Team Joint Effort, previously Team On-the-Edge, was a veteran team from the early series of Robot Wars, who also entered in Series 6. They entered a different robot in each series, Scrapper in Series 1, G.B.H. in Series 2, reaching the Series Semi-Finals, Facet in Series 3 and GBH 2 in Series 6.
The Team[]
The logo of Team Joint Effort in Series 6
The team originally consisted of Mike Smith, Mike Rickard, Ken Toogood, Charles Lavery and Alvin Orton, the most amount of team members in one team at one time. All of the members were work colleagues across two main company sites in central London and Maidenhead.[1] The team saw an advertisement in a Time Out magazine for Series 1 and responded to it to sign up for the series.[2] After Scrapper was retired, Orton and Toogood left the team.
Smith, Rickard and Lavery would enter the first three series under the name Team On-the-Edge, entering three different robots. Unusually, they had multiple different drivers in the team.
After missing Series 4 and 5 due to work commitments,[3] the team returned in Series 6, under the new name of Team Joint Effort. Mike Smith was the only team member that returned.
Mike Smith[]
Mike Smith at the controls of G.B.H.
Mike Smith was the original team captain, and the only team member present in all the team’s appearances, though he was not the team captain in Series 2 and 3.
Although Mike Rickard was the team's main driver, Smith was the team's second driver. He drove Scrapper in the Trial stage of its Series 1 Heat, and took the controls of G.B.H. in the Trial stage of its Heat and Semi-Final, as well as the Heat Final. He also operated the flipper on Facet. However, he did not control GBH 2 in its appearance.
Following Series 6, Mike lost interest in robot combat and did not enter any other series afterwards.[4]
Mike Rickard[]
- "Rickard loves his white water rafting, the currents are strong out there on the arena floor!"
- — Jonathan Pearce before the Facet vs. Fire Storm battle
Mike Rickard at the controls of G.B.H.
Mike Rickard became team captain in Series 2, and kept the role for Series 3. He was the main speaker during the team's interviews and introductions, even in Series 1 when he was not the team captain. He was also the team's main driver across the first three series, driving Scrapper in the Gauntlet stage, G.B.H. in the Gauntlet, the battle against Talos, and the Gauntlet in the Semi-Finals, and controlling Facet in both its battles. He did not return after Series 3 as he had moved away from Mike Smith.[5]
Charles Lavery[]
The team at the controls of Facet
Present in each of the first three series, although he did not drive any of the team's robots, he did control Scrapper’s weapons in its battle against Recyclopse. In Series 3, he watched the monitor linked to Facet’s onboard camera, giving the team instruction on when to fire the flipper. Although he left the majority of speaking to Mike Smith or Mike Rickard, he did speak in Series 2, talking about the repairs to G.B.H. after the Arena Semi-Final, and spoke in the post-battle interview after the Heat Final. He did not return after Series 3 as he had moved away from Mike Smith.[6]
Alvin Orton and Ken Toogood[]
The team at the controls during the Scrapper vs. Recyclopse battle
In Series 1, the team consisted of five members, the most credited team members in any team in one series. However, at no point in the show did all five appear together. One of them drove Scrapper in its Arena stage battle. Orton and Toogood left the team after Series 1 due to the new rules about 3 team members per team.
Steve Dove[]
After Mike Rickard and Charles Lavery left the team due to relocating,[7] Mike Smith got together with a work colleague of his, Steve Dove.[8] Steve was an experienced roboteer, who had previously driven the stock robot Eubank the Mouse in Series 1 and entered his own robot, Challenger, in Series 2 and 3. Both he and Mike were fans of motorsport, which led to the design of GBH 2, originally called Mulsanne Monster. He was the weapons operator on GBH 2. As the original team had disbanded, this led to the team name changing to Team Joint Effort as Mike and Steve were now the only two members present.[9]
Steve actually lived 70 miles away from Mike, living in High Wycombe whilst Mike lived in Essex.
- "We spent about three months pushing ideas and sketches about. As we live about 70 miles apart most of this was done by E-mail, company internal mail and phone calls."
- — Team Joint Effort website describes the construction of GBH 2[10]
Alex Smith[]
The team at the controls of GBH 2
- Philippa Forrester: "What's it like to be in charge out there?"
- Alex Smith: "Well it feels quite good, but also you feel a bit nervous when you get in"
- — Philippa Forrester asks Alex Smith about driving GBH 2
The son of Mike Smith, he only appeared in Series 6. He drove GBH 2 in its only appearance. Philippa Forrester and Mike Smith both praised him for his driving after the battle.
Robots[]
| Name | Weight Class | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Scrapper | Heavyweight | Series 1 |
| G.B.H. | Heavyweight | Series 2, 6 |
| Facet | Heavyweight | Series 3 |
NOTE: Series 6 team member Steve Dove would also enter Series 1 with stock robot Eubank the Mouse and Series 2-3 with his own robot Challenger.
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 3
- Losses: 4
Series Record[]
G.B.H. and the chassis of Facet on display
| Series | Team Joint Effort Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Heat, Arena Semi-Final with Scrapper Heat, Trial with Eubank the Mouse (Steve Dove) |
| The Second Wars | Semi-Final, Trial with G.B.H. Heat, Trial with Challenger (Steve Dove) |
| The Third Wars | Heat, Round 2 with Facet Heat, Round 2 with Challenger 2 (Steve Dove) |
| The Fourth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fifth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Sixth Wars | Heat, Round 1 with GBH 2 |
| The Seventh Wars | Did not enter |
| Series 8 | Did not enter |
| Series 9 | Did not enter |
| Series 10 | Did not enter |
Outside Robot Wars[]
Mike Smith and Steve Dove on TechnoGames in 2002
The team entered GBH 2, under its original name, Mulsanne Monster, in the 2002 series of TechnoGames. It competed in the Assault Course, but lost in the first round to Bugs Buggy.
Facet competed at two live events in 1999, first in May at the Bordon Charity Event and again in September at Sevenoaks. GBH 2 also appeared at a few live events after its initial completion in 2001 under the Mulsanne Monster name. Both robots performed well and had moderate success.
All of the team's robots were disposed of following their retirement from robot combat. GBH 2 is known to have been stripped down by Mike Smith in 2008.[11]
Trivia[]
- After their meeting in Series 2, Team Joint Effort and Team Ivanhoe never appeared in the same wars, despite appearing in Series 3-6 and Extreme 1 between them.
- The team were credited as coming from three different counties across their appearances; in Series 1 and 2, they were credited as coming from London, in Series 3, they were credited as coming from Kent, whilst in Series 6, they were credited as coming from Chelmsford in Essex. This was due to the team's workplace being in London, Mike Rickard living in Kent and Mike Smith living in Essex. Due to the differing team captains, they were billed as coming from these locations in each series.[12]
References[]
- ↑ Private correspondence between RobotManiac and Mike Smith, 13 March 2023
- ↑ Private correspondence between RobotManiac and Mike Smith, 13 March 2023
- ↑ Private correspondence between RobotManiac and Mike Smith, 13 March 2023
- ↑ Private correspondence between RobotManiac and Mike Smith, 13 March 2023
- ↑ Private correspondence between RobotManiac and Mike Smith, 13 March 2023
- ↑ Private correspondence between RobotManiac and Mike Smith, 13 March 2023
- ↑ Private correspondence between RobotManiac and Mike Smith, 13 March 2023
- ↑ Techno Games Series 3 Episode 5
- ↑ Private correspondence between RobotManiac and Mike Smith, 13 March 2023
- ↑ Team Joint Effort website - The Build (Archived)
- ↑ Private correspondence between RobotManiac and Mike Smith, 13 March 2023
- ↑ Private correspondence between RobotManiac and Mike Smith, 13 March 2023
External Links[]
[]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||