Robot Wars: Series 8/Whiteboard matches

During the filming of the Grand Final of the 2016 series of Robot Wars, a number of whiteboard matches were held to fill time, entertain the audience, and gain extra footage for the series. After five robots were hand-picked by the producers, the teams were free to organise friendly matches against each other.

Of the five battles held, only two contributed footage to the televised series: both Gabriel vs Behemoth and Eruption vs Infernal Contraption made cameo appearances in the introduction to some episodes.


 * Gabriel vs Behemoth was the third example of an audience decision in Robot Wars, following on from Bunny Attack vs Hoot, and the Series 7 House Robot Rebellion.
 * An audience member controled the arena spikes during the battle between Eruption and Behemoth.
 * Turbulence was only brought into the whiteboard matches as a reserve, because Shockwave withdrew after sustaining too much damage.
 * This was also where Turbulence gained its only loss in Robot Wars - it won the pilot episode without losing a single battle.
 * The whiteboard matches allowed Eruption to become the only competitor robot to flip a second robot out of the arena within the rebooted series.

Eruption vs Infernal Contraption
At the start of the match, Eruption got underneath the Infernal Contraption and repeatedly threw it into the plexiglass. However, Eruption's wedge consisted of the a hastily welded piece of RAEX it used in its fight against Apollo, which became stuck on the flame pit, and was dented by Infernal Contraption. Once freed, Eruption threw Infernal Contraption into the air more times, knocking out its weapon link, and eventually its drive link, immobilising it.

"Due credit to the team, for such an old machine it stood up to a huge number of impacts after being flipped and it was only the links that let them down in the end!"

- Team Eruption

Winner: Eruption

Eruption vs Shockwave
Team Eruption and Team Shock agreed to battle each other, as both teams had made friends through competing on the live circuit.

It quickly became clear that Eruption's front ground clearance was lower than Shockwave's scoop, so the superior wedge threw its opposition around the arena. Shockwave retaliated by charging Eruption into the arena wall. However, Shockwave's wheels were still weak after a previous encounter with Carbide, and after it was flipped a few more times by Eruption, a drive chain was lost, leaving Shockwave with only three working wheels. Team Shock encouraged Team Eruption to keep attacking, so Eruption continued until Shockwave was thrown out of the arena completely.

Shockwave could not be repaired in time after this encounter, and withdrew from the whiteboard matches, to be replaced by Turbulence, and thus this was Shockwave's last fight in Robot Wars

Winner: Eruption

Behemoth vs Gabriel
For this battle, Gabriel was driven by Team Saint's youngest team member, Toby Colliass. During the battle, Behemoth launched Gabriel a considerable decent with a flip, and a rough landing contributed to Gabriel losing power to one of its wheels, leaving it capable of only driving around in circles. Regardless, Gabriel continued to attack Behemoth with its sword, and it remained partially mobile for the rest of the battle.

As the Judges were not in attendance, the victor was instead determined by a crowd vote. The larger cheer was received by Gabriel, and thus, it was declared the victor.

Winner: Gabriel

Behemoth vs Eruption
Shunt was the House Robot for this battle, and uniquely, the arena spikes were controlled by an audience member in this battle. However, Eruption and Behemoth were both due to appear in a live event not long after filming, so both teams wished to avoid taking unnecessary damage, and kept clear of both hazards throughout the battle.

It quickly became visible that Eruption had a lower wedge than Behemoth's, so it had an easier time getting underneath its opponent to flip it. Fighting near the flame pit for the duration of the bout, Eruption flipped Behemoth several times, although Behemoth could still respond with some flips of its own. Due to the robots' close proximity to the corner of the arena, Eruption flipped Behemoth directly into a corner. Behemoth's srimech on its side had broken, so the robot was effectively immobilised. However, Team Eruption wished to spend more time battling Behemoth, and freed it.

"Had this been a competition fight we would have left them, but this was just for fun and to put on a show, so we flipped Behemoth again and the fight continued!"

- Team Eruption

The robots continued fighting for the duration of the three minutes, both spinning a victory dance in the centre of the arena after cease was called. A large cheer went up for Eruption, but no winner was officially declared for this match.

Winner: None declared

Infernal Contraption vs Turbulence
Turbulence entered this battle as a substitute, replacing the irreparable Shockwave. However, Turbulence itself was not mobile for very long in this fight, as continued attacks from Infernal Contraption's drum caused its removable link to fall out. Infernal Contraption won the battle by knockout, and the whiteboard matches were concluded.

Winner: Infernal Contraption