find this kind of enthusiasm on a Sunday morning? Bandra, that’s where.

Psst! That’s the adorable RedBull Mini Cooper Ramona Arena drove up in. Dear Santa please note, that’s all I want for Christmas.

As you can see in the video above it’s hard to put into words exactly what this was. (Especially if you caught a glimpse of Darth Vader’s red chaddi dance to I’m Sexy and I Know It!) I mean technically it was a “soap box race” where people of all shapes and sizes put together little sopa box cars (also of all shapes and sizes) and rolled down the hill in them…

BUT the atmosphere that was created (in no small part by the laugh-out-loud hilarious emcees Cyrus Broacha, José Covaco along with the lovely Ramona Arena) was absolutely 100% infectious.

My personal favorite “Cyrus PJ” was when one of the members of the all girls team Don’t Call Me Cute offered to hold the sandwich Cyrus was devouring. He in turn offerend to rename their team Can I Hold Your Sandwich with a silly grin on his face :) At that point I’m pretty sure some of the delicious virgin Redbull mojito I was drinking almost went up my nose as I burst out laughing. You cannot make this stuff up, but somehow he does.

Adrenaline junkies will be happy to hear they had these awesome stunt bikers called Ghost Riderz who did some insane wheelies in badass leather jackets.

Oh and then at one point when Arshad Warsi and Maria Goretti walked in someone yelled “aye circuit!” from the crowd and I thought that was great too, I tweeted Maria and she laughed, I love those two :)

I also spotted Poorna Jagannathan with the fam enjoying a fun Sunday out on the streets!

Everybody had a good time, the sun was shining, the music was loud and me and my fellow judges Nasser Hussain, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Kunal Vijaykar, Lisa Haydon and Rannvijay Singha had a mind-blasting good time.

And then to top it all Imran Khan showed up in a soap box car specifically designed as a pink buffalo called Gulabo (who looked a lot less crazy with the shades ON, I might add!) to promote his upcoming comedy caper Matru Ki Bijli Ka Mandola.

At the end, Team Dabbawallas, Flower Power and Feni Talks took home prizes one of which includes a trip to RedBull World in Austria! *jealous*

My personal favorites of course were Harleen the sexy Punjabi kudi soap box car and one of the Vada Paos, I heart that they even tossed actual vada paos into the crowd, that’s 100% love, Bombay Style!

And this ladies and gentlemen is why I love Redbull. They know how to throw a party and you don’t even need booze to enjoy it! #FTW

Oh and PS, I was super tempted to steal this tweet for my title, and then I just totally did :)

More on the Soap Box Race here: redbull.in!

Needless to say I went trigger-happy, check out my ton of other pictures here!