Underwater Cars

Scrapheap Challenge poster
Scrapheap Challenge
18th September 2005 Season 8 Episode 1

The challenge In this first episode of the new series, Scrapheap is off to marvellous Margate where a team of forklifting fixers take on a crew of army helicopter heroes in a battle to build underwater cars that can rip up the ocean bed. Apache Warriors Ring-a-ding-ding-ding! The army boys Tom, Tobe and Oggs have landed and come oozing with charm, charisma and precision in a way only our top ranking military can. The banter is littered with innuendo; theirs is a cross between the school changing room and a Carry On film. Helicopter pilots by day, these boys are all guns blazing for a Scrapheap showdown! Chess-playing Guy Seymour helps them out, bringing skills in off-road machines and underwater vehicles to the heap. Brought up on a boatyard in Australia, Guy studied submersible vehicle design at university and is currently a mechanical and business systems engineer for Subeo, a UK-based manufacturer of submersible vehicles. Subeo are hoping to launch a small affordable submersible vehicle onto the market soon. Before coming to England, Guy was an army reservist for seven years, where he was involved with the maintenance of their 4x4 vehicles. The Powerlifters Neil, Mark and Dave are true Scrapheap! These boys love their drag racing and hot rodding and are all forklift maintenance engineers in Essex. Bald, tattooed and pierced, Neil and Dave provide the main double act but gentle giant Mark doesn’t seem to mind playing the fall guy to the duo. Energetic and with a range of outside interests, The Powerlifters are hardworking, straight talking, great fun, and claim to be able to take on anything Scrapheap can throw at them! Expert Matt Cook started his career as an apprentice at Land Rover and stayed with the company for seven years as a design engineer in the new vehicle development division. Matt has raced 4x4s since he was 17 and has even won the most extreme off-road event in the world – the Malaysian Rainforest Challenge with his business partner Simon Buck in 2002. Together they run the legendary Devon 4x4 near Tiverton where they prepare and modify extreme off-road machines and fabricate custom parts for the sport. Despite this busy life, Matt is also a qualified potter! The judge Stephanie Merry is a respected tactician, navigator and helmswoman, with a successful track record in offshore racing at national and international level. Commercially endorsed yachtmaster and ocean yachtmaster, Stephanie has won countless race titles and challenge cups. She is the owner and skipper of Rollerskate, a 4-tonne race yacht which she sailed to victory in various challenges between 1992 and 1998. Stephanie is a previous judge of Scrapheap Challenge, lending her expertise in the mini-sub challenge, back in series three.

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Season 8 · Episode 2

Kung Fu Cars

The challenge This week's Scrapheap Challenge is a test to see who can become a champion martial mechanic by building a kung fu car. The teams will have to construct a moveable car complete with a karate-chopping device. It's gotta be tough as it'll have to axe its way through six concrete slabs, half a metre of ice and finally a huge hunk of wood. Lumbering Jacks Tree-cuttin' captain Baden and his fellow fellers Andrew and David are a top Scrapheap team. They ‘say it how it is’, love their agricultural machinery and are keen off-roaders. A jolly team with a good rapport, a sense of humour and a great attitude. With the motto 'If it’s been built before, it can be built again', this team have the potential to go far. Our forest-loving, axe-wielding men of South Wales are here to cut their opponents down to size. Robyn Rushforth is the Lumbering Jacks' expert. As an MOD-trained engineer with 16 years spent in the demolition industry, he certainly has the know-how to smash stuff up. He’s also a versatile bodger and enjoys banging together anything from rally cars to underwater ROVs. The Haggis Bashers Watersporting enthusiasts from Fife, these boys dive, water-ski and fish in their spare time. The team come from a largely agricultural background and bring a range of skills: Andrew has been in mechanics for 20 years and specialises in heavy farm machinery, Johnny knows his jet engines and Raymond is a woodwork and metalwork expert. Three different characters but all with that famous Scottish dryness, these bonny boys are guaranteed to give us more than a Highland fling! The Haggis Bashers' expert is Essex boy Richard Keall. A car mechanic turned plant fitter, he currently works for one of the country's biggest demolition companies, keeping the machines in tip-top condition. The judge When it comes to demolition, this week’s judge, David Clarke, has seen it all … well, almost! After 25 years working in demolition, he is currently president of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors.

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