- "Coming up: the fight to own one of Robot Wars' most cherished possessions - the Challenge Belt! Eight machines meet, but not to greet, to dash hopes and destroy, to gnash and grind, to mash and melt! To slice and dice and to win through to meet, head-to-head, the reigning holders of the Challenge Belt"
- — Jonathan Pearce's introduction
The Challenge Belt of Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2 was a competition held during Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2. It followed on from the previous Challenge Belt competition in which Tornado had won two of the three battles it needed to win in order to keep its second belt outright. In this series, eight robots fought it out in a knock-out competition to determine which one would get the chance to give Tornado its third and final challenge for the belt. The episode featuring the Challenge Belt was originally broadcast on 28 January 2003 on BBC Choice and was repeated on 12 September 2003 on BBC Two.
Competing Robots[]
Challengers[]
Hypno-Disc | ||
Weight | 100kg | |
Dimensions | 0.47 x 1.22 x 0.74m | |
Power | 2 x 750W electric motors | |
Weapons | Flywheel | |
Strengths | Destructive weapon | |
Weaknesses | Low pushing power | |
From: Banbury, Oxfordshire | ||
Team Members: Dave Rose, Derek Rose & Ken Rose |
S.M.I.D.S.Y. | ||
Weight | 100kg | |
Dimensions | 0.25 x 1.28 x 0.80m | |
Power | 2 x 750W motors | |
Weapons | Lifter & spinning disc | |
Strengths | Strong & agile | |
Weaknesses | Reliablity | |
From: Maidstone, Kent | ||
Team Members: Mik Reed, Robin Bennett & Steve Bennett |
Dantomkia | ||
Weight | 100kg | |
Dimensions | 0.36 x 1.20 x 0.80m | |
Power | 2 x 750W motors | |
Weapons | Powerful flipper | |
Strengths | Very agile | |
Weaknesses | Nervous driver | |
From: Chertsey, Surrey | ||
Team Members: Michael Lambert, Daniel Lambert & Steven Gadsby |
Sir Chromalot | ||
Weight | 100kg | |
Dimensions | 0.38 x 0.69 x 0.60m | |
Power | 750W electric motor | |
Weapons | Pneumatic flipper | |
Strengths | Strong armour | |
Weaknesses | Jonathan Pearce | |
From: South Ockenden, Essex | ||
Team Members: Steve Merrill & Ray Tait |
Barber-Ous 2 | ||
Weight | 100kg | |
Dimensions | 0.49 x 0.71 x 1.18m | |
Power | 2 x 500W electric motors | |
Weapons | Spinning body | |
Strengths | Barbed & dangerous | |
Weaknesses | Plastic construction | |
From: Horsham, West Sussex | ||
Team Members: Simon Rafferty, Guy Radford & Chris Watts |
Vader | ||
Weight | 100kg | |
Dimensions | 0.65 x 1.10 x 1.00m | |
Power | 3 x 800W motors | |
Weapons | Disc, spikes and scoop | |
Strengths | Agility & control | |
Weaknesses | Vulnerable to axe attack | |
From: Clacton-On-Sea, Essex | ||
Team Members: Paul Rose, Simon Latham & Phillip Calthorpe |
Terrorhurtz | ||
Weight | 99kg | |
Dimensions | 0.50 x 1.25 x 1.05m | |
Power | 2 x 1000W electric motors | |
Weapons | Double headed axe | |
Strengths | Highly aggressive | |
Weaknesses | Unpredictable spasms | |
From: Oxford, Oxfordshire | ||
Team Members: John Reid, Nicholas Lynch & James Lynch |
Iron-Awe 2 | ||
Weight | 100kg | |
Dimensions | 0.61 x 1.23 x 0.78m | |
Power | 2 x 800W motors | |
Weapons | Flipper and axe | |
Strengths | Destructive weapons | |
Weaknesses | Easily flipped | |
From: Langport, Somerset | ||
Team Members: Gilbert Grimm, Robert Grimm & Ian Bilboe |
Challenge Belt Holder[]
Tornado | ||
Weight | 99kg | |
Dimensions | 0.25 x 0.85 x 0.75m | |
Power | 2 x 750W motors | |
Weapons | Interchangeable | |
Strengths | Interchangeable weaponry | |
Weaknesses | Unreliable drive train | |
From: Sawtry, Cambridgeshire | ||
Team Members: Andrew Marchant, David Gamble & Bryan Moss |
Round 1[]
- "Experiences here, S.M.I.D.S.Y., Dantomkia and Hypno-Disc, spinners and slammers, the axes of Terrorhurtz and Iron-Awe, the Barber-Ous's pole, Vader from a space time continnum black hole, and at the end of it all...a Tornado is waiting!"
- — Jonathan Pearce
Hypno-Disc vs S.M.I.D.S.Y. vs Dantomkia vs Sir Chromalot[]
Dantomkia attacked S.M.I.D.S.Y. first, as Hypno-Disc attacked the side of the same machine, but merely bounced off. Dantomkia then turned on Hypno-Disc, one flip turning it onto its back, the second toppling it out of the arena. Mr. Psycho then pinned Dantomkia in the CPZ for a while, but eventually freed it.
- "Very good steering from Steve Merrill and Ray Tait, basically what they're doing, ladies and gentlemen, is running away, they're just running away from trouble"
- — Jonathan Pearce spots an opportunity to reignite his rivalry with the Sir Chromalot team
Meanwhile, S.M.I.D.S.Y. had pressed the pit release button, and, after a few seconds of dodging, Dantomkia flipped S.M.I.D.S.Y. and overturned it, whilst Sir Chromalot dodged trouble, but was eventually caught by Dantomkia and S.M.I.D.S.Y. and flipped, but not overturned. S.M.I.D.S.Y was flipped again, but Sir Chromalot was moving slowly temporarily. Dantomkia then flipped S.M.I.D.S.Y. again, leaving it beached it on the arena wall, and turned on Sir Chromalot again, throwing it over in the CPZ. S.M.I.D.S.Y. was picked up, but ultimately freed from the wall by Mr. Psycho. Sir Chromalot, meanwhile, was unable to escape from the CPZ, sustaining severe damage from Matilda before being flung out of the arena by her flywheel. S.M.I.D.S.Y., after pressure from Mr. Psycho, lost drive on one side, before breaking down altogether, but it had already qualified for the next round.
Before the fight ended, Dantomkia proceeded to flip S.M.I.D.S.Y. out of the arena, but this was not shown on the televised airing.[1]
- "They do great dinners here."
- — Solace for Steve Merrill
Qualified: Dantomkia & S.M.I.D.S.Y.
Barber-Ous 2 vs Vader vs Terrorhurtz vs Iron-Awe 2[]
Terrorhurtz was the first robot to show its hand, attacking Vader with its powerful axe. Iron-Awe then attacked Terrorhurtz, flicking it into the air, but failing to overturn it. Barber-Ous 2 then threw Iron-Awe 2 over with its spinning barber's pole weapon, however Iron-Awe 2 self-righted. Vader was then pinned by the two axes of Terrorhurtz and Shunt, also wedging Iron-Awe 2 in, allowing Barber-Ous 2 to attack without retaliation. Combined attacks from Shunt and Terrorhurtz eventually immobilised Vader, before Terrorhurtz and Iron-Awe proceeded to attack Barber-Ous 2 with their axes. Terrorhurtz then hit the pit release button, whilst Iron-Awe 2 attacked the smoking Barber-Ous 2 alone and Vader was counted out.
- "Oh, Vader being counted out! I didn't see that coming!"
- — Jonathan Pearce
Iron-Awe 2 then flipped Barber-Ous 2, but ended up balancing on its rear after Barber-Ous 2 remained stuck in its axe. Terrorhurtz attacked Barber-Ous 2 as Iron-Awe 2 threw itself onto its back, with both it and Barber-Ous 2 still stuck together while Vader was thrown out of the arena by Matilda's flywheel. Once freed, Iron-Awe 2 was left unable to self-right and Barber-Ous 2 lay immobile, the latter being pitted by Terrorhurtz. With Terrorhurtz being the last robot still mobile, the judges were called to determine which other competitor would progress with it.
- "Definitely through, Terrorhurtz, we know that, that's all we know!"
- — Jonathan Pearce
The Judges ruled that Barber-Ous 2 was immobilised before Iron-Awe 2 was turned over, allowing Iron-Awe 2 through to the next round along with Terrorhurtz.
Qualified: Terrorhurtz & Iron-Awe 2
Round 2[]
Dantomkia vs Iron-Awe 2[]
Iron-Awe 2's ground clearance had been lowered before the battle, in an attempt to breach Dantomkia's front wedges. However, this resulted in Iron-Awe 2 getting stuck under the Floor Spinner as the battle started, with the two robots meeting in the centre of the arena and Dantomkia temporarily getting underneath Iron-Awe 2. Iron-Awe 2 spun away before the two robots pushed against each other, Iron-Awe 2 missing a few axe blows as it avoided Dantomkia for a few seconds. Eventually, Dantomkia got underneath Iron-Awe 2, pushed it towards the entry gates, and flipped it out of the arena.
- "Dantomkia, still in explosive form!"
- — Craig Charles, post battle
Winner: Dantomkia
S.M.I.D.S.Y. vs Terrorhurtz[]
S.M.I.D.S.Y. took an axe blow from Terrorhurtz, and then darted away to the pit release button. However, it was caught and battered by Terrorhurtz, sustaining damage to its right-rear corner and losing drive to one side. Terrorhurtz continued axing S.M.I.D.S.Y. until the latter became immobilised, and was counted out by Refbot. Sir Killalot and Dead Metal came in to attack S.M.I.D.S.Y., with Sir Killalot putting it on the Floor Flipper, where S.M.I.D.S.Y. was flung and landed hard on the other side of the arena. S.M.I.D.S.Y. was then pitted by Sir Killalot, leaving Terrorhurtz as the clear winner.
- Craig Charles: "Anything to say?"
- Robin Bennett: "Ouch!"
- — Post-battle
Winner: Terrorhurtz
Final[]
Dantomkia vs Terrorhurtz[]
Terrorhurtz started by axing Dantomkia multiple times, as Dantomkia struggled to get underneath it. Eventually, Dantomkia got underneath Terrorhurtz, but missed when firing the flipper, and flipped it completely over on its second attempt.
- "Big thanks to Shunt for getting in the way there!"
- — John Reid, post-battle
Terrorhurtz self-righted almost immediately, but was again flipped by Dantomkia into Shunt's CPZ, taking a long time to self-right. It escaped quickly as soon as it was able to, and repeatedly axed Dantomkia once again, causing damage to its top armour and eventually immobilising it. Terrorhurtz then nudged the pit release button as Refbot checked the immobile Dantomkia, before pushing Dantomkia into the pit and putting it in contention for the Challenge Belt.
Winner: Terrorhurtz
Challenge[]
Tornado vs Terrorhurtz[]
Tornado immediately pushed Terrorhurtz against the arena wall, receiving a glancing axe blow from Terrorhurtz before rushing straight to the pit release button. With a powerful shove, it got underneath Terrorhurtz and dumped it into the pit, successfully defending its Challenge Belt once again. This was the ninth shortest battle in the UK Robot Wars.
- "You can chop all day, but you can't change your fate."
- — Jonathan Pearce, as Terrorhurtz was pitted
Challenge Belt Holder: Tornado
- "They've taken on all comers, they've settled old scores, and they even get to keep the belt, on Robot Wars!"
- — Craig Charles' sign-off
Trivia[]
- This episode contained four cases of a robot being Thrown Out of the Arena, the most in a single episode at that point.
- The first melee was the only occasion in Robot Wars where two different robots threw a robot out in the same battle, as both Dantomkia and Matilda sent Hypno-Disc (and S.M.I.D.S.Y.) and Sir Chromalot out respectively.
- Iron-Awe 2 was thrown out for the second time in its existence, making it the only robot to appear more than once and be thrown out on all appearances. However, if one counts Iron-Awe 2.1, it was not flipped out of the arena in the Seventh Wars.
- This episode marked the final appearance of Hypno-Disc and Sir Chromalot.
- The Challenge between Tornado and Terrorhurtz lasted nineteen seconds, making it equal 9th in the Shortest Battles in UK Robot Wars.
- The Final between Dantomkia and Terrorhurtz was a grudge match from earlier in Extreme 2, with Terrorhurtz winning to tie the grudge at 1-1.
- The Challenge between Tornado and Terrorhurtz was a grudge match from earlier in Extreme 2, with Tornado defeating Terrorhurtz for the second and last time.
- This was the only Extreme 2 event from which all the robots had competed in Series 6 (barring the All-Stars which was inherently so).
- In this episode, announcer Stuart McDonald pronounced Dantomkia correctly, a break of tradition, but mispronounced Sir Chromalot as Sir Chomp-a-lot, having correctly pronounced the name for over three years previously. He presumably got the later confused with robot Chompalot, which was competing in the Iron Maidens.
- Challenge Belt was the last tournament filmed for Extreme 2, and therefore the last episode produced for BBC Two before Robot Wars moved to Five.[2]
- Andrew Marchant confirmed cut footage from Tornado's fight with Terrorhurtz, where Tornado attacked the house robots following cease being called. The pit was then raised to allow Terrorhurtz to escape, but it had already used too much energy attempting to clamber out of the pit, so the impromptu encore came to a halt.[3]
References[]
- ↑ Facebook comment by Mike Lambert
- ↑ Andrew Marchant discusses the episode during an episode of the RoboCast podcast
- ↑ Andrew reveals cut footage from Tornado's fight with Terrorhurtz
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