Robot Wars: The Second Wars/Heat G

Heat G
The Robot Wars Logo from the introduction titles
Series	The Second Wars
Winner(s)	Roadblock
Trial	Skittles
First Broadcast	December 18th 1998
Original channel	BBC Two
TV Ratings	5.59 million
Preceded by	Heat F
Succeeded by	Heat H (regular episode) The Making of Robot Wars (special episode)

"Now, if you listen to the Japanese, you hear that good things come in small packages. The Discman, the Gameboy, Kylie Minogue! And this is all good news for orientals with puny wedding tackle, but it’s basically wrong. Because good things come in great big containers, with very large things written on the side in six foot high red letters. In fact, here on Robot Wars, size is everything, beauty is nothing. If Birmingham was a robot, it’d be a force to be reckoned with, as are our six robots waiting in the pits, about to battle for a place in our series semi-finals."

— Craig Charles' introduction

Heat G of Robot Wars: The Second Wars was the seventh of twelve heats which determined the Semi-Finalists of Robot Wars: The Second Wars. The episode featuring Heat G was originally broadcast on December 18, 1998 on BBC Two.

• Nemesis and Roadblock were again in the same heat.
• This Heat introduced a new House Robot, The Sentinel.
• This Heat saw the first appearances of Onslaught, Team Hurtz, as well as John Denny, who would later compete in Robot Wars with the much more successful 13 Black.
• Sgt. Bash was given a new saw to replace the one Panic Attack broke in the prior Heat.
  • Dead Metal was also given a new saw, a steel-toothed concrete cutter to replace the old ineffective angle grinder.

Competing Robots

Newcomers

	Killerhurtz
	Weight	77.8kg
	Dimensions	1.15 x 0.8 x 0.4m
	Speed	15mph
	Turning Circle	1m
	Ground Clearance	10mm
	Power	8 x 20V batteries
	Weapons	Pneumatic axe
	Notes	Axe is custom built, weighs 7lb and generates 800kg of force
From: Oxford
Team Members: John Reid, Dominic Parkinson & Rebecca Reaston-Brown

	Limpet
	Weight	79.6kg
	Dimensions	1.0 x 0.75 x 0.28m
	Speed	4mph
	Turning Circle	0m
	Ground Clearance	25mm
	Power	2 x 12V wheelchair batteries
	Weapons	Wedge shape and 6' saw
	Notes	Tank tracks made from motorcycle chains & cost only £28 to build
From: Hinckley
Team Members: John Denny & John Freeman

	Onslaught
	Weight	76.1kg
	Dimensions	0.9 x 0.56 x 0.31m
	Speed	7mph
	Turning Circle	2m
	Ground Clearance	5mm
	Power	2 x 12V batteries
	Weapons	Scoop and mild steel spikes
	Notes	Mechanical speed controller built by team and motor from forklift truck
From: Bedford
Team Members: Alan Wood, David Wood & Peter Holland

	R.O.C.S.
	Weight	79.8kg
	Dimensions	0.8 x 0.77 x 0.63m
	Speed	6mph
	Turning Circle	3m
	Ground Clearance	12.5mm
	Power	1 x 12V battery
	Weapons	Forklift
	Notes	Weapon salvaged from car jack and shell painted by Colin's wife, Jackie
From: Hurworth in Darlington
Team Members: Colin Sievers & Karl Sievers

Veterans

	Nemesis
	Weight	74.5kg
	Dimensions	1.3 x 1.23 x 0.55m
	Speed	6mph
	Turning Circle	0m
	Ground Clearance	50mm
	Power	2 x 12V batteries, 1 x 6V battery
	Weapons	Pneumatic spike with static spikes and blades
	Notes	Famous for being covered in flammable fur
From: Dublin, Ireland
Team Members: Peter Redmond, Joe Gavin, William Murphy & John Cunnane

	Roadblock (seeded 1st)
	Weight	80.9kg
	Dimensions	1.6 x 1.1 x 0.45m
	Speed	5mph
	Turning Circle	0m
	Ground Clearance	5mm
	Power	4 x 12V batteries
	Weapons	12' tungsten tipped circular saw
	Notes	Reigning Robot Wars Champion, seeded number one
From: Bodmin Community College
Team Members: Hender Blewitt, Chris Kinsey & Peter Kinsey

The Gauntlet

Left route: The Sentinel, two pits and Dead Metal. Centre route: Ramrig, see-saw, spikes and Sir Killalot Right route: Ramrig, flame pit, and Sergeant Bash Competing order: 1. Roadblock 2. Onslaught 3. Nemesis 4. R.O.C.S. 5. Limpet 6. Killerhurtz
Ranking	Competing Robot		Report	Distance
1	File:Roadblockgauntlet.gif	Roadblock	Its large width meant the Roadblock team could only take on the newly unveiled Sentinel. After being pinned to the wall by The Sentinel briefly, Roadblock got away but its large width almost caused it to drive into the pit. It escaped and drove away into the end zone.	Completed
2	File:Nemesisendzone.gif	Nemesis	Nemesis went for the ram rig (presumably because the flame pit and Sergeant Bash both featured in this route). After negotiating the ram rig with little difficulty it drove past Sergeant Bash and despite being blocked by Sir Killalot, Nemesis managed to find a gap and squeezed through to complete the course.	Completed
3		Limpet	The team had stuck part of a baguette on the back of the robot to be toasted by the flamethrower of Sergeant Bash. Unfortunately it didn't get that far as it was ambushed by Sir Killalot after it had gone over the ramp and Killalot cut through one of Limpet's tracks.	10.8m
4		Killerhurtz	Its incredible speed took it past the Sentinel and into the end zone in the blink of an eye but it had rammed into Dead Metal and despite causing damage to the House Robot, Dead Metal forced it back off the line and into the pit.	10.6m
5		Onslaught	Onslaught was quicker and smaller than Roadblock, and had less difficulty evading the Sentinel but it was having a problem with its tyres, which began to peel off, leaving it with very little grip. Towards the end of the course, Dead Metal caught hold of it, and pushed it back into The Sentinel's path. As The Sentinel turned back again, it hooked onto Onslaught, before sweeping it into the pit.	10.5m
6		R.O.C.S.	Despite its width it was able to get through the ramrig quite easily, but in the time it took, the House Robots had all moved across to block the route and it couldn't break through. Sir Killalot lifted it up and onto its side over the flame pit. In most heats the distance R.O.C.S. travelled would have been enough to qualify, but the distance was not enough in this case.	8.8m
Eliminated: R.O.C.S.

Trial (Skittles)

Competing order: 1. Roadblock 2. Onslaught 3. Nemesis 4. Killerhurtz 5. Limpet
Ranking	Competing Robot		Report	Result
1	File:Killerhurtzbarrel.gif	Killerhurtz	Immediately dived straight into the barrels and almost took out enough to go through on its first attack. Killerhurtz were even looking to get all the skittles down when it suddenly got stuck in reverse gear and shot backwards out of the triangle where the house robots could attack it.	64 barrels
2		Onslaught	Its scoop made it well suited to skittles and the team were so confident they had a go at Sergeant Bash before knocking any barrels over. Its speed made it extremely efficient and after the team felt they had done enough they went for another pop at Bash.	57 barrels
3	File:Nemesisskittles.gif	Nemesis	Its shape made pushing over barrels difficult but it managed to make it into the middle of the triangle and spun round, using its blades and spikes to knock over barrels.	38 barrels
4		Roadblock	Its scoop came in useful for tunnelling into the triangle although in some cases it only succeeded in pushing the barrels out the triangle and not over. Nevertheless it was making good progress when Killalot came in and pinned them until the end of the round, putting the reigning champions in danger of elimination.	34 barrels
5		Limpet	Despite having the chance to eliminate the reigning champions, Limpet was incredibly slow to get off the mark and without a lot of power the team struggled to make much of an impact against the barrels.	23 barrels
Eliminated: Limpet

Arena

Semi-Finals

Roadblock (1) vs. Killerhurtz

Roadblock gets underneath Killerhurtz

Hoping to utilize its speed as an attacking advantage, Killerhurtz shot straight at Roadblock, putting a hole in the front scoop and bending their chassis, but doing little otherwise. The impact also broke the drive pins connecting Killerhurtz' gearbox to the rear wheels, leaving it immobilized. Roadblock used its scoop and wedge to get underneath Killerhurtz from the side and push into the PPZ, where it followed up by attacking it with its improved circular saw.

"And Killerhurtz, in the PPZ, doesn't seem to be able to get away."

— Jonathan Pearce

With Killerhurtz no longer mobile, the House Robots moved in to attack it, Shunt taking a hit from the Killerhurtz axe resulting in a bent scoop, before Dead Metal eventually finished it off by grabbing hold of it with its pincers, before pushing it into the pit.

Winner: Roadblock

Nemesis vs. Onslaught

Nemesis hangs on the edge of the pit as Onslaught prepares to deliver the final push

"The wedge on the front of Onslaught could be decisive here..."

— Jonathan Pearce

Before the battle, the Nemesis team mounted a kebab between Nemesis' wheel arches, hoping that it would be cooked when its fur caught fire. Unfortunately, this was not to be - Onslaught's shovel and four-wheel drive made it simple for it to push the flat-edged, two wheel-driven Nemesis around the arena. During the fight, Onslaught was able to run rings around Nemesis with its speed, but briefly drove itself into the PPZ, from which it escaped. Towards the end, Nemesis seemed to have stopped moving next to the pit, allowing Onslaught to push the Irish machine into it.

"Nemesis just sitting there really... OH, and towards the pit and finally in. The end for Nemesis."

— Jonathan Pearce

Winner: Onslaught

Final

Roadblock (1) vs. Onslaught

Onslaught and Roadblock

Roadblock approached Onslaught but Onslaught wasn't moving. Roadblock pushed Onslaught onto an arena spike but there was still no movement from it. Onslaught started smoking and Dead Metal and Shunt attacked Onslaught while Roadblock took on Sergeant Bash.

"If you're weak, you'll be victimised, it's as simple as that."

— Jonathan Pearce as the immobile Onslaught is attacked by the House Robots

Dead Metal snapped Roadblock's strimmer shaft with its claws in the dying seconds of the fight, but it didn't matter as Onslaught hadn't moved at all, meaning the defending Champion was through to the Semi-Finals.

Craig Charles: "What, you wanted a right good rumble but you didn't get one?"

Hender Blewitt: "That's right, that's right. We had to put up with Shunt instead"

— Post-match talk

Heat Winner: Roadblock

"I'll show you my robot, you show me yours, the biggest one wins, on Robot Wars!"

— Craig Charles' sign-off