My Mum and I have a shared love of pretty much anything mechanical. We often spend time together figuring out how things work, brainstorming on new ideas (as all creatives can concur: the ideas greatly outweigh the completed projects), and doing something we like to call “Table Time”.
“Table Time” is when we get out basically every tool and resource we own, dump it on the table and figure out what we’re doing with it. It starts out tidier than that sentence sounds, and most of the time we already have a set idea to get on with before we start, but you can guarantee that by the end, you won’t be able to see the tablecloth (or living-room floor – depends on the size of the project, and how much of a mess we want to make).
Now it’s time to introduce you to the world of Teapot Racing. The idea behind this hobby is literally in the name. You stick wheels on a teapot and race it, and people like to decorate them, so they look cool and interesting (we enjoy decorating them). No two racers look the same, and most teapots are made out of different materials. The limit truly is your imagination. We’ve joined in twice now, and it’s been huge fun both times.
Last year, we made a pretty large teapot racer last minute. It was our first ever time Steampunking, and it was a last minute decision to go. We were set on the idea that we wanted to dress up, and we wanted to turn up with a racer. Sounded like fun, so why not jump straight in the deep end?
We built a beautiful droid, with clean lines, polished aluminium features, and a huge brass teapot as the focal point (the largest of a set of three that we bought after spending months trying to find brass teapots specifically – a story in itself). We were very proud of it, and managed to get it done the night before the event. It was tested so many times that night. We set off with the knowledge and confidence that she worked.
Long story short, she basically caught fire. Twice. We turned up, and she was working fine, then all of a sudden, a dramatic puff of smoke or two later, and she was out of the race. Some lovely racers lent us some equipment, so we could actually take part in the race, but we didn’t get a very good time due to her sheer size. She was pretty big.
So this year, we felt a bit of personal pressure to get it right. We saw it almost like a redemption, as we didn’t want to end up with a reputation for having robots that didn’t work and/or caught fire. Since we had two brass teapots left, why not make one each? I called dibs on one of them pretty early on, and with the knowledge of which pot we’d each be working with, we got to work.
As mentioned, “Table Time” commenced. We got out boxes of Meccano, bolts, and tools galore. We both had a set idea of what we wanted our racer to look like. Mum wanted hers to look clean, smart, and minimalistic in a futuristic kind of way, whereas I wanted mine to look chaotically messy, with more of a ‘Mad-Max’ feel to it.
I initially had the idea that I wanted mine to look almost overgrown, like the teapot itself had been dropped, only to be claimed by moss, wood, and fae. I didn’t have enough time or wood to lean into that idea, though, and re-focused my idea to just be chaotically steampunk. I shall save my first idea for another pot.
The robot itself is just a remote control (RC) circuit. It had two motors and gearboxes, which powered tracks. Each motor had its own motor-controller, which were connected to the receiver and a battery. There is more to the circuit than that, with switches and fuses thrown into the mix, but that’s the rundown of what is going on in those little racers.
We built them both simultaneously in the span of three days (which we made a time-lapse of – video down below). On day two, Jacob (my brother), decided that he fancied building one. We spent roughly a day helping him build a teapot racer made entirely out of Lego. It didn’t work in the end, which was a shame, but it looks impressive. Hopefully, we’ll help him get it working for next year.
We were incredibly happy with our two teapots when we finished, and we tested them at every stage we could. Even though we were more than sure they’d work on the day, we were still incredibly nervous. There was a lot of excitement mixed with nerves for the few days that led up to the actual race.
The morning of, we all got dressed up in our finery, like we did last year. I changed most of my outfit to match an incredibly beautiful coat I had bought the year before, and I loved every bit of it. We spent the morning before the race testing our teapots alongside many other incredible looking racers. Many we recognised from the previous year, but there were several that were new to us. There was one that was Star Wars inspired, which as a Star Wars fan, I liked very much.
The time for the race rolled around, after spending the morning eagerly waiting. One by one, we watched as several teapot racers had a turn around the obstacle course. It was a lot of fun watching racers of all different sizes create carnage on the track, with one flying off a few ramps, and another crashing into another part of the course gloriously.
Eventually it was my turn. I was nervous, but I felt decently confident as I placed my racer at the start. I ended up flipping it at one point and had to correct it, and I had to skip another obstacle all together, because my pot couldn’t make it up the steep incline. Other than that, I (and my racer, who I named ‘Mal’, after Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly), did better than I thought I would. My time wasn’t brilliant, but I remained in 2nd place for a while. I completed the course successfully with a huge smile on my face.
After a few more racers, Mum’s turn was next. I helped manoeuvre her around the course as she darted her racer around the track. She managed to flip hers over a lot less than I did, but she got stuck briefly at the end of the tunnel obstacle (that we had to avoid last year due to the sheer size of our racer – happy to say that both racers this year made it through perfectly). I seem to remember Mum named her racer ‘Kaylee’; also named after a character in Firefly.
Mum completed the course with a similar time to me, and neither of them caught fire. We were very pleased with ourselves.
We didn’t win anything, but we didn’t go with the hope that we would anyway. We were incredibly happy that we’d built, and raced, our teapot racers successfully. We met new people, saw friends we get to see very rarely, and managed to do what we’d intended to do, and with no dramatic poof of smoke this time.
We are definitely going again next year, and since the event has started introducing aquatic teapot racers (which we didn’t have time to take part in this year), we are very excited to come up with ideas and designs for next year.
Cerys, out!
Below: a time-lapse of Mum and I building our teapot racers.