European Championship

The European Championship was a competition featuring robots from across Europe that took place during Robot Wars Extreme: Series 2. It was broadcast during the final episode of Extreme Series 2 and was originally shown on BBC Choice in early 2003, but the series was dropped by the BBC before it could be shown on BBC Two. It was repeated on Dave on 22nd January 2011 at 11am. This episode was also broadcast as the final episode of German Robot Wars on November 2, 2002 on RTL II.


 * The European Championship was the final appearance of Razer and Philipper. It was also the final appearance of Philippa Forrester as pit reporter.
 * This was the fifth and final time that Razer and Tornado fought, the grudge match standing at 2-2. Despite Razer being given the win, both Simon Scott and Vincent Blood elected to concede the match to Tornado, as they felt that the decision was wrong. This was the second and final time that this happened.
 * The final was a grudge match from The Second World Championship where Tornado defeated the first incarnation of Philipper on a judges' decision. Team Tornado chose to use the same weapon as they did the first time.
 * The German airing of this episode featured a live betting service. During the interviews with team members, a piece of text would appear on-screen, reading, in one example, Jetzt Auf Zeus wetten SMS an 72810: Wette Ze, if the viewer wished to bet on Zeus. This translates to Bet Now on Zeus SMS to 24242: Bet Ze. The viewer would be charged €0.49 for participating.

Differences between versions
The European Championship was one of three tournaments to be contested in multiple versions of Robot Wars. In the UK version, Craig Charles and Philippa Forrester presented, with Jonathan Pearce providing the commentary. In the German version, Jürgen Törkott was the presenter and pit reporter, interviewing all the teams and translating between English and German for the non-German-speakers, with Volker Wolf providing the commentary.

The line-up shown below is for the UK version of the competition. In the German version, the fights were aired in a different order, which was as follows: Black Hole vs Zeus, Philipper 2 vs Rawbot, Tornado vs Snake Bite, Razer vs PulverizeR.

Competing robots
The championship featured eight robots, representing seven different European countries. The national champions of the UK, The Netherlands and Germany all took part, as well as the reigning World Champion, Belgian Champion and representatives from Italy, Switzerland and Sweden. The eight robots were paired off and competed in a straight knock-out tournament until the European Champion was decided.

National Champions

 * Black Hole (German Champion)
 * PulverizeR (Dutch Champion)
 * Tornado (UK Champion)

Other Champions

 * Philipper 2 (Belgian Champion)
 * Razer (World Champion, representing UK)

Other Competitors

 * Rawbot (Sweden)
 * Snake Bite (Switzerland)
 * Zeus (Italy)

Razer (UK) vs PulverizeR (NED)
Razer tried to attack PulverizeR, but found it hard to grab hold of its opponent due to its shape and PulverizeR was able to attack Razer with its spinning disc. After PulverizeR was attacked by Growler, Razer was finally able to grab hold of it and pierced through its armour with ease. Growler intervened and separated the two machines, but Razer quickly grabbed hold of PulverizeR again and pushed it into the pit release button. PulverizeR twice escaped from Razer's clutches and ran away from its opponent, but eventually lost control and drove into the open pit.

Winner: Razer

Black Hole (GER) vs Zeus (ITA)
The two robots immediately engaged and Zeus attempted to flip Black Hole, but the end part of its flipper flew off the machine. Black Hole then launched an attack with its spinning discs and the impact sent Zeus flying across the arena and it landed upside-down. Black Hole continued to attack and Zeus tried to self-right, but was unable to. Eventually one of Black Hole's attacks righted Zeus, but it had become immobilised and Black Hole continued to attack it and sent it flying around the arena. Dead Metal tried to attack Zeus with its flywheel, but the armour was too strong and resisted the attack. Finally, Zeus was counted out by Refbot and pitted by Mr. Psycho.

Winner: Black Hole



Snake Bite (SUI) vs Tornado (UK)
Tornado immediately pursued Snake Bite and pushed it into the CPZ, where it was attacked by Dead Metal. Snake Bite eventually escaped, but Tornado pushed it into Mr. Psycho's CPZ, but the house robot missed with his hammer attack. Snake Bite escaped but then suddenly stopped moving and was attacked by both house robots together. Snake Bite was counted out by Refbot and finally pitted by Tornado.

Winner: Tornado

Philipper 2 (BEL) vs Rawbot (SWE)
Rawbot immediately slammed into Philipper 2, but was lifted into the air by the Belgian robot's flipper. The two robots engaged and Rawbot was pushed slowly around the arena by Philipper 2 and into the arena wall. Rawbot escaped and activated the pit release button. Rawbot then tried to lure Philipper 2 towards the pit by sitting right next to it, but was very nearly pushed into the pit as Philipper 2 attacked. Philipper 2 used its flipper at the last moment which threw Rawbot away from the pit and the Swedish machine made its escape. Philipper 2 took chase and caught Rawbot and grabbed hold of it with its crushing pincer, then carried it towards the pit and dropped it in.

Winner: Philipper 2

Black Hole (GER) vs Philipper 2 (BEL)
Black Hole immediately attacked the sides of Philipper 2 with its spinning discs, causing visible damage to the Belgian machine. Philipper 2 then ran away and activated the pit release button, before flipping Black Hole over. The invertible Black Hole carried on and both robots edged close to the pit, before moving away. Black Hole continued to attack the sides of Philipper 2, but the Belgian machine was able to withstand the damage. Then Black Hole drove onto the flipper of its opponent and Philipper 2 was able to use its superior traction to push Black Hole into the pit of oblivion. "Chance! Chance! Upset!"

- Jonathan Pearce as Black Hole is pitted

Winner: Philipper 2

Razer (UK) vs Tornado (UK)
Razer immediately tried to attack Tornado, but Tornado was initially able to escape. However, it wasn't long before Razer had used its new hook to grab hold of Tornado by the frame, and raised it up into the air. Razer then reversed into the pit release button and tried to carry Tornado towards the pit, but the motors burnt out at that point and it was unable to finish Tornado off. Razer fought hard to carry Tornado the small distance to the pit, but once again Tornado was too big to fit and cease was called. The judges gave the win to Razer, but Simon Scott and Vincent Blood of Razer clearly disagreed with the decision and later decided to give the victory to Tornado as they felt that their robot had been immobilised for more than 30 seconds.

Winner: Razer (victory later given to Tornado)

Tornado (UK) vs Philipper 2 (BEL)
Tornado immediately slammed into the side of Philipper 2, but was unable to push it due to the Belgian robot's impressive amount of traction. Tornado eventually managed to get some purchase on the arena floor and pushed Philipper 2 into the CPZ and then into an angle grinder. Philipper 2 tried to get into a position to push Tornado, but the UK machine was too quick and continued to slam into its opponent. Tornado then activated the pit release button and tried to push Philipper 2 into the pit, but Philipper 2 stood firm and refused to be budged. Tornado persevered and came very close to pushing its opponent into the pit, but Philipper 2 used its incredible traction to hold it off. Philipper 2 then broke free of Tornado and sat by the pit in an attempt to lure Tornado, but got too close to the edge and Tornado was finally able to push it into the pit of oblivion.

European Champion: Tornado