- "Tip-Top tastic!"
- — A banner in the audience supporting Tip-Top
Tip-Top was a robot which competed exclusively in Series 5 of Robot Wars. In its only appearance, it lost in the first round to Bigger Brother after being flipped out of the arena. Tip-Top would later attempt to enter Series 6, but would ultimately fail to qualify.
Design[]
Tip-Top in the arena
Tip-Top was a blue, dark grey and yellow box-shaped robot armed with a horizontal substantial inertia flywheel, driven by a 72cc petrol disc cutter engine. It was fitted with a pair of actuators that could raise the robot by about 40mm from either upright or inverted positions. The disc's axle was rounded on both the top and bottom, and long enough to touch the arena floor, which enabled the disc to balance on the floor like a spinning top, regardless of where the robot was positioned.
Tip-Top from the rear
Tip-Top was unique in that it did not have drive motors to power its rear wheels. When the disc was spinning at full speed, the actuators could be fired to tip the disc mechanism, and the resultant gyroscopic forces from the dome pressing against the ground would move the robot. This form of locomotion inspired the robot's name, and was unique among Robot Wars competitors. However, besides being potentially flammable due to its use of a petrol engine, Tip-Top's drive system proved slow and very unresponsive, contributing to its early defeat in its only appearance.
The Team[]
Team ½EyeOmega2 controlling Tip-Top
Tip-Top was entered into Robot Wars by ½EyeOmega2 or the Tip-Top team as they called themselves, which consisted entirely of members of the Hoad family.[1] In their only appearance, the team consisted of captain Robin Hoad, his father Dennis Hoad and his son William Hoad. Robin was the driver of Tip-Top for its sole battle.
Other members of the Hoad family that were part of the team but did not appear on television included Robin's wife Val Hoad, his daughter Daisy Hoad and Pauline Hoad.[1]
Qualification[]
An unpainted Tip-Top, inverted
Tip-Top successfully qualified for Series 5 after defeating Cerberus in its qualifier.
Unchanged from its Series 5 form, Tip-Top then attempted to enter Series 6, but failed to qualify due to reliability issues preventing it from fighting in the qualifiers. In its first qualifier, Tip-Top was originally due to fight King B Powerworks, but its petrol engine stalled just before the battle, so the team withdrew from the fight. The Tip-Top team were given a second chance to fight, this time against Robochicken, but the engine stalled again just as the battle started, resulting in Tip-Top losing and failing to qualify.[2]
Robot History[]
Series 5[]
- "Designed around wielding the weapon, a very substantial intertia disc driven by a petrol fuelled 72cc disc cutter engine. Petrol? In this arena? Boom?"
- — Jonathan Pearce as Tip-Top enters the arena
Entering as a newcomer, Tip-Top competed in Heat I where it faced experienced veteran Bigger Brother in the first round.
Tip-Top is flipped out by Bigger Brother
At the start of the battle, Tip-Top shuffled back and forth near the Floor Flipper to try and get its flywheel up to speed, and turned away from Bigger Brother as the latter came in on the attack. However, Bigger Brother pushed and flipped Tip-Top over seconds later, with Tip Top slowing turning round before getting pushed and thrown against the wall by Bigger Brother. After being left stranded on the wall for a few seconds, Tip-Top was then thrown out of the arena by Bigger Brother and was eliminated from The Fifth Wars.
- "Tip-Toppled, out of the arena!"
- — Jonathan Pearce
Results[]
| TIP-TOP - RESULTS | ||
| Series 5 | ||
| The Fifth Wars - UK Championship Heat, Round 1 | ||
| Heat I, Round 1 | vs. Bigger Brother | Lost |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 0
- Losses: 1
Series Record[]
| Series | Tip-Top Series Record |
|---|---|
| The First Wars | Did not enter |
| The Second Wars | Did not enter |
| The Third Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fourth Wars | Did not enter |
| The Fifth Wars | Heat, Round 1 |
| The Sixth Wars | Failed to qualify |
| The Seventh Wars | Did not enter |
| Series 8 | Did not enter |
| Series 9 | Did not enter |
| Series 10 | Did not enter |
Gallery[]
Outside Robot Wars[]
Tip-Top at Robot Rumble 2003
Tip-Top fought at the Robot Rumble show in April 2003, where it humorously had the words 'Tip-Bottom!' written on it in parallel to its name. It had two fights at the event, the first saw it face Bulldog Breed, which it lost. At one point in the battle, Tip-Top hit the rear end of Bulldog Breed hard enough for the latter's back end to glow momentarily. Its second fight was against Draven, which Tip-Top won convincingly after ripping apart Draven's bodyshell, as well as taking a chunk out of the arena floor.[3]
A few days after the event, Robin Hoad announced that Tip-Top would not compete again due to it being too powerful to fight in live event arenas with no protection from spinners, as well as the robot's unreliable nature. Tip-Top was scrapped soon after.[4]