- "Would you bet your mortgage? Your car? Your pencil case, on that?"
- — Jonathan Pearce in Extreme 1
Mammoth was a walkerbot from Southend-on-Sea in Essex which entered two Middleweight Championships across both series of Robot Wars Extreme, although by definition, both of these Mammoth machines were Lightweight robots. The team also entered a featherweight version of Mammoth in Series 7.
Mammoth entered the Middleweight Championship of Extreme Series 1 as there was no Lightweight Championship for it to enter, while its entry into the Middleweight Championship of Extreme Series 2 was an error on the team's part, as they had listed their robot as a middleweight without realising it was eligible for the lightweight competition.
Mammoth also made prior and future appearances in different weight classes under the same name. The 46kg Mammoth entered the Walker Battles of Series 3, while the featherweight Mammoth entered Series 7.
Versions of Mammoth
Mammoth (Extreme 1)
Mammoth in Extreme 1
In Extreme Series 1, Mammoth was wedge-shaped and armed with an axe and rear saws, but it looked unstable and was poorly armoured. The legs consisted of two elongated strips of metal, somewhat like a shufflebot. The wedge shape was high off the ground, and a separate wedge was used to give the Mammoth the ability to get under other robots. Like most walkers, Mammoth was extremely slow.
Mammoth (Extreme 2)
Mammoth in Extreme 2
In Extreme Series 2, it was four legged, more barrel-shaped and had more potent weapons (a 500mm rear saw and 300mm front cylinder cutter), but again looked unstable. It used a curved design on top, and featured hands and eyes. Mammoth's issue of extremely low speed was hardly amended in this series, still maintaining a very low top speed.
Robot History
Extreme 1
- "Good effort by Ian Burrell to make a walker!"
- — Jonathan Pearce praises Ian Burrell's efforts
Extreme 1 was the only time where Ian Burrell competed alone, but he made a large stick man to join him in the control pod, to compensate. The Middleweight Championship in the first series of Extreme, was, like the previous ones, a straightforward melee of all of the contestants. In the melee, Mammoth was placed up against Zap of the Beef-Cake team, former champions Hard Cheese, the Edinburgh Air Cadets' Typhoon, Welsh participants Genesis and the first incarnation of Doom.
Mammoth and Doom sustain damage from Typhoon
In the battle, Mammoth slowly walked around the arena, trying to get into the action, without meeting any competition for a while. However, Typhoon eventually came in, after immobilising Genesis, and ripped one of Mammoth's legs clean off. The other leg of Mammoth was still working, but it couldn't gain any purchase on the arena floor, so Mammoth couldn't move at all. Typhoon then did more damage to Mammoth's shell, before Mammoth was then pushed away by Doom. Typhoon then lightly bumped into Doom, immobilising the latter too. Meanwhile, Zap, and then Hard Cheese, had both slowly ground to a halt. Genesis was eventually counted out by the Refbot, and was thrown by the arena floor flipper. Mammoth and Zap were then thrown by the arena floor flipper at the same time, and subsequently eliminated from the melee, without being counted out. Mammoth and Zap were quickly followed by both Hard Cheese and Doom, who were also thrown by the flipper (without being counted out by the Refbot), with Doom then sustaining severe damage from Matilda. The result was that Typhoon was the winner of the melee.
- "The woolly mammoth has gone!"
- — Jonathan Pearce, as Mammoth and Zap are flipped by the flipper
Extreme 2
- Philippa Forrester: "We've always seen you as quite a comedy robot, really...we've never really taken you seriously"
- Ian Burrell: "You're quite wise!"
- — The pre-first round interview
In the Extreme Series 2 Middleweight Championship, Mammoth was drawn up against 259, Doom Too and the Typhoon Twins in the heats.
Mammoth is flipped over by 259
Mammoth and Doom Two, positioned on the flipper
In the battle, Mammoth was almost immediately flipped over after 259 attacked Mammoth side on with its flywheel. Mammoth then took damage from Typhoon Thunder. Mammoth was then counted out by the Refbot, and put on the Arena Floor Flipper by Shunt, Doom Too was then put on the flipper just as it sprang into action sending both robots flying through the air, Shunt was also knocked sideways. Mammoth was righted as it landed, and tried to run away as the team celebrated it being the right way up. However, Mammoth was caught by Dead Metal, and Mammoth was cut into by Dead Metal's saw. Meanwhile, Typhoon Lightning had already been pushed into the pit by 259, and Doom Too had been pushed in as well by Shunt. Mammoth joined those two, as Dead Metal soon pushed it in as well. This was this Mammoth's last appearance on Robot Wars.
- "How quickly can you run? Not quickly enough"
- — Jonathan Pearce, as a righted Mammoth tries to flee from Dead Metal
Results
| MAMMOTH - RESULTS | ||
| Extreme Series 1 | ||
| Single Battle Events Middleweight Championship | ||
| Middleweight Championship | vs. Doom, Genesis, Hard Cheese, Typhoon, Zap | Lost |
| Extreme Series 2 | ||
| Robot Rampage Middleweight Championship, Round 1 | ||
| Round 1 | vs. 259, Doom Too, Typhoon Twins | Lost |
Wins/Losses
- Wins: 0
- Losses: 2
NOTE: Team Mammoth also collected one draw in Series 3, and one further loss in Series 7, under different machines named Mammoth
Series Record
Mammoth's mascot during Extreme 1
| Main Series | Mammoth Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Walker Battles with Mammoth |
| The Fourth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fifth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Sixth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Seventh Wars | Entered with Mammoth (Featherweight) |
| Series 8 | Did not enter |
| Series 9 | Did not enter |
| Series 10 | Middleweight Championship |
| Robot Wars Extreme | Appearances |
| Series 1 | Middleweight Championship, Round 1 |
| Series 2 | Did not enter |
Outside Robot Wars
The Extreme 2 version of Mammoth was modified to also compete in Robot Wars' sister show Techno Games 2002. It competed in various events, including the Cycling (where it failed to start), the Swimming (where it broke down in the first round) and the Sprint. In the Sprint, after a lot of upsets including winning against future Techno Games sprint champion Bumble after it failed to just cross the finish line due to weak radio transmission, it actually managed to get runner-up, losing out to Team 101's Scuttle.
Trivia
- Of the fourteen walkerbots in Robot Wars history, this version of Mammoth was the only lightweight class walkerbot.
- In 2015, Stuart Burrell of Team Mammoth was asked if the team ever planned to build a heavyweight robot.
- "We did look into it but we could never get the weight class rules in our favour... we were always in the same weight group not one above (paper work issues)... the only time you see us on form was the Featherweight battle."
- — Stuart Burrell on YouTube[1]
- Mammoth is one of five robots to appear in both series of Extreme and not win a battle in either series. The others are Doom, Fluffy, Sumpthing and Velocirippa.
References
| ||||||||||||||