THOUSANDS of people lined the streets of York to watch amateur daredevils ride self-built racers down one of the city's steepest hills.

The Micklegate Run Soapbox Challenge saw dozens of spectacular soapboxes race from the top of a huge ramp, over a specially-designed water hazard, through a chicane, over cobbles and cross the finish line, with racers emitting smoke, water, and even sweets.

Kevin Greenhill drove for The Peppa Pig Racers to support York's Home Start charity, which supports families and young children in difficulty in the city, and raised more than £1,500 ahead of the run.

He said: "Going down the Micklegate Run was absolutely terrifying, but really great fun.

"The slope at the beginning is way higher than you might have thought, and this car is not built for handling - it's just a constant battle to stay in a straight line and I think we're quite likely to crash when we go again."

Shelagh Garside, one of the event organisers, said this year’s run was bigger than the inaugural race last year, and the feedback from the crowds had been overwhelmingly positive.

She said: “Last year there were 16,000 on the street, brought £600,000 in revenue to the city and over £50,000 was raised for charity by the racers.

"We’re hoping there will be slightly more this year, and I feel there were more people here than last year, I would say maybe 20,000.”

This year’s fastest soapbox racers were the Digital Image team, in 29.99 seconds.

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