FRA UK Featherweight Championship 2014 hosted by RoboChallenge

[Eventorizon]

Thanks to everyone for the most memorable event yet. I think this year is going to have some stunning footage and be talked about for quite some time.

Conker 3 limps away on 3 wheels with just 7 points. The the 3D case is going to be replaced with a titanium box for next year and once the Hardox is straightened and the rear bar is replaced she will be good to go again. The truly single tooth whisk has made it mark, literally, but will need to be stiffened up to continually deal out the punishment it did. The 3D printed drive system is still perfectly fine so I will be keeping that for next year.

Binky, surprisingly, goes home with 9 points and only a broken tooth. If it hadn't been for the errors we it could have been up there in the second round at least. With better drive for next year and a secondary weapon for different targets she will be back to deal out more damage. I am still surprised at how well she shruggs of spinners when they hit the rear armour but she will be getting reinforcements anyway.

PS: Thanks to everyone for looking out for my wallet. We found it buried in the bottom of one of the box's when we got home. I think it topped in there when I was shifting things round.

[mrsam]

Congratulations to the winners and runners up it was a truly amazing event and thank you to everyone for being so accepting of a newcomer and especially thank you to anyone who either pitched in to fix Hatchet or who offered parts so that it could compete. The current version of Hatchet will live on for a while, the chassis is still usable despite taking huge punishment from the spinners but the speed controllers for the drive, batteries and axe mechanism will all need an upgrade to get it working. I'll be going for a lipo seeing as they're pretty much the standard now and also some TZ85's for the drive, the axe needs to be on a larger reduction and really needs to be using stronger chain ( it broke a chain in almost every battle) so that will be going from 6mm to 8mm, again a huge thank you to everyone that made my first event such an enjoyable experience and i hope too see you all again at some more events once Hatchet has been fixed.

[adz600]

What a great year for robot combat, all the robots were better then ever well done to team beast for getting there hands back on the trophy. Had a great time fighting, watching and generally just chatting with you all.

fairly happy with no toys 9 points total more power required on the axe tip for next year.

hope you have a safe journey home

adam and louise

[harry hills]

I had an excellent time despite Massacre being about three kinds of rubbish.

I did enjoy the longer competition formula but I still keep my reservations about it with regards to booking longer times off work etc.

Congratulations to the Beauty robots of course for taking first and second but more so to Ellis for taking 3rd place with a robot that struggled to move under its own weight a week ago. I would also like to thank Ellis and Peter Ware for the lift to the event, their help with Massacre and generally making sure I ate and slept over the days! Thanks also to all the Robochallange guys for the organisation.

So many great guys were around, your company was wonderful and everyone was so helpful. It was great meeting Matt from Hardwired and Sam from Hatchet, really good guys and I hope to see you again at the next one. Thanks to Nick for talking me through Mr Mangle and humouring my stupid questions. There is more, but they know who they are.

Can't wait for the next one!

[Flag Captured]

Right back at you, Haz - great meeting you too!

I have to say, I've had an absolute blast these last few days, thanks to everyone involved for just being so friendly and helpful - it's been such an incredible time and I was genuinely gutted to have to go home at the end of it all really...

Will definitely be improving HardWired II and coming back next year to get more than 8 points, and to as many events as I can inbetween! HardWired III may also be a thing by next year's champs bit we'll see... Huge thanks to Mario for all the help putting the machine together, it wouldn't be the absolute brick it is now without such a solid design and construction!

Congrats to John for that 1-2 victory (and to John and Will for ace driving) as well as Rango and Defector for a very well deserved 3rd and 4th respectively! Everyone's done brilliant though, it seems to have been extremely close this year, compared to what I've seen from previous years! Just goes to show the machines are always getting better!

Again, thanks everyone for such a great time, I've enjoyed every minute of it - it's been great meeting everyone too, hope to see you all again soon!

[razerdave]

For those who can't wait: a few good ones from Tom Strong:

https://www.youtube.com/user/TomStrong67

I think there were 5 fights that went the distance (I was in 2 of them)..

Congrats to Jonno and Beauty 2 for their win, hard luck Harry Potter
Massive well done to the 3rd and 4th places, Rango managing to get that far despite all the issues, and Defector for suprising a lot of people by dispatching 720 and making it into the last 4.

Big thanks to Robochallenge for a great event, much better than last years, and a much more roboteer friendly layout!

Finally, thanks to all the folks that helped me get my robot going again and fixed during the course of the event (Haz especially, who would have thought an Electronize could take that kind of punishment ??).

[ady]

How did sam smith get on with his spinner? Did he compete this year.

[Revsmin]

Celebration time for Ron, Jonno and Potter for the 1-2 finish, and of course for becoming the first robot ever to win the UK championship 3 times with Beauty 2. Well done to Ellis as well for 3rd with Rango, Gareth for fourth with Defector, Alex for yet another Annihilator with Tiny Toon, and Tom with Wedgie for the Gladiator (even though he only won because Ricochet ran out of batteries :P)
I believe I am NSTs nemesis now, 3-0! Pitted vs Ricochet just like last year and unluckily pinned on the wall vs Flow. Finished the qualifiers with more points than I expected; Flow got 11, Ricochet got 10. Flow's weapon was broken from the start, it's now fixed, leaks fixed and firing beautifully ready for Yeovil.
Massive thank you to Grant, James and all of the RoboChallenge crew for a fantastic event, much better layout this year in the pits and 4 days of fighting is like a dream come true, hope it stays the same for next year!

[Mouldy]

On a comedown now from a nackering 5 days… only 12 months until the next big champs!

As much as i hate to say it - learo done good - winning the champs 3 times is an awesome achievement! Both Beautys were totally on form this year, to be honest i had my money on B8 winning though! Just goes to show how much luck and driving really play a part in this game. Will and Jonno both did really well!

Also well done to Ellis- seeing Rango do so well was great even with all the teething problems of a new un tested robot, Ellis really has come a long way in the last few years with his engineering knowledge and its great to see new people in the sport doing so well and improving year on year.

Congrats to Alex for winning the annihilator again - still gotta brag that i've killed the "spinner killer" 2 years on the trott though :P you gotta get your dad to try harder next year! lol

Also well done to wedgie for his win.

For me the event was great and the coopers out did them selfs again this year, everything ran smoothly without any problems! Hopefully yeovil goes as well for them!

As for 720… the new drum seems to of improved the impacts massively… when it engages its pretty good… the knock on effect has put a lot more stresses through the chassis and drive, which most times meant in a fight id get one massive hit, followed by a problem, which I'm already looking into upgrading for next year. I was also unlucky to have my lipo die during one of my battles against scruffy (another team I'm massively impressed with)

Would like to thank Calum, Grant, Guiltherme, Jamie, Ed wallace, mark lumb, sam smith etc for helping 720 get ready for the last play off… within seconds of 720 coming out of the arena with a broken belt, and blown motor it was stripped into components with allen keys flying everywhere and about 6 hands on it at a time in a rush to get it done, if people weren't working on the robot they were prepping my spares ready to go back together…. really was the F1 style pit stop of the weekend!

[beast]

Robo challenge 10 out of 10 again for me but I would say that

thanks for all the nice comments (and bad ones lol)

well done to well done to Ellis Rango for 3rd
Alex for winning the annihilator again
Wedgie (had money on 720)
Best oota for me was Db10 v 720 wow like a bullet

and for Lewis and Jenson well team orders next time ok
(B8 had never turned a wheel on the ground and went in and worked 1st time ) that's a 1st for me
AND there is No Number 9 coming just a few scratches to clean up on B8

also thanks to Kane and Mario (yes I did loan a motor) but it was the old dx6 needed reset

But 5 years with out the Trophy is a long time thank you Team Beast

[razerdave]

I'll get B8 next time .

[calumco]

Absolutly bangin event!! Never a dull moment, not a bad word to say about anybody either- the best 4 days ive had in a long time too!
Robochallenge events seem to get better and better every year and already looking forward to next years champs!

Congrats tp all the winners and to tiny toon who have taken my annihilator crown!

As for ts3 so much more reliable than last year, no maintence needed at all untill friday afternoon which im pleased with
Its a writeoff now thou thanks to the very impressive NST - so lucky it flew otta after hitting me a second time as i doubt TS3 would have took another hit!
As for next year i may give spinners a break and try something new, was impressed with little hitter with how it performed so will have to see how i feel when it comes to designing next years entry

forgot to say too, a massive thanks to edd with helping to get ts3 repaird on saturday night! Plus sam dave etc for the help with odds and sods during the event

[RogueTwoRobots]

Just.....wow.

A knackering but thoroughly enjoyable 4-day championship. Congratulations to Learo/Team Beast for the 1-2 finish and to Jonno & Will on their driving exploits. I also thought that Beauty 8 would take 1st place but the curse of Potter struck again :P
But for a robot to not only win the championship for a third time, but to do so five years after its last one is no mean feat. Thought we'd seen the end of Beauty 2 when Toonimator smashed it up in 2010 but there's no keeping the old girl down. Well done

Massive congrats to Ellis for taking 3rd spot too, Rango was incredible! It was all the sweeter considering the problems you had with it just before coming over, but your dedication and perspiration in keeping it running fight after fight meant that it was well worthy of a podium finish and I hope it goes further next year!

Big well done to Gareth and Defector too. It was definitely the dark horse, quietly making its way through all the rounds to get into the top four. It's annoying to fall just short of the podium at the final hurdle but you can be proud of how well it did.

And of course well done to Alex (again!) and Tom for winning the Annihilator and Gladiator events respectively.

On a personal level, Drumroll placed 5th which, considering I thought it was out of the running after the first fight, is a very good outcome. Many thanks to the Coopers/Dave and Ed for the use of their fly-presses over the weekend to keep it going. Carcinus was completely wrecked by the end of the event but is still running and took whatever the spinners could throw at it, and it even managed to amass 9 points in the qualifiers :P

Huge thanks go to James, Grant, Nick and the rest of the Robo Challenge team for putting on another fantastic event, Pete, Kane and Ed for taking on the unenviable task of judging and to everyone who rallied around to help get Drumroll running after the d̶r̶u̶m̶-̶o̶f̶f̶ losers’ meleé. Great to see everyone again, and great to meet all the new faces. Special mention to Nick for having the dedication to come all the way from Australia!

See you next year!

[overkill]

AND there is No Number 9 coming just a few scratches to clean up on B8

A few scratches? Are you not replacing the side that Mr Mangle ripped off?

I'm not forgetting that Beauty 8 beat me right after that; I will be back to even the score next year!

[overkill]

Special mention to Nick for having the dedication to come all the way from Australia!

See you next year!

Thanks for the shout-out! Everyone was telling me that Drumroll was done 'this time for sure' and you still managed to get it going time and time again. That was really inspirational and I only wish I could have assisted with spares or tools - perhaps next time.