- "Good weapons, but it looks like some rusty old pig out there!"
- — Jonathan Pearce commenting on Torque of the Devil's design during its Gauntlet run
Torque of the Devil was a robot that competed in the first series of Robot Wars. It reached the Arena Semi-Final stage, where it lost to future Grand Finalist Bodyhammer.
Design[]
- "A witty name, and a witty frame! Sculpeted out of fibreglass, Torque of the Devil weighs in at 57.9 kilos and powered by a 12 volt electric motor."
- — Jonathan Pearce introduces Torque of the Devil

Front view of Torque of the Devil
Torque of the Devil was a large barrel-shaped robot painted red and featuring a sculpted fibreglass body which Jonathan Pearce regularly likened to a pig. The frame was made of wood.
- "A good thing to be aware of is, Body work can be completely separate from your machine. For example "DEV" was a large bot with very little in it, this allowed for lots of damage to the external shell whilst the running gear and weapons remained intact! ( or at least that was the plan!!)."
- — Adam Pengilly in his robot-building tips[1]

Torque of the Devil's pioneering vertical spinner
It was powered by four batteries[2] and a 12V motor, giving a top speed of 4mph, and its weapons were a rotating spiked drill at the front, and a Vertical flywheels with four teeth bolted on. The front drill had three spikes on the tip, and was powered by a starter motor, and the rear flywheel was notable for being the first vertical flywheel in Robot Wars. While boasting impressive weapons by Series 1 standards, Torque of the Devil suffered from slow speed, fragile armour and poor manoeuvrability which adversely affected its performances throughout its Heat. It also proved unreliable, due to using a starter motor.
- "...DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES use car starter motors unless you have prior knowledge of how to handle them. Why?? Well for one they only turn one way so you will never be able to get them to reverse without some serious re-engineering, secondly a starter motor running for a time turns itself into a generator and will send the current back up the wiring and fry all your electronics for example (TOURQUE OF THE DEVIL and DREADNOUGHT) if you saw "DEV" you will know that my weapons where powered by starter motors and managed to burn out just a few seconds into the semi finals, the same problems caused DREADNOUGHT to catch fire on several occasions!!!"
- — Adam Pengilly in his robot-building tips[3]
According to Adam Pengilly, the robot's speed controllers also burnt out after five minutes, and the robot suffered from interference problems in the Trial.
- "... you may have noticed during last years "Robot Wars", that many people (me included) used two separate controllers to control wheels and weapons this is fine for the one on one battles but will cause serious hassle in the trials due to frequency clashes"
- — Adam Pengilly in his robot-building tips[4]
Etymology[]
The name Torque of the Devil combines 'torque' with the phrase 'talk of the devil'.
The Team[]

The Torque of the Devil team at the controls
Torque of the Devil was entered by a team from Haverfordwest in Wales. Adam Pengilly was the captain of the team, and he drove the robot. He was joined by Lee Chenery in the team's only appearance. The team were the only Welsh team to compete in The First Wars.
- "They want to go to America and compete in Robot Wars there."
- — Jonathan Pearce introduces the Torque of the Devil
Although the team did not return for any other series, Team captain Adam Pengilly later joined Team Wharthog for its Series 2 Middleweight Championship clash, and Series 3 with the team's new entry Crusher.
Qualification[]
Torque of the Devil was among the original applicants for Series 1 who qualified directly for the First Wars with no competition, as the series did not meet its intended 30 competing teams. However, it was not finished at the time of the auditions, only being finished the day before filming.
- "Remember to factor the time it will take to make the body work into your build time, or you will find yourself like me, building it the night before I left for London!!!!!"
- — Adam Pengilly in his robot-building tips[5]
Following the announcement of Series 8 of Robot Wars, Lee Chenery stated on the FRA forum that he wanted to build a new robot for a future series, although no further information surfaced[6].
- "My friend & I built a robot for the first wars (Torque Of The Devil). We had a massive wake up call on what was needed for the Wars but we never entered again as a team. Building that was a doddle but my new design I have is obviously a lot more complex in comparison. Help please."
- — Lee Chenery on the FRA Forum[7]
Robot History[]
Series 1[]
Sergeant Bash hoses Torque of the Devil in flames
Torque of the Devil started its Gauntlet run by reversing off the turntable and turning towards the right-hand route, where it was intercepted by Sergeant Bash. It slowly spun around as Sergeant Bash continued to attack, and appeared to stop moving as the House Robot nudged it towards a grille and fired flames at it, briefly getting himself stuck in the process. Torque of the Devil could not escape, however, and had reached a distance of only 4.92 metres. However, it still qualified for the Trial as Wharthog had covered exactly one metre less in its run, eliminating the latter.
- "I hope that thing's made out of asbestos!"
- — Jeremy Clarkson mocks Torque of the Devil after its Gauntlet run
Torque of the Devil (top left) at the end of the Labyrinth
In the Labyrinth Trial, Torque of the Devil followed Full Metal Anorak down the right-hand route, but was too slow to take advantage of Full Metal Anorak ramming Sergeant Bash to get past the House Robot. Torque of the Devil eventually proceeded down the left-hand lane, passing Bodyhammer as it was attacked by Shunt and Sergeant Bash, but was not able to turn fast enough to follow REALI-T as it waited for Full Metal Anorak to ram Matilda away. With Psychosprout eliminated after rolling back to the start, Torque of the Devil still covered enough distance to finish third and progress to the Arena stage.

Bodyhammer slams Torque of the Devil into the CPZ

Bodyhammer slams Torque of the Devil into the side bars

Dead Metal's pincers claw through the head of Torque of the Devil

Shunt drags Torque of the Devil off the side bars
In the Semi-Final of the heat, Torque of the Devil faced Bodyhammer, now decorated with a plaster at the back covering damage sustained in the Trial. It was rammed and pushed by the weaponless Bodyhammer within the opening moments, before Bodyhammer shoved it across the arena and onto the side bars, leaving Torque of the Devil stranded. Dead Metal, Matilda and Shunt proceeded to attack Torque of the Devil, with Shunt dragging it off the side bars using his axe.
- "Look at that! They’ve pulled it out of trouble, and put it back in the arena! You’re not supposed to do that, House Robots!"
- — Jonathan Pearce as Shunt pulls Torque of the Devil off the side bars
Torque of the Devil spun slowly in the CPZ before Bodyhammer rammed it onto the side bars again, with 'cease' being called after one last slam from Bodyhammer. After this, Torque of the Devil was eliminated from the First Wars.
- "Torque of the Devil looks like a pig, now a stuck pig!"
- — Jonathan Pearce as Torque of the Devil is wedged on the side bars for the second time
Results[]
TORQUE OF THE DEVIL - RESULTS | ||
Series 1 | ||
The First Wars - UK Championship Heat Semi-Finals | ||
Heat E, Gauntlet | 4.92m (5th) | Qualified |
Heat E, Trial (Labyrinth) | Third Furthest (3rd) | Qualified |
Heat E, Semi-Final | vs. Bodyhammer | Lost |
Wins/Losses[]
- Wins: 0
- Losses: 1
NOTE: Torque of the Devil's successful Gauntlet and Trial runs are not included
Series Record[]
Series | Torque of the Devil Series Record |
---|---|
The First Wars | Heat, Arena Semi-Final |
The Second Wars | Did not enter |
The Third Wars | Did not enter |
The Fourth Wars | Did not enter |
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 |
NOTE: Team captain Adam Pengilly competed in the Series 2 Middleweight Competition with Wharthog and Series 3 with Crusher.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Torque of the Devil was the first robot to have used "Torque" as a pun on "Talk". Team Torque would later use similar puns for their robots All Torque, Small Torque and Fighting Torque.
- Torque of the Devil was the first Welsh robot to take part in any series of Robot Wars.
- According to Oliver Steeples, Torque of the Devil was not working for the preview, but was fixed in time for the Gauntlet[8].
References[]
- ↑ Adam Pengilly's robot-building tips (Archived)
- ↑ Adam Pengilly's robot-building tips (Archived)
- ↑ Adam Pengilly's robot-building tips (Archived)
- ↑ Adam Pengilly's robot-building tips (Archived)
- ↑ Adam Pengilly's robot-building tips (Archived)
- ↑ Fighting Robots Association Forum - Members List: Chewstermania (Lee Chenery)
- ↑ Fighting Robots Association Forum - Thread: Which way is best?
- ↑ Oliver Steeples' website - Series 1 Robots, Torque of the Devil (Archived)
External Links[]
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