Friday - Registration and Parade
Stayed up all night working on KillerHurtz on Thursday. Just got it running before the parade, no time to practice.
Tried to do a 'doughnut', but there was so little grip we just slid into one of the barriers and knocked it back about a foot.
The other competitors in our heat were Roadblock, Nemesis, Onslaught and Limpet.
Saturday - Gauntlet
Got blocked by the digger on our first run. Got past the second time and hit Dead Metal head on at full speed.
Almost got under it, but the axe counterweight was sticking out the front and got in the way.
Nosed into the end zone, briefly, but one of our rear wheels collapsed where I had forgotton to put in a row of bolts!
As a result we were pushed back into range of the digger and were swept into the second pit.
Couldn't really see what was going on from the control box. Finished fourth.
Sunday - Skittles
Got the axe finished and had time for one quick test before going on.
Unfortunately I stupidly had the axe trigger foot switch in my pocket when I bent down to switch KHz on and it fired!
Fortunately the safety pin held, but the ram pushed the lever out of its bearings, so Rebecca didn't get to play with it.
Got the top score of 61 (out of 100) barrels in about 10 seconds,
then got stuck in reverse and was promptly assaulted by three house robots. Fortunately KillaLot just missed our axe shaft with his pincers.
No significant damage.
Monday - Arena
Got the axe repaired just before our first real battle - we were drawn against last year's champion RoadBlock
for the first Arena battle on Monday.
Hit them head on at full speed, piercing their front armour (left) and bending one of their chassis rails.
The pic on right shows how the 4mm steel ram plate (that Dom had sharpened specially for this fight) was bent down by the impact.
The impact, however, sheared a pin in both
the gearboxes - too small (1/8"), too hard, too close to the shaft and not enough of them!
We were immobilised, so Dominic vented our frustration on the barriers with the axe.
Should look good on TV, as it was only about a foot from one of the cameras.
RoadBlock then backed into us with their circular saw, cut through the back panel
and cut a neat little slot in the casing of one of the motors. Still works fine, but a close shave!
Took part in a 'Web Site' grudge match in the afternoon with Corporal Punishment,
Griffon and Bodyhammer, where the plan was to go after the house robots.
Unfortunately we got stuck in reverse again before the start so weren't much use,
though Dominic managed to get Matilda's chainsaw chain with the Axe.
Got pushed over the flaming pit, which had me panicking a bit.
Fortunately the heat melted an air hose and the blast of Nitrogen at 150psi blew the flames out,
so didn't get too toasted. Pic is view from below. Holes in floorpan are to vent air from valve.
KillerHurtz after the event, with our trophy - Matilda's chain. Banners are a bit charred after our excursion over the flame-pit.
Invited Mortis to test their tanto blade out on our armour when I went along to watch on Tuesday.
Unfortunately couldn't return the favour as they were still competing.
The resultant damage. Lexan rules!
They were trying different drive-belt tensions and changing the weight of the blade fixing block to get optimum blade speed.