Team Power was a team from Hagley in Worcestershire, which competed in Series 1 and 3 of Robot Wars, and failed to qualify for Series 2 and 4. The team originally formed in Hagley Roman Catholic High School, where they constructed Barry as a school-based engineering project, similar to the champion of the First Wars Roadblock, which was built as an A-Level technology project, and competed in the same heat. Barry fell at the Gauntlet stage, and the team also fought in Series 3 with Sonic, which reached the second round of its heat before losing to the eventual champions Chaos 2.
The team attempted to qualify for Series 2 with Gnasher and Series 4 with Blur, but failed to qualify in both occasions. Team Power also intended to qualify for Series 4 with another machine, a walkerbot called Tecumseh. However, the team withdrew Tecumseh from the qualifiers before its qualifier battle, meaning that it also did not take part in the televised show.
The Team[]
All of the team's robots were entered by students from the school, overseen by their teacher Chris Sherwood. Both of the robots were built by students and staff using the school's workshops, with many other students who worked on the robots not being part of the televised team, such as the A-level students who built Barry[1].
Team Members[]
Chris Sherwood[]
Chris Sherwood at the controls of Sonic
The only team member present in both the team's appearances, Chris Sherwood was a teacher at Hagley Roman Catholic High School, who oversaw all of the team's entrants, including those on Techno Games. In Series 3, he was the Team Captain, though he is not listed first on Barry's statistics board.
Supervising the team, he mostly let his students handle the controls, and do the speaking in the interviews. However, he did take over the controls on occasion; in Series 1, he drove Barry for the introduction after the robot accidentally drove into the doors during the first take[2], and in Series 3, he drove Sonic in Round 2 after the aerial fell off and the wheel was binding, and did the team's introduction for Sonic.
However, by 2001, he had left the school, moving to Kingshurst City Technology College.
Amy Sproat[]
Amy Sproat and the team in Barry's introduction
Only present with Barry, Amy was the driver, and was listed first on the statistics board. She was notable for being one of only six female roboteers in the First Wars, and one of only three female drivers in the series, a statistic that would typically decrease in future series.
Daniel Parry[]
Amy Sproat and Daniel Parry at the controls of Barry
Only present with Barry, Daniel was the weapons officer, controlling the pneumatic scoop, though the team never had a chance to operate it properly due to Barry's early elimination and due to the air leaking from Barry after a seal blew whilst the team were working on the robot's scoop in the pits.
He described his and the experiences during the filming of Series 1 on the website, in particular describing the team's anger after stock robot Grunt deliberately threw the Sumo Trial, a trial the team felt Barry, with its high power and heavy weight, would have been ideal for.
- "We were kicking ourselves. It would have been easy for Barry; no problem. When it came to Grunt's turn (watch out for this on TV) he drove straight off the edge. Why couldn't he have fallen in the Gauntlet so at least we would have been given the chance to show up the house robot, Shunt?"
- — Daniel Parry on the Team Power website
Tom Delahay[]
Tom Delahay and Matt McSorley with Sonic
Tom Delahay was one of the students that helped construct Sonic, and competed with the team in Series 3. Although he was not the Team Captain, and did not control the robot, he spoke to Philippa Forrester in both of Sonic's post-battle interviews.
Matt McSorley[]
Another of the students that helped to construct Sonic, Matt McSorley drove the robot in the first round.
Robots[]
| Name | Weight Class | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Barry | Super Heavyweight | Series 1 |
| Sonic | Heavyweight | Series 3 |
- Note: Barry was a super heavyweight robot, but it competed in the main competition of Series 1 as all weight classes were grouped together for that series.
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 1
- Losses: 2
Series Record[]
| Series | Team Power Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Heat, Gauntlet with Barry |
| The Second Wars | Failed to qualify with Gnasher |
| The Third Wars | Heat, Round 2 with Sonic |
| The Fourth Wars | Failed to qualify with Blur Withdrew from qualifiers with Tecumseh |
| The Fifth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Sixth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Seventh Wars | Did not enter |
| Series 8 | Did not enter |
| Series 9 | Did not enter |
| Series 10 | Did not enter |
Outside Robot Wars[]
In contrast to their Robot Wars performances, Team Power was rather successful in Techno Games, taking both first and second place in the Internal Combustion Sprint with Tecumseh over the course of two series.
The team also entered the High Jump event with a robot called Man-Trap, which appeared in the 2000 Techno Games where it came joint third with Clever Cardigan. Mantrap was merely a wooden frame, with rubber bands to make it spring up. The team used their antweight Scorch to burn the band that held the robot still[3].
.jpg "Tecumseh (1).jpg (39 KB)")
Kingshurst Flyer
Team Captain Chris Sherwood also competed in the 2002 series of Techno Games with The Kingshurst Flyer. However, by this time he was working at Kingshurst City Technology College, and entered with different team members. Kingshurst Flyer lost its only race to Clod Hopper.
The school made three antweight robots, which were never entered into Robot Wars; Flipper, Scorch and Slash. Scorch was notable in that it was armed with a blow torch[4].
Trivia[]
- Both of Team Power's robots which qualified lost to the eventual champion, with Roadblock being placed in the same Heat as Barry in the First Wars and going further in the Gauntlet, and Sonic losing to Chaos 2 in the Third Wars.
- The team originated from Hagley Roman Catholic High School in Worcester, although in Sonic's debut fight against Hammertron, Jonathan Pearce incorrectly said the team came from Hagley Road in Birmingham, some ten miles away.
- Chris Sherwood was part of The Steering Committee.
- Team Power member Chris Sherwood was also a contestant on the 1992 series of Channel 4 gameshow, The Crystal Maze[5].
References[]
- ↑ Team Power website - Barry, Introduction (Archived)
- ↑ Team Power website - Barry, Introduction (Archived)
- ↑ Team Power Website - Man-Trap
- ↑ Team Power Website - Antweights
- ↑ Series 3, Episode 1 - Full Episode | The Crystal Maze on YouTube
External Links[]
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