Antweight World Series 26

this was Team Orr’s first event, so i was very nervous. however i knew that i would have to put those nerves behind me if we wanted to do well, so off we went to brighton with a nervous family and a bodged up robot in tow, as we pulled up to the venue i saw a arena and lots of robots inside, we had arrived! we met loads of great people and learnt many interesting things..bought some stuff too! and then i got the call that my fight was up…eeep!

full results at: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/g0xan/robots/aws26.htm

(with thanks to oliver steeples for the pictures!)

valliant vs pushy:

the oponent (pushy) pictured right >>>

me (the first version of valliant) = bodge

(seen here with no wheels due to them being hacked up by scott and a dremel at the time!)

the fight kicked off and i gingerly moved my control’s, i wasn’t expecting much…but neither was the driver of pushy apparently (after the match had finished he stated that he hadnt won a match since aws 19) but we still gave it our all. valliant seemed to be easier to controll now scott had finished the wheel butchery, but pushy was no slouch, so it was a even playing field, however i seemed to have a lower ground clearance than him, allowing me to get under him easily, i made a few driving errors but in the end i managed to stack him against a wall and while the count started i pushed him into the pit, i was amazed we had won!

vallant vs devils buddy:

little devil

buddy (pictured left) <<<<

devils buddy in action

my second fight of the non-spinner’s was against a clusterbot (2 fleaweights) little devil and the swedish “buddy” (together making devil’s buddy) i was worried, after all i was just a slow moving servo driven robot, how was i meant to keep up with 2 nippy fleas? however things soon turned to my favour. from the off it was aparent i dwarfed the fleas, and i quickly moved in on the attack, i quickly eliminated buddy by stacking him against the wall, and then went after little devil, after several missed chances i finally managed to pit him…the match was won.

Valliant vs Defiant:

defiant: the tracked one under combatant

feeling hyped up after the last 2 victory’s i was feeling a bit more confident, however i was still painfully aware that i was the newcomer who hadn’t proven himself yet, however this wasn’t all bad; i was an unknown quantity, people were impressed that i had overcome 2 hard oponents with my crappy little robot, however all that was about to change, when i faced defiant.

from the off i realised i was greatly outclassed, Peter Waller is a great designer and driver…i was neither really, also he ran on motors, the quicker, more expensive version of servo’s. and he was invertable (he could run upside down). Peter checked me out to see if i was a threat, and in that brief moment of hesitation i took my chance, charging in for a side blow… but he was ready and i ended up beached on my back with no way of getting back up! i put down my controller and waited for the count…but it didnt come, Peter had been going at such a speed that he had driven completly out the arena! i was through…just!

So all in all not a bad day out! I got my first taste of robotic combat, and i had loved it! from then on i was hooked, oh and to top it all off i got nominated for best driver and WON best newcomer (by a long chalk!)

i accept my award "speach, speach" NOT

…onto the next one!

Thanks to Peter Waller for the details: