Wheely Big Cheese

Wheely Big Cheese was a robot with what was described as the largest flipper ever seen in Robot Wars (the robot itself was over a meter long, and most of its body was the flipper). Its wheels were covered in tungsten golf shoe studs.

Unbeknown to most, there were actually two versions of Wheely Big Cheese built, and though they may have looked identical from a distance, they shared almost no common components. The first version of Wheely Big Cheese competed in Series 4, with a second complete robot being built for Series 5. The new robot solved the many design flaws and weaknesses of the first version, by using different material grades and thicknesses throughout, new construction techniques, and generally stronger components. This more powerful version was only possible because of the weight limit change from 80kg to 100kg between Series 4 and 5. The easiest way to tell the difference is that the first version had silver spikes on the wheels, and the newer version had black spikes. Both versions reached the semi-finals in their respective series. The team had previously competed with The Mule and The Big Cheese. They competed in Series 2 and 3 respectively, but both lost the Heat Final.

Wheely Big Cheese has been recorded as the most powerful flipper, capable of flipping up to 800kg. In perhaps its most famous battle in Series 5 with Axe Awe, Wheely Big Cheese threw Axe Awe through the air, over the arena wall and onto the ground from the middle of the arena. It was one of the few robots that had a flipper powerful enough to flip itself over on nearly every use, mainly because there wasn't anything behind the wheels. However its downfall was the exposed titanium wheels that were vulnerable to attack and often became dislodged or destroyed, leaving it unable to move.

Sadly, Roger Plant did not have the money to continue maintenance on Wheely Big Cheese after Series 5. He had no choice but to retire from Robot Wars prematurely, and subsequently sell or give away all of his robots.

The Extreme 1/Series 5 version of Wheely Big Cheese that produced the infamously huge flip, sending Axe Awe over the side wall from near the centre of the arena, went to Team Xbotz from Wrexham in North Wales, and was completely rebuilt, with new electronics, batteries, revised pneumatics, and upgraded drive system. It is still used in various live events and educational presentations around the UK.

The original Series 4 Wheely Big Cheese chassis was also owned by Team Xbotz, before being sold to, and fixed up by, Team Cylon, who are planning to bring it out of retirement and back to fighting form. This raises the rather interesting possibility of both versions of Wheely Big Cheese actually fighting each other one day.

When fighting at robot tournaments around the UK, Wheely Big Cheese version 1 uses tyres instead of its trademark red spiked wheels and has the flipper deactivated. Wheely Big Cheese version 2 also has a number of different wheels available, and is able to run its flipper at events, at variable power levels to suit the safety requirements of the environment.

Appearances in Merchandise

 * Wheely Big Cheese/Pullback
 * Wheely Big Cheese/Minibot

Series 4
15th seed Wheely Big Cheese nearly lost the first round after failing to flip Sir Killalot, and being pushed into the pit with Wheelosaurus and Prizephita Mk 2, however the latter was already immobilized. Up against Killertron it was able to flip it clean over itself, sometimes making it land directly on the axe. Wheely Big Cheese almost pulled out of the Heat Final after a pin in one of the gearboxes broke and had to be replaced, but it was fixed in time and ready to fight. In the heat final against Suicidal Tendencies, Wheely Big Cheese was pushed around into various CPZ's until Suicidal Tendencies lost drive on one side, conveniently close to the pit. Wheely Big Cheese attempted to push it in, but drove in itself. The Suicidal Tendencies team then celebrated, thinking that they had won, not realizing that the judges had intervened. The judges favored Wheely Big Cheese, feeling that Suicidal Tendencies had been immobile on one side for at least 30 seconds before Wheely Big Cheese drove into the pit. Wheely Big Cheese still had its wheels on the arena floor, as it was such a long robot. Up against Tornado in the Semi-Finals, Wheely Big Cheese got one good flip that nearly got Tornado out of the Arena. For the rest of the match it was pushed around and had one of its wheels dislodged by Matilda. The Judges therefore awarded the win to Tornado.

Extreme 1
Wheely Big Cheese competed in the All-Stars Tournament. It flipped Diotoir over in its first round, from which the Dublin robot could not self-right. Up against Chaos 2, in a rematch for Series 3, it was continuously flipped and never seemed to get its own flipper working. It therefore lost on a judges decision.

In the Flipper Frenzy, every robot attacked the house robots, Bigger Brother, Chaos 2 and Thermidor 2 all attacked Sergeant Bash and Wheely Big Cheese went straight after Matilda, after waving a few flips at Matilda, Wheely Big Cheese later became immobilized by the flywheel causing a drive motor to break apart. Wheely Big Cheese was left in a corner of the arena for the remainder of the battle but wasn't officially counted out by Refbot.

In the Mayhem battle, Wheely Big Cheese got one flip in on Ming 3 before it had several gashes inflicted in its wheel by Hypno-Disc. One of the exposed wheels dislodged again. Whilst Dead Metal was slicing the wheels, a huge amount of sparks flew out all over the Arena from the titanium wheel and tungsten studs. It was then pitted along with Ming 3, who had lost both of its wheels. The robot has been repaired from this battle, but the scars are still very visable.

Series 5
[[File:WBCWolverine.JPGWheely Big Cheese finally flips another out of the arena [[Video:Wheely Big Cheese vs Axe Awe|thumb|300px|left|The record flip set by Wheely Big Cheese]] Roger Plant made an entirely new chassis for Series 5 that was not visibly different from the old one, but had been upgraded internally, with more powerful and reliable flipper being just one improvement. Its first round match against Wolverine, the Cheese was flipped around a lot, until it was pushed over to the arena wall by Wolverine, where it flipped it out in one go. In perhaps its most famous battle, Axe Awe got one hit with the axe before Wheely Big Cheese flipped it over 10 feet in the air and over the fence from the center of the Arena. This still stands as a Robot Wars record flip. "Out of the Arena? Out of the Robot Wars galaxy!"

- Jonathan Pearce

In the Heat Final it got several good flips in on Crushtacean, eventually making Crushtacean break down from being thrown several feet into the air. It then nudged the crab into the pit."The Cheese got his potted crab"

- Jonathan Pearce at the defeat of Crushtacean Its Semi-Final round up against Dominator 2 was going very well for the Cheese as it flipped Dominator 2 several times. However, it lost drive on one side, then the other, so Dominator 2 progressed to round 2. In the Loser's Melee it got one flip on Panic Attack that wedged it up against the wall and damaged its mobility. It was then flipped repeatedly by Firestorm 3 and bashed against the wall before breaking down and being eliminated. This was Wheely Big Cheese and Roger Plant's last appearance in Robot Wars.

Results

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Wins/Losses

 * Wins: 7
 * Losses: 6

Series Record

 * Series 1: Did not enter
 * Series 2: Entered with The Mule
 * Series 3: Entered with The Big Cheese
 * Series 4: Semi-Finals, Round 1
 * Series 5: Semi-Finals, Round 1
 * Series 6-7: Did not enter