Sir Chromalot

"Ah, Sir Chromalot, looks lovely...shame about the drivers."

- Jonathan Pearce

Sir Chromalot was a small circular shaped robot that competed in Series 3-6 of Robot Wars. Constructed from the hub of a lorry wheel, its weapon was originally a spike with a cobolt cutter on the tip. After being flipped in Series 3, it added a large tower srimech, which meant that Sir Chromalot could only land on its side, where self-righting arms could push it back onto its wheels. However, this took up weight that would be reserved for weaponry, and was removed.

For Series 5 onwards, the spike was removed and replaced with a flipping arm. The team fought across four wars, but failed to qualify for Series 7 after a defeat at the hands of Scorpion. Interestingly, on Sir Chromalot's three unseeded main appearances, it fought in Heat D, losing in Round 2 to the eventual heat winner. After the retirement of Sir Chromalot, the robot was dismantled and the wheel returned to the lorry. Ray Tait left the team at this point, and along with several engineers from Alchrist Engineering, Steve Merrill constructed a new generation Sir Chromalot - a precision box equipped with two saw discs, tipped with tungsten carbide. "At RW Sir chromalot was the absolutley on the limit of top weight allowance, by a few grams. Thats how precise it was."

- Steve Merrill

Sir Chromalot was ripped to pieces in the qualifier for Series 7, in a Vengeance battle with Scorpion. Subsequently, it did not qualify for the Seventh Wars.

The Class Act
The team members of The Hub Nuts (commonly called the Class Act) were excellent sports and comedians, always guaranteed to get a laugh. On many occasions the team, in particular the captain, Steve Merrill, would make a joke out of the competition and fuss over things such as outfits. Frequently, The Hub Nuts would arrive in limousines and Rolls Royces, accompanied by bouncers, tailors and pom-pom girls. As a trademark, members of the Hub Nuts always dressed in tuxedos.

The team originally consisted of Steve Merrill, Steve Smith and David Whitehead. Smith left after Series 3, and Whitehead left after Series 4. It was at this point that Ray Tait, captain of the recently retired Centurion robot, joined Merrill on Sir Chromalot and completely redid the robot, replacing the previously impotent weaponry with an effective flipping arm.

The Class Act considered attire very important. One particular exchange in Series 6 showed Steve Merrill more interested in the jacket he would wear than who he was fighting. The exchange resulted in Phillipa stating that she believed that some of Steve Merrill's jackets were "illegal".

"...most teams did not like us, but we didn't care...we used the same game plan as boxers use before going into the ring"

- Steve Merrill

The team shared a long-standing rivalry with the Plunderbird team in particular, with hostilities coming to a close in a Vengeance battle in Extreme 1. Steve and Ray called the opposing team "Plundergirls" throughout the fight, and accused them of having no style or skill. This rivalry was also shown in the Robot Wars: Magazine, as one of the Comic Strip fights was between Sir Chromalot and Plunderbird 4. In both cases, Sir Chromalot came out on top.

Also, The Hub Nuts had a particular emnity with Jonathan Pearce. Pearce originally made a comment about Merrill's weight, which led to an emnity. Pearce frequently made jokes about Sir Chromalot, and in turn, Sir Chromalot frequently insulted Pearce, stating at one point that he had a "grease nipple on his chin to keep his mouth moving". Sir Chromalot often listed the robot's weakness as "Jonathan Pearce".

Despite the seemingly over-inflated egos, Sir Chromalot's team were very helpful in the pits, and were nominated for the Sportsmanship Award in Series 3 and 4.

Series 3
"Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, this is Sir Chromalot"

- Steve Merrill's arrival into Series 3

Sir Chromalot appeared for the first time, arriving in style from the back of a limousine. After a brief entertainment from the team, who danced around the arena, it began its fight against Shell Shock. Sir Chromalot immediately attacked Shell Shock and penetrated the shell with its spike. After this moment the axe of Shell Shock was permanently jammed down. Sir Chromalot pushed it into Matilda's CPZ, but Matilda pushed it out again. Then Sir Chromalot and Sir Killalot ganged up on Shell Shock. However, at the end of the match, Sir Chromalot seemed to be immobilised. It started to move, but then Sir Killalot pushed it into the pit, and the judges ruled that Sir Chromalot were to go through. In round 2, Bigger Brother drove beneath Sir Chromalot, leaving it on its back. However, even Shunt's diamond edged axe could not penetrate the underbelly of Sir Chromalot.

Series 4
"Who's going to win? Siiiiiiiiiiir Chromalot!"

- The chants of the cheer squad

Sir Chromalot returned for Series 4 seeded 27 and the team arrived in the back of a truck, accompanied by a squad of pom-pom girls as extra support. The seeded machine's first match against Reactor and Scorpion started worryingly as Scorpion pushed Sir Chromalot around the arena, but Reactor managed to flip Scorpion over and it was pushed onto the flame pit and Sir Chromalot moved through to the second round. It then met Steel Avenger where it was pushed around the arena before its drill broke and eventually the robot was pushed into the Pit of Oblivion. Sir Chromalot was driven by Boyzone's Shane Lynch for The Celebrity Special, and faced Disc-O-Inferno in Round One. Its decorations were set alight, but it won after Disc-O-Inferno broke down. In Round Two, Chromalot met Pussycat, but was cut into, stopped working, and was overturned by the House Robots, who then placed it on The Floor Flipper and pitted it.

Extreme 1
In the first Series of Extreme, Sir Chromalot fought a Vengeance match against Plunderbird 5, caused by an argument between the teams as to which team had a better entry. Chromalot won when the black clawed robot drove onto the edge of the pit and was deemed immobilised.

Sir Chromalot also had a disastrous Tag Team partnership with Napalm, doing absolutely nothing as Napalm was destroyed by Suicidal Tendencies and The Steel Avenger before being dumped out of the arena. Chromalot itself was eventually pitted.

Series 5
"Ray Tait...appears to have gotten his hands on the machine, because it actually works"

- Philippa Forrester observing the new and improved Sir Chromalot, and the former Centurion captain

Sir Chromalot managed to win its heat eliminator against Rohog. After getting a few flips on Rohog, Rohog broke down and was counted out before being obliterated by Sir Killalot and Matilda. The seventh seeds Firestorm 3 flipped over and immobilized Sir Chromalot in a matter of seconds in round two.

Series 6
"...an American truck wheel hub turned into an invincible, self-righting, CO2 gas flipping machine that they claim is Razer-proof, bomb-proof and Jonathan Pearce-proof! Steve and Ray, make my day!"

- Jonathan Pearce

Sir Chromalot, once again in Heat D, fought in a spectacular first round against The Alien, G.B.H. 2 and ICU. Sir Chromalot hung back as The Alien attacked the other two, before charging The Alien and flipping it onto its back. As The Alien self-righted, Sir Chromalot took an axe blow from ICU and fled, before Sir Chromalot was flipped over by The Alien. Sir Chromalot then flipped G.B.H. 2 onto its back, with the other robot self-righting again. Sir Chromalot then flipped over ICU, who was unable to self-right. It missed a flip on The Alien, but was flipped over by G.B.H. 2 once more. It managed to self-right, albeit with some effort, and was then flipped into the side wall by G.B.H. 2. It failed to self-right, but just managed to hold on to a judges decision, with the judges decision putting it through on a controversial call that Sir Chromalot had done enough before it was immobilised.

Sir Chromalot then fought S3, activating the pit and attempting to lure the seeded machine towards it. However, S3 closed the gap and slashed Sir Chromalot twice, knocking it clean over. Sir Chromalot self-righted and continued to lure S3 around, but eventually ran out of gas from self-righting after being flipped by S3's flywheel. Dead Metal put punishment on Sir Chromalot, before accelerating into the pit with Sir Chromalot.

Extreme 2
Sir Chromalot competed in the Challenge Belt competition in Extreme 2, but in the first round was tossed out of the arena by Matilda's flywheel after being flipped over by Dantomkia.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 6
 * Losses: 7

Series Record

 * Series 1-2: Did not enter
 * Series 3: Heat, Round 2
 * Series 4: Heat, Round 2
 * Series 5: Heat, Round 2
 * Series 6: Heat, Round 2
 * Series 7: Failed to Qualify