Team S.Tek, formerly Team S-tec, is a team from Mablethorpe which entered the later series of Robot Wars. Their peak performance was in Series 8, reaching the Heat Final with Dantomkia.
The Team
The team is captained by Shane Swan, who was originally joined by Andrew Shepard and Paul Morton. The team entered the New Blood Championship with Hell's Teeth in Extreme Series 2, having previously failed to qualify for Series 5 and Series 6 with that machine, before entering Series 7 with Trax. Both robots lost in the second round of their respective competitions.
Team S.Tek enter the arena with Dantomkia
In 2015, Shane Swan bought Dantomkia from Michael Lambert, upgraded it, and entered it into Series 8 of Robot Wars. He did so alongside Stuart Barnwell of Team Kat, Kevin Tonry, and Aimee Burch, though he has since sold the robot onto Team Slam. Stuart Barnwell became the team's driver for this series and also Series 9.
For Series 9-10, Shane Swan built Push to Exit, and Stuart Barnwell returned as driver. In Series 9, Swan was joined once again by Paul Morton, and his young daughter Amelie. Shane Swan also invited YouTube content creators Anthony Murney and Stephen McCulla to join the team as "media relations" in order to allow McCulla access to review Push to Exit on his YouTube channel.[1] In Series 10, both Murney and McCulla joined the televised team replacing Barnwell and the Morton family, while Shane Swan returned to being the team driver. After Series 10, Shane Swan retired as a roboteer, selling the last of the components of Push to Exit in March 2018.
Battle of the Stars
Shane Swan with Interstellar: MML
Shane Swan was specifically chosen to be a mentor in Robot Wars: Battle of the Stars. He appeared in Episode 1, mentoring Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, scientist and TV presenter. Swan helped the celebrity compete with a robot of her own design, Interstellar: MML, which finished third in the Head-to-Heads. Shane Swan's expertise was necessary to make repairs to Interstellar: MML, which left its first battle against Arena Cleaner heavily damaged.
Robots
| Name | Weight Class | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Hell's Teeth | Heavyweight | Extreme 2 |
| Trax | Heavyweight | Series 7 |
| Dantomkia | Heavyweight | Series 8 |
| Push to Exit | Heavyweight | Series 9-10 |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 5
- Losses: 7
NOTE: Battle of the Stars wins/losses are not included
Series Record
Team S.Tek in 2016
| Main Series | Team S.Tek Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fourth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fifth Wars | Failed to qualify with Hell's Teeth |
| The Sixth Wars | Failed to qualify with Hell's Teeth |
| The Seventh Wars | Heat, Round 2 with Trax |
| Series 8 | Heat Final with Dantomkia |
| Series 9 | Heat, Round 1 with Push to Exit Battle of the Stars, Third Place with Interstellar: MML |
| Series 10 | Heat, Round 1 with Push to Exit |
| Robot Wars Extreme | Appearances |
| Series 1 | Did not enter |
| Series 2 | Entered with Hell's Teeth |
Outside Robot Wars
Following the end of Robot Wars, Shane Swan teamed up with Jason Marston, the captain of Thor, to form Team Bud, which competed in various robot combat events across the country. The team rebuilt Thor, which has since been modified many times each year. Shane Swan also built a new robot called Air which he had the intentions of entering in to the FRA World Championships 2004. However, the World Championships were cancelled, although Swan still competed with Air at live events with little success until its retirement. In 2007, Swan rebuilt Trax into an early version of Envy, which was then rebuilt again into another incarnation, which resembled Firestorm, and enjoyed considerable success at live events.
Later, Team Bud were joined by Scottish roboteer Liam Bryant, with his heavyweight Storm Force and other robots Pug and Puglet. The team were also given Random Violence Technologies' robots (Mortis, Maelstrom (later renamed Rigormortis) and Minotaur) and attempted to restore them to running condition. Mortis was subsequently given to John Findlay; it and Rigormortis are currently owned by Team Make Robotics.[2] Shane Swan also started building an invertible four-wheeled robot, Full Tilt, believed to be the first robot with a 360 degree electrically powered flipper.
Near late 2012, Shane Swan also rebuilt Air to replace Envy (actually using Envy as a base for the new Air), which is now retired. They also had a featherweight robot called Chuck, a featherweight version of Envy. They later gained a new team member, Tom Kane from Team Kan-Opener, who added Kan-Opener G and Kan-Opener H to the armada of robots possessed by Team Bud.
Team Bud had a specific colour scheme for its robots, barring the Kan-Opener incarnations they owned, of silver and black. However, the team colours later changed to black and red, and the team name was set to change. However, in 2013, Team Bud disbanded, with Jason Marston and Shane Swan going their separate ways to focus on their own individual robots. When the team disbanded, Swan retained Air, but later sold it through the Fighting Robots Association. Chuck was also sold to Team Trance, and Kan-Opener H was been sold to Mario of Team KODOX.
Of Team Bud's remaining robots, Pug retired in Summer 2011 but returned in the form of the Scot Bots kit in September 2013. Storm Force is in 'sleep mode', taking a hiatus from competition. Chuck was sold to Jarvis of Team Rapture, but the sale was cancelled two months later, although the robot still competes in live events as of October 2017 under Team Trance's ownership. Full Tilt was not completed, as it was overweight at 120kg, and would have required a full rebuild, so Swan has kept its remaining parts.
In 2014, Shane built a new version of Air, which was put up for sale in July 2014. In January 2015, it was revealed that Team ThunderCheese bought the robot and renamed it Thunderchild, which applied for the new series of Robot Wars under the ownership of its new team.
It was in November 2015, Shane Swan acquired the fifth version of Dantomkia, and in October 2016, he sold it to Team Slam. After selling Dantomkia, Swan also announced that he was building a new version of his previously successful heavyweight robot Envy, which then was revealed as Push to Exit.
Trivia
- YouTubers Anthony Murney and Stephen McCulla were part of Team S.Tek backstage in Series 9, but did not appear on television until Series 10. Stephen McCulla is known for his review channel, known as Votesaxon07 at the time of Series 10, which featured Anthony Murney, and frequently made Robot Wars content, which included a video review of Push to Exit in Series 9. Anthony Murney is known on YouTube as Twopennymilk 8908, producing the series Antweight Anarchy with McCulla.
- Series 9 team member Amelie was the youngest member of any team in that series.
- During Robot Wars' hiatus, Shane Swan's heavyweight, Envy, was inducted into The Combat Robot Hall of Fame in 2009, as a result of its performances at Roaming Robots events.[3]
References
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umNK7fLMRYM Robot Wars: Reactivated - Stephen McCulla's 20th Anniversary Documentary
- ↑ Private correspondence between User:VulcansHowl and Arthur Chilcott's Facebook page, 30th August 2017
- ↑ http://runamok.tech/hall_of_fame.html
External links
- Team S.Tek Facebook page
- Haynes Manuals interview with Team S.Tek
- Stephen McCulla's video on Push to Exit in Series 9
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