CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — When most people hear race they think cars or foot races, except for one crew of UNC students.
What You Need To Know
The Red Bull Chariot Race returned Saturday after a nine-year hiatus
Twenty teams registered for the race in Raleigh
The Autobahn Aerialists represented the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands
They were racing chariots.
“It kind of plays into that very old-timey Roman strong, empire-esque kind of race,” Desireé Lockhart, the team leader said. “It’s something anybody can get on, because it’s not officially done anymore.”
All part of the Red Bull Chariot Race event, this group was one of 20 teams that entered to compete this past Saturday in Raleigh for the honors of fastest cart.
The Autobahn Aerialists, as they refer to themselves, not only represented one university, but three countries as well.
“The United States would be at the tip of that triangle, which is what we designed here,” Lockhart explained. “Then the closest country on the right-hand side would be the Netherlands. So we’ve got the Netherlands flag on the right. Then on the left of it would be Germany.”
The project originally started as a group task assigned by their professor, and now the Aerialists have spent countless days and late nights assembling their chariot from scratch.
They say at this point they’re more than a team, they’re family.
“We saw some culture gaps between words that we could then close and say, 'hey, how amazing is it actually to have such a diverse team and learn from each other,'” team member Marcel Sauerborn said.
But as fun as the assembly of this cart has been, their eyes were always set on the final prize.
“We absolutely want to place. We want to represent UNC well. We want to represent our team. So we want to place, but we’re there to have a good time,” team member Becca Grimsley said ahead of the race. “We had a fantastic time building this chariot with fellow classmates.”
Unfortunately, the Aerialists finished last on Saturday but did win the "Best Crash" award.