Cover Photo: A gravity-powered coaster kart races down MacKay Drive after hitting an obstacle (2025). Photo Credit: Charleigh Teefy
Every autumn since 1974, the Student Society of Mechanical Engineers (SSME) has hosted a Coaster Derby at the University of New Brunswick on MacKay Drive. This year’s iteration, the 50th anniversary of the event due to missing two years during CVOID, is taking place on October 25th from 8:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.
Jackson Murphy, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student and chair of the Coaster Derby Committee, explained what makes this tradition special:
“I haven’t seen this anywhere in Canada at least. I would definitely say outside of RedBull Soapbox derbies that happen all across America, I’m sure this is pretty unique to Atlantic Canada. [Unique] to Canada in general.”
Murphy talked about the layout of the event, explaining that in the morning:
“We do straight speed trials. We’ll try to get at least three runs down for each team, about 40 runs, and some speed trials.” This competition aims to see how fast the karts can go.
Murphy explained how in the next competition, they test the maneuverability of the karts:
“At 1:00 p.m., we set up tires in a slalom course track, so we do a couple different obstacles, like a minefield, a switchback, and a big slalom maneuver.”
Allie McFadden is an upper-year mechanical engineering student. It is her third year competing in the Coaster Derby. She spoke about the process of competing in the Coaster Derby while working in one of UNB’s shops on her kart with her teammates.
McFadden discussed how she came to compete with her team, Pink Pistons:
“It was my third year. I watched the Coaster Derby and I thought it was super cool. This was a legacy kart, so after watching it the first time, I applied for the kart. We got it, [and] this will be my third year racing it.”
McFadden’s kart placed second last year, and third place the previous year. Therefore, McFadden and her teammates are striving to step up on the podium once again and take home the title of first place.
While the Pink Pistons tested and tuned the braking system on the kart, McFadden discussed some of the previous work they had done on the kart:
“This year we had to do quite a bit of work. Last year, when we were racing, one of our bearings let go. So we had to get new bearings, [and] press them in. We’ve been fighting with tires this whole time, [so] we have some new tires on the back.”
With these changes, the Pink Pistons hope that they will improve their kart enough to win this year.
Charleigh Teefy, president of the SSME, discussed some of the things that the organizers are doing differently this year for the 50th anniversary of the Coaster Derby. Teefy assured attendees that the SSME is going to have yard games, a food truck, merchandise, and other activities to keep spectators engaged.
Additionally, Teefy mentioned that “in the afternoon, it’s the slalom (a zigzag race between obstacles), so that’s when you see a lot of people hit tires. That’s fun to go and watch if you’re just going to catch part of the day.”
Teefy continued to hype up the 50th anniversary of the race, citing the excitement of the faculty, and the participation of other universities such as McMasters, University of Maine, and University of Southern Maine. The SSME is also hoping to use this year as a platform to bring back the former glory of the competition.
If you are interested in the Coaster Derby, remember anyone can watch the karts race down MacKay Drive on October 25th from 8:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. More information can be found on the SSME’s instagram page.
